Control of a turntable on a mobile base in the presence of perturbations

Abstract

Control of an electromechanical system consisting of two rigid bodies connected by an electric motor is considered. Both bodies can rotate about a common axis. This system is a simplified model of a precision turntable mounted on an orbital space vehicle and designed to reduce the apparent accelerations of a container with a payload fixed on the turntable. The accelerations to be reduced are small and may be comparable with the accelerations caused by the friction in the bearings of the electric drive. A feedback control law is proposed, which, after finite time interval, provides a predetermined motion of the second body relative to the first one in the presence of friction with unknown and variable parameters and in the presence of other uncontrollable perturbations. The effectiveness of the suggested control law is illustrated by numerical simulations.