Quick response of electronic throttle control by expanding SMC

The electronic throttle control (ETC) of an intake air control system for a gasoline engine is a typical nonlinear system because of its discontinuous nonlinear spring and model-parameter changes caused by external environmental variables. In this paper, we propose the use of an expanding sliding mode control (ESMC) in order to improve the responsiveness of the ETC and so realize higher intake-air efficiency for the engine. The electronic throttle model is introduced as a controlled object with parameter changes caused by body temperature variations regarded as the unstable factor. The system was simulated for a wide open throttle, and the results confirmed that the response time of the electronic throttle is dramatically shortened by the proposed ESMC on the premise that 95% of the requested throttle opening can be reached within 100 ms, even when model-parameter changes are loaded. In addition, the response for a small step series showed high resolution.