Model-based and model-free position control of a servo pneumatic system in the presence of uncertainties and disturbances

Trajectory tracking in electro-pneumatic systems poses a significant challenge due to the nonlinearity of their dynamics. This research aims to analyze the performance of various types of controllers for a laboratory-scale pneumatic system in terms of energy consumption and control efforts. By considering the mathematical relationships among system components, a precise gray-box mathematical model is developed based on experimental data. Subsequently, different linear model-free and nonlinear model-based controllers, is designed and their performances are compared by measuring tracking error, control effort, maximum overshoot, settling time, robustness against disturbances, and energy efficiency in the presence of severe disturbances. The effectiveness of these control methods is assessed through experimental tests and compared.