Dynamic Modeling and Control of an Electromechanical Control Actuation System

Electromechanical actuators are widely used in miscellaneous applications in engineering such as aircrafts, missiles, etc. due to their momentary overdrive capability, long-term storability, and low quiescent power/low maintenance characteristics. This work focuses on electromechanical control actuation systems (CAS) that are composed of a brushless direct current motor, ball screw, and lever mechanism. In this type of CAS, nonlinearity and asymmetry occur due to the lever mechanism itself, saturation limits, Coulomb friction, backlash, and initial mounting position of lever mechanism. In this study, both nonlinear and linear mathematical models are obtained using governing equations of motion. By using the linear model, it is shown that employing a PI-controller for position and a P-controller for velocity will be sufficient to satisfy performance requirements in the inner-loop control of an electromechanical CAS. The unknown controller parameters and anti-windup coefficient are obtained by the Optimization Tools of MATLAB using nonlinear model. Results obtained from the nonlinear model and real-time unloaded and loaded tests on a prototype developed are compared to verify the nonlinear model.