第6卷第1期 智能系统学报 Vol.6 No.1 2011年2月 CAAI Transactions on Intelligent Systems Feh.2011 doi:10.3969/j.iasn.1673-4785.2011.01.012 Fuzzy logic for large mining bucket wheel reclaimer motion control-from an engineer's perspective LU Tienfu (School of Mechanical Engineering,University of Adelaide,North Terrace Adelaide,South Australia SA 5005,Australia) Abstract:The bucket wheel reclaimer(BWR)is a key piece of equipment which has been widely used for stacking and reclai- ming bulk materials (i.e.iron ore and coal)in places such as ports,iron-steel plants,coal storage areas,and power stations from stockpiles.BWRs are very large in size,heavy in weight,expensive in price,and slow in motion.There are many challen- ges in attempting to automatically control their motion to accurately follow the required trajectories involving uncertain parameters from factors such as friction,turbulent wind,its own dynamics,and encoder limitations.As BWRs are always heavily engaged in production and cannot be spared very long for motion control studies and associated developments,a BWR model and simulation environment closely resembling real life conditions would be beneficial.The following research focused mainly on the implementa- tion of fuzzy logic to a BWR motion control from an engineer's perspective.First,the modeling of a BWR including partially known parameters such as friction force and turbulence to the system was presented.This was then followed by the design of a fuzzy logic-based control built on a model-based control loop.The investigation provides engineers with an example of applying fuzzy logic in a model based approach to properly control the motion of a large BWR following defined trajectories,as well as to show possible ways of further improving the controller performance.The result indicates that fuzzy logic can be applied easily by engineers to overcome most motion control issues involving a large BWR. Keywords:bucket wheel reclaimer;modeling;simulation;motion control;fuzzy logic CLC Number:TP273.4 Document code:A Article ID:1673-4785(2011)01-0085-10 The Australian mineral industry has played an im- issues which have arisen due to the uncertainties portant role in Australia's economy for years.A snap-caused by the insufficient knowledge and modeling er- shot shows that it represented 26%of Australian cap- rors of the bucket wheel reclaimer (BWR)that are ital investment,8%of total national GDP,and 40% normally associated with stacking and reclaiming stock- of total trade in the 2006-2007 fiscal year.The in- pilesin port areas. dustry is mostly located in rural and remote Australia, Anyone who knows the field would agree that and contributes vast sums to the taxation and royalty there are a lot more areas regarding the operations asso- revenues of the Australian Governments. ciated with BWRs which could be further developed, The mining industry is one of the most important including improving the efficiency of BWR motion con- export industries in Australia.Mining covers a broad trol.Nevertheless,stockpiles and BWRs within a spectrum of activities,from exploring and identifying stockyard are always heavily engaged and stretched to new ore bodies such as coal,to processing,transporta- production limits.As they often cannot be spared for tion,and exporting.Before solid bulk materials such the required time period of research and development as metal ores are exported,they are normally stock- in order to improve operation efficiencies,alternatives piled at ports while waiting to be reclaimed according are required.One of the choices is simulation.By to the desired quality and quantity combinations,and properly reflecting the physics in areas such as uncer- subsequently loaded to ships. tainty in computer simulation environments,research The presented work concerns the motion control and development can be carried out without interrup- Received Date:2010-09-25. ting the production operation of real BWRs until the Corresponding Author:LU Tienfu.E-mail:tien-fu.luadelaide.edu.u very late stages involving fine tuning and implementa- tions