Self tuning adaptive control of speed drives in the presence of random disturbances and parameter variations

The control of engine speed systems that are subjected to unknown and time-varying external load disturbances and that have varying structural parameters due to the uncertainties of the system´s performance is addressed. The conventional approach to the controller design of such systems may not assure satisfactory control performance. An adaptive self-tuning regulator based on the pole placement method and an online estimation strategy based on the recursive maximum-likelihood method for the system parameters are developed. The estimation strategy updates the system dynamics to the adaptive controller. This enables the controller to control the engine speed system for the best transient and steady-state response. Computer simulation results of the suggested estimation-adaptation algorithms are presented