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This paper presents a deep analysis of different feed-forward (FF) techniques combined with two different proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control to guide a real piezoelectric actuator (PEA). These devices are well known for a non-linear effect called “hysteresis” which generates an undesirable performance during the device operation. First, the PEA was analysed under real experiments to determine the response with different frequencies and voltages. Secondly, a voltage and frequency inputs were chosen and a study of different control approaches was performed using a conventional PID in close-loop, adding a linear compensation and a FF with the same PID and an artificial neural network (ANN). Finally, the best result was contrasted with an adaptive PID which used a single neuron (SNPID) combined with Hebbs rule to update its parameters. Results were analysed in terms of guidance, error and control signal whereas the performance was evaluated with the integral of the absolute error (IAE). Experiments showed that the FF-ANN compensation combined with an SNPID was the most efficient.

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells demonstrate potential as a comprehensive and general alternative to fossil fuel. They are also considered to be the energy source of the twenty-first century. However, fuel cell systems have non-linear output characteristics because of their input variations, which causes a significant loss in the overall system output. Thus, aiming to optimize their outputs, fuel cells are usually coupled with a controlled electronic actuator (DC-DC boost converter) that offers highly regulated output voltage. High-order sliding mode (HOSM) control has been effectively used for power electronic converters due to its high tracking accuracy, design simplicity, and robustness. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method based on a combination of reference current estimator (RCE) and high-order prescribed convergence law (HO-PCL) for a PEM fuel cell power system. The proposed MPPT method is implemented practically on a hardware 360W FC-42/HLC evaluation kit. The obtained experimental results demonstrate the success of the proposed method in extracting the maximum power from the fuel cell with high tracking performance.

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell has recently attracted broad attention from many researchers due to its cleanliness, high efficiency and soundless operation. The obtention of high-performance output characteristics is required to overcome the market restrictions of the PEMFC technologies. Therefore, the main aim of this work is to maintain the system operating point at an adequate and efficient power stage with high-performance tracking. To this end, a model predictive control (MPC) based on a global minimum cost function for a two-step horizon was designed and implemented in a boost converter integrated with a fuel cell system. An experimental comparative study has been investigated between the MPC and a PI controller to reveal the merits of the proposed technique. Comparative results have indicated that a reduction of 15.65% and 86.9%, respectively, in the overshoot and response time could be achieved using the suggested control structure.

Piezoelectric actuators (PEA) are devices that are used for nano- microdisplacement due to their high precision, but one of the major issues is the non-linearity phenomena caused by the hysteresis effect, which diminishes the positioning performance. This study presents a novel control structure in order to reduce the hysteresis effect and increase the PEA performance by using a fuzzy logic control (FLC) combined with a Hammerstein–Wiener (HW) black-box mapping as a feedforward (FF) compensation. In this research, a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) was contrasted with an FLC. From this comparison, the most accurate was taken and tested with a complex structure with HW-FF to verify the accuracy with the increment of complexity. All of the structures were implemented in a dSpace platform to control a commercial Thorlabs PEA. The tests have shown that an FLC combined with HW was the most accurate, since the FF compensate the hysteresis and the FLC reduced the errors; the integral of the absolute error (IAE), the root-mean-square error (RMSE), and relative root-mean-square-error (RRMSE) for this case were reduced by several magnitude orders when compared to the feedback structures. As a conclusion, a complex structure with a novel combination of FLC and HW-FF provided an increment in the accuracy for a high-precision PEA.

This article contains a review of essential control techniques for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) to be applied in photovoltaic (PV) panel systems. These devices are distinguished by their capability to transform solar energy into electricity without emissions. Nevertheless, the efficiency can be enhanced provided that a suitable MPPT algorithm is well designed to obtain the maximum performance. From the analyzed MPPT algorithms, four different types were chosen for an experimental evaluation over a commercial PV system linked to a boost converter. As the reference that corresponds to the maximum power is depended on the irradiation and temperature, an artificial neural network (ANN) was used as a reference generator where a high accuracy was achieved based on real data. This was used as a tool for the implementation of sliding mode controller (SMC), fuzzy logic controller (FLC) and model predictive control (MPC). The outcomes allowed different conclusions where each controller has different advantages and disadvantages depending on the various factors related to hardware and software.

The authors introduce a new controller, aimed at industrial domains, that improves the performance and accuracy of positioning systems based on Stewart platforms. More specifically, this paper presents, and validates experimentally, a sliding mode control for precisely positioning a Stewart platform used as a mobile platform in non-destructive inspection (NDI) applications. The NDI application involves exploring the specimen surface of aeronautical coupons at different heights. In order to avoid defocusing and blurred images, the platform must be positioned accurately to keep a uniform distance between the camera and the surface of the specimen. This operation requires the coordinated control of the six electro mechanic actuators (EMAs). The platform trajectory and the EMA lengths can be calculated by means of the forward and inverse kinematics of the Stewart platform. Typically, a proportional integral (PI) control approach is used for this purpose but unfortunately this control scheme is unable to position the platform accurately enough. For this reason, a sliding mode control (SMC) strategy is proposed. The SMC requires: (1) a priori knowledge of the bounds on system uncertainties, and (2) the analysis of the system stability in order to ensure that the strategy executes adequately. The results of this work show a higher performance of the SMC when compared with the PI control strategy: the average absolute error is reduced from 3.45 mm in PI to 0.78 mm in the SMC. Additionally, the duty cycle analysis shows that although PI control demands a smoother actuator response, the power consumption is similar.

Photovoltaic (PV) panels are devices capable of converting solar energy to electrical without emissions generation, and can last for several years as there are no moving parts involved. The best performance can be achieved through maximum power point tracking (MPPT), which is challenging because it requires a sophisticated design, since the solar energy fluctuates throughout the day. The PV used in this research provided a low output voltage and, therefore, a boost-converter with a non-linear control law was implemented to reach a suitable end-used voltage. The main contribution of this research is a novel MPPT method based on a voltage reference estimator (VRE) combined with a fuzzy logic controller (FLC) in order to obtain the maximum power from the PV panel. This structure was implemented in a dSpace 1104 board for a commercial PV panel, PEIMAR SG340P. The scheme was compared with a conventional perturbation and observation (P&O) and with a sliding mode controller (SMC), where the outcomes demonstrated the superiority of the proposed advanced method.