Fundamentals

of

Industrial Robotics
Online Training Course for Students 2019 (2)
Industrial Robots

Motion Control
 Industrial Robots
The Performance of Industrial Robots is based on permanent
monitoring of the robot behavior in executing requested operations.

Source: KUKA
 Industrial Robots

One important issue related to fast and precise

operation of Industrial Robots is a high accurate
control of their motion!

How can it be achieved?

 Industrial Robots

To enable fast and precise motion, Industrial robots

nowadays use AC Servo Drive Systems.

What is a Servo Drive System?

Compared to conventional drive systems, a servo drive system in
general will produce motion in response to commands.
Then the servo regulates speed and direction of motion in
accordance
Source: Yaskawa
to feedback!
 Industrial Robots

A servo drive system is therefore based on:

Servo amplifier + Servo motor = Servo System

Source: Kollmorgen, Kistler

 Industrial Robots
Low voltage commands are input to the Servo amplifier. The commands are provided
by a Servo controller.

+
Servo Controller Servo Amplifier Servo Motor

The Servo Controller provides the Servo Amplifier with information when and how the Servo Motor should move!

Source: Kollmorgen, Kistler

 Industrial Robots

The Basic Design of a Servo System for Motion Control:

The Servo controller sends control signals
related to position, speed and torque to the
Low voltage Low voltage High voltage amplifier.
command input output
The Servo amplifier transforms the signals
into a format which is needed by the motor.

Servo motors:
Servo Controller • Very powerful
Servo Amplifier
• Fast response
- holds position tightly
- start/stop and change of
speed in msec,
Always needs an encoder
Always needs an amplifier
Mechanical system Servo Motor
(servo mechanism)

Source: Kollmorgen, Kistler

 Industrial Robots

The Basic Design of a Servo System for Motion Control:

Low voltage High voltage

command output

often combined

Mechanical system Servo Motor

(servo mechanism)

Source: Kollmorgen, Kistler

 Industrial Robots

The Basic Design of a Servo System for Motion Control:

Low voltage High voltage

command output

Servo Drive

Mechanical system Servo Motor

(servo mechanism)

Source: Kollmorgen,
 Industrial Robots

The Basic Design of a Servo Control Concept:

Low voltage High voltage

command output

Servo Drive speed

feedback

Mechanical system Servo Motor

(servo mechanism)

Source: Kollmorgen,
 Industrial Robots

The Basic Design of a Servo Control Concept:

Position sensor (AbsolutEncoder)

Position sensor

Servo Motor

Source: Kollmorgen, Yaskawa

 Industrial Robots

The Basic Design of a Servo Control Concept:

Position
Setpoint( joint angle)
Cascaded control of rotational speed
Low voltage High voltage
ε Axis and position of the motor shaft.
input output
Control Often motor current is also controlled in a
third underlying control loop.

position Servo Drive speed

feedback feedback

Mechanical system Servo Motor

(servo mechanism)

Source: Kollmorgen,
 Industrial Robots

Considerations related to Servo motion control:

1. Switch ON of the servos (Enable)

2. Direction of movement

3. Over-travel

4. Distance & Position

5. Zero-Reference.

Source: Yaskawa
 Industrial Robots

Considerations related to Servo motion control:

1. Switch On of servos to „Enable“
a) Switch On of Servo amplifiers (  refers to Control Power)

b) Apply high voltage and high current power source to drive

the motor (refers to Main Power)

c) Energize the Servo motor  refers to„Servo Enable“. The

signal comes from the controller.  Means: Ready to move when
commanded. If Servo motor is „enabled“ the current shaft
position will be held first before it can be changed.
Source: Yaskawa
 Industrial Robots

Considerations related to Servo motion control:

2. Direction of motion
a) Direction of motion will be „Forward“ or „Reverse“,

b) Motion in both directions require certain mechanical mechanisms

on the machine ( spindel; belt-based transmission, gears, etc.)

c) Important is that the machine direction has to match with the

servo direction! Otherwise severe damages may occur!
Source: Yaskawa
 Industrial Robots

Considerations related to Servo motion control:

3. Over-Travel
a) Motion is normaly performed along a fixed linear or rotational
distance;

b) Distance is restricted by means of limit switches. They stop the

motor in continuing motion in one direction. Reasons are
mechanical constraints. Also of importance are safety
reasons: for instance to avoid moving parts to crash into one
another;
Source: Yaskawa
 Industrial Robots

Considerations related to Servo motion control:

4. Distance & Position
a) Servo Motion Control is able to cope with different move
commands;
b) Move a „Distance“ : commanded is a distance relative to the
current position  Relative Move
c) Move to a „Position“: commanded is to move to a defined
position  Absolute Move
Source: Yaskawa
 Industrial Robots

Considerations related to Servo motion control:

Encoder or resolver values represent the position of each

Axis during and after motion.
After motion the TCP position in X, Y, and Z will be
available by main controller calculations.
But where is X, Y and Z directions of the physical robot?

How does the robot know where to move if Relative

Move in x-direction of the base coordinate system is
commanded?

Calibration is required!!
Source: Yaskawa, KUKA
 Industrial Robots

Considerations related to Servo motion control:

5. Zero Reference
a) Industrial robots need to know the difference between mechanical
position of each axis (actual joint angle) and the electronic position
(encoder or resolver values) in order to set the correct positions
of the axes. They have to be in regard to the base coordinate system.
b) Zero Point Calibration (Mastering) must be done in order to command
accurate robot moves in cartesian coordinate systems (frames).
c) A predefined pose is selected which mostly is specified by physical markings
on the robot structure. After attaining this pose, mastering is commanded to
establish a reference between encoder values and real joint values.

Source: Yaskawa
 Industrial Robots

Considerations related to Servo motion control:

5. Zero Reference

Electronic
Measuring Tool

Mastering position of KUKA robots

Source: KUKA
 Industrial Robots

Servo Motion Control

of
ABB IRB 7600
IRB 7600

Source: ABB, Machine Design

 Industrial Robots

Servo motion control of ABB IRB 7600:

For motion control the ABB 7600 robot is utilizing
RESOLVER for position and speed measurement of
each axis.
Reason is that meanwhile resolver technology is more
robust than encoders. They are also more reliable and
easy to operate. They provide absolute analog data.

IRB 7600

Source: ABB, Machine Design Servo Drive control loop

 Industrial Robots

Servo motion control of ABB IRB 7600:

Servo Motor Motor + Position sensor

Source: Learchannel
 Industrial Robots

Servo motion control of ABB IRB 7600:

 RESOLVER are rotary transformers. They are built from
one primery winding (rotor) and two secondary
windings (stator).
 The stator windings are arranged in a 90 degree
orientation to each other.
 The primery winding of the resolvers at the IRB 7600 is
excited by an alternating current signal of higher
frequency (10 kHz). To avoid brushes for the rotor,
inductive transformation is applied.
 Primery winding and secondary windings are coupled
on basis of the induction principle.
Source: Fluid.de
 Industrial Robots

Servo motion control of ABB IRB 7600:

Resolver principle
Resolver signals:
Reference signal, modulated Stator
Source: ABB, Machine Design signals
 Industrial Robots

Servo motion control of ABB IRB 7600: Stator

Rotor

Inductive
Transformer
Resolver principle Reference signal input by inductive
transformation
Source: Machine Design, Learnchannel
 Industrial Robots

Servo motion control of ABB IRB 7600:

Rotation angle of motor shaft:

α = 0°

Reference voltage amplitude sine

Signal at sine winding α = arc tan
Signal at cosine winding amplitude cosine

Resolver principle
Source: YouTube -learnchannel
 Industrial Robots

Servo motion control of ABB IRB 7600:

Measurement principle:
Trigger for rot. angle measurement
is taken from the Reference Signal.

Trigger is generated at each

amplitude maximum of the
Reference Signal.
Trigger initiates an A/D converter to
Signal at sine winding
convert the amplitudes of the SINE
Signal at cosine winding Signal and of the COSINE Signal
into digital values.

Resolver principle
Source: ABB, Machine Design
 Industrial Robots

Servo motion control of ABB IRB 7600:

Output voltage of the Resolver
Signal = 7 V peak-to-peak

The Resolver measures at a

resolution of 12.288 increments
(0-12.287) per 360° rotation. This
Signal at sine winding guarantees very high accuracy.
Signal at cosine winding

Resolver principle
Source: ABB, Machine Design
 Industrial Robots
SMB compares the three
Servo motion control of ABB IRB 7600: analog signals of the
resolver with a number of
combinations in its memory to
Shielded Cable Signal Processing (SMB) calulate the rot. angle of the
motor shaft.

SMB = Serial Measurement

Excitation
Board
Signal Rotation
correction angle
Cosine
and
calculation
of angle D.I.N.= Digital Increment Number
Sine

Source: Servotechnik.de Resolver signal processing

 Industrial Robots

Servo motion control of ABB IRB 7600:

Resolver

SMB

SMB is located in the base plate of the robot.

IRC 5 SMB Board

Source: Serious Survivor
 Industrial Robots

Servo motion control of ABB IRB 7600:

Resolver

SMB Axis
D.I.N. Computer

Axis Computer receives the actual digital position of the motor shaft (D.I.M.)
measured in realtime!

Source: Serious Survivor

 Industrial Robots

Servo motion control in ABB IRB 7600:

Main
Computer
Resolver

SMB Axis
D.I.N. Computer

Axis Computer receives the motion profile (next position for the robot to go) from
the Main Computer! Data is transmitted across the RS 485 serial cable.
Then Axis Computer starts to calculate position and speed setpoints. Gear ratios
are also considered during this calulation.

Source: Serious Survivor

 Industrial Robots

Servo motion control in ABB IRB 7600:

Main
Computer
Resolver

Main
SMB Axis
Servo
D.I.N. Computer

Position and Speed setpoints are transfered to the Main Servo. Here the
motor current is calculated (current setpoint) which is necessary at each axis
to move the robot‘s TCP to the desired position at the programmed speed.
Current request is then sent to the Rectifier.

Source: Serious Survivor

 Industrial Robots
380 VAC Power Supply
Servo motion control in ABB IRB 7600: (480 VAC in the US)

Main
Computer Rectifier

Resolver ServoMotor

Main
SMB Axis
Servo
D.I.N. Computer
Current feedback

The motor current is delivered by the Rectifier.

Rectifier transforms 480 VAC input into 700 VDC output to excite the
motor. Main servo gets high AC current from the Rectifier and directs it to
the Servo Motor. Motor current is controlled by a third underlying loop.
Source: Serious Survivor
 Industrial Robots
380 VAC Power Supply
Servo motion control in ABB IRB 7600: (480 VAC in the US)

Main
Computer Rectifier

Resolver ServoMotor

Main
SMB Axis
Servo
D.I.N. Computer
Current feedback
Positon / speed of motor shaft rotation

The time of a servo motion control cycle is less than 5 msec!

This enables robot motion at high degree of precision.

Source: Serious Survivor

 Industrial Robots
380 V AC Power Supply
Servo motion control in ABB IRB 7600: (480 V AC in the US)

Main
Computer Rectifier

Resolver ServoMotor

Main
SMB Axis
Servo
D.I.N. Computer

The time of a servo motion control cycle is less than 5 msec!

Source: Serious Survivor

 Industrial Robots
Servo Motion Control of ABB Industrial Robots enables high
precision operations in all kind of application.

Source: ABB
 Industrial Robots

End of Online Session 2 !

Thank you for your interest!