SMC with disturbance observer for a linear belt drive

Accurate position-tracking control in a belt-driven servomechanism can experience vibrations and large tracking errors due to compliance and elasticity introduced by force transmission through the belt and nonlinear-friction phenomenon. In this paper, a new control algorithm which is based on a sliding-mode control that is able to deal with these problems is proposed. In order to further optimize position-tracking performance, the control scheme has been extended by an asymptotic disturbance observer. It has been proven that robust and vibration-free operation of a linear-belt-driven system can be achieved. The experiments presented in this paper show improved position-tracking error response while maintaining vibration suppression.