Relay-based hybrid control of minimal-order mechanical systems with applications

Abstract

This work explores the potential of relay-based control on a one-degree-of-freedom nonlinear mechanical system, in the contexts of both sustaining and damping oscillations. For both cases we state our main results building upon a simple reset formulation (relay feedback) and providing intuitive basic equations from classical mechanics. With a more rigorous description following a hybrid system formalism, we establish then the global asymptotic stability of the corresponding (compact-set) attractors through hybrid Lyapunov tools. The aspects of sustaining and damping oscillation are seen as complementary, because they reduce to a suitable mirroring of the reset surface. Finally, we discuss two applications of our results to the case of a hopping mass and an automotive suspension.