Synchronization and tracking control for multi-motor driving servo systems with backlash and friction

This paper presents a novel switching controller incorporated with backlash and friction compensations, which is utilized to achieve speed synchronization among multi-motor and load position tracking. The proposed controller consists of two parts: synchronization and tracking control in contact mode and robust control in backlash mode, where a function characterizing whether backlash occurs is used for switching between two modes. Using the proposed switching controller, several control objectives are achieved. Firstly, the coupling problem of speed synchronization and load tracking in contact mode is addressed by introducing a switching plane. Secondly, based on the switching plane, an improved prescribed performance function is introduced to attain load tracking with prescribed performances, and L_∞ performance of speed synchronization is guaranteed by initialization method, maintaining the transient performance of synchronization behavior. Thirdly, the lumped uncertain nonlinearity including friction and other uncertain functions is compensated by Chebyshev neural network in contact mode. Furthermore, a robust control is adopted in backlash mode to make system traverse backlash at an exponential rate and simultaneously eliminate low-speed crawling phenomenon of LuGre friction. Finally, comparative simulations on four-motor driving servo system are provided to verify the effectiveness and reliability.