TRC2001 Notes S2 2019

System Engineering Models

External factors to be considered in systems engineering:

– Operational environment
– Customer needs
– Logistic support requirements
– Capabilities of those who will operate the product

Internal factors to be considered may include:

– Data from sensors being read by a controller

System Life Cycle

1. Concept development
a. Need & Feasibility
b. Concept exploration
c. Concept selection & planning
d. Prepare new technology
2. Engineering development
a. Develop Prototype
b. Plan Production
c. Validate Operation
3. Post development
a. Solve unanticipated problems
b. Provide system upgrades

The production phase is used to solve issues such as tooling difficulties, unexpected failure in factory
integration test. The operations and support phase is used to provide support and updates / upgrades
in case of faults or if new information or technology becomes available.

Fluid Power Systems

Fluids:
• Medium is Liquid – Hydraulics
o Hydro Statics – F = Pressure * Area
o Hydro Dynamics – F = Mass * Area
• Medium is gas – Pneumatics
Meter-In – Supply Throttling

Meter-Out – Exhaust Throttling

Drives/Actuators/Working Elements (eg. Cylinders)

Power Control Elements (Pressure/Flow Control)

Solid-State Switches:

1. Diodes
• Current is only passed when it is forward biased
• And the applied voltage exceeds the forward voltage which is around 0.7V
• Reserve-bias ONLY applies when the applied voltage exceeds the breakdown voltage
(Around 100V, bad because it causes
overheating)
• If an alternating voltage is applied across a
diode, it will be ON (passes current) in the
positive half cycle (forward biased), and OFF
in the negative half cycle (reverse biased).
The result is that the current is half-rectified
as shown in figure (b) below.
2. Thyristors
• The thyristor, (or silicon-controlled
rectifier (SCR)), is a diode which has a
gate that determines whether the
diode is switched ON (and hence
conducts current).
• The thyristor consists of 2 diodes as
shown
• It has 3 modes of operation:
o Forward blocking mode
 In forward blocking mode, the thyristor is forward-biased (anode more
positive with respect to cathode)
 The gate has no voltage (or current)
 Junctions J1 and J3 become forward biased, and J2 becomes reverse
biased (so current does not pass through)
 Since J2 is reverse-biased, then it has a breakdown voltage 𝑣𝑣𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏 (also
known as break-over voltage).
 If applied voltage (anode – cathode) does not exceed 𝑣𝑣𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏 of J2, then
current will not pass through (just like the reverse-biased diode)
o Forward conduction mode
 In forward conducting mode, current flows through the thyristor, in two
possible ways:
 If applied voltage (anode – cathode) exceeds 𝑣𝑣𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏 of J2 (still reverse-
biased), then current will pass through – but we don’t want to use this
method
 A gate current/voltage is applied momentarily
  If the gate current/voltage is turned off, the thyristor still continues
conducting current, and remains ON (provided its current still exceeds a
value called the holding current)
 Two ways to turn OFF the thyristor
 Reduce the current until it is less than the holding current
 Short-circuit the anode and cathode (but make sure that there is no
gate current/voltage)
o Reverse blocking mode
 In reverse blocking mode, the entire thyristor is reverse-biased, and
prevents current from flowing through
3. Bipolar transistors
• Bipolar transistors come in two forms, the npn
and the pnp.
• For the npn transistor, the main current flows
in at the collector and out at the emitter, a
controlling signal being applied to the base.
• The pnp transistor has the main current flowing
in at the emitter and out at the collector, a
controlling signal being applied to the base.
4. Solenoids
• Solenoids can be used to provide electrically operated actuators.
• Solenoid valves are an example of such devices, being used to control fluid flow in
hydraulic or pneumatic systems.
• When a current passes through a coil, a soft iron core is pulled into the coil, and can
open or close ports to allow the flow of a fluid.
• The force exerted by the solenoid on the core is a function of
o the current in the coil
o the length of core inside the coil.
• With on/off valves, the current in the coil is controlled to be either on or off, and the
core consequently in one of two positions.

DC Motors

• Brush-type
o A brush-type DC motor is a coil of wire (rotor) in the field
of permanent magnet (stator).
o When the current passes through the coil, the resulting
forces on the coil make it rotate.
o However, the coil will stop at the vertical plane where
the resulting forces yield zero torque.
o When the coil is in the vertical plane - for rotation to
continue, the current direction through the coil has to be reversed.
o This is achieved by the use of brushes making contact with a split-ring commutator,
which rotates with the coil.
 o In conventional DC motor, coils of wire are mounted in slots on a cylinder of magnetic
material called the armature, which is free to rotate
o It is mounted in the magnetic field produced by field poles.

• Brushless-type
o A problem with brush-type DC motors is that they require a commutator and brushes in
order to reverse the current through each armature coil periodically.
o The brushes make sliding contacts with the commutator, trigger sparks, and wear the
surface.
o Hence, brushes have to be periodically changed and the commutator resurfaced.
o Brushless DC motors consist of a sequence of stator coils and a permanent magnet
rotor.
o The current through the stator coils is switched by transistors so that the magnetic force
causes the rotor to rotate.
o Hall sensors are generally used to sense the position of the rotor and initiate the
switching by the transistors. These sensors are positioned around the stator.
o Brushless permanent magnet DC motors are used in situations where high performance
coupled with reliability and low maintenance are essential. They are quiet and capable
of high speed.

AC Motors

• When an alternating current passes through the stator windings an alternating magnetic field is
produced.
• EMFs are induced in the conductors of the rotor and current flow in the rotor, as a result of
electromagnetic induction.
• Initially, when the rotor is stationary, the forces on the current-carrying conductors of the rotor
in the magnetic field result in no net torque.
• Hence, the motor is not self-starting. It requires some methods to give it a push.
• Once it starts, the motor rotates at a speed determined by the frequency of the alternating
current applied to the stator, which is called the synchronous speed.
• Synchronous motors have stators similar to those described above for
induction motors but a rotor which is a permanent magnet.
• The magnetic field produced by the stator rotates an so the magnet rotates
with it.
• The frequency of rotation of the magnetic field is the same as the
frequency of the supply.
• Synchronous motors are used when a precise speed is required.
• They are not self-starting and some system has to be employed to start them.
Advantages and Disadvantages of AC Motor compared with DC Motors

• AC motors have the great advantage over DC motors of being cheaper, more rugged, reliable
and maintenance free.
• However, speed control is generally more complex than with DC motors. Hence, a speed-
controlled DC drive is generally cheaper than a speed-controlled AC drive.
• Speed control of AC motors is based around the provision of a variable frequency supply.
• The torque developed by an AC motor is constant when the ratio of the applied stator voltage to
frequency is constant.
• Hence, to maintain a constant torque, the voltage has to be varied at different speed.
• There are typically two ways in alternating the input frequency.
• One way is to use a converter to rectify the alternating current to direct current, and then use
an inverter to invert it back to alternating current at a selected frequency.
• Another way is to convert the alternating current at one frequency directly to alternating
current at another frequency by the cyclo-converter. It is often used for slow-speed motors.

Stepper Motor

• The stepper motor is a device that produces rotation through equal angles, the so-called steps,
for each digital pulse supplied to its input.
• For example, if a pulse produces a rotation of 6 degrees in a motor, 60 pulses will produce a full
rotation.
• There are a number of forms of stepper motors: variable reluctance stepper, permanent magnet
stepper, and hybrid stepper.
• Variable reluctance stepper shown below has a rotor made of soft steel and with four poles.
• When an opposite pair of windings has current switched on, a magnetic field will rotate the
rotor to line up with the stator poles so that the magnetic reluctance is minimised.
Sensors

Position Sensors

Potentiometer:

A potentiometer is a contact displacement sensor. It consists of a resistance element with a sliding

𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉/ 𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 = 𝑅𝑅23/ 𝑅𝑅13

𝑥𝑥𝑚𝑚 = 𝑉𝑉𝐿𝐿/ 𝑉𝑉𝑠𝑠 = 𝑥𝑥/(1 – 𝑥𝑥) 𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥/𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅 + 1

𝑒𝑒rror = 𝑥𝑥𝑚𝑚 – x

Resolution: the smallest change in the input that will produce an observable change in the output.

Optical Encoders:

An encoder is a device that provides a digital output as a result of a linear or angular displacement.

• Incremental encoder (detects changes in rotation from some datum (reference) position)
o Resolution = 360°/2*Number of Slots
• Absolute encoder (provides the actual angular position)
o Resolution = 360°/2^Number of Tracks

Velocity Sensors

Tachogenerator:

Measure angular velocity

Flux: Φ = Φ0 + Φ𝑎𝑎 cos 𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛t

EMF: 𝑒𝑒 = −𝑁𝑁 𝑑𝑑Φ/𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 = 𝑁𝑁Φ𝑎𝑎 𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛 sin 𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛 = Emax sin 𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛

Angular Velocity: 𝜔𝜔 = 2𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘/𝑛𝑛T n = Teeth Number k = Number of pulses N = Turns of the pick up coil

Force Sensors

Strain-Gauged Element

∆𝑅𝑅/𝑅𝑅 = 𝐺𝐺Ɛ Ɛ = Strain G = Gauge Factor

Pitch Circle Diameters (dp): the diameter of the gear which would transmit the same velocity ratio

Module (m): the length of pitch circle diameter per tooth

dp = 𝑚𝑚N

Degrees of Freedom Mechanisms

Degrees of Freedom (DoF) of a mechanism is defined as the number of independent coordinates needed
to define the configuration of this mechanism.

𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷 = ∑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 − ∑𝑐𝑐j (Chebychev Formula)

where 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 and 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 are the DoF of Body i and number of constraints (NoC) of Joint j, respectively.