Experimental Validation and Updating of the Flexible Multibody Model of a Commercial 3R Planar Manipulator

Abstract

Serial planar manipulators are diffusely used either as stand-alone machines or as part of more complex cells, and many commercial planar manipulators are available on the market. These commercial machines are mainly destined to accomplish low-speed tasks, and they are designed by taking into account their flexibility at most in the joints. Unfortunately, there are particular installation conditions in which even low-speed tasks can generate low-frequency vibrations that highly interfere with the task. This aspect is highlighted here with reference to a commercial 3R planar manipulator, and how to manage this problem is explained. In this sight, a flexible multibody model is developed where the flexibility of the frame, the manipulator is fixed to, is modeled over the flexibility of the joints, that is introduced as lumped stiffness. In particular, the flexible frame is included in the model by using a Component Mode Synthesis methodology, in which only the natural modes of vibration and the static constrain modes are accounted. The model is validated through an experimental campaign. The experimental tests consist of several modal analyses, together with acceleration and laser Doppler measurements in operational conditions. This methodology allows to provide a model which takes into account the installation conditions, and gives a tool for studying ad-hoc solutions which prevent the occurrence of low-frequency vibrations.