Small tracking error correction for electro-optical systems is essential to improve the tracking precision of future mechanical and defense technology. Aerial threats, such as “low, slow, and small (LSS)” moving targets, pose increasing challenges to society. The core goal of this work is to address the issues, such as small tracking error correction and aiming control, of electro-optical detection systems by using mechatronics drive modeling, composite velocity–image stability control, and improved interpolation filter design. A tracking controller delay prediction method for moving targets is proposed based on the Euler transformation model of a two-axis, two-gimbal cantilever beam coaxial configuration. Small tracking error formation is analyzed in detail to reveal the scientific mechanism of composite control between the tracking controller’s feedback and the motor’s velocity–stability loop. An improved segmental interpolation filtering algorithm is established by combining line of sight (LOS) position correction and multivariable typical tracking fault diagnosis. Then, a platform with 2 degrees of freedom is used to test the system. An LSS moving target shooting object with a tracking distance of S = 100 m, target board area of A = 1 m2, and target linear velocity of v = 5 m/s is simulated. Results show that the optimal method’s distribution probability of the tracking error in a circle with a radius of 1 mrad is 66.7%, and that of the traditional method is 41.6%. Compared with the LOS shooting accuracy of the traditional method, the LOS shooting accuracy of the optimized method is improved by 37.6%.
The development of organ-on-a-chip systems demands high requirements for adequate micro-pump performance, which needs excellent performance and effective transport of active cells. In this study, we designed a piezoelectric pump with a flexible venous valve inspired by that of humans. Performance test of the proposed pump with deionized water as the transmission medium shows a maximum output flow rate of 14.95 mL/min when the input voltage is 100 V, and the pump can transfer aqueous solutions of glycerol with a viscosity of 10.8 mPa·s. Cell survival rate can reach 97.22% with a yeast cell culture solution as the transmission medium. A computational model of the electric-solid-liquid multi-physical field coupling of the piezoelectric pump with a flexible venous valve is established, and simulation results are consistent with experimental results. The proposed pump can help to construct the circulating organ-on-a-chip system, and the simple structure and portable application can enrich the design of microfluidic systems. In addition, the multi-physical field coupling computational model established for the proposed piezoelectric pump can provide an in-depth study of the characteristics of the flow field, facilitating the optimal design of the micro-pump and providing a reference for the further study of active cell transport in organ-on-a-chip systems.
Existing valveless piezoelectric pumps are mostly based on the flow resistance mechanism to generate unidirectional fluid pumping, resulting in inefficient energy conversion because the majority of mechanical energy is consumed in terms of parasitic loss. In this paper, a novel tube structure composed of a Y-shaped tube and a ȹ-shaped tube was proposed considering theory of jet inertia and vortex dissipation for the first time to improve energy efficiency. After verifying its feasibility through the flow field simulation, the proposed tubes were integrated into a piezo-driven chamber, and a novel valveless piezoelectric pump with the function of rectification (NVPPFR) was reported. Unlike previous pumps, the reported pump directed the reflux fluid to another flow channel different from the pumping fluid, thus improving pumping efficiency. Then, mathematical modeling was established, including the kinetic analysis of vibrator, flow loss analysis of fluid, and pumping efficiency. Eventually, experiments were designed, and results showed that NVPPFR had the function of rectification and net pumping effect. The maximum flow rate reached 6.89 mL/min, and the pumping efficiency was up to 27%. The development of NVPPFR compensated for the inefficiency of traditional valveless piezoelectric pumps, broadening the application prospect in biomedicine and biology fields.
3D metal printing process has attracted increasing attention in recent years due to advantages, such as flexibility and rapid prototyping. This study aims to investigate the orientation effect of electropolishing characteristics on different surfaces of 316L stainless steel fabricated by laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF), considering that the rough surface of 3D printed parts is a key factor limiting its applications in the industry. The electropolishing characteristics on the different surfaces corresponding to the building orientation in selective laser melting are studied. Experimental results show that electrolyte temperature has critical importance on the electropolishing, especially for the vertical direction to the layering plane. The finish of electropolished surfaces is affected by the defects generated during L-PBF process. Thus, the electropolished vertical surface has higher surface roughness Sa than the horizontal surface. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectra show that the electropolished horizontal surface has higher Cr/Fe element ratio than the vertical surface. The electropolished horizontal surface presents higher corrosion resistance than the vertical surface by measuring the anodic polarization curves and fitting the equivalent circuit of experimental electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.
This study presents an improved compound control algorithm that substantially enhances the anti-disturbance performance of a gear-drive gyro-stabilized platform with a floating gear tension device. The tension device can provide a self-adjustable preload to eliminate the gap in the meshing process. However, the weaker gear support stiffness and more complex meshing friction are also induced by the tension device, which deteriorates the control accuracy and the ability to keep the aim point of the optical sensors isolated from the platform motion. The modeling and compensation of the induced complex nonlinearities are technically challenging, especially when base motion exists. The aim of this research is to cope with the unmeasured disturbances as well as the uncertainties caused by the base lateral motion. First, the structural properties of the gear transmission and the friction-generating mechanism are analyzed, which classify the disturbances into two categories: Time-invariant and time-varying parts. Then, a proportional-integral controller is designed to eliminate the steady-state error caused by the time-invariant disturbance. A proportional multiple-integral-based state augmented Kalman filter is proposed to estimate and compensate for the time-varying disturbance that can be approximated as a polynomial function. The effectiveness of the proposed compound algorithm is demonstrated by comparative experiments on a gear-drive pointing system with a floating gear tension device, which shows a maximum 76% improvement in stabilization precision.
A linear oscillating motor is an electromagnetic actuator that can achieve short-stroke reciprocating movement directly without auxiliary transmission mechanisms. It has been widely used in linear pump applications as the source of power and motion. However, because of the demand of high power density in a linear actuation system, the performance of linear oscillating motors has been the focus of studies and deserves further research for high power density. In this paper, a general framework of linear oscillating motor design and optimization is addressed in detail, including the electromagnetic, dynamics, and thermal aspects. First, the electromagnetic and dynamics characteristics are modeled to reveal the principle for optimization. Then, optimization and analysis on magnetic structure, resonant system, and thermal features are conducted, which provide the foundation for prototype development. Finally, experimental results are provided for validation. As a whole, this process offers complete guidance for high power density linear oscillating motors in linear pump applications.
Researchers have investigated direct drive valve for many years to solve problems, such as fluid force imbalance and switching frequency. The structure of the rotary valve has received considerable research interest because of its favorable dynamic properties and simple structure. This paper studied the high frequency double-servo direct drive rotary valve (DDRV), and proposed a novel structure and drive method satisfying high reversing frequency and adequate quantity of flow. Servo motors are integrated into the valve by the innovative structure, which is designed to equilibrate the unbalanced radial fluid force with the symmetric distributed oil ports. Aside from the fast reversing function of the valve, the DDRV presented high performance in linearity of the flow quantity and valve opening as a result of the fan-shaped flow ports. In addition, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method based on Fluent was conducted to verify the flux regulation effect of the height change of the adjustable boss.
Most of the XY positioning stages proposed in previous studies are mainly designed by considering only a single performance indicator of the stage. As a result, the other performance indicators are relatively weak. In this study, a 2-degree-of-freedom linear compliant positioning stage (LCPS) is developed by mechatronic design to balance the interacting performance indicators and realize the desired positioning stage. The key parameters and the coupling of the structure and actuators are completely considered in the design. The LCPS consists of four voice coil motors (VCMs), which are conformally designed for compactness, and six spatial leaf spring parallelograms. These parallelograms are serially connected for a large travel range and a high out-of-plane payload capacity. The mechatronic model is established by matrix structural analysis for structural modeling and by Kirchhoff’s law for the VCMs. The sensitivities of the key parameters are analyzed, and the design parameters are subsequently determined. The analytical model of the stage is confirmed by experiments. The stage has a travel range of 4.4 mm× 7.0 mm and a 0.16% area ratio of workspace to the outer dimension of the stage. The values of these performance indicators are greater than those of any existing stage reported in the literature. The closed-loop bandwidth is 9.5 Hz in both working directions. The stage can track a circular trajectory with a radius of 1.5 mm, with 40 mm error and a resolution of lower than 3 mm. The results of payload tests indicate that the stage has at least 20 kg out-of-plane payload capacity.
When a fast-steering mirror (FSM) system is designed, satisfying the performance requirements before fabrication and assembly is vital. This study proposes a structural parameter design approach for an FSM system based on the quantitative analysis of the required closed-loop bandwidth. First, the open-loop transfer function of the FSM system is derived. In accordance with the transfer function, the notch filter and proportional-integral (PI) feedback controller are designed as a closed-loop controller. The gains of the PI controller are determined by maximizing the closed-loop bandwidth while ensuring the robustness of the system. Then, the two unknown variables of rotational radius and stiffness in the open-loop transfer function are optimized, considering the bandwidth as a constraint condition. Finally, the structural parameters of the stage are determined on the basis of the optimized results of rotational radius and stiffness. Simulations are conducted to verify the theoretical analysis. A prototype of the FSM system is fabricated, and corresponding experimental tests are conducted. Experimental results indicate that the bandwidth of the proposed FSM system is 117.6 Hz, which satisfies the minimum bandwidth requirement of 100 Hz.
Micro-stepping motion of ultrasonic motors satisfies biomedical applications, such as cell operation and nuclear magnetic resonance, which require a precise compact-structure non-magnetization positioning device. When the pulse number is relatively small, the stopping characteristics have a non-negligible effect on the entire stepwise process. However, few studies have been conducted to show the rule of the open-loop stepwise motion, especially the shutdown stage. In this study, the modal differences of the shutdown stage are found connected with amplitude and velocity at the turn-off instant. Changes of the length in the contact area and driving zone as well as the input currents, vibration states, output torque, and axial pressure are derived by a simulation model to further explore the rules. The speed curves and vibration results in functions of different pulse numbers are compared, and the stepwise motion can be described by a two-stage two-order transfer function. A test workbench based on the Field Programmable Gate Array is built for acquiring the speed, currents, and feedback voltages of the startup–shutdown stage accurately with the help of its excellent synchronization performances. Therefore, stator vibration, rotor velocity, and terminal displacements under different pulse numbers can be compared. Moreover, the two-stage two-order model is identified on the stepwise speed curves, and the fitness over 85% between the simulation and test verifies the model availability. Finally, with the optimization of the pulse number, the motor achieves 3.3 µrad in clockwise and counterclockwise direction.
Pilot two-stage proportional valves are widely used in high-power hydraulic systems. For the purpose of improving the dynamic performance, reliability, and digitization of the traditional proportional valve, a novel two-stage proportional valve with a pilot digital flow distribution is proposed from the viewpoint of the dual nozzle-flapper valve’s working principle. In particular, the dual nozzle-flapper is decoupled by two high-speed on/off valves (HSVs). First, the working principle and mathematical model of the proposed valve are determined. Then, the influences of the control parameters (duty cycle and switching frequency) and structural parameters (fixed orifice’s diameter and main valve’s spring) on the main valve’s motion are analyzed on the basis of theory, simulation, and experiment. In addition, in optimizing the value of the fixed orifice’s diameter, a new design criterion that considers the maximum pressure sensitivity, flow controllability, and flow linearization is proposed to improve the balance between the effective displacement and the displacement fluctuation of the main valve. The new scheme is verified by simulations and experiments. Experimental results of the closed-loop displacement tracking have demonstrated that the delay time of the main valve is always within 3.5 ms under different working conditions, and the tracking error can be significantly reduced using the higher switching frequency. The amplitude–frequency experiments indicate that a −3 dB-frequency of the proposed valve can reach 9.5 Hz in the case of ±50% full scale and 15 Hz in the case of 0%–50% full scale. The values can be further improved by increasing the flow rate of the pilot HSV.
Typically, the achievable positioning bandwidth for piezo-actuated nanopositioners is severely limited by the first, lightly-damped resonance. To overcome this issue, a variety of open- and closed-loop control techniques that commonly combine damping and tracking actions, have been reported in literature. However, in almost all these cases, the achievable closed-loop bandwidth is still limited by the original open-loop resonant frequency of the respective positioning axis. Shifting this resonance to a higher frequency would undoubtedly result in a wider bandwidth. However, such a shift typically entails a major mechanical redesign of the nanopositioner. The integral resonant control (IRC) has been reported earlier to demonstrate the significant performance enhancement, robustness to parameter uncertainty, gua-ranteed stability and design flexibility it affords. To further exploit the IRC scheme’s capabilities, this paper presents a method of actively shifting the resonant frequency of a nanopositioner’s axis, thereby delivering a wider closed-loop positioning bandwidth when controlled with the IRC scheme. The IRC damping control is augmented with a standard integral tracking controller to improve positioning accuracy. And both damping and tracking control parameters are analytically optimized to result in a Butterworth Filter mimicking pole-placement—maximally flat passband response. Experiments are conducted on a nanopositioner’s axis with an open-loop resonance at 508 Hz. It is shown that by employing the active resonance shifting, the closed-loop positioning bandwidth is increased from 73 to 576 Hz. Consequently, the root-mean-square tracking errors for a 100 Hz triangular trajectory are reduced by 93%.
