Active disturbance rejection control for nonlinear two-tank liquid level cascade systems with model uncertainties

Due to the nonlinearities, model uncertainties and disturbances of the two-tank liquid level cascade system, active disturbance rejection controller (ADRC) solution was developed. First, a nonlinear mechanism model and its linearized model were built based on the theories of fluid dynamics for the system. Second, first-order linear ADRCs for the outer loop of the two cascade systems with an unknown order were designed, respectively. With a simple integrator as the normalized type of the feedback system, other parts of dynamic system which are different from the normalized type are treated as the total disturbances. The disturbances were estimated by the second-order linear extended state observer and compensated in the control law. Then the system, with nonlinearities, uncertainties and disturbances, is reduced to only a linear integrator. In comparison with the traditional PI controller, simulation results show that both the proposed ADRCs have better robustness and adaptability against model uncertainties.