Payload Oscillation Mitigation in 3D Tower Cranes via a Model-Free Robust Adaptive Controller
Main Article Content
Abstract
The three-dimensional (3D) tower crane system is a typical underactuated system. Its dynamic model is complex and difficult to determine accurately, while the system operates under harsh environmental conditions. This makes the control problem particularly challenging, as it must simultaneously address both model uncertainties and external disturbances. In this paper, a model-free robust adaptive controller is proposed for the three-dimensional tower crane system (3DTC). The controller is designed to suppress (or minimize) payload oscillations while ensuring accurate trajectory tracking under system uncertainties and external disturbances. The proposed approach is developed completely independently of the system model, without relying on any parameter or disturbance estimation mechanism, and it uses only a single time-varying parameter that is updated online. This design strategy results in a simpler controller structure, reducing both the computational burden and design complexity. First, the dynamic model of the 3D tower crane system is formulated to describe the coupling characteristics between the trolley motion and the payload swing. Then, the controller is designed based on this dynamic analysis to achieve robust and adaptive control performance. Lyapunov stability theory is employed to rigorously analyze and guarantee the stability of the closed-loop system. Finally, a series of simulation scenarios are conducted to compare the proposed method with the conventional SMC and the adaptive approach in [1]. This comparison aims to verify its performance and effectiveness under various uncertainties and external disturbances. The results demonstrate that the proposed controller achieves fast convergence, strong robustness, and effective swing suppression, confirming its potential for practical implementation in real-world 3DTC operations.
Keywords
Tower Crane, model-free adaptive controller, underactuated system, unknown parameters of the system
Article Details
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