Mechatronics

• Mechanisms and Electronics.

• Conventional mechanical systems
started going electrical/electronics
from 1970.
• Electrical and electronic systems can
be integrated with mechanical systems
and processes because of their
fantastic features, powers and
applications!
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• Mechatronics can be defined as a
multidisciplinary approach to product
and manufacturing system design.
• It’s the synergistic integration of
mechanical engineering with
electronics and intelligent computer
control in designing, manufacturing
processes and production.
• Thru mechatronics atomized and
efficient manufacturing/production
systems for high quality products!
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• Applications of mechatronics are in
every field of production, consumer
products, monitoring and control of
welding process, intelligent robotic
control using ultrasonic
measurements, temperature controllers
etc.

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• Ultrasonic sensors (also known as
transducers when they both send and
receive) work on a principle similar to radar
or sonar which evaluate attributes of a target
by interpreting the echoes from radio or
sound waves respectively. Ultrasonic
sensors generate high frequency sound
waves and evaluate the echo which is
received back by the sensor. Sensors
calculate the time interval between sending
the signal and receiving the echo to
determine the distance to an object.

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• Mechatronics is truly a multidisciplinary
field!

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Mechatronics Design Elements

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• Sensor: The combination of a
transducer and a signal processor.
• Signal Conditioning element may
perform the following operations:
• Signal boosting
• Noise Reduction
• Removal of dc offset if any
• Resolving Compatibility issues
• Removal of wrong/in access or
duplicate information present
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• Most commonly, signal conditioning
units would include op-amps with
suitable passive elements.
• Other signal conditioning elements
(SCE) are adder, subtractor, integrator,
differentiator, current/voltage or
voltage/current converters, sample and
hold amplifiers, instrumentation
amplifiers etc.
• For a computer based system, A/D
converters are used as SCEs.
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• Mechatronic systems employ actuators
which are part of the physical process being
monitored and controlled.
• Actuation….result of a direct physical action
on a process.
• Actuator’s input low power signal from
computer or signal conditioning units, its
output high output signals (physical
quantities) that are applied to the process as
input.

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• Actuator examples: Solenoids, steeper
motor etc.
• Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs)
industrial devices used for interfacing and
controlling analog to digital devices.
• A PLC is a sequential logic device…..
• Can u differentiate a sequential and a
combinational logic device?
• PLC generates output signal according to
logic operations performed on the input
signals.
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• The major difference between a computer
controller and a programmable controller?
• Programmable controllers are designed to
interface directly whereas a computer
systems requires data acquisition, signal
processing, memory, logic and peripherals
before process implementation.
• PLC are programmed with ladder logic, a
graphical method of laying out the
connectivity and logic between system
inputs and outputs.
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• A typical PLC would include:

– Integrated Power Supply

– Central Processing Unit (CPU)
– Memory Elements
– Programmer/Monitor
– Input/Output Modules

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• A Microcontroller provides a small flexible
control platform and it can easily be
embedded in a mechatronic system.
• Microcontroller ?
• A microcomputer on a single integrated
circuit containing microprocessor, memory
input/output capabilities and other on-chip
resources.
• Large mechatronic systems would employ
desktop/personal/laptop computers as
control platforms.
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