Modified Model-Free Adaptive Control Method Applied to Vibration Control of an Elastic Crane

Model-free adaptive control (MFAC) is a data-driven control approach receiving increased attention in the last years. Different model-free-based control strategies are proposed to design adaptive controllers when mathematical models of the controlled systems should not be used or are not available. Using only measurements (I/O data) from the system, a feedback controller is generated without the need of any structural information about the controlled plant. In this contribution an improved MFAC is discussed for control of unknown multivariable flexible systems. The main improvement in control input calculation is based on the consideration of output tracking errors and its variations. A new updated control input algorithm is developed. The novel idea is firstly applied for controlling vibrations of a MIMO ship-mounted crane. The control efficiency is verified via numerical simulations. The simulation results demonstrate that vibrations of the elastic boom and the payload of the crane can be reduced significantly and better control performance is obtained when using the proposed controller compared to standard model-free adaptive and PI controllers.