I-Corps: Reducing Oscillation of Systems Driven by Stepper Motors and On-Off Actuators

大多数工业和航空航天系统必须以特定的方式运行，以完成预期的任务。当这样的系统包含柔性部件时，运动导致振动或振荡。在这些情况下，实现预期的输出是具有挑战性的，可能需要额外的能源使用或复杂的传感器。此外，当系统参数或配置发生变化时，许多现有的控制解决方案都不能很好地执行。该项目旨在将这种由步进电机驱动的系统的控制解决方案商业化。所提出的解决方案限制了步进电机引起的振动，从而提高了效率，增加了安全性，并降低了能耗。为了更好地了解由步进电机驱动的柔性系统的具体需求和性能要求，将进行广泛的客户发现。步进电机驱动序列可以设计为限制不希望使用输入整形设计技术的振动。在设计步进电机和其他开关执行器的输入整形器时遇到的主要挑战是指令幅度和时间的固有离散性。针对轻阻尼柔性系统的短距离运动指令，开发了解析输入型步进电机轮廓。这些命令可以对非期望振动模式固有频率下的建模误差具有鲁棒性。该技术的商业化潜力将通过采访航空航天、汽车、电子、材料处理和加工行业的潜在客户来探索。在此过程中，可能会发现步进电机控制序列和其他应用领域的额外所需特性。

Most industrial and aerospace systems must move in a specified way in order to accomplish desired tasks. When such systems include flexible components, motion results in vibration or oscillation. In these cases, achieving the desired output is challenging and may require additional energy usage or complex sensors. Also, many existing control solutions do not perform well when the system parameters or configurations change. This project seeks to commercialize a control solution for such systems driven by stepper motors. The proposed solution limits vibration caused by stepper motors, which improves efficiency, increases safety, and decreases energy consumption. Extensive customer discovery will be conducted in order to better understand the specific needs and performance requirements of flexible systems driven by stepper motors.Stepper motor actuation sequences can be designed to limit undesired vibration using input-shaping design techniques. The primary challenge encountered in designing input shapers for stepper motors and other on-off actuators is the inherent discretization in both command amplitude and time. Analytic input-shaped stepper motor profiles for short-distance motion commands for lightly-damped flexible systems have been developed. These commands can be made robust to modeling error in the natural frequency of the undesired vibratory mode. The potential for commercialization of this technology will be explored by interviewing potential customers in the aerospace, automotive, electronics, material handling, and process industries. Additional desired characteristics for the stepping motor control sequences and other application areas may be discovered during this process.