Design, test custom servo motion algorithms to improve robot, gantry performance
MechaWare 4.0 software from Kollmorgen leverages Matlab and Simulink; control algorithms minimize system weight and power consumption, and eliminate vibration for optimized mechanical system performance.
Renee Robbins
Kollmorgen introduces MechaWare 4.0, a mechatronic "toolkit" that empowers software and design engineers to work together to design, test and modify custom motion algorithms in a fraction of the time and cost of conventional methods.
This upgraded software leverages Matlab/Simulink from The Mathworks to identically model and seamlessly integrate mechanical systems and control software design. Whether engineers are looking to implement and test a simple PID algorithm, or build a multi-axis controls model using pre-filters, observers and biquad filters, MechaWare 4.0 is scalable to meet specific design needs.
"Motion system vibration can create significant problems by limiting throughput, creating noise and reducing component life," says Joshua Jensen, product manager. "It further impacts machine quality and reliability, consuming excessive energy and forcing expensive mechanical structures to accommodate. With MechaWare 4.0, design engineers can rapidly design and implement unique control algorithms and generate embedded motion routines to engineer an exact-fit control solution, saving time, material cost and overall system cost-of-ownership.
Additionally, OEMs can test and validate their design using Matlab/Simulink's powerful simulation engine, and use integrated analysis tools such as Kollmorgen's Bode Tool to accurately characterize system performance and quickly tune the motors."
Jensen says over 80 MechaWare blocks have been optimized for motion control, and "all of those blocks matched to controller firmware performance to ensure that control model behavior is nothing less than identical to the actual hardware response." Thus, MechaWare 4.0 promises significantly faster and more precise designs, increased throughput and reduced settling time to maximize mechanical system efficiency, he says.
The MechaWare 4.0 graphical interface allows controls engineers to reduce development cycles and simplify machine design. They are also able to embed inverse kinematic calculations in firmware for customized, real-time performance, define coordinate transformations to improve system accuracy based on registration mark or vision system input, and create motion and I/O routines in firmware for reduced latency and improved safety.
MechaWare 4.0 also does the following:
• Reduces motor cogging. The software includes tools to map and compensate for error due to motor cogging, with increased smoothness for constant velocity applications
• Protects intellectual property through direct download to firmware
• Provides sample models for common architectures, including inverse kinematics, gantry systems, robot configurations
• Embeds axes relationships, providing flexibility to implement MIMO control, inverse kinematics and axis translations
• Delivers standard control blocks-PID/PIV, biquad, observer, matrix gain, lookup tables and more-and motion and I/O Blocks (sequence, trigger, motion and I/O through model for embedded routines).
For more information, download a PDF of the Kollmorgen MechaWare 4.0 motion control brochure .
Kollmorgen is a provider of motion systems and components for machine builders around the globe, with over 60 years of motion control design and application expertise. Kollmorgen's US corporate offices are located in Radford, VA. US sales and support offices are in Santa Barbara, CA.
- Edited by Renee Robbins, senior editor
Control Engineering News Desk
Machine Control, Motion Control news from Control Engineering
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