Comparing performance of two different pneumatic circuits in the presence of nonlinear controller with optimal parameters

In this paper, control position of a pneumatic actuator with the PWM solenoid on/off valves using two different pneumatic circuits performed. After deriving the governing dynamic equations, to investigate the circuit effect on system performance, mentioned two pneumatic circuits are introduced. Then in order to control the position of the pneumatic actuator, for both circuits, sliding mode and proportional-integral-derivative controllers are designed. In proceeding, optimum controller parameters are determined by genetic algorithm to achieve minimum control energy and position error. Finally, by performing simulations in Matlab Simulink, performance of designed controllers with optimal parameters is evaluated and compared in the presence of disturbance. According to the obtained results, by comparing the performance of two circuits, it is observed that the first pneumatic circuit with two solenoid valves can track the high-frequency sine reference input better and more precisely in the presence of a nonlinear sliding mode controller. The position tracking error in low-frequency sine reference input using a classic proportional-integral-derivative controller, for a single-valve pneumatic circuit is considerably less than that of a pneumatic circuit of two valves. This indicates the input-output quasi linear behavior of the pneumatic actuator in a single-valve circuit.