State Anti-windup: A New Methodology for Tackling State Constraints at Both Synthesis and Implementation Levels

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel state anti-windup methodology that integrates soft-hard state constraints into control systems, enhancing practical constraint handling and robustness against disturbances.

Contribution

It proposes a new state anti-windup compensator design that separates from the nominal controller and uses Hinf optimization for improved constraint management.

Findings

Effective in managing state and input constraints.

Demonstrated robustness in renewable energy grid fault simulations.

Flexible fixed-order compensator design.

Abstract

The anti-windup compensation typically addresses strict control limitations in control systems. However, there is a clear need for an equivalent solution for the states/outputs of the system. This paper introduces a novel methodology for the state anti-windup compensator. Unlike state-constrained control methods, which often focus on incorporating soft constraints into the design or fail to react adequately to constraint violations in practical settings, the proposed methodology treats state constraints as implement-oriented soft-hard constraints. This is achieved by integrating a saturation block within the structure of the safety compensator, referred to as the state anti-windup (SANTW) compensator. Similar to input anti-windup schemes, the SANTW design is separated from the nominal controller design. The problem is formulated as a disturbance rejection one to directly minimize the saturation. The paper develops two Hinf optimization frameworks using frequency-domain solutions and linear matrix inequalities. It then addresses constraints on both inputs and states, resulting in a unified Input-State Anti-windup (IS-ANTW) compensator synthesized using non-smooth Hinf optimization. This method also offers the flexibility of having a fixed-order compensator, crucial in many practical applications. Additionally, the study evaluates the proposed compensator's performance in managing current fluctuations from renewable energy sources during grid faults, demonstrating its effectiveness through detailed Electromagnetic Transient (EMT) simulations of grid-connected DC-AC converters.