Adama Science and Technology

University
SoMCME
Department of Design and Manufacturing

Introduction to Mechatronics (MEng4204)

By: Tesfaye Olana (MSc)

(Design of Mechanical Systems, Mechanical Engineer)

[email protected]
2021, Adama
Chapter 2. Continued
Actuators
Introduction
• Actuators are basically the muscle behind a mechatronics
system that accepts a control command (mostly in the form
of an electrical signal) and produces a change in the
physical system by generating force, motion, heat, flow, etc.
• Normally, the actuators are used in conjunction with the
power supply and a coupling mechanism as shown in
Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1
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Cont.
• The power unit provides either AC or
DC power at the rated voltage and
current.
• The coupling mechanism acts as the
interface between the actuator and the
physical system.
• Typical coupling mechanisms include
rack and pinion, gear drive, belt drive,
lead screw and nut, piston, and linkages.

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Classification
• Actuators can be classified based on the type of energy as
listed in Table 1.1.
• The table, although not exhaustive, lists all the basic types.
• They are essentially of
• electrical,
• electromechanical,
• electromagnetic,
• hydraulic, or
• pneumatic type.
• The new generations of actuators include smart material
actuators, microactuators and Nanoactuators.

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Cont.

• Actuators can also be classified as binary and continuous

based on the number of stable-state outputs.
• A relay with two stable states is a good example of a binary
actuator.
• Similarly, a stepper motor is a good example of continuous
actuator.
• When used for a position control, the stepper motor can
provide stable outputs with very small incremental motion.

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TABLE 1.1 Type of Actuators and Their Features

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Cont.

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Cont.

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Principle of Operation
Electrical Actuators
• Electrical switches are the choice of actuators for most of the on-off
type control action.
• Switching devices such as diodes, transistors, triacs, MOSFET, and
relays accept a low energy level command signal from the
controller and switch on or off electrical devices such as motors,
valves, and heating elements.
• For example, a metal-oxide field-effect transistors (MOSFET)
switch is shown in this figure

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Electromechanical Actuators
• The most common electromechanical actuator is a motor
that converts electrical energy to mechanical motion.
• Motors are the principal means of converting electrical
energy into mechanical energy in industry.
• Broadly they can be classified as DC motors, AC motors,
and stepper motors.
• DC motors operate on DC voltage and varying the voltage
can easily control their speed.

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Cont.

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Cont.

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Cont.

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DC motors
• They are widely used in applications ranging from thousands of
horsepower motors used in rolling mills to fractional horsepower
motors used in automobiles (starter motors, fan motors, windshield
wiper motors, etc.).
• Although they are costlier, they need DC power supply and require
more maintenance compared to AC motors.
• The governing equation of motion of a DC motor can be written as:

• where T is torque, J is the total inertia, ω is the angular mechanical

speed of the rotor, TL is the torque applied to the motor shaft, and
Tloss is the internal mechanical losses such as friction.

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DC motors specification

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AC motors
• AC motors are the most popular since they use standard AC
power, do not require brushes and commutator, and are
therefore less expensive.
• AC motors can be further classified as the induction motors,
synchronous motors, and universal motors according to their
physical construction.
• The induction motor is simple, rugged, and maintenance free.
They are available in many sizes and shapes based on number
of phases used.
• For example, a three-phase induction motor is used in large-
horsepower applications, such as pump drives, steel mill
drives, hoist drives, and vehicle drives.
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Cont.
• The two-phase servomotor is used extensively in position
control systems.
• Single-phase induction motors are widely used in many
household appliances.
• The synchronous motor is one of the most efficient
electrical motors in industry, so it is used in industry to
reduce the cost of electrical power.
• In addition, synchronous motors rotate at synchronous
speed, so they are also used in applications that require
synchronous operations.

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Cont.
Universal motors:
• The universal motors operate with either AC or DC power
supply.
• They are normally used in fractional horsepower
application.
• The DC universal motor has the highest horsepower-per-
pound ratio, but has a relatively short operating life.
• The stepper motor is a discrete (incremental) positioning
device that moves one step at a time for each pulse
command input.

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Stepper motor
• Since they accept direct digital commands and produce a
mechanical motion, the stepper motors are used widely in
industrial control applications.

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 Cont.
• They are mostly used in fractional
horsepower applications.
• With the rapid progress in low cost and
high frequency solid-state drives, they
are finding increased applications.
• The winding -1 is between the top and
bottom stator pole, and the winding-2 is
between the left and right motor poles.
• The rotor is a permanent magnet with
Figure: shows a simplified six poles resulting in a single step angle
unipolar stepper motor. of 30°.

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Cont.
• With appropriate excitation of winding-1, the top stator pole
becomes a north pole and the bottom stator pole becomes a
south pole. This attracts the rotor into the position as shown.
• Now if the winding-1 is de-energized and winding-2 is
energized, the rotor will turn 30°.
• With appropriate choice of current flow through winding-2,
the rotor can be rotated either clockwise or
counterclockwise.
• By exciting the two windings in sequence, the motor can be
made to rotate at a desired speed continuously.

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Electromagnetic actuators
• The solenoid is the most common electromagnetic actuator.
• A DC solenoid actuator consists of a soft iron core enclosed
within a current carrying coil.
• When the coil is energized, a magnetic field is established
that provides the force to push or pull the iron core.
• AC solenoid devices are also encountered, such as AC
excitation relay.

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Most common solenoid types

Pull

Push

Open-Frame

Rotary
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AC solenoid
• A solenoid operated directional control valve is shown in
next slide
• Normally, due to the spring force, the soft iron core is
pushed to the extreme left position as shown.
• When the solenoid is excited, the soft iron core will move to
the right extreme position thus providing the
electromagnetic actuation.
• Another important type is the electromagnet. The
electromagnets are used extensively in applications that
require large forces.

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FIGURE: Solenoid operated directional control valve.

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Hydraulic and Pneumatic actuators
• Hydraulic and pneumatic actuators are normally either
rotary motors or linear piston/cylinder or control valves.
• They are ideally suited for generating very large forces
coupled with large motion.
• Pneumatic actuators use air under pressure that is most
suitable for low to medium force, short stroke, and high
speed applications.
• Hydraulic actuators use pressurized oil that is
incompressible. They can produce very large forces coupled
with large motion in a cost-effective manner.

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Cont.
• The disadvantage with the hydraulic actuators is that they are
more complex and need more maintenance.
• The rotary motors are usually used in applications where low
speed and high torque are required.
• The cylinder/piston actuators are suited for application of linear
motion such as aircraft flap control.
• Control valves in the form of directional control valves are used
in conjunction with rotary motors and cylinders to control the
fluid flow direction as shown in the above figure
• In this solenoid operated directional control valve, the valve
position dictates the direction motion of the cylinder/piston
arrangement.

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Smart material Actuators
• Unlike the conventional actuators, the smart material
actuators typically become part of the load bearing
structures.
• This is achieved by embedding the actuators in a distributed
manner and integrating into the load bearing structure that
could be used to suppress vibration, cancel the noise, and
change shape.
• Of the many smart material actuators, shape memory alloys,
piezoelectric (PZT), magnetostrictive, Electrorheological
fluids, and ion exchange polymers are most common.

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Cont.
• Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) are alloys of
nickel and titanium that undergo phase
transformation when subjected to a thermal
field.
• The SMAs are also known as NITINOL for
Nickel Titanium Naval Ordnance Laboratory.
• When cooled below a critical temperature,
their crystal structure enters martensitic
phase as shown in Figure bellow

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Cont.
• In this state the alloy is plastic and can easily be
manipulated. When the alloy is heated above the critical
temperature (in the range of 50–80°C), the phase changes to
austenitic phase.
• Here the alloy resumes the shape that it formally had at
the higher temperature.
• For example, a straight wire at room temperature can be
made to regain its programmed semicircle shape when
heated that has found applications in orthodontics and other
tensioning devices.

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Cont.
• The wires are typically heated by passing a
current (up to several amperes), 0 at very
low voltage (2–10 V typical).
• The PZT actuators are essentially
piezocrystals with top and bottom
conducting films as shown in figure
• When an electric voltage is applied across
the two conducting films, the crystal
expands in the transverse direction as
shown by the dotted lines.

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Cont.
• When the voltage polarity is reversed, the crystal contracts
thereby providing bidirectional actuation.
• The interaction between the mechanical and electrical
behavior of the piezoelectric materials can be expressed as:

• where T is the stress, is the elastic coefficients at constant

electric field, S is the strain, e is the dielectric permittivity,
and E is the electric field.

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Cont.
• One application of these actuators is as shown in Figure below.
The two piezoelectric patches are excited with opposite polarity to
create transverse vibration in the cantilever beam.

• These actuators provide high bandwidth (0–10 kHz typical) with

small displacement.
• Since there are no moving parts to the actuator, it is compact and
ideally suited for micro and nano actuation.
• Unlike the bidirectional actuation of piezoelectric actuators, the
electrostriction effect is a second-order effect, i.e., it responds to
an electric field with unidirectional expansion regardless of
polarity.
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Cont.
• Magnetostrictive material is an alloy of terbium,
dysprosium, and iron that generates mechanical strains up
to 2000 microstrain in response to applied magnetic fields.
• They are available in the form of rods, plates, washers, and
powder.
• Figure below shows a typical magnetostrictive rod actuator
that is surrounded by a magnetic coil.

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Cont.
• When the coil is excited, the rod elongates in proportion to
the intensity of the magnetic field established.
• The magnetomechanical relationship is given as:

• where, ε is the strain, the compliance at constant magnetic

filed, σ the stress, d the magnetostriction constant, and H the
magnetic field intensity.

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Micro and nanoactuators
• Microactuators, also called micromachines,
microelectromechanical system (MEMS), and microsystems.
• They are the tiny mobile devices being developed utilizing
the standard microelectronics processes with the integration
of semiconductors and machined micromechanical
elements.
• Another definition states that any device produced by
assembling extremely small functional parts of around 1–
15 mm is called a micromachine.
• In electrostatic motors, electrostatic force is dominant, unlike
the conventional motors that are based on magnetic forces.

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Cont.
• Figure below shows one type of electrostatic motor. The rotor is an
annular disk with uniform permitivity and conductivity. In
operation, a voltage is applied to the two conducting parallel
plates separated by an insulation layer.

• The rotor rotates with a constant velocity between the two coplanar
concentric arrays of stator electrodes.
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Selection criteria
• The selection of the proper actuator is more complicated
than selection of the sensors, primarily due to their effect on
the dynamic behavior of the overall system.
• Furthermore, the selection of the actuator dominates the
power needs and the coupling mechanisms of the entire
system.
• The coupling mechanism can sometimes be completely
avoided if the actuator provides the output that can be
directly interfaced to the physical system.

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Cont.
• For example, choosing a linear motor in place of a rotary
motor can eliminate the need of a coupling mechanism to
convert rotary motion to linear motion.
• In general, the following performance parameters must be
addressed before choosing an actuator for a specific need:
• Continuous power output —The maximum force/torque attainable
continuously without exceeding the temperature limits
• Range of motion —The range of linear/rotary motion
• Resolution —The minimum increment of force/torque attainable
• Accuracy — Linearity of the relationship between the input and
output Peak force/torque—The force/torque at which the actuator
stalls

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Cont.
• Heat dissipation — Maximum wattage of heat dissipation in
continuous operation
• Speed characteristics — Force/torque versus speed relationship
• No load speed —Typical operating speed/velocity with no external
load
• Frequency response —The range of frequency over which the
output follows the input faithfully, applicable to linear actuators
• Power requirement —Type of power (AC or DC), number of phases,
voltage level, and current capacity
• In addition to the above-referred criteria, many other
factors become important depending upon the type of power
and the coupling mechanism required.

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Cont.

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