Swing-up and stabilization of a cart-pendulum system under restricted cart track length

This paper describes the swing-up and stabilization of a cart–pendulum system with a restricted cart track length and restricted control force using generalized energy control methods. Starting from a pendant position, the pendulum is swung up to the upright unstable equilibrium con5guration using energy control principles. An “energy well” is built within the cart track to prevent the cart from going outside the limited length. When su9cient energy is acquired by the pendulum, it goes into a “cruise” mode when the acquired energy is maintained. Finally, when the pendulum is close to the upright con5guration, a stabilizing controller is activated around a linear zone about the upright con5guration. The proposed scheme has worked well both in simulation and a practical setup and the conditions for stability have been derived using the multiple Lyapunov functions approach. c © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.