Constrained and Unconstrained Control Design of Electromagnetic Levitation System with Integral Robust–Optimal Sliding Mode Control for Mismatched Uncertainties

In real life, almost all systems are nonlinear in nature. The electromagnetic levitation system (EMLS) is one such system that has a wide range of applications due to its frictionless, fast, and affordable technique. Optimal control and sliding mode control (SMC) techniques are often used controllers for EMLS. However, these techniques can achieve the required levitation but lag in having perfect set-point tracking and robustness against uncertainties. To get over these drawbacks, this article proposes the design of unconstrained mismatched uncertainties, constrained mismatched uncertainties, and integral sliding mode control with mismatched uncertainties for the current-controlled-type electromagnetic levitation system (CC-EMLS). The modeled equations of CC-EMLS are transfomed in terms of the mismatched uncertainties, and the required control action is obtained with and without constraints on the control input. The quadratic performance function is suggested for the unconstrained control scheme and is solved using the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation. The non-quadratic cost function is designed for the constrained control method, and the HJB equation is utilized to obtain the solution. Both control schemes provide robustness to the system, but deviations in the set point are observed in tracking the position of the ball when the changes in the payload occur in the system. Therefore, integral sliding mode control with robust–optimal (IOSMC) gain is proposed for the CC-EMLS to overcome the steady-state error in the other two schemes. The stability is proven using the direct method of Lyapunov stability. The essential studies based on the simulation are carried out to showcase the performance of the proposed control schemes. The integral performance indicators are compared for all three proposed control schemes to highlight the efficacy, robustness, and efficiency of the designed controllers.