Mechatronics of systems with undetermined configurations

This work is submitted for the award of a PhD by published works. It deals with some of the efforts of the author over the last ten years in the field of Mechatronics. Mechatronics is a new area invented by the Japanese in the late 1970's, it consists of a synthesis of computers and electronics to improve mechanical systems. To control any mechanical event three fundamental features must be brought together: the sensors used to observe the process, the control software, including the control algorithm used and thirdly the actuator that provides the stimulus to achieve the end result. Simulation, which plays such an important part in the Mechatronics process, is used in both in continuous and discrete forms. The author has spent some considerable time developing skills in all these areas. The author was certainly the first at Middlesex to appreciate the new developments in Mechatronics and their significance for manufacturing. The author was one of the first mechanical engineers to recognise the significance of the new transputer chip. This was applied to the LQG optimal control of a cinefilm copying process. A 300% improvement in operating speed was achieved, together with tension control. To make more efficient use of robots they have to be made both faster and cheaper. The author found extremely low natural frequencies of vibration, ranging from 3 to 25 Hz. This limits the speed of response of existing robots. The vibration data was some of the earliest available in this field, certainly in the UK. Several schemes have been devised to control the flexible robot and maintain the required precision. Actuator technology is one area where mechatronic systems have been the subject of intense development. At Middlesex we have improved on the Aexator pneumatic muscle actuator, enabling it to be used with a precision of about 2 mm. New control challenges have been undertaken now in the field of machine tool chatter and the prevention of slip. A variety of novel and traditional control algorithms have been investigated in order to find out the best approach to solve this problem

Infinite-Dimensional Modelling and Control of a MEMS Deformable Mirror with Applications in Adaptive Optics

RÉSUMÉ Le contrôle de déformation est un problème émergent dans les micro structures intelligentes. Une des applications type est le contrôle de la déformation de miroirs dans l’optique adaptative dans laquelle on oriente la face du miroir selon une géométrie précise en utilisant une gamme de micro-vérins afin d’éliminer la distortion lumineuse. Dans cette thèse, le problème de la conception du contrôle du suivi est considéré directement avec les modèles décrits par des équations aux dérivées partielles définies dans l’espace de dimension infinie. L’architecture du contrôleur proposée se base sur la stabilisation par retour des variables et le suivi des trajectoires utilisant la théorie des systèmes différentiellement plats. La combinaison de la commande par rétroaction et la planification des trajectoires permet de réduire la complexité de la structure du contrôleur pour que ce dernier puisse être implémentée dans les microsystèmes avec les techniques disponibles de nos jours. Pour aboutir à une architecture implémentable dans les applications en temps réel, la fonction de Green est considérée comme une fonction de test pour concevoir le contrôleur et pour représenter les trajectoires de référence dans la planification de mouvements.----------ABSTRACT Deformation control is an emerging problem for micro-smart structures. One of its exciting applications is the control of deformable mirrors in adaptive optics systems, in which the mirror face-sheet is steered to a desired shape using an array of micro-actuators in order to remove light distortions. This technology is an enabling key for the forthcoming extremely large ground-based telescopes. Large-scale deformable mirrors typically exhibit complex dynamical behaviors mostly due to micro-actuators distributed in the domain of the system which in particular complicates control design. A model of this device may be described by a fourth-order in space/second-order in time partial differential equation for the mirror face-sheet with Dirac delta functions located in the domain of the system to represent the micro-actuators. Most of control design methods dealing with partial differential equations are performed on lumped models, which often leads to high-dimensional and complex feedback control structures. Furthermore, control designs achieved based on partial differential equation models correspond to boundary control problems. In this thesis, a tracking control scheme is designed directly based on the infinite-dimensional model of the system. The control scheme is introduced based on establishing a relationship between the original nonhomogeneous model and a target system in a standard boundary control form. Thereby, the existing boundary control methods may be applicable. For the control design, we apply the tool of differential flatness to a partial differential equation system controlled by multiple actuators, which is essentially a multiple-input multiple-output partial differential equation problem. To avoid early lumping in the motion planning, we use the properties of the Green’s function of the system to represent the reference trajectories. A finite set of these functions is considered to establish a one-to-one map between the input space and output space. This allows an implementable scheme for real-time applications. Since pure feedforward control is only applicable for perfectly known, and stable systems, feedback control is required to account for instability, model uncertainties, and disturbances. Hence, a stabilizing feedback is designed to stabilize the system around the reference trajectories. The combination of differential flatness for motion planning and stabilizing feedback provides a systematic control scheme suitable for the real-time applications of large-scale deformable mirrors

Posture Dependent Vibration Resistance of Serial Robot Manipulators to Applied Oscillating Loads

There are several advantages to replacing CNC machinery with robotic machine tools and as such robotic machining is emerging into the manufacturing and metal cutting industry. There remain several disadvantages to using robots over CNC stations primarily due to flexibility in robotic manipulators, which severely reduces accuracy when operating under high machining forces. This flexibility is dependent on configuration and thus the configuration can be optimised through posture selection to minimise deflection. In previous work little has been done to account for operating frequency and the additional complications that can arise from frequency dependent responses of robotic machine tools. A Fanuc S-360 manipulator was used to experimentally investigate the benefits of including frequency compensation in posture selection. The robot dynamics first had to be identified and experimental modal analysis was selected due the inherent dependency on frequency characteristics. Specifically, a circle fit operation identified modal parameters and a least squares optimisation generated dynamic parameters for a spatial model. A rigid-link flexible-joint model was selected and a pseudo-joint was used to create an additional DOF to accommodate link flexibility. Posture optimisation was performed using a gradient-descent algorithm that used several starting points to identify a global minimum. The results showed that a subset of modal data that excluded the mode shape vectors could be used to create a model to predict the manipulator vibration response. It was also found that the receptance variation of the manipulator with configuration was insufficient to verify the optimisation throughout the entire selected workspace; however the model was shown to be useful in regions containing multiple peaks where the modelled dynamics were dominant over the highly volatile measured data. Simulations were performed on a redundant planar manipulator to overcome the lack of receptance variation found in the Fanuc manipulator. These simulations showed that there were two mechanisms driving the optimisation; overall amplitude reduction and frequency specific amplitude reduction. Using a stiffness posture measure for comparison, the results of the frequency specific reduction could be separated and were found to be particularly beneficial when operating close to resonant frequencies