Motion control

Motion control, motion control , or English motion control refers to the control of differentials of the movement position / angle , velocity , acceleration , jerk , and combinations thereof. For the regulation come actuators such. B. hydraulic cylinders or electric motors are used. Typical applications are routing , point-to-point position control and speed control . Modern, mechatronic motion control systems also include algorithms in software in addition to electromechanical motion controls.

Explanation

There are several types of drives , including mechanical drives . Drives are used in production machines and machine systems, for example assembly and filling systems . In the context of motion control there is a tendency that mainly mechanical drives, but also pneumatic and hydraulic drives , are increasingly being replaced by electrical drives . This development is based on the fact that electrical drives can be controlled and positioned better and that the components of mechanical drives are at risk of wear . An essential advantage of electric drives in this context is their increased flexibility: mechanical components no longer have to be time-consuming converted and adjusted, but the electronic drives, which are controlled by software, receive different instructions. With the more modern mechatronic solution, tasks such as synchronizing axes are specified by the drive software. In contrast to the earlier mechanical solution, servo drives are used in mechatronic motion control. In the context of synchronism, these are dependent on a virtual main axis and no longer, as with the mechanical solution, on vertical shafts .

variants

A distinction is made between three variants of modern motion control systems with regard to the location where the software runs:

1. Hardware-based variant: The software runs on hardware that is housed separately from the drives, converters and HMI PCs.
2. PC-based variant: The software runs on the PC that contains the user interface.
3. Drive-based variant: The software runs in the converter of the drives.

Examples

• SIMotion from Siemens (includes hardware and software)
• CoDeSys SoftMotion from 3S-Smart Software Solutions (only includes software)

literature

• Peter Friedrich Brosch : A key to global success - modern machine concepts with motion control , in: Construction No. 7 and 8/2006, pp. 2–7, accessed online from the website of the University of Hanover
• Matthias Seitz: Programmable Logic Controls for Factory and Process Automation , Hanser, 4th, revised and expanded edition, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-446-44273-3 , chap. 6 (pp. 184–223)

Web links

• Motion control specifications of the PLCopen

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Seitz 2015, p. 185