Fixed-time sliding mode attitude control of a flexible spacecraft with rotating appendages connected by magnetic bearing

<abstract> <p>This study focuses on the attitude control of a flexible spacecraft comprising rotating appendages, magnetic bearings, and a satellite platform capable of carrying flexible solar panels. The kinematic and dynamic models of the spacecraft were established using Lagrange methods to describe the translation and rotation of the spacecraft system and its connected components. A simplified model of the dynamics of a five-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) active magnetic bearing was developed using the equivalent stiffness and damping methods based on the magnetic gap variations in the magnetic bearing. Next, a fixed-time sliding mode control method was proposed for each component of the spacecraft to adjust the magnetic gap of the active magnetic bearing, realize a stable rotation of the flexible solar panels, obtain a high inertia for the appendage of the spacecraft, and accurately control the attitude. Finally, the numerical simulation results of the proposed fixed-time control method were compared with those of the proportional-derivative control method to demonstrate the superiority and effectiveness of the proposed control law.</p> </abstract>

Modelling and Simulation of Nonlinear Jump Phenomena of a Non-ideal Rotor Involving Fractional Order PD Controller

Rotating machinery with high speed powered by industrial motors frequently suffers from instability by exhibiting non-linear jump phenomena, formally known as Sommerfeld effect. The drives whose excitation is a function of the system responses, referred to as non-ideal. The system dynamics of such systems exhibit a couple of complex and interesting features when the input power exceeds a critical value. The present research suggests a novel approach to study the efficacy of active magnetic bearing with fractional PD controller to suppress the instability caused by the Sommerfeld effect. The steady-state results obtained by solving the system characteristic equation numerically is compared with the transient analysis. Finally, root locus method is introduced to obtain the bifurcation points at which this kind of instability completely disappears.