Decentralized Control of Winding Systems: A Hybrid Evolutionary-Algebraic Approach

This paper considers the problem of robust control of a web transport system, using a 3-input 3-output nonlinear model that has been extensively validated against the real plant. There are two major difficulties that arise when designing a controller for this industrial plant. The first one is the wide variation in the system dynamics due to the variation of radius and inertia of the rollers. Secondly, the multivariable controller should be decentralized to increase the reliability of the control loop. An approach for designing decentralized controllers that satisfy a H_2-performance measure and place the closed loop poles in a prescribed region is proposed. The approach is based on the combined use of Genetic Algorithms and Lyapunov equation solvers. A decentralized robust controller that meets all the design specification is presented.