A Novel Engineering Method for the Power Flow Assessment in Servo-Actuated Automated Machinery

Multipurpose and programmable servo-actuated mechanisms may be envisaged as the key technology for increasing flexibility and re-configurability of modern automated machinery. Unfortunately, based on the current state-of-the-art, these mechatronic devices are extremely flexible but generally energy intensive, thus compromising the overall system sustainability. Nonetheless, the system power consumption can be partially reduced if energy optimality is introduced as a design goal along with the global production rate. Naturally, as a first step towards the practical implementation of any energy-optimality criterion, the end user should be capable of predicting the system power flow, including the major sources of energy loss. In this context, this paper firstly presents a reliable model of a servo-actuated mechanism accounting for linkage, electric motor and power converter behavior. Then, a novel identification method is discussed, which allows the separate determination of the models parameters by means of non-invasive experimental measures. The method is finally validated by comparing predicted and actual power flows in a simple mechatronic system, which is composed of a slider-crank mechanism directly coupled with a position-controlled permanent magnet synchronous motor.