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Electrohydraulic servo controls moving elements of airflow valve. Position of moving element and attached piston is monitored by linear variable-differential transformer (LVDT). Single-stage servo valve lets fluid into and out of piston volume in response to feedback signals from the LVDT.
The control-structure interaction problem is addressed via stability analysis of a generic linear servo loop model. With the plant described by the rigid body mode and a single elastic mode, structural flexibility is categorized into one of three types: (1) appendage, (2) in-the-loop minimum phase, and (3) in-the-loop nonminimum phase. Closing the loop with proportional-derivative (PD) control action and introducing sensor roll-off dynamics in the feedback path, stability conditions are obtained. Trade studies are conducted with modal frequency, modal participation, modal damping, loop bandwidth, and sensor bandwidth treated as free parameters. Results indicate that appendage modes are most likely to produce instability if they are near the sensor rolloff, whereas in-the-loop modes are most dangerous near the loop bandwidth. The main goal of this paper is to provide a fundamental understanding of the control-structure interaction problem so that it may benefit the design of complex spacecraft and pointing system servo loops. In this framework, the JPL Pathfinder gimbal pointer is considered as an example.
To explore the benefits of fuzzy logic and understand the differences between the classical control methods and fuzzy control methods, the Togai InfraLogic applications engineering staff developed and implemented a motor control system for small servo motors. The motor assembly for testing the fuzzy and conventional controllers consist of servo motor RA13M and an encoder with a range of 4096 counts. An interface card was designed and fabricated to interface the motor assembly and encoder to an IBM PC. The fuzzy logic based motor controller was developed using the TILShell and Fuzzy C Development System on an IBM PC. A Proportional-Derivative (PD) type conventional controller was also developed and implemented in the IBM PC to compare the performance with the fuzzy controller. Test cases were defined to include step inputs of 90 and 180 degrees rotation, sine and square wave profiles in 5 to 20 hertz frequency range, as well as ramp inputs. In this paper we describe our approach to develop a fuzzy as well as PH controller, provide details of hardware set-up and test cases, and discuss the performance results. In comparison, the fuzzy logic based controller handles the non-linearities of the motor assembly very well and provides excellent control over a broad range of parameters. Fuzzy technology, as indicated by our results, possesses inherent adaptive features.
Upcoming NASA missions will require tracking of low-orbit satellites. As a consequence, NASA antennas will be required to track satellites at higher rates than for the current deep space missions. This article investigates servo design issues for the 34-m beam-waveguide antennas that track low-orbit satellites. This includes upgrading the servo with a feedforward loop, using a monopulse controller design, and reducing tracking errors through either proper choice of elevation pinion location, application of a notch filter, or adjustment of the elevation drive amplifier gain. Finally, improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio through averaging of the over-sampled monopulse signal is described.
It is known that an effective control system is the key condition for successful implementation of high-performance magnetic servo systems. Major issues to design such control systems are nonlinearity; unmodeled dynamics, such as secondary effects for copper resistance, stray fields, and saturation; and that disturbance rejection for the load effect reacts directly on the servo system without transmission elements. One typical approach to design control systems under these conditions is a special type of nonlinear feedback called gain scheduling. It accommodates linear regulators whose parameters are changed as a function of operating conditions in a preprogrammed way. In this paper, an on-line learning fuzzy control strategy is proposed. To inherit the wealth of linear control design, the relations between linear feedback and fuzzy logic controllers have been established. The exercise of engineering axioms of linear control design is thus transformed into tuning of appropriate fuzzy parameters. Furthermore, fuzzy logic control brings the domain of candidate control laws from linear into nonlinear, and brings new prospects into design of the local controllers. On the other hand, a self-learning scheme is utilized to automatically tune the fuzzy rule base. It is based on network learning infrastructure; statistical approximation to assign credit; animal learning method to update the reinforcement map with a fast learning rate; and temporal difference predictive scheme to optimize the control laws. Different from supervised and statistical unsupervised learning schemes, the proposed method learns on-line from past experience and information from the process and forms a rule base of an FLC system from randomly assigned initial control rules.
A force-feel system is implemented by mechanically coupling a servo-actuator to and in parallel with a flight control system. The servo-actuator consists of an electric motor, a gearing device, and a clutch. A commanded cockpit-flight-controller position is achieved by pilot actuation of a trim-switch. The position of the cockpit-flight-controller is compared with the commanded position to form a first error which is processed by a shaping function to correlate the first error with a commanded force at the cockpit-flight-controller. The commanded force on the cockpit-flight-controller provides centering forces and improved control feel for the pilot. In an embodiment, the force-feel system is used as the basic element of stability augmentation system (SAS). The SAS provides a stabilization signal that is compared with the commanded position to form a second error signal. The first error is summed with the second error for processing by the shaping function.
The upcoming NASA missions will require tracking of low-orbit satellites. As a consequence, NASA antennas will be required to track satellites at higher rates than for the current deep space missions. This paper investigates servo design issues for the 34-m beam-waveguide (BWG) antennas that track low-orbit satellites. This includes the upgrade of the servo with the feedforward loop, monopulse controller design, and tracking error reduction through proper choice of elevation pinion location, through application of a notch filter, and through the elevation drive amplifier gain adjustment. Finally, improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio through averaging of the oversampled monopulse signal is presented.
As robotic arms are becoming increasingly common alongside humans as collaborative robots, their high precision in motion enables tasks to be performed at significantly higher speeds with reduced disruption in the environment. The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is exploring this application by incorporating a UR16e from Universal Robots in a cleanroom setting during assembly of couplers to superconducting radio frequency cavities as part of the PIP-II project. The goal of the robotic assembly process is to precisely position the UR16e robot so that the coupler flange, mounted on the robot’s end-effector, is accurately aligned with and pressed against the cavity flange, requiring only final fastening by a lab technician. This thesis builds upon an initial system in which the robotic process was limited to the alignment phase using position-based visual servoing with an eye-in-hand camera to only align the coupler to the cavity with an offset distance. The objective of this thesis is to further advance autonomous robotic assembly by extending the process. To this end, the entire software framework was reconstructed, as the previous development environment posed significant challenges in modifying the software and adapting to hardware changes. The main contributions of this thesis are as follows: (i) a modular and scalable software framework based on ROS~2 was developed to facilitate performance expansion and interchangeability of software and hardware components; (ii) the desired alignment position for position-based visual servoing was parameterized to enable flexible configuration; and (iii) a methodology was developed to close the offset distance between the coupler and cavity utilizing the internal force-torque sensing capability of the UR16e, as visual feedback is not available during the offset-closing phase. The proposed autonomous robotic assembly reduces assembly time and technician involvement, thereby minimizing the risk of airborne particulate contamination, which is essential in the cleanroom setting. Moreover, the ROS~2-based framework provides a foundation for further expansion and continued advancement of robotic automation in Fermilab.
A position servo utilizing a stepper motor
Fleuric position servo for pneumatic control drum actuator for nuclear rocket engine
Hybrid servo-positioning system and experimental facility for computer controlled manipulator - digital-to-analog converter, RC active filter, and phase switching servoamplifier
Flueric position servo for rocket engine pneumatic control drum actuator
Open-loop performance of stabilized platform servo electronics system
Microelectronics for air bearing gyro and accelerometer servo loops
This presents a method to improve the thruster vector servo elasticity (TVSE) stability. TVSE is the coupling between the TVC system engine dynamics and the vehicle flexible modes. It can lead to instability of the flexible modes due to the energy injection from the thrust. For large boosters with heavy TVC engine, TVSE is more likely to cause instability. This instability is part of the plant dynamics and is not detected by the flight control. In this paper, the TVSE is treated as a disturbance rejection problem with the inertial force of the flexible motion viewed as an external disturbance to the TVC actuator control system. By effectively rejecting this disturbance, the engine can be decoupled from the flexible dynamics thus improving TVSE stability. The actuator disturbance transfer function is modified by inserting a TVSE filter into the control system. The filter aims to reduce the magnitude and introduce phase lead of the disturbance transfer function over the TVSE sensitive frequency range while maintaining adequate stability margins of the actuator control system. A prefilter is also designed for good command tracking. The filter and prefilter resulting from this method are usually of low order and can be included to the existing actuator controller if the controller is programmable. This method was demonstrated for a hydraulic Simplex actuator model. Its applications to SLS B1 and B2 TVC actuator are also described. B2 actuator controller is modified based on this method. The tradeoff between TVSE stability and the control system stability can be balanced by adjusting the amount of phase lead introduced by the TVSE filter. This method provides a useful way to solve the TVSE instability issue without costly and time-consuming a TVC system redesign. This method is based on the basic control principles of loop shaping and disturbance rejection and has been proven to be effective under proper circum-stances.
Various calculations of flutter for ailerons with hydraulic servo-control mechanisms
Servocontrol device feeds film into a roller system. Two linear potentiometers connected to spring loaded tension rollers furnish servo input signal. Can be used in any continuous material transport system.
Servo calorimeter accurately measures the heating rate of a material exposed to nuclear radiation independently of the specific heat thermal conductivity of the material. The electrical power used is a direct measure of the nuclear heating rate.