Adaptive Sliding Mode Control for Tower Crane System With Boundary Layer Function

In the field of industrial automation, precise control of tower crane operations is critical to ensure safety and efficiency. This paper introduces a novel adaptive sliding mode control (ASMC) strategy aimed at enhancing the control of the trolley motion along the jib of a tower crane. The primary goal of this control system is to effectively suppress the undesirable oscillations—commonly referred to as "chattering"—that often cause damage to the equipment. Such chattering not only compromises the safety of crane operations but also affects the longevity of the equipment. The proposed ASMC strategy incorporates adaptive mechanisms that adjust the controller parameters in real-time. This adaptability ensures robust performance and significantly mitigates chattering without sacrificing the system’s responsiveness. Furthermore, the developed controller has been successfully deployed and rigorously tested on an experimental setup of a real-world tower crane system. The experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of the ASMC in reducing chattering, thereby validating its potential for real-world applications in tower crane systems. This research contributes to the ongoing efforts in automation technology by providing a reliable solution to a prevalent challenge in crane operations. A video demonstration of the experiments can be found at https://youtu.be/-TRNeVKn7KY.