Research On Path Controlling System Of Deep-sea Mining Vehicle

Exploration and development of mineral resources on the deep seabed are only in their early stages, but it is plain that they will play an increasingly important role in satisfying the mineral needs of the future. Countries all over the world are carrying research on deep seabed mining technology for the ocean economy age. The deep-sea mining vehicle is a key subsystem of the marine exploiting system. Improving the automatic performance of the vehicle is of great significance to raise mining efficiency and reliability of the entire exploitation system.The objective of this thesis is largely to design a system used for path controlling. The system confirms to real-time performances and requirements of deep-sea mining vehicle. Its electro-hydraulic driving system is elucidated and modularized as a mathematic model. On the basis of analyzing the maneuvering characteristics of the vehicle, the kinematical model is established. Then the problem of path controlling is described under the frame of the established kinematics model. By coordinates' transformation, the problem of path controlling is converted into a regulation problem of a nonlinear system. Thus the backstepping algorithm basing on Lyapunov methodology can be employed. Taking mechanical properties of the vehicle and complicated setting of the ocean floor into consideration, an approach of limiting velocity is incorporated.A series of path controlling simulations used MATLAB/Simulink platform is conducted to investigate the performance of the backstepping algorithm under various initial conditions regarding the circular trajectory. Due to the violent disturbances in the seabed, Gauss noise is added. In order to test whether the proposed algorithm can work practically in the commercial system, the experiments are made for a prototype mining vehicle. Simulation examples and experimental results illustrate the backstepping controller is effective and has a robust stability.