Development of a Conveyor Cart with Magnetic Levitation Mechanism Based on Multi Control Strategies

Abstract

This paper presents the experimental magnetic levitation control development of Sanki Engineering airport luggage conveyor carts which have four magnetic levitation units working synchronously. With the PID controller, the state feedback controller and the zero-power controller refined by PID controller were implemented in the one magnetic levitation unit system and four-unit magnetic levitation system, and the displacement and the current were verified in a real-time system. The magnetic levitation unit had a fast response, and the control algorithms were easily implemented. The change of current and displacement were compared. In the one-unit system, the PID and state feedback controller react to the disturbance at the same speed and have similar power consumptions. For a disturbance on the zero-power controller, the system generates a transient current to deal with the load disturbance and finally settles to 0 A. The PID control for four magnetic levitation units of the conveyor cart has a better stable performance during synchronous operation. Under the control of state feedback controller, they can keep the cart statically stable with some oscillation. These characteristics are experimentally confirmed.