Metadynes as pulsed power electrical machines for use in advanced robotics

Abstract

There is an increased pulsed power demand in the domain of advanced robotic manipulators for both mechanical and electrical pulsed power requirements. The pulsed power levels necessary for the frequent transient regimes of acceleration and deceleration is well above 10 to 20 times of the steady level of power for the electric actuators and their power supplies, as well. The metadynes, electrical machines operating at constant current and variable voltage, have extremely good prospects to fulfill the needs for pulsed power for robotic manipulators. The recent developments in solid state power electronics technology can be used to efficiently replace the feedforward and feedback electromechanical loops in the metadynes, and by controlling the winding flexibility and the level of anisotropy of discrete cycles of the machine to optimally adapt the semiconductor power electronics devices-assisted metadynes to the function of actuators (metadyne motors) and their pulsed power supplies (metadyne pulsed generators) for flexible robotic manipulators. This paper, the first in a series, describes the incompatibility of today's design of pulsed electrical machines used in robotics with the requirements of the constant current operation constraint and devises new original systems in order to satisfy such requirements.