Determination of the limits of various electropneumatic actuator structures with discrete pneumatic valves and sliding controls

This study presents a comparative analysis of the efficiency of 3-, 5-, and 7-mode sliding control of an electro-pneumatic actuator with discrete on/off valves. The research is based on the construction and analysis of Pareto fronts, enabling an objective evaluation of the trade-off between positioning accuracy and the switching frequency of the vales. A mathematical model of the pneumatic actuator has been developed, accounting for the nonlinear dynamics of the pneumatic system and the discrete nature of the control actions. A methodology for multi-objective optimization of control algorithm parameters is proposed, utilizing surrogate models to reduce computational complexity. Numerical simulation results demonstrate that increasing the number of control modes from 3 to 5 reduces the average switching frequency of the valves by approximately 34%, while maintaining comparable positioning accuracy. The effectiveness regions of different control modes have been identified based on the required positioning accuracy. The findings can be used in the design and optimization of electro-pneumatic actuators with on/off valves for various industrial applications. The proposed approach to comparative analysis using Pareto fronts can be applied to investigate other types of control systems with conflicting quality criteria.