Real-time LQ-optimal control of a DC drive system

The LQ-optimal control problem with finite horizon implies the use of a time-variant controller. The implementation of such a controller is difficult in practical applications and requires a great amount of CPU time. This paper proposes an easier approach for the implementation of these types of controllers using only invariant blocks. This controller uses a constant feedback and a correction depending on the initial state of the plant and the load torque. When the disturbance torque is unknown it is estimated with a disturbance observer. The paper presents a transputer-based controller for the implementation of the optimal control algorithm. The controller consists in a motherboard with two transputers T 805 and a PC host computer. The experimental real-time results from the last section show the validity of the proposed method and the effectiveness of the transputer-based controller