Unit-2

Robot Drives, Actuators and Control

• Functions of drive systems
• General types of Fluid controls
• Pump classification
• Introduction to pneumatic systems
• Electrical drives
• D.C motors and transfer functions
• Stepper motor
• Drive mechanisms

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 Introduction Robot Drive
Systems
• The actions of the individual joints must be controlled in order for the
manipulator to perform a desired move its body, arm, motion and wrist.
This is provided by the drive system, used to power the robot.
• The joints are moved by actuators powered by a particular form of drive
system.
• Common drive systems used in robotics are electric drive, hydraulic drive,
and pneumatic drive.
• Types of Actuators
*Electric Motors, like: Servomotors, Stepper motors or Direct-drive
electric motors
*Hydraulic actuators
*Pneumatic actuators

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 FUNCTIONS OF DRIVE
SYSTEM
• Transmitting elements are employed to drive mechanical links to a desired
position and orientation in the envelope of the robot manipulators.
• Mechanical links: gears, belts, cable chains, etc.
• Basic method of drivers:
[Link]
[Link]
[Link] (dc and ac motors)
[Link] stepper motors
• Drive systems are chosen based on power consumption, positional accuracy,
repeatability, speed of operation, stability, reliability, cost, etc.
• Drive methods are also on the basis of using open loop and closed loop
controls.

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 GENERAL TYPES OF FLUIDS
• Fluids are liquids or gases.
• Liquids: incompressible, higher bulk modulus, volume doesn’t change with pressure.
• Gases: compressible, volume is inversely proportional to pressure.
• Commonly used hydraulic fluids are petroleum based fluid with some additives to
satisfy the requirements of desired viscosity index, resistance to oxidation, good
lubrication properties, chemical stability, low density and foam resistance.
[Liquids]
• Additives are used with hydraulics to prevent wear and tear.
• Pneumatic system uses air as fluid.

Advantages of using air:

Inexpensive
No possibility of fire hazard
Used air is released into atmosphere and clear air is readily obtained using a filter.
Fine oil is injected into air as lubricator.
Disadvantage:Air is sluggish (slow response) and corrosive to a little extent due to presence
of oxygen and water.
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 Basic Fluid Properties
• In hydraulics ,pressure is transmitted following pascals law
which states that pressure applied to fluid in a container is
transmitted undiminished in all directions.
• The fluid pressure is defined as the transmitted force acting
over a unit area.
P=F/A where P=Pressure(pascals or bar)
F=Force (Newton,N)
A=Area(Square meter ,m^2)
1bar=10^5 N/m^2
1Pa=1N/m^2

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 Pump classification
• Pump transforms mechanical energy to hydraulic energy.
• Classification:
 Non-positive displacement pumps
 Axial type
 Centrifugal type
 Hydrostatic or positive displacement pumps
 Gear pump
 Vane pump
 Piston pump

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 Pump Classification

 A pump transforms mechanical energy into

hydraulic energy.
 When a prime mover coupled with the
piston pump causes a mechanical action in
the pump a partial vacuum is created at the
inlet of the pump.
 Due to the vacuum, the atmospheric
pressure forces the fluid out of the oil tank
to enter the pump through the inlet check
valve.
 The fluid enters the pump when the
piston moves towards the left.
 When the piston moves towards the right
the outlet check valve opens and the
discharge of the quantity of the fluid
during the outward stroke towards the
right occurs through the outlet pipe.
 The volume of the fluid is displaced by
the piston is the displacement volume of
the piston. Thus a pump produces flow.
 Hydrodynamic or Non-positive displacement pumps
• There are two types of pumps in this category.
They are (i) the centrifugal pump and (ii) the axial
pump. There is a sufficient clearance between the
rotating and the stationary elements

• The flow rate of the pump depends on the speed

at which the propeller or impeller is driven and
the restrictions of the outlet or resistance of the
external system.
• With an increase in the restriction of the outlet of
the pump, there is a reduction in the rate of the
discharge of the flow and some of the fluid leaks
backward past the rotating element through the
clearance space, following the path of least
resistance.
• When the outlet is completely restricted or closed,
the flow stops and the volumetric efficiency falls to
zero.
• If the outlet of the pump is again opened, the pump
will have maximum flow .
 Non-positive displacement
pumps(input will increase no change in displacement)
• The graph indicates a typical pressure
flow of non-positive displacement
pump.
• There is no flow when the outlet valve
is completely closed, and pressure
becomes maximum .
• however, the pressure is reduced as
soon as the valve opens and flows takes
place.
• The non-positive displacement pump
creates pressure due to the rotary
motion of the propeller or impeller and
flow only takes place at the expense of
the pressure.
 Hydrostatic or positive displacement pumps

Positive displacement pumps may be classified

into
[Link] pumps
[Link] pumps
[Link] pumps
•[[Link]

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 Hydrostatic or positive displacement pumps
• A positive displacement pump delivers a fixed
quantity of fluid per revolution of the pump
shaft and the outflow is constant at the rated
speed of the pump
• However, if the outlet valve is closed, pressure
may rapidly build up.
• If the resistance to flow increases due to the
load, pressure may be increased, and the pump is
therefore protected by allowing the fluid to flow
back to the tank through a pressure relief valve
• The volume of the output flow increases with an
increase in the speed of the pump shaft.
 1. Gear pumps
• A gear pump is a positive displacement pump in which the driver gear in mesh
with the driven gear rotates and carries the fluid from the tank to the outlet pipe

• The suction side is towards the portion where the gear teeth come out of the
mesh

• As the gears turn, the size of the

chamber at the inlet becomes larger;
the volume increases, causing a drop in
the pressure below the atmospheric
pressure and a vacuum is created.

• Atmospheric pressure in the tank

forces the fluid into the void.

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• The discharge side of the pump is towards
the portion where the gear teeth run into
the mesh.
• At the outlet, the volume decreases
between meshing teeth. As the pump
casing has a positive internal seal
against leakage, oil is pushed into the
outlet pipe from the oil chamber formed
between the gear teeth, the pump casing
and side wear plate.
• figure(b) indicates the actual flow curve due to
internal leakage under high discharge
pressure. The volumetric efficiency becomes
lower.

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Monday, September 1,
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 2. Vane Pump
• Vane pump which contains main elements like the pump housing,
the vanes the rotor. The rotor has radial slots in which the vanes
are fitted
• The rotor gets its drive and
rotates inside the housing while
the vanes slide in and out of the
slots.
• The rotor is not centrally located
in the cam ring, but there is an
eccentricity between the center
line of the rotor and the center
line of the housing.

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 2. Vane Pump
As the rotor attempts to turn, the volume
of the space between the rotor and the
housing increases and a vacuum is created
due to reduction of pressure.
Oil is taken into the pump’s suction
chamber during one-half revolution while
in the other half of the revolution, the
volume decreases due to the sliding of the
vanes inside the rotor
Thus due to the reduction of the size of the
chamber, the fluid is pumped out through
the discharge outlet.
Note: Flow takes place due to the
eccentricity. If the eccentricity is made
zero, there will be no flow of fluid.
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Monday, September 1,
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 [Link] pumps
There are two different types of piston pumps:
[Link] piston pumps
2. Axial piston pumps

Axial piston pumps can be either of bent axis configuration or

swash plate design.

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 1. Radial piston pumps
• Like a vane pump, the radially
located pistons as shown in Fig.
move in and out due to the
rotational movement of the
rotor
• As the piston moves out, oil is
drawn into the piston and during
the inward movement of the
piston, the discharge takes place.

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 2. Axial piston pumps
i) Bent axis Axial piston pumps
The drive shaft of the pump is connected to the cylinder block through a universal joint.
The cylinder block rotates along with the driving shaft. The cylinder block has a valve
plate attached to one end and the valve plate has two openings—one for an inlet and
another for an outlet for the fluid.
The pistons located in a circle move in a
cylinder block and the axis of the cylinder
block is set at an angle of offset rotating to the
axis of the drive.
This is why the pumps are called bent axis
axial piston pumps.

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 i) Bent axis Axial piston pumps

• The piston rods are connected to the

drive shaft flange through ball and
socket joints.
• As the input drive shaft rotates,
pistons reciprocates and the fluid is
delivered through the outlet pipe.
• The offset angle Ɵ can vary from 0°
to any angle to vary the displacement
of the pump.
• When Ɵ=0°, there is no flow and
when Ɵ is maximum, the flow is
maximum as the stroke is
enhanced. For reduced angle, the
flow is reduced.
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 ii) Swash Plate Axial Piston Pump

• The pistons are connected to a

swash plate that can be swung.
• As the pistons are withdrawn
from the bore, fluid is taken in
at the inlet and when they are
forced out, the fluid is delivered
through the outlet port.
• The displacement can be varied
with the swing of the swash
plate. For zero swash, there is
no flow.

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 Introduction to Pneumatic Systems
• The word pneumatic comes from the Greek word pneuma meaning breath. Pneumatic systems
use pressurized gases; here compressed air is the fluid medium to transmit and control power.
• Advantage of pneumatic over hydraulic systems:
[Link] Expensive, as the air used in the actuators is exhausted into the surrounding atmosphere
and there is no need Of any extra reservoir or tank..
2. Air like any other gas is compressible while hydraulic fluid compresses very little. The
compressibility of air helps in absorbing shock or load.
Disadvantage of pneumatic over hydraulic systems:
1. Free air from atmosphere contains moisture that is harmful., Air is not a good lubricant and
causes wear inside the actuator and creates a lot of noise.
2. As the air is compressed, it causes change of state due to the heating and cooling effects.
3. Pneumatic pressure is quite low compared to higher hydraulic pressure and therefore
pneumatic systems are restricted to low power applications.
4. Precise control of velocity and position in pneumatic systems is rather difficult as the arm of a
pneumatically driven robot will sag and impair the repeatability of the robot.

.
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 Properties of Air
• Gas laws, laws that relate
the pressure, volume, and
temperature of a gas.
Boyle’s law—named for
Robert Boyle—states that,
at constant temperature,
the pressure P of a gas
varies inversely with its
volume V, or PV = k,
where k is a constant.

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 Principles of Flow , Pressure &
Compressors

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Positive Displacement Compressor
• It is a reciprocating piston type compressor.
• A precision bored cylinder with deep thin fins for dissipation of heat is used for
the piston type compressor. There are intake and exhaust valves on the top of the
cylinder.
• The piston is fitted with crank-connecting rod mechanism for reciprocation.
Working Principle:
• When the piston as shown in Figure is pulled downward by the crank shaft in the
crankcase, a vacuum is created above the piston and atmospheric air rushes in
through the intake valve that opens to fill the vacuum.
• The intake valve is closed as the piston reaches the bottom. The crankshaft pushes
the piston upward and the air in the cylinder is compressed. When the piston
approaches the top of the cylinder, the outlet valve opens and the compressed air is
delivered.
• At the top position of the piston, the outlet valve closes and intake valve
[Link] cycle is repeated. This is the basic principle of compression. A
compressor is, of course, fitted with many other elements like silencer, oil gauge,
filter, lubrication systems, fly wheel, intercoolers etc
Positive Displacement(or)reciprocating
piston type compressor
• When the piston as shown in
Figure is pulled downward by
the crank shaft in the
crankcase, a vacuum is created
above the piston and
atmospheric air rushes in
through the intake valve that
opens to fill the vacuum.
• The intake valve is closed as
the piston reaches the bottom.
The crankshaft pushes the
piston upward and the air in
the cylinder is compressed.
When the piston approaches
the top of the cylinder, the
Monday, September 1, outlet valve opens and the
2025
compressed air is delivered.
 Multistage Compressor and Cooling
• The first stage longer cylinder works to take fresh air
in,while the piston goes down and as the piston is pushed
upward,the air taken at ambient temperature is compressed
and the compressed air passes through a copper tube which
is air cooled or chilled with water and enters the second
stage cylinder through the inlet value.
• As the air compressed in the first cylinder,
temperature of air increases and pressure of the air
increases further. Compression of air becomes easier if
it is cooled in the ambient temperature.
• This is affected by arranging an intermediate cooling
system where either a tube with fine fins may be used
or water jacked tube may be employed for quick
cooling.
• The cold compressed air from the first cylinder is
delivered to a second small cylinder in which it is
compressed and delivered .
• Due to the significant heat dissipation,density of air
increases and volumetric efficiency is [Link] ouput
of the piston type compressor is pulsating in nature.
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 Pneumatic Actuators
• Light aluminium cylinders are common in pneumatic systems. Pneumatic
actuators are of two types:
[Link] actuators and
[Link] actuators.
• Linear Actuators:
 Pneumatic cylinders may be single acting cylinder or double acting cylinder. A
single acting spring return cylinder is schematically shown in the diagram
below.

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• Rotary Actuators:Rotary actuators can be adapted to form the joints of a robot, providing high
levels of mechanical stiffness and torque. They have compact yet heavy-duty designs. These kinds
of actuators can be implemented to yield a torque-to-weight ratio about 10 times higher than a
standard motor.

• Rotary actuators are similar to the hydraulic rotary actuators

• . There are two types of rotary actuators:
[Link] speed piston motor and
2. variable speed vane motor.
Piston motors are of radial type and are shown in the figure:

• Vane motors are bidirectional and can rotate in either clockwise or counter clockwise
directions. The speed depends on the volume of air inducted in and the torque depends
on the pressure of the air. Unlike in the electrical motor, torque is not a function of
speed. A typical vane motor is illustrated in fig.
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 ELECTRICAL DRIVES
[[Link]

• Electrical drives use d.c electrical motors for robot articulation.

• DC motors can supply power to desired loads. DC motors have high torque-to-volume
ratios .
• For high precision, d.c motors are suitable with closed loop servo controls .They provide
clean drives in comparison to hydraulic and pneumatic drives .Electrically driven robots
exhibit good repeatability .
• DC motors convert electrical energy into mechanical energy by developing suitable
torque on the motor shaft .
• There are usually two types of motors used in the field of automation and robotics:
[Link] magnet motors and
[Link] with wound field coils.
• The non-linearity in the speed-torque characteristics of wound field motors ,permanent
magnet motors are conveniently used in robots.
• DC motors have a stator and a rotor .
• The torque developed on the motor shaft depends on the magnetic field flux in the stator
field and current in the motor armature.
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 Electrical Motors: d.c. Motors
• Permanent magnets are used to generate the stator magnetic field by supplying
directly the electrical current into the armature winding of the rotors
through brushes and commutators.
 In the shunt wound motor , a stator field winding is connected in parallel with
the armature winding.
 In the series-wound motor, the stator winding is connected in series with
armature winding.
 In compound wound motor, two stator windings are connected-one to series and
other to parallel with the armature winding.

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 Shunt Wound Motors
• When direct current is applied to the field coil, a
magnetic field is generated. The armature coil begins
to turn in the magnetic field and a voltage is
generated.
• When the armature is static, a voltage is applied to
the armature that draws heavy current. As soon as the
armature rotates the coil cuts through the magnetic
line of flux and a back emf is generated. This
opposes applied voltage.
• The armature draws little current during its rotation
when it generates counter emf and develops a torque.
• The higher the armature current, the higher is the
torque. The speed-torque characteristic for a shunt
wound motor is shown in [Link] shunt wound
motor has speed regulation.
• Torque is directly proportional to armature current. It
is a constant speed motor. It is used for slightly or
constant speed applications.

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 Series Wound Motors
• The field winding is in series with
armature [Link] the voltage is
applied, high current is drawn by both
the field and armature .
• The torque becomes high. But with the
rotation of the armature, counter emf is
generated which opposes the applied
voltage.
• The current goes down and the motor
runs [Link] course the load restricts
the speed of the motor; Otherwise it
will run away and the motor may be
[Link] .shows the speed-torque
curves for a series wound motor.

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 Compound Motors

• The speed regulation of a shunt wound motor

is good and the series wound motor has
higher starting torque.
• The advantage of the shunt wound motor
and the series wound motor can be combined
to form a motor known as Compound motor.

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 Permanent Magnet Motors
• Permanent magnet motors are of three types. They are:

1. Iron core permanent magnet d.c. motors

2. Surface-wound permanent magnet d.c. motors

3. Printed armature motors.

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Iron Core Permanent Magnet Motors
• The armature shaft rotates within a strong
and stable magnetic flux provided by a
permanent magnet made of alnico, ferrite,
ceramics or rare earth alloys.
• The wound field is substituted by a powerful
permanent magnet. Iron core d.c.
• PM motors have a laminated iron rotor with
slots in which the windings are located.
Since there are slots, there is a tendency of
starting and stopping as each slot passes
through the edge of the magnetic field.
• The linear speed-torque characteristics
of a permanent magnet motor. When the
speed of a motor increases, torque
decreases.

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Surface Wound Permanent Magnet D.C Motors
• In this motor, armature conductors are bonded
to the surface of a cylindrical rotor. Since
there are no slots, the starting and stopping
effect as in case of iron core PM d.c. motors
does not occur. The magnets used in this
motor are more powerful than in the iron core
PM d.c. motors.
• At the time of reversal of the motor, the
applied voltage acts in the same direction of
counter emf and as a result, the armature
current increases and a strong armature field
is created, which in turn attempts to
demagnetize the motors.
• The armature field is created, which in turn,
attempts to demagnetize the motors. The
armature current is, in fact, restricted in this
case and possibility of demagnetize is less.

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Printed Armature or Moving coil PM d.c. motors

• In the robots, it is often necessary to

position the manipulator instantly by
immediately bringing the motor to full
speed from the starting or it may be
necessary to stop it and reverse the motor.
 In the permanent magnet motor, the
armature made of soft steel is heavy and
difficult to accelerate or dead stop due to
the inertia effect.
 To overcome these difficulties, disc
armature motors or printed-circuit motors
are used.
• These provide good response and good
reliability.

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• Indicates disc armature motor in which flat discs of copper are stamped out
and the stampings are laminated together with insulation between sheets. The
copper laminations are connected together to form a continuous wire.

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 Brushless d.c. motors
• The d.c. motors have brushes and a
commutator to transmit power to the
armature.
• During the rotation of the armature, the
brushes make repeated contacts on the
split sectors of the commutator.
• The making and breaking of contacts
creates electrical noises besides pitting
of the surface due to continuous rubbing
and generates problems in the computer-
controlled robots.

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 When north pole faces the south pole, rotation stops.
When the north pole faces north, rotation take place.
 An optical disc mounted on the armature rotates
between the receiver and the light transmitter.
 When the light path is broken by the disc, the output
from the receiver sends a signal to the electronic
control to switch on the applied voltage.
 When the light transmitted reaches the receiver, a
signal is sent to the electronic control that activates
the electronic switching to reverse the field.
• Thus,without using the brushes and the commutator, it
is possible to organize electronic switching and power
supply to have continuous rotation of the armature.
• However, the position of the armature can also be
sensed by other types of sensors. Hall effect is one
such device.
Advantage: -
 brushless dc motor is that they have longer lives.
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 DC MOTORS AND TRANSFER FUNCTIONS

DC Motors currently used in electrically powered robots are generally separately

excited. The two adjustable parameters are the armature current and the field
current, and hence there are two modes of operation of a DC Servo Motor

1) armature-controlled mode

2) field controlled mode

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 Transfer Functions and block diagrams

• The transfer function of a system is defined as the ratio of Laplace

transform of the output of the system to that of the input with zero
initial conditions and is designated by the symbol G(s)

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• The functional relationship is a transfer function is often expressed by a block
diagram as shown in figure.

• Armature Control Motors:

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 Armature Control Motors
• The schematic diagram of a armature control Motors is shown in figure. since the
field is assumed to be constant the developer torque can be expressed as:

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Monday, September 1,
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 Field Control Motors

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 Field Control Motors
[[Link]

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 STEPPER MOTOR
• A stepper motor is an electromechanical device which converts electrical
pulses into discrete mechanical movements.
• The shaft or spindle of a stepper motor rotates in discrete step increments
when electrical command pulses are applied to it in the proper sequence.
• The motors rotation has several direct relationships to these applied input
pulses.
• The sequence of the applied pulses is directly related to the direction of
motor shafts rotation.
• The speed of the motor shafts rotation is directly related to the frequency of the
input pulses and the length of rotation is directly related to the number of input
pulses applied.
• The stepper motor is designed to rotate specific number of degree(7.5 or 15
degrees) for each electrical pulse received by its control unit. This increment is
known as “step angle”.
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[Link] the principle of operation like
magnetic poles repel and unlike poles
attract each other.
[Link] fig A if stator windings are energized
so that the stators A and D are north poles
and permanent magnet rotor positioned as
shown in fig A ,a torque will be developed
to position the rotor as shown in fig B
with the rotor aligning itself between the
‘average’ south pole and ‘average’ north
pole.
[Link] rotor’s direction of rotation would
be clockwise.
[Link] the polarity of the pair of
poles AB draws the rotor 90 degrees
clockwise to its new position of Fig C.
This known as “Full step”.
[Link] poles AB has been turned off instead
of being reversed the rotor would rotate
45 degrees clockwise to line wit the field
of pair of poles CD as shown in Fig
[Link] is known as “Half step”
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[Link] motor obtain small angle
increments by using large number of
poles. The stator has a two-phase
winding while the rotor has five
projecting poles.
[Link] stator has a two-phase winding
while the rotor has five projecting poles.
[Link] position shown is for poles AB
energized with pole A as north pole
where pole-I is aligned with AB axis. If
only the pair of poles CD is energized
the rotor will rotate by θ=90º-72º=18º to
align pole-II with CD axis.

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 Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages:
[Link] rotation angle of the motor is proportional to the input pulse.
2. The motor has full torque at standstill (if the windings are energized)
3. Precise positioning and repeatability of movement since good stepper motors have an
accuracy of 3 – 5% of a step and this error is non-cumulative from one step to the next.
[Link] response to starting / stopping / reversing.
Disadvantages
1. Resonances can occur if not properly controlled.
2. Not easy to operate at extremely high speeds.

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 Drive Mechanism
When motors are used rotary motion is converted into linear motion through Rack and
pinion gearing, lead screws and worm gearing or ball screws.
[[Link]
Rack and Pinion Ball Screws Gear Trains
Movement
Simple lead screws cause They use spur, helical and
The pinion is in mesh with friction and wear causing worm gearing. Reduction of
rack. If rack is fixed pinion positional inaccuracy. speed, torque and angular
will rotate. The rotary motion Therefore ball bearing screws velocity are possible.
of pinion will be converted are used in robots as they have Positional errors are caused
into linear motion of carriage. low friction. Balls roll between due to backlash in the gears.
the nut and the screw. The
rolling friction of the ball
enhances efficiency upto 90%.
 Harmonic Drive
For speed reduction standard gear transmission gives friction and backlash and takes more space. Harmonic
drive due to natural preloading eliminates backlash and greatly reduces tooth wear, so suitable for robot
drives due to their smooth and efficient action. Harmonic drive has high torque capacity.
It has 3 major elements

The circular spline is a rigid ring with gear teeth machined on inside diameter. It has
100 teeth.

The flex spline is a flexible ring with teeth cut on outside diameter. It has 98 teeth.

The wave generator is elliptical and is given input motion.

The entire assembly of wave generator and flex spline are placed in circular spline
such that the outer teeth of flex spline is in mesh with internal teeth of circular spline.
If the wave generator makes one complete revolution, the flex spline will engage 98
teeth of the circular spline. Since circular spline has 100 teeth & only 98 teeth are
engaged for 1 complete rotation, the circular spline’s position has been shifted by 2
teeth.
Thus after 50 revolutions of wave generator,the circular spline will have made one full
rotation.

[Link]