A New Class of Adaptive Fuzzy Control Systems applied in an Industrial Thermal Vacuum Process

J. E. Araujo Filho l9
ernestoblit.inDe. br

Sandra A. Sandri
sandri@lac.inpe.br

Elbert E. N.Macau
elbertblithpe.br

Integrating and Testing Laboratory. - LIT *CornputerSci. and Applied Math. Associated Lab - LAC Brazilian National Space Research Institute - INPE 12.227-010- Si0 J O S Campos - SP ~ BRAZIL
Abstmct - A feasible solution to the problem of controlling thermal vacuum chambers automatically to satisfy testing requirements in the space sector is considered in this paper. The design of appropriate controllers is not a trivial task due to intrinsic time delay and changing dynamics related to variable operating conditions in thermal vacuum tests. The fuzzy reference gain-schedulingcontrol approach (FRGS) is a concept that has been under development to substitute specialists in controlling thermal vacuum systems. In this new class of adaptive fuzzy controller the parameters are adjusted on-line by modifying the shapes of the membership functions according to different operationalconditions. Its application is not limited to controlling thermal vacuum processes. It can be applied to control any industrial problems or to model dynamics of systems, and it can be used in decision-making tasks.

Department of Computer Science Universidade Cruzeiro do SUI- Unicsul Si0 Paulo - SP BRAZIL

211. The new sort of controller presented here combines fuzzy control and gain-scheduling control approaches by setting up a new kind of adaptive control in which the shapes of the membership functions change according to different operational conditions. This kind of controller incorporates the expertise of the human expert acquired in past experiences to figure out an approach to controlhpervise thermal-vacuum chambers automatically in accordance with the requirements established by standards for the space sector [22][23]. The fuzzy reference gain-scheduling control approach is not applicable only to thermal vacuum process. There is potential application to factory automation for those processes that, for instance, are not linear and whose dynamics change with time according to operational conditions, and/or present timedelay. 11. BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM FORMULATION Simulated orbital life and space environments of space systems include thermal vacuum tests, which reproduce the conditions of expected post-launch environments. Once in space, satellites are exposed, but not limited, to sunshine, Albedo radiation, earth radiation, shadow/eclipse conditions, and earthshine infrared. A thermal vacuum system consists of a chamber, a shroud (set of pipes) which transmits heat or cold by radiation, and some devices and auxiliary equipment able to determine specific conditions for the test to be performed (Fig. 1).

I. INTRODUCTION Thermal vacuum chambers are used during the qualification process of space product development. They simulate environmental conditions in space of vacuum and thermal load to guarantee that a given satellite will operate efficiently when subjected to real environments different from those on earth [l].The main problem is when it is necessary to decide which is the best control approach to regulate the thermal vacuum testing process. The thermal vacuum process presents different heating and cooling rates for distinct payloads [2]. Moreover, the process develops several different operational thermal conditions when following different reference temperature values at distinct moments of time. Since each payload presents various thermal behaviors, the task of modeling the chamber and space devices is complicated. The chambers nonlinear dynamics and the payload running together suggest that the use of conventional controllers is not appropriate. Nowadays the control of thermal vacuum chambers is conducted by experienced operators. In order to carry out safe, efficient, high quality and low cost testing, it is of fundamental importance to find suitable solutions that support test operators [3]. An emerging fuzzy reference gain-scheduling control (FRGS) approach [4] is presented in this paper as an efficient set of autonomous actions to supervise and maintain safe hot or cold operating temperatures. Fuzzy gain scheduling control (FGS) systems have been studied and their application demonstrated in numerous papers [5-

sv1

w & w = #

SV2

Fig. 1 -Thermal Vacuum Chamber Diagram

0-7803-7241 1/$10.00 (~)200 IEEE -7/0 1

425

The operation of the thermal vacuum chamber [24] is described next. A vacuum environment is accomplished by the use of two separate pumping systems, after what the temperature is modified. The first pumping system is a single, dual stage, rotary vane, mechanical pump that produces low pressure inside the chamber. Once the desired pressure is reached, a high vacuum is obtained by using a cryogenic vacuum pump with closed cycle helium compressor. The global system produces pressures around l ~ l O torr to simulate the vacuum present in space. When - ~ a satellite is in a high vacuum environment, the thermal cycle starts. Modifying the temperature inside the shroud simulates that situation. The operation of the thermal shroud is achieved by means of a re-circulating, dense, and gaseous nitrogen (GN2) system. To maintain nearly constant heat transfer properties throughout the wide range of system operation, a constant density system is utilized. Cooling the circulating gas stream is accomplished by spraying liquid nitrogen (LN2) into the circuit while resistance type heaters mounted inside the piping network provide heat as required. In the thermal vacuum system used at the Brazilian National Space Research Institute (INPE), the original controller was designed to control the temperature on the shroud (Fig. 2). The GN2 thermal system is accomplished by using a dual output, time proportioning, heat-cool, and PID controller. That temperature controller sends out control set points to the GN2 pressure PID controller to keep constant heat transfer characteristics. The system pressure is adjusted to the required level by modifying venting nitrogen gas through the venting control valve or by switching the LN2 supply valve (SV1) as can be seen in Figures 1 and 2. Nevertheless, requirements for the space sector establish that the controlled variable is not the temperature on the shroud, but the temperature at the specimen surface. Conventional control systems are not appropriate for this task since the system to be controlled is highly nonlinear, presents time-delay, and changes its dynamic behavior in many different situations. Thermal vacuum chambers are inherently nonlinear because radiation is basically the source of heat transfer between the payload and shroud, and depend on temperature (T 4, [3] as the equation (1) shows:

Fig. 2 - Original Thermal Vacuum Control System

The modification in dynamics occurs independently of linearizations considering stationary behavior or offequilibrium nominal trajectory. The time-delay is concerned with the thermal optical characteristics of the specimen undergoing the test as well as its physical characteristics, best described by specific mass, specific heat, and thermal conductivity. Those features hinder the mathematical task of modeling a chamber and a payload tog,ether. Thus, the design of controllers to automatically command the thermal vacuum chamber is not a trivial task. To satisfy the test requirements and the necessities of space standards, nowadays operators control thermal vacuum systems in a non-automatic way (Fig. 3). A question that arises is whether it is possible to design ,an automatic control for this process; and if the answer is positive, the next question is which control approach would he more suitable. 111. FEASIBLE SOLUTION

A feasible solution to the problem of automatically controlling the thermal vacuum chamber satisfying requirements of space sector is to use the expertise of test operators. An approach able ito imitate human common sense reasoning to define set points in order to control systems is fuzzy controllers [25]. Fuzzy control systems are nonlinear and suitable for dealing with certain amount of nonlinear processes as occurs in thermal vacuum chambers. However, such a design also needs to cope with nonlinearities over a variety of operating points determined by the reference values of temperature during the test.

where: dTpl/dt is the payload transition rate, Tpl is the payload average temperature (absolute), Tsh is the shroud average temperature (absolute), Mpl is the payload mass, Cpl is the payload heat capacity, CT is the Stefan-Boltzmann's natural constant, E is the emissivity 1 absorptivity of a gray body, A is the radiating area. When the equation (1)is linearized, it is possible to note that various thermal operational conditions correspond to the reference levels (set points) used during the space product qualification.

I/
Fig 3 Current Thermal Vacuum Control Diagram

I
-

426

The use of adaptive controller is an alternative to deal with the problem of non-linear, time-varying, time-delay systems working on several operational conditions. A new class of nonlinear adaptive fuzzy controllers that considers those conditions named fuzzy reference gain-scheduling control (FRGS) system was proposed in a previous paper [4]. Its basic idea is to merge the nonlinear characteristics of the fuzzy control method and the adaptive features concerned with the gain-scheduling concept, by changing the shapes of the membership functions, according to different operational conditions in real time (Fig. 4). In truth, the fuzzy gain-scheduling control (FGS) system has been described by several manners in the literature [5-211. However, most of them work directly or indirectly by selecting local parameters of control in a gain poll computed earlier, while FRGS controllers compute the parameters on-line to generate control surfaces, depending on the reference. The FRGS technique is based on four different concepts: (1) Adaptive fuzzy control systems [25]; (2) Gainscheduling control systems [26]; (3) The general class of system equation which presents step behavior; and (4) The selection of several operating points indexed by some combination of reference state trajectories [27]. FRGS profit from traditional adaptive controllers, the idea of altering scaling factors, and the ability of modifying fuzzy sets. The notion of adjusting the parameters of the controller (gains) directly as a function of the operating conditions (scheduling) comes from the gain scheduling control system. The main characteristics of fuzzy reference gain-scheduling control systems are their ability to: Incorporate the expertise of human operators; Include knowledge about variation in the concepts underlying the membership functions; Adapt control surfaces as required by operational conditions, mainly determined by the reference; Permit parameters to change homogeneously, as a scaling factor; Allow parameters to modify independently or even stay constant;

- Be used both in the coding (fuzzification) and decoding

(defuzzification) activity;

- Be employed with any of the rule based models existing

in the literature; and

- Adjust the control parameters on-line.

N. FUZZY REFERENCE GAIN-SCHEDULING (FRGS)

CONTROL IN A THERMAL-VACUUM SYSTEM The basic structure of fuzzy controllers consists basically of a fuzzification interface, a knowledge base, and an inference mechanism comprised of fuzzy implication functions and a defuzzification interface. Fig. 5 represents a general fuzzy control diagram that has been combined with the FRGS concept by using the idea of information flow as it is employed at LIT/INPE (www.inpe.br) in order to assist test operators in the control of a thermal-vacuum chamber. This control approach is currently under development and the diagram incorporates changes that have occurred so far in the search to find a suitable controller to regulate the whole process adequately. Experiments using an earlier knowledge base to form a fuzzy reference gain scheduling control system were presented in [4]. This paper shows recent results concerned with a new set of rules and membership functions described in Table I and 11. This upto-date knowledge base represents a refinement of the fuzzy control used to supervise or control the thermalvacuum system. Although the FRGS concept may be used in both the coding (fuzzification) and decoding (defuzzification) modules, the proposed idea was employed here only with the input membership functions at the fizzificutzon (coding) interface. In this paper the fuzzification interface uses the error, e, and the temperature change on payload, ATpl, as input variables. The error, which is the difference between the desired reference and the real temperature value on the payload, is associated with both constant linguistic terms and adaptive linguistic terms.

-Q(l)-fl(1)

- k 10
A

k fl(l) Q(1)

-a(loo)

-fl(loo)

Fig. 4 -Adaptive Membership Function

427

INPUT

MEMBERSHE'

VARIABLE

FUNCTION

RANGE

error*

Ahptive (100% 50%)*(fRef) Adaptive (50% 20%)*(?Ref) Adaptive-Cons,tnnt (20%)*(+Ref)++ (AS C ) (5C ) ++ (*2 C ) Constant Constant (22 C ) (*l C ) (+1 C ) (0 C ) Constant

Fig. 5 -Fuzzy Reference Gain-SchedulingControl Diagram used with Thermal Vacuum Chamber

A Tpl

* error membership functions are positive or negative

The basic elements of the output variable are shown in equation (2): . . U =Udd

Adaptive sets change their support and core depending on the desired temperature, without interfering at fixed fuzzy sets. This adaptation works on transient periods in two categories: (1) When error is far from the reference (100% 50%), and (2) When the error presents an un intermediary value (50% * 20%). In t r ,when the error 0 C), the control law is is close to the reference (20% more restrictive to guarantee the temperature on the payload will not overshoot or damage the payload. The other input variable is associated only with the traditional class of fixed membership functions (Table I. ) The inference (reasoning) mechanism is the process of finding the value of the output variable (conclusion). That process deals with the set of rules and the input membership functions, along with fuzzy implication functions (also known as fuzzr reasoning or approximate reasoning) and a defuzification (decoding). Since the emergence of fuzzy controllers in 1974, the inference mechanism has been sorted into classical and interpolation techniques, representing two different kinds of fuzzy reasoning. The major difference between them is that the classical approach uses fuzzy sets, whereas the interpolation approach employs (linear) functions in the consequent of fuzzy control rules. Classical fuzzy

+ AU

where: - Uold is the previous set point adjusted at the controller; - Au = @(A*) is the incremental value of output and is represented in Table I1 by the set of eq. Up and Un. - hAU) the membership function related to the is defuzzification interface - K is a constant value related to the necessary energy to reach the desired transient. The database, which determines the membership functions used in the fuzzy miles, and the linguistic rule base, which contains a selection of if-then fuzzy rules, composes the knowledge base 1:28-30]. The components of the knowledge base are defined by the experience of thermal-vacuum operators ancl they are summarized in Tables I and 11. The control actions related to positive values of reference levels use a set of elquations determined by the required electrical power to maintain the desired transient on payload. Negative values of reference levels use a similar set of equations, but different from the positive one, they are settled by the amount of necessary gaseous nitrogen to keep the desired transient on payload. Both positive and negative set of equations are presented in Table 11.

controllers include Mamdani and Larsen models while

interpolation techniques comprise Takagi-Sugeno and Tsukamoto models interface [29-311. The controller in this paper employs a classical Mamdani approach in the fuzzy implication functions while the Tsukamoto model is used in the defuzzification (decoding) interface to compute the incremental value of the control action (Au) and thus, the crisp output (U). Fig. 6 depicts the interpolation Tsukamoto approach employed in this FRGS control system approach.

Set point

Transient

Heating Control

I)) = 8p(u)+Uold (U)) = 1 O+Uold I)) = 4p(u)+Uold 6p(u)+Uold

9)

I) =2p(u)+Uold )
U)) = p(u)+Uold

1,5"/m 2"Im 0,5"/m 1"Im 0,2"/m

0,08"/m

(4

4AU = wl*AUl+~2Aul

wl+w

Fig. 6 - Tsnkamoto's inference mechanism

428

A dynamic response related to a step input signal behavior can be seen in Fig. 7 hereafter. The dynamic behavior describes a smooth temperature change on payload. There is no overshoot as required to avoid damaging any specimen under test. Moreover, there is no strong oscillation around the temperature reference even though an approximate oscillation of 3 degrees is allowed. Nevertheless, these new database and linguist rule base do not solve all of the requirements for a system to be controlled. There is still time delay from the input signal in the transient response and the rise time is a little bit slower than desired. Despite the existence of these small drawbacks, the positive results of using the fuzzy reference gain scheduling control system outnumber the disadvantages.

The benefits of applying such a controller are described by its ability to control nonlinear systems without any mathematical model, incorporating the intrinsic dynamic behavior features of thermal processes especially when vacuum is present. Beyond those qualities, this class of control systems can be applied, but is not limited to, other industrial processes, can be employed to model dynamics of systems, or even can be used in decision-making tasks. VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS J.E.A.F., and S.A.S. acknowledge support from Brazilian research funding agency CNPq with grants 381.212197 and 520.176196-0, respectively, and E.E.N.M. with grants 4.647.335100-9 and 300.600100-3. VII. REFERENCES Gamer, J. T., Satellite Control - A Comprehensive Approach, New edition, John Wiley & Sons Ltd. and Praxis Publishing Ltd., Chinchester, 1996, 178 p. Gilmore, D.G. , Satellite Thermal Control Handbook, The Aerospace Corporation Press, El Segundo, California, 1994. Jen, C.-L. and Tilwick, L, On-line, Self-learning, Predictive Toll for Determining Payload Thermal Response, in Proc. of Space Space Simulation, pp. 193-200,2000. Araujo Filho, J.E., Sandri, S., and Macau, E.E.N., Fuzzy Reference Gain Scheduling Control Systems, in Proc. 1 International Conference of the North 9 American Fuzzy Information Processing Society , pp. 461-464, Atlanta, EUA, July, 2000. Talaq, J. and Al-Basri, F. Adaptive Fuzzy Gain Scheduling for Load Frequency Control, ZEEE Trans. Power Systems, v. 14, n.1, February, 1990. Ling, C. and Edgar, T.F., New Fuzzy Gain Scheduling Algorithm for Process Control, in Proc. American Control Conference, Baltimore, MD, USA, V. 3, pp. 2284-2290,1992. March-Leuba, C., Abdalla, M., Ford, C.E. and Guimaraes, L., A Hybrid Fuzzy-PI Adaptive Control for U-Tube Steam Generators, Control-Theory and Advanced Technology, v. 8, n.3, pp. 567-575, September, 1992. Zhao, Z.-Y, Tomizuka, M. and Isaka, S., Fuzzy Gain Scheduling of PID Controllers, IEEE Trans. Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, v. 23, n.5, SeptemberIOctober, 1993. Zhao, J., Wertz, V. and Gorez, R., FUZZY Gain Scheduling Controllers Based on Fuzzy Models, in Proc. 5th IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems, New Orleans, USA, v. 3, pp. 1670-1676, 1996. Tan, S., Hang, C-C, and Chai, J-S, Gain Scheduling: from Conventional to Neuro-fuzzy, Automatica, v. 33, n.3, pp. 411-419, March, 1997.

1-

PayloadTempeature -Reference

Fig. 7 -Transient response for a step signal

The designed controller conducted the thermal-vacuum chamber test to reach the reference without using a mathematical model that is hard to be found since the dynamic behavior is determined by each payload under test. V. CONCLUSION This paper presents a methodology based on a gainscheduling approach and adaptive fuzzy controller to command an industrial thermal-vacuum process. It was also pointed out that the design of the controller is under development, but the control system has already been achieving positive results. This sort of adaptive fuzzy control permits the approximation of human reasoning by using fuzzy theory to control nonlinear and complex systems. The idea of using this controller is to substitute specialists in the assignment of controlling systems in order to carry out safe, efficient, high quality, and low cost testing. Such a controller needs also to deal with nonlinear characteristics over a variety of operating points determined by the reference temperature values of the test. This concept has been named fuzzy reference gain scheduling control (FRGS) systems. This adaptive controller has been employed with input membership functions that adapt their support and core as the reference changes in step levels, along with the inference mechanism composed by Mamdani implication functions and Tsukamoto defuzzification interface.

429

[ll] Ling, C. and Edgar, T.F., Real-time control of a

water-gas shift reactor by a model-based fuzzy gain scheduling technique, J. Proc. Cont., v. 7, n.4, pp. 239-253,1997. [12] Kim, D.Y. and Seong, P.H., Fuzzy Gain Scheduling of Velocity PI Controller with Intelligent Learning Algorithm for Reactor Control, Ann. Nucl. Energy, v. 24, n.lO, pp. 819-827, 1997. [13] Chang, C.S. and Fu, W., Area load frequency control using fuzzy gain scheduling of PI controllers, Electric Power Systems Research, v. 42, pp. 145-152, 1997. [14] Dash, P.K., Liew, A.C., and Mishra, B.R., Fast tracking of transient power system signals using fuzzy LMS algorithm, Electrical Power & Energy Systems, v. 20, n.8, pp. 555-561, 1998. [15] Chang, C.S., Fu, W. and Wen, F., Load Frequency Control using Genetic-Algorithm Based Fuzzy Gain Scheduling of PI Controllers, Electric Machines and Power Systems, v. 26, pp. 39-52,1998. [16] Yu, K.-W., Hwang, R.-C. and Hsieh, J.-G., Automatic Ship Handling of the Maritime Search Mission using a Self-Tuning Fuzzy Gain Scheduling PD Controller, Journal of Navigation, v. 52, n. 3, pp. 378-387,1999. [17] Wang, J. and Zang, W., Neural-fuzzy scheduling of H, robust controllers for a high performance fighter aircraft under a Herbst-like manoueuvre, Int. Journal of Control, v. 72, n.718, pp. 740-754, 1999. [18] Chiu, S-H and Pong, S-H, In-Line Viscositiy Control in a Extrusion Process with a Fuzzy Gain Scheduled PID Controller, Journal of Applied Polimers Science, v. 74, pp. 541-555,1999. [19] Blanchett, T.T., Kember, G.C., and Dubay, R., PID gain scheduling using fuzzy logic, ZSA Transactions, V. 39, pp. 317-325,2000. [20] Ali, E., Control of nonlinear chemical processes using adaptive proportional-integral algorithms, Industrial Engineering Chemical Research, v. 39, n.6, pp.1980-1992, Jun, 2000 [21] Nata, M., Jarrah, M., Demirli, K. et al., Fuzzy gain

scheduling for position control of a robot manipulator, Journal of Intelligent and Fuzzy Systems, v. 8, pp. 111-120,2000. [22] MIL-STD-1540B USAF Military Standard, Test Requirementsfor Space Vehicles, 10 October, 1982. [23] MIL-STD-343 USAF Military Handbook, Application Guidelines for MIL-STD-1540B;Test Requirements for Space Vehicles, 01 February, 1986. [24] High Vacuum Systems Inc., Operations and Maintenance Manual, Thermal Vacuum System with Thermally Conditioned Platen for Brazilian Space Research Institute, 01 October, 1987. [25] Driankov, D., Hellendoorn, H., and Reinfrank, M., An Introduction to Fuzzy Control, New York, U S A Springer-Verlag Ed., 19931,316 p. [26] k t r o m , K.J. and Wittenmark, B., Adaptive Control ,Ed. Addison-Wesley, 1989. [27] Shamma, J.S and Athans, M., Analysis of Gain Scheduled Control for Nonlinear Plants, ZEEE Trans. Automatic Control, v. 35, n.8, August, 1990. [28] Araujo Filho, J.E. and Macau, Thermal Vacuum System Controlled By Fuzzy Reasoning, in: Proc. 3rd World Multiconference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics and 5th International Conference On Information Systems Anarysis and Synthesis, v.7, pp. 1-7, Orlando, EUA, July, 1999. [29] Lee, C.C., Fuzzy Logic in Control Systems: Fuzzy Logic Controller, Part 11, IEEE Trans. Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, v. 20, n.2, pp. 419-435, MarcNApril 1990. [30] Mendel, J.M., Fuzzy Logic Systems for Engineering: A Tutorial, Proc. IEEE, v. 83, n. 3, pp. 345-377, March, 1995. [31] Jang, J.-S.R. and Sun, C-T., Neuro-Fuzzy Modeling and Control, Proc. IEEE, v. 83, n. 3, pp. 378-406, March, 1995 [32] Yager, R.R. and Filev D.P., Fuzzy Rule Based Models and Approximate Reasoning, in: Nguyen, H.T. and Sugeno, M. (ecl.): Systems Modeling and Control, Massachusetts, U S A Kluwer Academic Publisher Ed., 519 p.

430