15.1 Introduction

This chapter demonstrates the application of both standard, first order sliding mode control and higher order sliding mode control techniques to a specific diesel power generator. The specific first order methods considered are sliding mode integral tracking (SMIT) control and sliding mode model-following (SMMF) control. A second order sliding mode (SOSM) control is employed to demonstrate the higher order sliding mode technique. The SMIT and SMMF control algorithms are modified from the methods in References 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The SOSM control algorithm is modified from References 4 and 5.

The specific problem under consideration involves idle speed control of a diesel power generator set. Real-time microprocessor based sliding mode controllers are applied for idle speed control of the generator. The idle speed control problem is formulated as a speed tracking and disturbance (i.e. electrical load) rejection problem. The tracking requirement ensures that the engine speed follows a reference speed set point. The disturbance rejection requirement ensures that the engine speed does not deviate too much from the set point in the presence of electrical load disturbances and also that the engine speed regains the reference speed as soon as possible so that the frequency of the electricity generated is maintained.

This chapter briefly formulates the three mentioned control algorithms and describes the diesel generator, hardware setup and data acquisition system. The control design process is described and implementation results are presented. Finally, some concluding remarks on...