PCIM Europe 2016, 10 – 12 May 2016, Nuremberg, Germany

Load Torque Estimation in Repetitive Mechanical Systems

by Using Fourier Interpolation

M.Sc.E.E. Van Trang Phung, University of Siegen, Germany, vantrang.phung@uni-siegen.de

Univ.-Prof.Dr.-Ing. Mario Pacas, University of Siegen, Germany, pacas@uni-siegen.de

Abstract
This paper deals with the load torque estimation in repetitive mechanical systems by using
Fourier interpolation. Two different solutions are presented, one is theory based and one
utilizes a look-up table for the estimation of coefficients of a Fourier series while making
interpolation of the load torque. A laboratory set-up with a horizontal slider-crank mechanism
was built as an example of repetitive mechanical systems and was used to verify the
effectiveness of the two methods. It has been determined that the look-up table based
method yields better performance quality than the other method. The estimated load torque
is also utilized as a compensation signal in a feed-forward control scheme to improve the
quality of the speed response. It can be also used in the diagnostic for the rolling bearing
faults in future works.

1. Introduction

The information of the load torque can be used for the mechanical analysis and performance
improvement of mechatronics systems. In [1], it is considered as an input known a priori for
an identification process, from which the mechanical parameters of a two-mass system are
identified. Later, these parameters are used in an automatic tuning rule of a state-space
controller [2]. The load torque is also utilized as a compensation signal to reduce the shaft
torsional vibration [3] and to increase the robustness of a speed controller [4].
The load torque can be measured by using sensors, but these sensors lead to higher overall
cost and less robustness of the system. In the literature several methods have been
proposed for the load torque estimation. For this purpose a disturbance observer whose gain
selection can be done by applying a pole placement method [5] [6] can be used. The Kalman
filter technique has also been proposed [7] [8]. The pole placement method ensures good
estimation accuracy if the noise associated with the measurement is low and the system’s
parameters are well known. Otherwise, the estimation accuracy can be unsatisfactory. In the
case of the Kalman filter technique, the load torque is considered as a state variable and
obtained as an output of the Kalman filter. However, this method has a disadvantage related
to the selection of the covariance matrixes, as there is no general rule for choosing these
matrixes.
Many mechanical systems like those found in production machines are characterized by
repetitive cycles in which changes in the load torque and the moment of inertia are periodic.
As a result, the demanded load torque changes periodically. A horizontal slider-crank
mechanism is an example of such a system. The load torque in the mechanism is a periodic
function of the crank angle, so it can be characterized by applying Fourier interpolation. The
estimation of the load torque can be conducted by evaluating the coefficients of the Fourier
series. Two methods including a theoretical method and a look-up table based method for
the estimation of the Fourier coefficients are presented in this paper. The estimated load
torque is used in a feed-forward control scheme to improve the quality of the speed control.

ISBN 978-3-8007-4186-1 240 © VDE VERLAG GMBH · Berlin · Offenbach

 PCIM Europe 2016, 10 – 12 May 2016, Nuremberg, Germany

2. Horizontal slider-crank mechanism

2.1. Mechanical structure

The slider-crank mechanism consists of three main parts: a slider, a connecting rod and a
crank as shown in Fig. 1(a). The reduced model depicted in Fig. 1(b) is used for the kinetic
analysis of the mechanism. O, A, and B are the three articulated joints between the coupling,
the crank, the connecting rod and the slider. Gc and Gcrod correspond to the centers of gravity
of the crank and the connecting rod, respectively. Since the mechanism has one degree of
freedom, a two dimensional coordinate system (Oxy) can be used to describe the position of
each single body. The angles of the crank and the connecting rod with respect to the
horizontal axis are denoted by T and I . In addition, without generality, the surface on which
the slider moves can be assumed to be the potential surface.
crank y
a  b mcrank 0.345 kg

connecting rod mcrod 0.229 kg

A
slider r1 mslider 4.295 kg
l mcrod
Gc Gcrod
r1 50 m m
T x
mcrank hc r2 r2 340 m m
O hcrod
I exc
l 13.5 m m
coupling Potentialsurface
B exc 30 mm
mslider

Fig. 1. Horizontal slider-crank mechanism: a) mechanical structure; b) reduced model

2.2. Moment of inertia

According to the kinetic analysis [9], the equivalent moment of inertia of the mechanism is
given by:
2
ª º
2 «
cos T  O  k sinT  »
Je (T ) J A  mc r1 sinT  (1)
« 2 »
«¬ 1   O  k sinT  »¼

where: J A Jcrank  mcrank l 2  0.5mcrod r12 ; mc mslider  0.5mcrod ; O r1 / r2 ; k exc / r2 ; Jcrank is the
moment of inertial of the crank.
Normally, O  1 and k  1. Je in (1) can be considered as a multivariable function of O and k .
If only terms up to the first order of O and k are regarded when representing J e in form of
Taylor series, (1) can be rewritten as:
Je T  
J A  mc r12 sin2 T  O sinT sin2T  2k sinT cos T  (2)
The total moment of inertia is defined by taking into account the moment of inertia of the
motor (Jmotor ) , the coupling (Jcoupling ) and the mechanism (Je ) :
Jtotal T  Jmotor  Jcoupling  Je T  (3)

2.3. Potential energy

The crank and the connecting rod are the two components storing potential energy. With
respect to the potential surface, the total potential energy is given by:
Wp Wp,crank  Wp,crod mcrank ghc  mcrod ghcrod mcrank g  l sinT  exc   0.5mcrod g  r1 sinT  exc  (4)
where g is the acceleration of gravity.

ISBN 978-3-8007-4186-1 241 © VDE VERLAG GMBH · Berlin · Offenbach

 PCIM Europe 2016, 10 – 12 May 2016, Nuremberg, Germany

2.4. Friction model

In the mechanism, friction mostly comes from the contact surface between the slider and the
supporting frame. It can be divided into four components: Coulomb friction, stiction, viscous
damping and Stribeck effect as shown in Fig. 2. As it can be seen, the Coulomb friction is
constant and depends on the movement direction of the slider. The stiction, which is also
known as break-away friction, has a non-zero value only when the slider is in standstill. The
viscous damping is directly proportional to the slider velocity. The Stribeck effect is due to the
use of lubrication and occurs at the translation boundary from partial to full fluid lubrication.
The total friction is illustrated in Fig. 2(e).
FCoulomb Fstiction Fviscous FStribeck Ffric

O v slider O v slider v slider O v slider

O O v slider
a b  c d  e
Fig.2. Friction model: (a) Coulomb friction; (b) stiction; (c) viscous damping; (d) Stribeck effect; (e)
total friction
For mathematical description, the total friction can be defined by the sum of the Coulomb
friction and the viscous damping:
Ffric FCoulomb  Fviscous K c sgn v slider   Kv v slider (5)
where: Z dT / dt ; v slider r1Z  sinT  0.5O sin 2T  k cosT  ; K c and Kv are the Coulomb and
viscous constants; sgn(.) is the sign function.

3. Load torque estimation methods

3.1. Theoretical calculation of the load torque

The load torque demanded by the mechanical system is defined by the Euler-Lagrange
equation [9]:
2
d 2T 1 dJtotal § dT · dWp dx
Tload Jtotal 2  ¨ ¸   Ffric slider (6)
dt 2 dT © dt ¹ dT dT
dxslider § O ·
where: Jtotal ,Wp , Ffric are given by (3), (4) and (5), and r1 ¨ sinT  sin 2T  k cos T ¸
dT © 2 ¹
Supposed that the crank is driven at a constant angular velocity:
Z dT / dt const , d 2T / dt 2 0 (6) can be rewritten as:
Tload Tinertia  TCoulomb  Tviscous  Tp (7)
Tinertia 0.5mc r12Z 2  sin2T  0.5O sinT  1.5O sin3T  2k cos 2T  ;TCoulomb K c r1 sinT  0.5O sin2T  k cosT
2
Tviscous Kv r12Z  sinT  0.5O sin2T  k cosT  ;Tp  mcrank l  0.5mcrod r1  g cosT
where Tinertia ,TCoulomb ,Tviscous ,Tp are due to the change of moment of inertia, Coulomb friction,
viscous damping and potential energy.
Eq. (7) shows that the load torque Tload is a periodic function of the crank angle, so it can be
described in terms of trigonometric functions by utilizing Fourier interpolation. Furthermore, if
the electric drive is designed properly, the demanded load torque by the mechanical system
has the approximate value of the reference torque which is the output of the speed controller.
Therefore, the reference torque is a good estimation of the load torque.

ISBN 978-3-8007-4186-1 242 © VDE VERLAG GMBH · Berlin · Offenbach

 PCIM Europe 2016, 10 – 12 May 2016, Nuremberg, Germany

3.2. Fourier interpolation of the load torque

Since the control system works in discrete time-domain, the discrete Fourier series for the
description of the load torque should be considered [10]:
a0 M 1 M 1
Tload |  ¦ ak cos(kT )  ¦ bk sin(kT ) (8)
2 k 1 k 1
N 1
2 2
N 1
where: ak ¦ Tload  i 'T  cos  k u i 'T ; bk ¦ N T  i 'T  sin k u i 'T 
load
; 'T 2S / N; N is the
i 0 N i 0

number of samples per period.

The calculation of the Fourier coefficients can be implemented by using sliding windows. An
increase of N means an increase of the windows resolution and yields more precise results.
However, it demands more calculation efforts by the microprocessor or DSP. Therefore, N
should be chosen properly before carrying out any calculation.

3.3. Theory based method

In this method, each Fourier coefficient is explicitly described by a function of the crank
angle. For this purpose, the four components of the load torque in (7) are expressed in
Fourier series. The two components Tinertia and Tp are already trigonometric functions. When
considering the real value of O and k from the mechanical design, two other terms can be
expressed in Fourier series whose coefficients are calculated and presented in Table I and
Table II.
TABLE I TABLE II
2
O O
COEFFICIENTS OF sin T  sin 2T  k cos T COEFFICIENTS OF sin T  sin 2T  k cos T
2 2
Harmonic Harmonic
DC 1 2 3 4 5 DC 1 2 3 4 5
order order
Cos 0.64 0.06 -0.423 -0.04 -0.084 -0.01 Cos 0.51 0.0697 -0.492 -0.069 0 0
Sin 0 0.074 0 0.031 0.0002 Sin 0.0061 0.0868 0.0061 0 0

Based on Table I and Table II, the load torque can be described in the following form:
a0 5 5
Tload  ¦ ak cos(kT )  ¦ bk sin(kT ) (9)
2 k 1 k 1

where ak and bk are given in Table III.

In this process, M = 6 was chosen as a compromise between the estimation precision and
the algorithm complexity.
To conduct the theoretical calculation, the Coulomb and viscous constants need to be
identified. The identification is carried out by considering the relationship of these two
parameters with the coefficient a0 in (9).The procedure for this method is shown in Fig. 3.

3.4. Look-up table based method

In addition, the Fourier coefficients can be estimated by using look-up tables obtained by
measurements on the mechanical system. The procedure to build such the tables includes
two steps:
Step 1: The crank is driven at different angular velocities within its operational range >0,Zmax @ .
In each case, a set of coefficients >ak , bk @ is obtained.

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 PCIM Europe 2016, 10 – 12 May 2016, Nuremberg, Germany

Step 2: For the calculation of each Fourier coefficient a two-dimensional look-up table is
created from the data obtained in Step 1. The input of the tables is the crank angular velocity.
Linear interpolation is used for reducing the size of the tables.
Fig. 4 shows the block diagram describing the idea of the method.
Z ai / bi TABLE III
TABLE III
Eq. (9)
Tload
FOURIER COEFFICIENTS OF LOAD TORQUE
T
Symbol Harmonic Value
a0 / 2 DC 0.64 K c r1  0.51K v r12Z
Fig.3. Theoretical method
a1 cos T 0.06 K c r1  0.0697 K v r12Z  0.104
Look-up a0
table a2 cos 2T mc r12Z 2 k  0.4235 K c r1  0.4924 K v r12Z

# a3 cos 3T 0.04 K c r1  0.0697 K v r12Z

Z Look-up ai / bi a4 cos 4T 0.0846 K c r1

table Eq(9) Tload a5 cos 5T 0.01K c r1
# b1 sin T 0.25O mc r12Z 2  0.0061K v r12Z
Look-up a5 / b5 b2 sin 2T 0.5mc r12Z 2  0.0754 K c r1  0.0868 K v r12Z
table
b3 sin 3T 0.75O mc r12Z 2  0.0061K v r12Z
T
b4 sin 4T 0.0308 K c r1
b5 sin 5T 0.0002 K c r1
Fig.4. look-up table based method

4. Results

4.1. Description of the experiment setup

A laboratory set-up was specially designed and built to verify the effectiveness of the two
proposed methods. As it is shown in Fig. 5, the test bench is composed of two main parts:
the mechanical part and the electrical part. The mechanical part is a horizontal slider-crank
mechanism coupled to a motor drive equipped with a permanent magnet synchronous
machine (PMSM). The PMSM is supplied by an inverter working at fs 4kHz . The control
algorithm and data acquisition are carried out by a dSPACE 1104 board. The position and
velocity of the crank are measured by using a 2048-pulse incremental encoder assembled in
the driving motor.

4.2. Results

The mechanism was driven at 3 min-1, 5 min-1, 7 min-1, 10 min-1, 15 min-1, 20 min-1, 25 min-1,
30 min-1, 40 min-1, 50 min-1, 60 min-1, 70 min-1, 80 min-1, 90 min-1, 100 min-1. The ‘Fourier’
block in Fig. 5 follows the sliding window method with two inputs including the reference load
torque and the crank angle. It is necessary to mention that the precision of the crank angle
strongly affects the precision of the estimation algorithm. Therefore, the angle should be
corrected during the commissioning mode of the driving motor. The coefficients obtained
from the estimation process are depicted in Fig. 6.

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 PCIM Europe 2016, 10 – 12 May 2016, Nuremberg, Germany

Compensation T
Tcompensation
0 Compensator Z

iq*
Ciq
Z* T* Slider Crank
PI k PI
e jT PWM Inverter PMSM
Control CZ PI 6 pulses Mechanism
id*
Cid
Desk ib
dq DE
ic
DE abc
Encoder
Z T
dT / dt
> a0 ,.., aM 1 @ Fourier
0 Electrical Part Mechanical Part
>b1 ,.., bM 1 @
Estimation dSPACE
Fig.5. Control system of the slider-crank mechanism

Fig. 6 shows that the dependency of b2 on the

1.2
crank angular velocity resembles a parabola. 1
a0
a1
This behavior agrees with the calculation of b2 a2
0.8
in Table III. Furthermore, it can be seen that b2
0.6
the shape of the DC component a0 is similar to a3

Coefficients value 0.4 a4

that of the total friction force in Fig. 2(e). The a5
linear region ranges from 25 min-1 to 100 min-1. 0.2
b1

The straight blue line characterizing the linear 0 b3

behavior is obtained by connecting the two -0.2

b4
b5
points located in the border of the linear -0.4
region. The intersection of the straight blue
-0.6
line with the vertical axis helps to identify the
Coulomb constant while its slope can be used -0.8
0 20 40 60 80 100 120

to calculate the viscous constant. Crank angular velocity (min-1)

Kv 32.84 Ns / m; K c 20N Fig. 6. Fourier coefficients of the load torque estimation

3 3 80
Torque reference Torque reference
Estimated torque Torque compensation 70 13% Zref
Torque (Nm)
Torque (Nm)

(min-1)

2 2

a  b 60 c 
crank

1 1
50
n

speed reference
speed response
0 0 40
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
time (s) time (s) time (s)

Fig. 7. Theoretical method: a) Estimated load torque; b) Load torque compensation; c) speed response
3 3 80
Torque reference Torque reference
70
Torque (Nm)

(min-1)

Torque Compensation
Torque (Nm)

2 Estimated torque 2 10% Zref

a  b 60 c 
crank

1 1
50 Speed reference
n

Speed response
0 0 40
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 1 2 3
time (s) time (s time (s)

Fig. 8. Look-up table method: a) Estimated load torque; b) Load torque compensation; c) speed response

The theoretical method is carried out after the identification of the Coulomb and viscous
constants.

ISBN 978-3-8007-4186-1 245 © VDE VERLAG GMBH · Berlin · Offenbach

 PCIM Europe 2016, 10 – 12 May 2016, Nuremberg, Germany

For the operation of the system with a feed-forward control scheme, the switch
“Compensation” in Fig. 5 is closed. Fig.7 (a), (b), (c) show the speed response, the estimated
load torque and the compensation load torque, respectively. Fig. 8 depicts the results
corresponding to the look-up table based method. Fig. 7(c) and Fig. 8(c) illustrate that both
methods improve the quality of the speed control in the steady state. However, the look-up
table based method leads to smaller speed ripples as it yields more precise estimated
results, see Fig. 7(a) and Fig. 8(a). One of the reasons for this behavior is, unlike the
theoretical method, the look-up table method takes into account the nonlinear friction.
The effectiveness of the look-up table method has been verified by two other experiments
associated with the changes of the mechanical parameters. For the calculation of the look-up
tables, the reference speed was set to 55 min-1. First r1 was changed from 50 mm to 85 mm.
The corresponding results are shown in Fig. 9. The increase of r1 leads to an increase of the
load torque as defined by (7). As it can be seen in Fig. 9(a), the look-up table based method
still provides good estimation results. Fig. 9(c) shows that the speed ripple is significantly
reduced in the feed-forward control scheme. For the second experiment, a mass of 1.7 kg
was added to the slider. The corresponding results depicted in Fig. 10 demonstrate that the
look-up table method still work well in this case.
80
4 Torque reference 4 Torque reference
Estimated torque Torque compensation 60
Torque (Nm)

(min-1)
Torque (Nm)

3 3

2 a  2 b 40 c 

crank
1 20 Speed reference

n
1
speed response
0 0
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 1 2 3
time (s) time (s)
time (s)

Fig. 9. r1 was changed from 50 mm to 85 mm

3 80
Torque reference Torque reference
2
Estimated torque Torque compensation 60
Torque (Nm)

(min-1)
Torque (Nm)

2
1
a  b 40 c 
crank

1
20 crank velocity
n

0
Speed reference
0 0
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
time (s) time (s) time (s)
Fig. 10. A mass of 1.7 kg was added to the slider

4.3. Dynamic Performance

Crank angular velocity (1/min

The compensation signal has been tested in Speed Ramp Up: 1s

the dynamic state. Three types of
60
compensators were tested:
i. No torque compensation 40
ii. Estimated load torque from the look- III II
I
up table method 20
iii. The compensator in ii) augmented
0
with the acceleration component 0 2 4 6
d Zcrank Time (s)
Jtotal .
dt Fig.11. Performance of the three compensators

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 PCIM Europe 2016, 10 – 12 May 2016, Nuremberg, Germany

A ramp reference speed was used to verify the performance of the three compensators. Fig.
11 demonstrates that the speed responses have been improved by applying the load torque
compensation. In addition, the compensator iii) works more effective than the compensator ii)
only in the low speed region since the augmented term can be compared to other terms
when the crank is driven at low speed.

5. Conclusion

Two methods for the estimation of the coefficients of the Fourier series used for the analytical
description of the load torque in a mechanical system are proposed. It was determined that
the look-up table based method works better than the theory based method as it takes into
account the effects of the nonlinear friction. The estimated load torque was used in a feed-
forward control scheme to improve the speed response. It was observed that the torque
compensation signal helped to reduce the ripple of the crank angular velocity in both
dynamic and steady states.

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ISBN 978-3-8007-4186-1 247 © VDE VERLAG GMBH · Berlin · Offenbach