Mechatronic Systems Research Articles

Control Laws of the Aviation Gas Turbine Engine

The article is devoted to the solution of an important scientific and applied problem of improving the dynamic characteristics of an aviation engine and ensuring flight safety and the efficiency of aircraft operation, taking into account the properties of adaptive control of an aviation gas turbine engine: <structure><functioning><adaptation><development>. Based on the concept of creating perspective aviation engines with an increased level of control automation and with units operating at elevated temperatures and protected from high-energy electromagnetic radiation, the basic laws of controlling an aviation gas turbine engine in throttle modes, low-throttle mode, gas intake and discharge modes, and start-up mode are defined. To improve the working process of the engine, it is proposed to use the gas turbine engine control system as a mechatronic system based on the principle of adaptation. With the help of the Laplace transformation, the dynamic characteristics of the power plant were determined and the mathematical model of the power plant was investigated as a constructive aspect of the automatic control system. The gas turbine and the supersonic air manifold can to some extent be considered as independent control objects, replacing the connections between them with disturbing influences. For the control and limitation circuits, it is necessary to create control programs that calculate the values of the control parameters of the turbocharger rotor speed and gas temperature behind the turbine. Regulation of fuel consumption is carried out according to the derivative of the control parameters.

Trends in contemporary culture in chemistry and pharmaceutical

One of the main trends of chemistry and pharmaceutical present development is miniaturization technologies introduction, that allows to create mechatronics systems with rare technical and technological characteristics: minimal weight-size parameters, little energy and resources consumption, mild wear, maximum sensitivity, increased accuracy parameters and operation speed, reliability and operations security. This article contains estimation results of mechatronics current development trends. The author considers that today mechatronics is not just a simple aggregation of two sciences: it shall be analyzed as the new technology, whereby the device with mechanical operating actuators comprises software. Now the mechatronics development is essential to the development of countries. Mechatronics suggests direct use of intelligent systems paradigm.

Prosthetic limb arm for armless human

This paper serves humanity where we are trying to assist the people who have lost their hands or arms due to accident or warfare. We have tried to create a full-functioning arm so that this armless person could do their daily tasks easily and efficiently. This system is used to assist handicapped people, especially those who are handless. If someone is missing an arm or leg, an artificial arm called a prosthetic hand can replace it. The device, which is called a prosthesis, can help you to perform daily activities such as walking, eating, or dressing. Some artificial limbs let you function nearly as well as before. The prosthetic hand must also learn how to “feel” the object to know how much pressure to exert.Here the use of Electromyography techniques is done under which muscle sensor will be used to sense the signals from human muscles and accordingly signals will be given to the microcontroller which will perform some function according to the algorithm done in it and on the basis of it, it will generate an output signal from Microcontroller which will be given as input to the encoder motor which will be controlling the actuation of Soft robotic actuator using pumping mechanism. Here the Arduino coding is done in the Arduino IDE software where different libraries are also easily available. This system aims to attain 70% of closeness to the actual human hand. Here Electronics and Robotics technologies are working together, and this Mechatronics system will be very much helpful for handless people, that is what the expectation is.

Optimal design and dynamic performance analysis of a fractional-order electrical network-based vehicle mechatronic ISD suspension

To further explore the beneficial effects of the vibration isolation performance of a new vehicle ISD (inerter-spring-damper) suspension using a mechatronic inerter, this paper proposes a novel optimal design methodology for a vehicle mechatronic ISD suspension system based on a fractional-order electrical network is proposed. In view of difficulties in the engineering implementation of fractional-order mechanical network elements, this paper first studies the correspondingrelationship and analytical expression of fractional-order mechanical and electrical network elements respectively. Under the instruction of fractional calculus, the fractional-order electrical network elements are used to realize equivalent fractional-order mechanical network elements by adopting a ball-screw mechatronic inerter. Then, a quarter car dynamic model of vehicle mechatronic ISD suspension is constructed, and the parameters of the fractional-order electrical network and the integer-order electrical network are obtained by means of particle swarm optimization algorithm. The performance advantages of vehicle mechatronic ISD suspension using a fractional-order electrical network are verified by numerical simulations and experiments. The results show that, compared with the application of an integer-order electrical network, the vibration suppression performance of a vehicle mechatronic ISD suspension can be further enhanced by using a fractional-order electrical network.

Energy shaping nonlinear control of underactuated needle insertion

This work investigates the position control of an underactuated mechatronic system for straight needle insertions in soft tissues. The system consists of a pneumatic cylinder pushing a slender needle supported at the base and subject to external forces at the tip due to interactions with soft tissues. The system dynamics is described by a rigid-link underactuated model for controller design purposes. The main contribution of this work is a new energy shaping control law that: (i) does not rely on the analytical solution of partial differential equations, which is a major hurdle in energy shaping techniques, and does not require partial feedback linearization, which is known to be sensitive to model uncertainties; (ii) accounts for the work of the friction forces on the pneumatic cylinder and of the lateral forces acting on the needle tip, which are estimated adaptively with nonlinear observers. For comparison purposes, an alternative controller that employs feedback linearization is also presented. Simulations and experiments on silicone rubber phantoms using a needle with axial-symmetric tip indicate that the proposed controller can reduce the needle tip rotation and the corresponding deflection compared to a PID algorithm. In case of larger insertion forces, the controller can limit the insertion depth to prevent large needle deflections: this behavior can be influenced by acting on a specific tuning parameter, thus providing additional flexibility compared to previous implementations. Finally, the proposed solution is less sensitive to parameter uncertainties than the alternative controller.

Fine liquid-core polymer fibers for microhydraulic applications: A versatile process design

Miniaturization is an essential requirement to advance areas where conventional mechatronic systems may struggle. Microhydraulic devices that combine resilience and compliance could thus revolutionize microrobot applications like locomotion and manipulation. Spurred by the deformability and structural stability provided by veins in insect wings, microscale liquid-core fibers were created, comprising of a polymeric sheath and a liquid core. A microfluidic co-extrusion spinneret was designed, assisted by computational fluid dynamics studies, to achieve such unique liquid-core fibers. Hydraulic pressure transfer tests were successfully applied on fine, up to 10 m long, oil-filled polyamide fibers. The results showed a pressure transfer with a fiber length-dependent delay of ∼ 20–100 s for fiber lengths of ∼ 1–10 m, and a viscoelastic behavior with relaxation times that behave linearly with fiber length. These findings enable the development of resilient and deformable microhydraulic systems within restricted available space, predestined for applications in soft robotics.

Investigation of the Mechanical Properties for Polymer Reinforced by Nanoparticles with Considering Viscoelasticity of the Matrix

Investigation of the Mechanical Properties for Polymer Reinforced by Nanoparticles with Considering Viscoelasticity of the Matrix

Design of a Biomechatronic Device for Upright Mobility in People with SCI Using an Exoskeleton Like a Stabilization System

This paper presents a novel biomechatronic device that resolves the necessities of mobility for people with spinal cord trauma (SCI) and disability. The proposed device features a safe and reliable mobility mechanism that withstands daily use without premature mechanical wear, facilitating the activities of daily living (ADL) for people affected by SCI, integrating them to a social and workforce environment that allows them, on one hand, to move in a standing upright position in complex situations of the urban architecture, and on the other hand, provides them a mechatronic system to assist them to stand up and sit down.

Discussion on the Application of Mechatronics System in Mechanical Engineering

Discussion on the Application of Mechatronics System in Mechanical Engineering

Mechatronic control system for high-temperature synthesis of materials based on intelligent measuring modules

The subject of researcs: The article is devoted to the measuring complex for the experimental study of the SHS phenomenon.
 The purpose of the development was to simultaneously observe microheterogeneous processes and macrokinetics of high-temperature synthesis.
 Methods and objects of research: Embedded computing platforms with support for artificial intelligence tools are used to organize high-speed multi-zone registration of thermal imaging and spectral data.
 Results of research: Within the framework of the complex, a group of intelligent modules with autonomous data analysis in real time has been developed. The pyrometric module of the complex reveals structural phase transitions in the process of high-temperature synthesis of materials and measures characteristic temperatures. The thermal imaging module determines the position of the SHS wave front and plots the material and temperature phase distributions on the sample surface. The mechatronic module predicts the location of a new observation area, based on the measured parameters of the SHS process, and moves the optical control means there when the combustion wave leaves the current registration area. The interaction of intelligent modules of the mechatronic system is implemented through messages in a wireless network, and their synchronization via the NTP protocol has an error of about 40 s.

Auto-Regression Model-Based Off-Line PID Controller Tuning: An Adaptive Strategy for DC Motor Control.

Brushed (B) and Brushless (BL) DC motors constitute the cornerstone of mechatronic systems regardless their sizes (including miniaturized), in which both position and speed control tasks require the application of sophisticated algorithms. This manuscript addresses the initial step using time series analysis to forecast Back EMF values, thereby enabling the elaboration of real-time adaptive fine-tuning strategies for PID controllers in such a control system design problem. An Auto-Regressive Moving Average (ARMA) model is developed to estimate the DC motor parameter, which evolves in time due to the system’s imperfection (i.e., unpredictable duty cycle) and influences the closed-loop performance. The methodology is executed offline; thus, it highlights the applicability of collected BDC motor measurements in time series analysis. The proposed method updates the PID controller gains based on the Simulink ™ controller tuning toolbox. The contribution of this approach is shown in a comparative study that indicates an opportunity to use time series analysis to forecast DC motor parameters, to re-tune PID controller gains, and to obtain similar performance under the same perturbation conditions. The research demonstrates the practical applicability of the proposed method for fine-tuning/re-tuning controllers in real-time. The results show the inclusion of the time series analysis to recalculate controller gains as an alternative for adaptive control.

Methods of Intelligent Control in Mechatronics and Robotic Engineering: A Survey

Artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly popular tool in more and more areas of technology. New challenges in control systems design and application are related to increased productivity, control flexibility, and processing of big data. Some kinds of systems require autonomy in real-time decision-making, while the other ones may serve as an essential factor in human-robot interaction and human influences on system performance. Naturally, the complex tasks of controlling technical systems require new modern solutions, but there remains an inextricable link between control theory and artificial intelligence. The first part of the present survey is devoted to the main intelligent control methods in technical systems. Among them, modern methods of adaptive and optimal control, fuzzy logic, and machine learning are considered. In its second part, the crucial achievements in intelligent control applications in robotic and mechatronic systems over the past decade are considered. The references are structured according to the type of such common control problems as stabilization, controller tuning, identification, parametric optimization, iterative learning, and prediction. In the conclusion, the main problems and tendencies toward intelligent control methods improvement are outlined.

Tailoring the V-Model for Optics: A Methodology for Optomechatronic Systems

The integration of optical technologies into once purely mechatronic systems enables innovative functions, but simultaneously increases the complexity of previous mechatronic system development. Therefore, a process has been elaborated to develop these so-called optomechatronic systems by Knöchelmann at the Institute of Product Development at Leibniz University Hanover, which is based on the V-Model of VDI 2206 and can be applied to various fields of application. For a target-oriented development in a specific product context and for systems with competing main requirements, detailing and adapting the process is recommended. High-resolution lighting systems are one of them, where requirements for high optical efficiency and image quality lead to a conflict of objectives. Focusing on the optics domain, Ley elaborated methods for the preliminary and detailed design of high-resolution lighting systems to address the aforementioned conflict of objectives. This contribution focuses on the integration of Ley’s design methods into Knöchelmann’s process model within the phases of system design and domain-specific design, allowing us to analyze the impact of the system design on the fulfillment of main requirements to achieve an optimal solution of the conflict of objectives. To illustrate this, the integrated process model is described using an example from automotive lighting technology.

End-to-End Deep Fault-Tolerant Control

PUBLISHED ON IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, DOI: 10.1109/TMECH.2021.3100150. Ideally, accurate sensor measurements are needed to achieve a good performance in the closed-loop control of mechatronic systems. As a consequence, sensor faults will prevent the system from working correctly, unless a fault-tolerant control (FTC) architecture is adopted. As model-based FTC algorithms for nonlinear systems are often challenging to design, this paper focuses on a new method for FTC in the presence of sensor faults, based on deep learning. The considered approach replaces the phases of fault detection and isolation and controller design with a single recurrent neural network, which has the value of past sensor measurements in a given time window as input, and the current values of the control variables as output. This end-to-end deep FTC method is applied to a mechatronic system composed of a spherical inverted pendulum, whose configuration is changed via reaction wheels, in turn actuated by electric motors. The simulation and experimental results show that the proposed method can handle abrupt faults occurring in link position/velocity sensors. The provided supplementary material includes a video of real-world experiments and the software source code.

Set-valued estimators for Uncertain Linear Parameter-Varying systems

In this paper, we tackle the problem of state estimation for uncertain linear systems when bounds are known for the disturbances, noise and initial state. Practical systems often have parameters that cannot be measured precisely at every iteration. The framework of Uncertain Linear Parameter-Varying systems (Uncertain LPVs) have attracted attention from the community and have seen applications from the aerospace industry to mechatronic systems, among many other examples. By formulating the problem as the solution of a feasibility program, we show that the optimal convex solution can be computed through an enumeration of the vertices of the estimates. Resorting to this result, three algorithms are proposed: an approximation algorithm using only set operations; an exact convex hull method returning the optimal convex set suitable for cases where estimates do not have a large number of vertices; and an event-triggering algorithm suitable for fault/attack detection that combines both the convex and nonconvex methods. Simulations are conducted using a motor speed model where some of the parameters cannot be measured exactly pointing out that the uncertainty matrices are responsible for the accuracy of the approximation algorithm, and also that the point-based method is suitable for online estimation.

Guest Editorial Focused Section on the Third Edition of TMECH/AIM Emerging Topics

The paper in this special section focus on technological breakthroughs in hardware structure, modeling mechanisms, innovative design methodologies for mechatronic systems, development of efficient algorithms, novel sensors and actuators, medical robotics and rehabilitation devices, soft robotics, bio-inspired robotic designs, learning methods in robotics and control, motion planning and control, as well as control of autonomous vehicles.

UAV-Based Smart Educational Mechatronics System Using a MoCap Laboratory and Hardware-in-the-Loop.

Within Industry 4.0, drones appear as intelligent devices that have brought a new range of innovative applications to the industrial sector. The required knowledge and skills to manage and appropriate these technological devices are not being developed in most universities. This paper presents an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based smart educational mechatronics system that makes use of a motion capture (MoCap) laboratory and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) to teach UAV knowledge and skills, within the Educational Mechatronics Conceptual Framework (EMCF). The macro-process learning construction of the EMCF includes concrete, graphic, and abstract levels. The system comprises a DJI Phantom 4, a MoCap laboratory giving the drone location, a Simulink drone model, and an embedded system for performing the HIL simulation. The smart educational mechatronics system strengthens the assimilation of the UAV waypoint navigation concept and the capacity for drone flight since it permits the validation of the physical drone model and testing of the trajectory tracking control. Moreover, it opens up a new range of possibilities in terms of knowledge construction through best practices, activities, and tasks, enriching the university courses.

Characterizing Pediatric Hand Grasps During Activities of Daily Living to Inform Robotic Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies.

Hand function plays a critical role in how we interact with our physical environment. Hand motor impairments in children can compromise many facets of their daily life including physical independence and social interactions. For adults, there has been an emergence of mechatronic rehabilitation systems to improve hand mobility, strength, and dexterity; assistive technologies such as exoskeletons to drive impaired digits; and highly dexterous upper limb prostheses. Although similar devices are on the clinical horizon for children, childhood play, motor development, and daily activities mean they use their hands in fundamentally different ways than adults. It is imperative that devices for this population facilitate their unique needs; yet it is not completely known which hand movements may be of the highest priority during daily tasks or rehabilitation to best foster functional independence. Here, we evaluated and categorized the hand activity of two children in their home environments. Small wearable video cameras were attached to the children as they performed daily tasks and the video footage was analyzed to obtain the frequency and duration of their hand grasp movements. It was found that 7 common grasps accounted for 90% or greater of the children's hand activity in duration and frequency. This suggests, that like adults, a repertoire of common hand grasps may be prioritized by rehabilitative or assistive devices to ensure effective outcomes in performing daily activities.

Extended Kalman filter and Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy observer for a strip winding system

This paper proposes two nonlinear estimation approaches, namely based on Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and a Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Observer with 32 rules (TSFO-32), for a Strip Winding System (SWS) characterized by variable reference input, variable moment of inertia with constant increasing tendency and variable parameters. The SWS is a complex and nonlinear mechatronic system viewed as a controlled process, which wraps a strip with constant linear velocity on a reel, and the variable radius modifies both the angular velocity and the moment of inertia. The motivation of using EKF is the zero stationary error at low speeds. The motivation of using TSFO-32 is that once the Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy models are obtained, various analysis and design tools initially developed for linear systems, which facilitate the observation and/or synthesis of the controller for complex nonlinear systems, can be adapted appropriately and used in these nonlinear systems. Therefore, these tools simplify the design as well-established approaches and algorithms are available. The fuzzy control system stability and observer design conditions are derived and expressed as linear matrix inequalities. The efficiency of TSFO-32 is discussed in this paper in terms of setting a certain convergence rate. The performance of the two nonlinear estimation approaches is validated by means of digital simulations conducted for three values of the moment of inertia.

Development and Evaluation of Control System in Mechatronics – A Systematic Survey

The advancement of mechatronic enabling technologies and the mechatronic design approach has resulted in sophisticated mechatronic systems. Automated mechatronic systems are becoming more complicated and more intelligent. Mechanical systems that enable the next generation of manufacturing systems will have whole new features and capabilities as a result of these modifications. Even basic monitoring has grown into self-optimizing performance in these gadgets. With the addition of bio-mechatronics and micro-mechatronics, the application fields of mechatronics have expanded. Bio or microcontroller-based applications are the focus of this publication, which aids researchers in building and testing control systems. Design considerations for mechatronic systems are addressed in this work. In order to implement more complicated control algorithms in an industrial setting, new controller design tools are required. The early evaluation of designs and the support of critical design choices may be made possible via the use of modelling and simulation technologies.