Performance-driven control of nano-motion systems

The performance of high-precision mechatronic systems is subject to ever increasing demands regarding speed and accuracy. To meet these demands, new actuator drivers, sensor signal processing and control algorithms have to be derived. The state-of-the-art scientific developments in these research directions can significantly improve the performance of high-precision systems. However, translation of the scientific developments to usable technology is often non-trivial. To improve the performance of high-precision systems and to bridge the gap between science and technology, a performance-driven control approach has been developed. First, the main performance limiting factor (PLF) is identified. Then, a model-based compensation method is developed for the identified PLF. Experimental validation shows the performance improvement and reveals the next PLF to which the same procedure is applied. The compensation method can relate to the actuator driver, the sensor system or the control algorithm. In this thesis, the focus is on nano-motion systems that are driven by piezo actuators and/or use encoder sensors. Nano-motion systems are defined as the class of systems that require velocities ranging from nanometers per second to millimeters per second with a (sub)nanometer resolution. The main PLFs of such systems are the actuator driver, hysteresis, stick-slip effects, repetitive disturbances, coupling between degrees-of-freedom (DOFs), geometric nonlinearities and quantization errors. The developed approach is applied to three illustrative experimental cases that exhibit the above mentioned PLFs. The cases include a nano-motion stage driven by a walking piezo actuator, a metrological AFM and an encoder system. The contributions of this thesis relate to modeling, actuation driver development, control synthesis and encoder sensor signal processing. In particular, dynamic models are derived of the bimorph piezo legs of the walking piezo actuator and of the nano-motion stage with the walking piezo actuator containing the switching actuation principle, stick-slip effects and contact dynamics. Subsequently, a model-based optimization is performed to obtain optimal drive waveforms for a constant stage velocity. Both the walking piezo actuator and the AFM case exhibit repetitive disturbances with a non-constant period-time, for which dedicated repetitive control methods are developed. Furthermore, control algorithms have been developed to cope with the present coupling between and hysteresis in the different axes of the AFM. Finally, sensor signal processing algorithms have been developed to cope with the quantization effects and encoder imperfections in optical incremental encoders. The application of the performance-driven control approach to the different cases shows that the different identified PLFs can be successfully modeled and compensated for. The experiments show that the performance-driven control approach can largely improve the performance of nano-motion systems with piezo actuators and/or encoder sensors

Hysteresis Modeling of Amplified Piezoelectric Stack Actuator for the Control of the Microgripper

This paper presents Bouc-Wen hysteresis modelling and tracking control of piezoelectric stack APA120S. The actuator is used to control a microgripper. A modified Bouc-Wen non-symmetric model is applied to study the behaviour of the system in static and dynamic state. The good agreement between predicted and measured curve showed that the Bouc-Wen model is an effective mean for modelling the hysteresis of piezoelectric actuator system. Subsequently, the inverse Bouc-Wen model is formulated and applied to cancel the non-linear hysteresis. In perspective of a control design, it is desirable to linearize the non-linear Bouc-Wen model to produce a static system. Finally, in order to increase damping of the actuator system and to improve the control accuracy, a cascaded PID controller is designed with consideration of the dynamics and static behaviour of the actuator. Experiment result shows that error is of only 5% if PID is cascaded with hysteresis compensation. Therefore, hysteresis compensation with PID controller greatly improves the micromanipulation accuracy of the microgripper actuated by piezoelectric stack

Overactuated systems coordination

The economic growth inherent to our nowadays society pushes the industries toward better performances. In the mechatronic context, the increasing competition results in more and more stringent specifications. Thus, the multiple objectives to track become hard to achieve without compromises. A potential interesting solution to this problematic is overactuation, in the sense that, the considered system has more actuated degrees of freedom than the minimal number required to realize a task. Indeed, overactuation enables flexible and efficient responses to a high variety of tasks. Moreover, the coordinated combination of different subsystems enables both to combine their advantages and to cancel their disadvantages. However, the successful coordination of the supplementary degrees of freedom at our disposal, thanks to overactuation, is not trivial. As a matter of fact, the problem of unpredictable response of overactuated systems to a periodic excitation can be particularly critical. Furthermore, the flexibility brought by the overactuation is to be used efficiently in order to justify its corresponding complexity and higher costs. In this sense, the tracking of multiple simultaneous objectives are clearly enabled by the overactuation and thus constitutes a clear motivation for such a solution. As a consequence, the constructive coordination of overactuated systems, which can be very difficult, is very important to achieve stringent objectives. This thesis aims at contributing to the improvement of the coordination of such systems. In this context, three axis of research are considered: differential geometry, potential functions and closed-loop control. Each of these axis is to be taken as a separate insight on the overall coordination of overactuated systems. On the one hand, the formalism of differential geometry enables a solution to the unpredictability problem raised here above. An intelligent parameterization of the solution space to a periodic task enforces the predictability of the subsystem responses. Indeed, the periodicity of the task is transferred to the latter subsystem responses, thanks to an adequate coordination scheme. On the second hand, potential functions enable the coordination of multiple simultaneous objectives to track. A clear hierarchy in the tasks priority is achieved through their successive projections into reduced orthogonal subspaces. Moreover, the previously mentioned predictability problem is also re-examined in this context. Finally, in the frame of an international project in collaboration with the European Southern Observatory (ESO), an opto-mecatronic overactuated system, called Differential Delay Line, enables the consideration of closed-loop coordination. The successful coordination of the subsystems of the Differential Delay Line, combining their intrinsic advantages, is the key control-element ensuring the achievement of the stringent requirements. This thesis demonstrates that a constructive coordination of the supplementary degrees of freedom of overactuated systems enables to achieve, at least partly, the stringent requirements of nowadays mechatronics

Sliding-Mode control for high-precision motion control systems

In many of today's mechanical systems, high precision motion has become a necessity. As performance requirements become more stringent, classical industrial controllers such as PID can no longer provide satisfactory results. Although many control approaches have been proposed in the literature, control problems related to plant parameter uncertainties, disturbances and high-order dynamics remain as big challenges for control engineers. Theory of Sliding Mode Control provides a systematic approach to controller design while allowing stability in the presence of parametric uncertainties and external disturbances. In this thesis a brief study of the concepts behind Sliding Mode Control will be shown. Description of Sliding Mode Control in discrete-time systems and the continuous Sliding Mode Control will be shown. The description will be supported with the design and robustness analysis of Sliding Mode Control for discrete-time systems. In this thesis a simplified methodology based on discrete-time Sliding Mode Control will be presented. The main issues that this thesis aims to solve are friction and internal nonlinearities. The thesis can be outlined as follows: -Implementation of discrete-time Sliding Mode Control to systems with nonlinearities and friction. Systems include; piezoelectric actuators that are known to suffer from nonlinear hysteresis behavior and ball-screw drives that suffer from high friction. Finally, the controller will be implemented on a 6-dof Stewart platform which is a system of higher complexity. -It will also be shown that performance can be enhanced with the aid of disturbance compensation based on a nominal plant disturbance observer

Improvement in the Imaging Performance of Atomic Force Microscopy: A Survey

Nanotechnology is the branch of science which deals with the manipulation of matters at an extremely high resolution down to the atomic level. In recent years, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has proven to be extremely versatile as an investigative tool in this field. The imaging performance of AFMs is hindered by: 1) the complex behavior of piezo materials, such as vibrations due to the lightly damped low-frequency resonant modes, inherent hysteresis, and creep nonlinearities; 2) the cross-coupling effect caused by the piezoelectric tube scanner (PTS); 3) the limited bandwidth of the probe; 4) the limitations of the conventional raster scanning method using a triangular reference signal; 5) the limited bandwidth of the proportional-integral controllers used in AFMs; 6) the offset, noise, and limited sensitivity of position sensors and photodetectors; and 7) the limited sampling rate of the AFM's measurement unit. Due to these limitations, an AFM has a high spatial but low temporal resolution, i.e., its imaging is slow, e.g., an image frame of a living cell takes up to 120 s, which means that rapid biological processes that occur in seconds cannot be studied using commercially available AFMs. There is a need to perform fast scans using an AFM with nanoscale accuracy. This paper presents a survey of the literature, presents an overview of a few emerging innovative solutions in AFM imaging, and proposes future research directions.This work was supported in part by the Australian Research Council (ARC) under Grant FL11010002 and Grant DP160101121 and the UNSW Canberra under a Rector's Visiting Fellowshi

Modeling and Compensation of Hysteresis In Piezoelectric Actuators: A Physical Approach

A study in the polarization domain is conducted by probing the impedance of the piezoelectric actuator as it moves along its trajectory. A sensing signal is overlaid over a driving signal that is used to vary the position of the device. The electric polarisation is extracted from the capacitance measurement calculated from the impedance. These polarisation curves are then modelled using the Jiles-Atherton model and compensated for using the inverse model. These measurements give insight into the ferroelectric processes within the piezoelectric actuator, which operate on the polarisation state. In addition, research has been conducted on the topic of parameter estimation of hysteresis models. This dissertation proposes a Monte Carlo study on a novel normalised Jiles-Atherton model to generate a statistical set of model solutions to compare area and remnant displacement characteristics for different parameter selections. Two parameters were found to be the most responsible for changes in these characteristics, and solutions near the desired values of the measured hysteresis curves were found to be densely distributed in certain areas of the parameter space. Different parameter estimation techniques are proposed for the Prandtl-Ishlinskii model. For this model, the parameters have geometrical significance in the slope of certain points of the hysteresis curve. A novel rescaling procedure is developed to scale a Prandtl-Ishlinskii model hysteresis curve area to a new value without requiring a refitting of the coefficients and a frequency-dependent Prandtl-Ishlinskii model is developed. Finally, a temperature-dependent, asymmetric Prandtl-Ishlinskii (TAPI) model is developed to account for the changes in hysteresis due to the external temperature. These effects are modelled in the charge domain as an extra bound charge that appears as a result of domain reorientation effects. The temperature effectively changes the amount of energy required to break pinning sites in the actuator which changes the shape of the curve. The TAPI model is then implemented on a Fabry-Perot interferometer system consisting of three piezoelectric actuators controlling the placement of a mirror forming the etalon. A decoupled inverse TAPI model is shown to effectively linearise the output of this system at different temperatures

Modeling and Compensation of Hysteresis In Piezoelectric Actuators: A Physical Approach

A study in the polarization domain is conducted by probing the impedance of the piezoelectric actuator as it moves along its trajectory. A sensing signal is overlaid over a driving signal that is used to vary the position of the device. The electric polarisation is extracted from the capacitance measurement calculated from the impedance. These polarisation curves are then modelled using the Jiles-Atherton model and compensated for using the inverse model. These measurements give insight into the ferroelectric processes within the piezoelectric actuator, which operate on the polarisation state. In addition, research has been conducted on the topic of parameter estimation of hysteresis models. This dissertation proposes a Monte Carlo study on a novel normalised Jiles-Atherton model to generate a statistical set of model solutions to compare area and remnant displacement characteristics for different parameter selections. Two parameters were found to be the most responsible for changes in these characteristics, and solutions near the desired values of the measured hysteresis curves were found to be densely distributed in certain areas of the parameter space. Different parameter estimation techniques are proposed for the Prandtl-Ishlinskii model. For this model, the parameters have geometrical significance in the slope of certain points of the hysteresis curve. A novel rescaling procedure is developed to scale a Prandtl-Ishlinskii model hysteresis curve area to a new value without requiring a refitting of the coefficients and a frequency-dependent Prandtl-Ishlinskii model is developed. Finally, a temperature-dependent, asymmetric Prandtl-Ishlinskii (TAPI) model is developed to account for the changes in hysteresis due to the external temperature. These effects are modelled in the charge domain as an extra bound charge that appears as a result of domain reorientation effects. The temperature effectively changes the amount of energy required to break pinning sites in the actuator which changes the shape of the curve. The TAPI model is then implemented on a Fabry-Perot interferometer system consisting of three piezoelectric actuators controlling the placement of a mirror forming the etalon. A decoupled inverse TAPI model is shown to effectively linearise the output of this system at different temperatures