Modular Mechatronic System Research Articles

МОДУЛЬНЫЕ МЕХАТРОННЫЕ СИСТЕМЫ: АРХИТЕКТУРА, ПРОЕКТИРОВАНИЕ И ПРИМЕНЕНИЕ

The article is devoted to the study of modular mechatronic systems (MMS), which play a key role in modern technologies due to their flexibility and adaptability. The main aspects of the architecture are considered, including the modular principle of construction, integration of components and scalability. The design process of such systems is described, including the selection and development of modules, their integration and testing. Examples of MMS application in various industries, such as industry, medicine and transport, are given. The advantages and disadvantages of MMS, as well as promising areas for further research and development of new technologies are analyzed.

Development of a Modern Learning Environment for Education in Mechatronics and Industrial Automation

Mechatronic systems represent the interaction in real automation applications of the mechanical systems and the electronic control. Modular mechatronic systems implementation results not only in the improvement of the system abilities but also in savings of time to market because of the possibility to select, wire and adjust fewer components. The usage of programmable logic controllers (PLC) for the core of the modular system has been accepted as a general approach in the industry automation. The goal of the presented research is to develop a reliable electronic system and proper assignments for practice in the mechatronic field including real components – PLCs, motors, motor drives and sensors. The practical implementation of the laboratory set-up is explained. Some software examples are presented.

Modular Inspection Equipment Design for Modular Structured Mechatronic Products – Model Based Systems Engineering Approach for an Integrative Product and Production System Development

Quality control is an essential part of the production of modular mechatronic systems. Especially the quality inspection of the overall system at the end of the production is of extraordinary importance. The associated inspection equipment can also be a mechatronic system, which is often explicitly designed and manufactured for one product with a large expenditure of time. In order to have the needed inspection equipment ready by the start of production (SoP) and to consider additional requirements to the product, which are produced by the inspection equipment concept, an integrative mechatronic product and inspection equipment development procedure is needed. Furthermore, the inspection system has to consider the modularity of the system and often has to be designed in a modular way. Nowadays, the development of complex mechatronic systems is often carried out with the help of model-based systems engineering (MBSE) methods. Consequently, the inspection equipment should also be designed with the help of MBSE. This paper describes an integrative product and inspection equipment procedure for modular mechatronic systems with the help of MBSE. Especially the peculiarity of the modularity is described and validated with the help of an application example.

Adaptation to Rough Terrains by Using Force Sensing on the MERO Modular Walking Robots

The last years a large number of vehicles have been developed for their mobility characteristics over rough terrains. The new modular walking robot MERO* (MEchanism Robot- *Pelecudi Ch et.al.) by reconfiguring their architecture are built to displace the heavy loads on the rough terrains. The main characteristic of the modular walking robot is that they are able to move away on not arranged, horizontal and rough terrains. The modular mechatronic system protect much better the environment when its contact with the soil is discrete, a fact that limits appreciately he area that is crushed. Operation of autonomous walking robot MERO movement implies the existence of a close link between planning movements, environmental perception and executions order to obtain an appropriate behaviour in weakly structured environments. For further acquisition of terrain information, we propose installed active force sensor for terminal leg. This paper describes the detailed design and the prototype characterization of a novel tactile sensor force/moment sensor for MERO an intelligent walking robot’s .

Modular mechatronic system for stationary bicycles interfaced with virtual environment for rehabilitation.

BackgroundCycling has been used in the rehabilitation of individuals with both chronic and post-surgical conditions. Among the challenges with implementing bicycling for rehabilitation is the recruitment of both extremities, in particular when one is weaker or less coordinated. Feedback embedded in virtual reality (VR) augmented cycling may serve to address the requirement for efficacious cycling; specifically recruitment of both extremities and exercising at a high intensity.MethodsIn this paper a mechatronic rehabilitation bicycling system with an interactive virtual environment, called Virtual Reality Augmented Cycling Kit (VRACK), is presented. Novel hardware components embedded with sensors were implemented on a stationary exercise bicycle to monitor physiological and biomechanical parameters of participants while immersing them in an augmented reality simulation providing the user with visual, auditory and haptic feedback. This modular and adaptable system attaches to commercially-available stationary bicycle systems and interfaces with a personal computer for simulation and data acquisition processes. The complete bicycle system includes: a) handle bars based on hydraulic pressure sensors; b) pedals that monitor pedal kinematics with an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and forces on the pedals while providing vibratory feedback; c) off the shelf electronics to monitor heart rate and d) customized software for rehabilitation. Bench testing for the handle and pedal systems is presented for calibration of the sensors detecting force and angle.ResultsThe modular mechatronic kit for exercise bicycles was tested in bench testing and human tests. Bench tests performed on the sensorized handle bars and the instrumented pedals validated the measurement accuracy of these components. Rider tests with the VRACK system focused on the pedal system and successfully monitored kinetic and kinematic parameters of the rider’s lower extremities.ConclusionsThe VRACK system, a virtual reality mechatronic bicycle rehabilitation modular system was designed to convert most bicycles in virtual reality (VR) cycles. Preliminary testing of the augmented reality bicycle system was successful in demonstrating that a modular mechatronic kit can monitor and record kinetic and kinematic parameters of several riders.

A General Framework of Mechatronic Modular Architecture

The independent designs guided by domain technologies of mechatronic system lead to the problem of hard compatibility and the difficulty to reuse resources between the systems. This paper presents an approach based on the reuse for modular mechatronic system, and a general framework for modular mechatronic system is designed. After the analysis of related characteristics of the mechatronic system, the modular principle of mechatronic system is proposed. Secondly, a general framework (F-Model) based on reusability of software and hardware in mechatronic system is developed. Following is to elaborate in details on the parts of software, hardware, and infrastructure of mechatronic system. Finally, 6-DOF industrial robot arm and medical accompany robot are taken as our experiment platform to design system based on F-Model. Results in practical application confirm the value of F-Model for reusing modules in designing mechatronic systems.

Mobil Mechatronic System with Applications in Agriculture and Sylviculture

Walking mechatronic systems protected much better the environment when their contact with the soil is discrete, a fact that limits appreciately the area that is crushed. In order to make and to control a walking robot, one needs the knowledge of all walking potentialities since the choice of the number of legs as well as of their structures depend on the type of gait that has been selected. In the Mobil Robots Laboratory of the POLITEHNICA University of Bucharest, a four-legged modular mechatronic system has been built and tested, while a hexapod one is being tested.

A MODULAR MECHATRONIC SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC BONE DRILLING

Drilling tools currently used in surgery depends only on the surgeon's manual skills to stop the penetration when completing a hole. This paper presents a modular mechatronic system for automatic bone drilling in surgery. The development of a “modular system” that is compatible with motor-driven drills that are commercially available, rather than developing a new surgical drill, is emphasized. A fuzzy controller analyzes the electric current consumed by the DC motor of the drill. When break-through is detected, the power will be cut and stops drilling in order to prevent excessive protrusion of the drill bit. In extensive drilling tests on real human skulls, there were no unexpected failure, and the overshoots of all tests were well less than 2mm.

Simulation of modular mechatronic systems with application to vehicle dynamics

The example of articulated vehicles is used to introduce a new simulation concept. Modules found by functional decomposition of an engineering system can be encapsulated by an input-output representation. They are then interconnected by the system inputs and outputs, or, in the case of mechanical systems, by constraints using joints. It is shown that the resulting mechanical DAE structure can effciently be solved by a projection method. A multirate integration is proposed for efficient simulation of systems with different time scales. The simulatorNEWMOS is introduced supporting all the features described. Simulation runs show that the multirate scheme is essential to achieve a stable integration of the articulated vehicles problem.