Tracking control for piecewise linear systems using an error space approach: A case-study in sheet control

This paper presents the design of tracking controllers for piecewise linear systems, with application to sheet control in a printer paper path. The approach that we will take is based upon an error space approach, which is derived from linear systems theory. We will show that due to the discontinuity in the piecewise linear system, the resulting model in error space consists of both flow conditions, describing the dynamics in each regime, and jump conditions, describing the error dynamics at the switching boundaries. Two types of controllers are proposed that result in either full or partial linearization of the closed-loop error dynamics. To show the effectiveness of the control design approach in practice, the sheet controllers are implemented on an experimental paper path setup.