Electro-mechanical clutch actuator control based on output switched Takagi- Sugeno controller

This paper aims to present a methodology to control the position of the clutch actuator. The objective is to improve the position reference tracking in order to get better performances and accuracy on the clutch slip control. The originality of this work is to use a model that takes into account the nonlinear characteristic of the stiffness of the clutch diaphragm. Instead of robustness approach, the nonlinearity is managed using the quasi-LPV Takagi-Sugeno representation and, additionally, because the nonlinearity is switching, the developed control law is, consequently, a nonlinear switching one. Moreover, in order to use unmeasured values in the controller, such as the current of the electric motor, a Takagi-Sugeno switching observer is designed. Some simulation results highlight the efficiency of the proposed approach.