Adaptive coupling control for overhead crane systems

Due to the requirements of high positioning accuracy, small swing angle, short transportation time, and high safety, both motion and stabilization control for an overhead crane system becomes an interesting issue in the field of control technology development. In this paper, a nonlinear control scheme which incorporates both the cart motion dynamics and sway angle dynamics is devised to ensure the overall closed-loop system stability. To cope with parametric uncertainty, an adaptive version has also been presented for the nonlinear controller. In the developed control laws, the position error will be driven to zero while the sway angle is also rapidly damped to achieve minimal swing of the pendulum. Besides, stability proof of the overall system is also given.