An adaptive backstepping nonsingular fast terminal sliding-mode control for the electromechanical brake system with backlash nonlinearity compensation

With the operation of low-floor trams, unavoidable nonlinear factors such as backlash and parameter perturbation are present in electromechanical brake (EMB) systems. This results in poor clamping force tracking performance and challenges the operational safety of trams. Thus, an adaptive nonsingular fast terminal sliding-mode control algorithm is proposed to address this thorny problem. Firstly, a differentiable function approximates the backlash nonlinearity. Then, a dynamic mathematical model for an EMB system with backlash nonlinearity and parameter perturbation is established. Based on the backstepping control principle, this paper divides the system into three subsystems, and the nonsingular fast terminal sliding-mode control (NFTSMC) algorithm is adopted to design the controller of each subsystem. Notably, the NFTSMC algorithm can solve the parameters perturbation problem by the large switching gains, which may cause the chattering phenomenon. This paper utilizes the adaptive law to establish an adaptive NFTSMC algorithm to improve this phenomenon. Furthermore, the global asymptotic stability of the system is analyzed using Lyapunov theory. Finally, experimental results clearly validate the effectiveness and superiorities of the proposed control algorithm.