Analysis, modeling, identification and control of pancake DC torque motors: Application to automobile air path actuators

This article is focused on the working, modeling and control of pancake DC torque motors, used in automobile engine air path actuators. These motors, with a limited working angle, provide high torque which makes them suitable for use in actuators without any additional gear reduction. The torque is a nonlinear function of the motor angle. This article provides a modeling scheme, suitable for control purposes, which takes into consideration nonlinearities arising from friction and operating temperature. Comparison between simulation and experiments shows the effectiveness of the proposed model. Second order sliding mode control has been applied to the actuators for robust control under the influence of nonlinearities and uncertainties. The effectiveness of the control algorithm has been proven experimentally.