Modelling length/pressure hysteresis of a pneumatic artificial muscle using a modified Prandtl-Ishlinskii model

Pneumatic artificial muscles have been widely used in various fields owing to their inherent compliance and high power-to-weight ratio. However, the natural hysteresis nonlinearity including length/pressure hysteresis and force/pressure hysteresis degrades their performance in precise tracking control, making it necessary to build a mathematical hysteresis model for hysteresis compensation. This paper deals with the modelling of length/pressure hysteresis of pneumatic artificial muscles. The length/pressure hysteresis loops measured by the isotonic test are found to be asymmetric and independent of the external load when the load is small. Considering that the classical Prandtl-Ishlinskii model is only effective for symmetric hysteresis, a modified Prandtl-Ishlinskii model is proposed to describe the length/pressure hysteresis behaviour. The developed model utilizes two asymmetric operators with simple mathematical forms to independently model the ascending branch and descending branch of hysteresis loops. The model parameters are identified using the recursive least square algorithm. Comparisons between simulation results and experimental measurements demonstrate that the proposed model can characterize the asymmetric major hysteresis loop and minor hysteresis loops with high accuracy.