Chapter 2

Actuation Systems for Mechatronics

2.1 Introduction
Actuation systems are the elements of control systems
which are responsible for transforming the output of a
microprocessor or control system into a controlling action
on a machine or device.
Thus, for example, we might have an electrical output
from the controller which has to be transformed into a
linear motion to move a load.
 Another example might be where an electrical output
from the controller has to be transformed into an action
which controls the amount of liquid passing along a pipe.
2.2 Types of actuation system
The four main types of actuators:
1. Electrical actuation system
2. Mechanical actuation system
3.Hydraulic actuation system
4. Pneumatic actuation system
 2.2.1 Electrical actuation systems

In any discussion of electrical systems used as actuators for

control, the discussion has to include:

1. Drive systems, such as DC and AC motors, where a current

through a motor is used to produce rotation.

2. Solenoid-type devices where a current through a solenoid is

used to actuate a soft iron core

3. Switching devices such as mechanical switches,

 1. Electric Motors
Electromechanical device that converts electrical energy to
mechanical energy.
 Are frequently used as the final control element in positional or
speed control systems.
 An electric motor uses magnetism and electric currents to operate.
 Magnetism is the force that creates rotation for a motor to operate.
 There are two basic categories of motors, AC and DC.
 Both use the same fundamental parts but with variations to allow
them to operate using two different kinds of electrical power supply.
1.1.1 DC Motors
 As the name implies, use a direct unidirectional current sources of
electricity : (Batteries and DC Power supply)
 When power is applied, it turn in one direction at a fixed speed.
 The direction of rotation of the DC motor can be reversed by
reversing either the armature current or the field current.
 They are optimized to run at a fixed, usually high RPM.
 Torque is highest at the rated speed and lowest at low speeds.
 Almost all can be reversed.
 Inexpensive and commonly available
Classification of DC Motor
Brushed DC motor
 Brushes: provide stationary electrical contact
to the moving commutator conducting
segments.
 The brushes are usually spring-loaded to
ensure continual contact with the commutator.
 Field pole
 North pole and south pole
 Receive electricity to form magnetic field
 Armature
 Cylinder between the poles
 Electromagnet when current goes through
 Linked to drive shaft to drive the load Major components of a DC motor
 Commutator: Overturns current direction in
armature
Brushless DC motor
 A brushless DC motor has permanent magnets on the rotor and a rotating field
in the stator.
 The permanent magnets on the rotor eliminate the need for a commutator.
 Instead, the DC currents in the stator coils are switched in response
to proximity sensors that are triggered as the shaft rotates.
Advantage of a brushless motor
 It does not require maintenance to replace worn brushes.
 Because there are no rotor windings or iron core, the
rotor inertia is much smaller, sometimes making control
easier.
 There are also no rotor heat dissipation problems,
because there are no rotor windings and
 There is no arcing associated with mechanical
commutation.
 1.1.2 AC Motors
The main difference between AC and DC
motors is that the magnetic field generated by
the stator rotates in the case of AC motors.
The principle is:
 A magnetic field in the stator is made to
rotate electrically around and around in a
circle.
Another magnetic field in the rotor is made to
follow the rotation of this field pattern by
being attracted and repelled by the stator
field.
Because the rotor is free to turn, it follows the
rotating magnetic field in the stator.
 1.2 Electric Motors used in Mechatronics
1. Stepper motors
 Are DC operated motors
 Is a device that produces rotation through equal angles, the so-called
steps, for each digital pulse supplied to its input.
 Every revolution is divided into a number of steps, and the motor must
be sent a voltage pulse for each step.
 The amount of rotation is directly proportional to the number of pulses
and the speed of rotation is relative to the frequency of those pulses.
 Are used most often in “open-loop” control systems
 2. Servo Motors
 The servomotor is driven by a programmable controller that processes
the sensor input and generates amplified voltages and currents to the
motor to achieve specified motion profiles (closed-loop).
 Is typically more expensive than a stepper motor, but it can have a much
faster and smoother response
 Three basic types of servo motors are used in modern servo systems:
• AC servo motors, based on induction motor designs;
• DC servo motors, based on DC motor designs; and
• DC or AC brush-less servo motors.
• Are used most often in “closed-loop” control systems
2.2 Mechanical actuation system
Devices which can be considered to be motion converters in that they
transform motion from one form to some other required form.
 Ex: Transform linear motion into rotational motion and vice versa.
Mechanical elements can include the use of linkages, cams, gears,
rack-and-pinion, chains, belt drives, etc.
 Ex: rack-and-pinion can be used to convert rotational motion to
linear motion.
Application of mechanism in mechatronics:
Force amplification – given by levers.
Change of speed – given by gears.
Transfer of rotation about one axis to rotation about another –
timing belt.
Types of motion
 Kinematic Chains
A sequence of joints and links is known as Fixed
kinematic chain. frame
For a kinematic chain to transmit motion,
one link must be fixed. Movement of one Slider
link will then produce predictable relative
movements of the others. Connectin
It is possible to obtain from one kinematic g rod

chain a number of different mechanisms by

having a different link as the fixed one.
The design of many mechanisms are based
on two basic forms of kinematic chains, the Crankshaft

four-bar chain and the slider-crank chain. The reciprocating motion of a piston is
transformed into rotational motion of a
crankshaft on bearings mounted in a
fixed frame.
 Types Kinematic Chains
The Four-bar Chain
 Consists of 4 links connected to give 4 joints about which turning
can occur.
 By changing the fixed link the following types four bar mechanism
can be formed

Double-lever mechanism Lever-crank mechanism Double-crank mechanism

2. Single Slider Crank Mechanism
This mechanism also consists of a combination of four links,
with one being designated as the frame.
 Is connected by three pin joints and one sliding joint.
This type of mechanism converts rotary motion into
reciprocating motion and vice versa.
 Cams
 Cam is a body which rotates or oscillates and in doing so imparts a
reciprocating motion to a second body called follower, with which it is in
contact.
 The length of times spent for the rotation is depending on the shape of
the cam.
GEAR TRAINS

 A gear train is a combination of several gears arranged in a

chain fashion to transmit power from one shaft to another.
 Some are drivers and others are followers.
 Are widely used in many kinds of mechanisms whenever a
change in speed or torque of rotating members is required.
 Types of Gear Trains
• Depending upon the arrangement of wheels gear trains can be
classified in to:
1.Simple gear train,
2. Compound gear train,
Simple Gear Train
• When there is only one gear on each shaft.

(a) When the distance between the two shafts is small, the two gears 1
and 2 are made to mesh with each other
(b) and (c) when the distance between the two gears is large motion is
transmitted by providing one or more intermediate gears.
 Compound Gear Train
• When there are more than one gear on
a shaft
• In a compound train of gears, the gear
1 is the driving gear mounted on shaft
A,
• Gears 2 and 3 are compound gears
which are mounted on shaft B.
• The gears 4 and 5 are also compound
gears which are mounted on shaft C
and The speed ratio of compound
• The gear 6 is the driven gear mounted gear train is obtained by
on shaft D multiplying the equations
• speed ratios of gears that are mesh
together are given as:
 Belt and Chain Drives
As a method of transmitting power between two shafts, belt drives have
the advantage that the length of the belt can easily be adjusted to suit a
wide range of shaft to shaft distance and the system is automatically
protected against overload because slipping occurs if the loading exceeds
the maximum tension that can be sustained by frictional forces.

If the distance between shafts is large, a belt drive is more suitable than
gears, but over small distances gears are to be preferred.

Different size pulleys can be used to give a gearing effect. However, the
gear ratio is limited to about 3 because of the need to maintain an adequate
arc of contact between the belt and pulleys.
 Belt and Chain Drives
Figure below shows two types of reversing drives.
With both forms of drive, both side of the belt comes into contact with the
wheels and so V-belts or timing belts cannot be used.

Cross belt
Open belt
 Bearings
 Whenever there is relative motion of one surface in contact with another,
either by rotating or sliding, the resulting frictional forces generate heat
which wastes energy and results in wear.
 The function of bearing is to guide with minimum friction and maximum
accuracy the movement of one part relative to another.
 Give suitable support to rotating shaft.
 The term thrust bearing is used for bearings that are designed to withstand
forces along the axis of a shaft when the relative motion is primarily
rotation.
Pneumatic and hydraulic actuation systems
 An actuator wherein hydraulic energy is used to impart motion is
called an hydraulic actuator and wherein pneumatic energy is used is
called pneumatic actuator
 They are a device used to convert the fluid/air power into mechanical
power to do useful work.
 The actuator may be of the linear type (e.g., cylinder) or rotary
type(e.g., motor) to provide linear or rotary motion, respectively.
 Hydraulic systems
• Pressurized oil is provided by a pump driven
by an electric motor.
• The pump pumps oil from a sump through a
non-return valve and an accumulator to the
system, from which it returns to the sump.
• A pressure-relief valve is included, to release
the pressure if it rises above a safe level,
• The non-return valve is to prevent the oil
being back driven to the pump and
• The accumulator is to smooth out any short-
term fluctuations in the output oil pressure.
 Pneumatic systems
 An electric motor drives an air compressor.
 The air inlet to the compressor is likely to be
filtered and via a silencer to reduce the noise
level.
 A pressure-relief valve provides protection
against the pressure in the system rising above
a safe level.
 Since the air compressor increases the
temperature of the air, there is likely to be a
cooling system and to remove contamination
and water from the air a filter with a water trap.
 An air receiver increases the volume of air in
the system and smooth out any short-term
pressure fluctuations.
Valves
 Valves are used with hydraulic and pneumatic systems to direct and
regulate the fluid flow.
 There are basically just two forms of valve, the finite position and the
infinite position valves.
Finite position valve: are ones where the action is just to allow or block
fluid flow and so can be used to switch actuators on or off.
They can be used for directional control to switch the flow from
one path to another and so from one actuator to another.
Infinite position valves: are able to control flow anywhere between
fully on and fully off and so are used to control varying actuator forces
or the rate of fluid flow for a process control situation
Directional control valves
They are not intended to vary the rate of flow of fluid but are either
completely open or completely closed, i.e. on/off devices.
Such on/off valves are widely used to develop sequenced control
systems.
They might be activated to switch the fluid flow direction by means of
mechanical, electrical or fluid pressure signals.
A common type of directional control valve is the spool valve.
 In (a) the air supply is connected to port
1 and port 3 is closed. Thus the device
connected to port 2 can be pressurized.
 When the spool is moved to the left (b)
the air supply is cut off and port 2 is
connected to port 3. Port 3 is a vent to
the atmosphere and so the air pressure in
the system attached to port 2 is vented.
Valve symbols
 The symbol used for a control valve consists of a square for each of its
switching positions.
 Arrow-headed lines are used to indicate the directions of flow in each of
the positions
 Blocked-off lines indicating closed flow lines
 Ports are labelled by a number or a letter according to their function.
For pressure supply 1 (or P)
For output ports 2 or 5 (or B or A)
For hydraulic return port 3 (or T)
For pneumatic exhaust ports 3 or 5 (or R or S)
 Three-port, two-position valve would be described as a 3/2 valve,
the first number indicating the number of ports and the second
number the number of positions.
Cont..
Comparison Hydraulic & Pneumatic Systems
Cylinders
 The principles and form are the same for both hydraulic and
pneumatic versions,
 The differences is purely a matter of size as a consequence of the
higher pressures used with hydraulics.
 The function of a cylinder is to convert the hydraulic/pneumatic
power into linear mechanical force or motion
 Cylinder extend and retract a piston rod to provide a pull or push
force to drive the external load along a straight path
Types of Hydraulic Cylinders

Cylinder are of following types:

Single-acting cylinders
Double-acting cylinders
Telescopic cylinders
 Single Acting Cylinder
• It consist of piston inside a cylindrical housing called as barrel
• On one end is attached a rod, which can reciprocate at the opposite end,
there is a port for the entrance and exit of the oil/air
• They produce force only in one direction by hydraulic/pneumatic pressure
acting on the piston
• The return of the spring is not done hydraulically, it is either done by
gravity or spring.
Double Acting Cylinder
• There are two types of double acting cylinder:
• Double acting cylinders with piston rod on one side
• Double acting cylinders with piston rod on both side
Cont..
Double Acting Cylinder With Piston Rod On One Side
• To extend the cylinder, the pump flow is sent to the blank-end port.
• The fluid from the rod end port returns to the reservoir
• Now to retract the cylinder, the pump flow is sent to the rod end port
and the fluid from the blank end port returns to the tank as shown in
another fig.
Cont..
Double Acting Cylinder With A Piston Rod On Both Sides

 Is a cylinder with a rod extending from both the ends

 The application involves in a process where work can be done by
both the ends of the cylinder, thereby making the cylinder more
productive
 Double rod cylinder can withstand higher side loads because they
have an extra bearing on each rod to withstand the loading.
Telescopic Cylinder
A telescopic cylinder is needed when a
long stroke length and a short retracted
length are needed.
The telescopic cylinder extends in
stages, each stage consisting of a sleeve
that fits inside the previous stage
One application for this type of cylinder
is raising a dumping truck bed.
Telescopic cylinders are available both
in single acting and double acting
models.
Cont..
Construction:
They generally consist a nest of tubes and operate on the displacement
principle
The tubes are supported by bearing rings, the innermost set of which have
grooves or channels to allow the fluid flow
The front bearing assembly on each section includes seals and wiper rings
Stop rings limit the movement of each section, thus preventing the separation
For a given input flow rate, the speed of operation increases in steps as each
successive section reaches the end of its stroke. Similarly, for a specific
pressure, the load shifting capacity decreases for each of the successive
section