A

. Position Sensor Based Torque Control Method

for a DC Motor with Reduction Gears

K. Tanie, K. Yokoi, PI. Kaneko T. Fukuda

Mechanical Engineering Laboratory Department of Mechanical Engineering

:finistry of International Trade and Industry Science University of Tokyo
Tsukuba Science City, Ibaraki, 305 Japan Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162 Japan

.L\ b s trac t 2. Dynamics of a Single Joint Xanipulator

System with a Geared DC Servomotor and a
.A control structure suitable for the Torque Sensing Element
torque control using a geared DC servomotor
was discussed. The torque sensory feedback Fig.1 shows a typical structure of a
provides a benefit for the fine torque single joint manipulator including a geared
generation by geared DC motors. However, It DC servomotor system with a torque sensing
reduces the structural stiffness and in element. The dynamic equations of the
turn causes a low response in both of system are given by
torque and position controls. To improve Qs = nQr (1)
this, it is suggested that the natural Ja ( d2 Qa/dtZ ) = Ii ( Qs-Qa ) (2)
frequency of the motor rotor position servo (Jr+Jm)(d2Qr/dt2) = Tm-nK(Qs-Qa) ( 3 )
system should be large. The suggestion is where Jr, Jm and Ja are the moments of
verified by experiments on a single joint inertia of the motor rotor, the gear and
manipulator. the coupling fixtures at the motor side,
and the load (arm), respectively. n is the
gear ratio. Qr, Qs and Qa are the angle
displacements of the motor rotor, the
1 . Introduction reducer’s output axis and the load (arm),
respectively. K is the stiffness of a
.A variety of robot applications requires torque sensor. Tm is motor generating
both of compliance and regidity in robot
motions. In order f o r a robot arm end
effector to precisely pursuit trajectories
planned, each arm joint must be position-
controlled with high gain and wideband[l].
In the application of a robot manipulator
to tasks for assembling parts, each joint
must be adaptively position-controlled
according to the constraint from the
environments, which require controlling
both of forces and positions at the robot
end effector[21. A geared DC servomotor is Fig.1 A Geared DC Motor with a Torque
popularly and successfully used to Sensor.
construct a robot manipulator joint to be
position-controlled. When we apply it to a torque. Using eqs. ( l ) , ( 2 ) and ( 3 ) , the
joint to be force-controlled, the gear’s transfer function from Tm to Qa is given by
friction and backlash make a high quality Qa/Tm = n/[(J+nZJa)S2((S2/Wo2)+1J] ( 4 )
force control difficult. .A solution for where WO is natural frequency, and
this problem is to introduce a joint torque Wo2= K(J+nZJa)/JJa ( 5 )
feedback using a torque sensing J = Jr+Jm (6)
element[3][1]. However, the use of a torque When the reducer’s output is directly
sensor makes low structural stiffness of connected with the load rigidly, Qa/Tm
the arm and results in low speed responses transfer function is expressed by
of both of joint position and torque servo Qa/Tm n/ ( ,J+n2Ja)S2 (7)
systems[5][6]. As eq.(7) expresses a second order system,
This paper discusses a method for it is applicabie to high gain and wideband
providing a geared DC motor suitable for position servomechanisms. When the gear
a fast, reliable force servo and a high ratio is designed with a consideration of
stiffness position servo systems in a wider n= m a or J > > n Z J a , W O defined by eq.(5)
frequency bandwidth. becomes small. In eq.(1), the exsistence of

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the low natural frequency WO emphasizes the behavior close to Qa/Tr=1/JaS2 This .
effects of higher order terms and produces suggests that designing a high gain
a large phase delay in the response Qa to position servo system for the inner loop,
the torque input Tm. The large phase delay which results in a large value of Wn,
makes it difficult to construct a high gain will be required to improve the structural
position feedback servo system. If WO is stiffness reduced by the torque sensor
getting larger, the dynamical behavior of compliance.
the system becomes similar to eq.(7). In
order to design a torque servo system 4 , Experiments
applicable to a high stiffness position
servo system, therefore, it will be To confirm the effectiveness of making Wn
desired to increase the natural frequency of the inner loop large, fundamental
WO of the system. experiments were carried out.
To achieve it, the position sensor based Fig.3 shows the structure of the
torque control method is proposed. experimental setup. This was a part of a
plane manipulator with three degrees of
3. Position Sensor Based Torque Control freedom. The first (shoulder) joint of the
Method manipulator was used for the driving joint,
which included a geared DC motor and a
Fig.2 shows a block diagram of a proposed torque sensor. The second joint was
torque control system. In this figure, -the
inner loop is a position servo loop whose
purpose is to control the output
displacement of the reducer precisely
according to a reference Qi. The outer

F-C Feedbackcompensation
Xr

CmA Ja
Compensator
and Torque
Amplifier C9A sensor Load
Sensor
I
Motor
Fig.2 The Position Based Torque Control
System.

loop is a positive feedback of the arm

displacement Qa to Qi. Qa
caluculated by the sum of a torsional angle
of the torque sensor Xs and Qs, o r direct
detection of the arm displacement. X r is a
desired torsional angle of the
sensor and equal to Tr/K where K is the
stiffness of the torque sensor used and Tr
is a desired torque, XrtQa is commanded to
the inner position loop as a reference Qi.
If the gear reduction ratio will
designed as J > > n 2 Ja, the open
transfer function Qs/Tm is given by Cn/JrS?
C is a constant value depending on a motor
torque constant and amplifier
In this case, by adding a proper position
feedback, the inner loop can be designed to
satisfy a second order transfer function
described by
Qs/Qi Wn2/(S2+2rWnStWn2 )
where Wn is the natural frequency of the
inner loop and r is the damping factor.
Using eq.(8) and Xr=Tr/K, the transfer
function from Tr to Qa is given by
Qa/ Tr = { Wn2 / ( Wn2 + W i2 ) 1
x 1/JaS2[S2/(Wn2tWi2 )t1]
where r = O was assumed and Wiz= K/Ja.
From eq.(9), it is found that increasing Wn
inhibits the effect o f higher order term
(S2/(Wn2 +Wiz )+1) and makes the system
can be
Fig.3 Experimental Setup.
torque connected with the output axis of the
torque sensor through a connecting element.,
which was used as a load. The t,hird joint
unit was removed. The first joint contained
a servomotor(60W Minertia Motor produced by
be Yasukawa Electric C o . ) . The shaft is
loop connected to the "wave generator" of a 2-
tooth difference model harmonic drive with
a gear ratio of n=1/100. The reduced output
gain. of the harmonic drive was drawn via the
"flexspline", and was connected t o a torque
sensor. The torsional stiffness of the
sensor was 2 6 Nm/rad.
F o r constructing the system equivalent, to
(8) Fig.2, the output angle Qs of the harmonic
drive was measured by a potentiometer and
was compared with t.he desired angular
reference Qi to the inner loop. The
difference between them was processed by a
PI controller and was sent to a PWM
(9) amplifier to drive the servomotor. A l s o the
rate feedback obtained from the
differentiated potentiometer output was
used. The gain characteristics of the inner
position sevo system on the Bode diagram

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 E OLOADING
Z A UNLOADING

oLOADlNG A A A A o

AUNLOADING AAaAA o
0
0 0 ooA
I- O

-40
10
8
100 1000
w rad/s
( a ) Vi- TO
Ficf.4 Gain Characteristics of the Inner
Position Servo S y s tem.

was shown in Fig.4. The load displacement

Qa was calculated as the sum of a torsional
angle Xs of the torque sensor and Q s , that
is, Q a = X s t Q s . The sum of Qa and a desired
torque X r was sent to the inner loop as the
reference signal Qi.
Static and dynamic experiments were
carried out. In static experiments, the Tr- To
load was rigidly fixed and the relations
between the desired torque and the output -!4-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
torque of the sensor was measured. For COMMAND TORQUE Nrn
dynamic experiments, the frequency response /
was measured. Fig. 5 Results of Static Experiments.
(To: Output Torque)
5. Results

Fig.5 shows the results of the static -10

experiment describing the relations between m
the desi red torque and the output. torque. U

I
In the figures, ( a ) is the results obtained
from the open loop geared motor system. -90 Y
U
After removing the inner and outer loops, z
the output. torques were plotted over the 4
-180
various input voltages to the PWM 0
amplifier. (b) is t.he results from the -60 4
proposed system. There are clear -270 2
differences between them. Fig.5(a) includes 100
dead hands and hysteresis maybe caused by w rad/s
friction and backlash in the gear reduction
system. In the proposed system, the
relation between the desired torque and the
output torque becomes almost linear, in
which serious dead band and hysterisis
cannot be observed. From these results, it.
can be confirmed that the proposed system
is effective to provide fine force control
motion.
Fig.6 shows the results of dynamic
experimrnts. The figures ( a ) and (b)
correspond to the Rode diagrams o f the -1504
transfer function Qa/Vi(Vi: input voltage W
v)
to the PWM amplifier) for the open loop Qa/Tl-
system without. the inner and the outer
loops and Qa/Tr for the proposed system, 10 100
respectively. In these results, the most w rad/s
important feature to be observed is the
gradient of gain characteristirs. If the Fig. 6 Results of Dynamic Experiments.
gain will be going down with -40 dB/dec
gradient according to the increase of
frequency, the sys tem can be considered to

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behave like the second order system. potential advantages. For example, it
Looking at Fig.G(a), it is recognized that enables constructing the rate and the
there is a peak at the frequency of about acceleration feedback in the inner servo
10 rad/sec, which will be WO given by system, which will contribute to improve
eq.('5), and also that the gain has about the Wn. This is a reason why the position
-80 dB/dec gradient at frequencies for based torque control is proposed. In the
which W>10 rad/sec. This indicates that the proposed system, the inner position servo
system behavior includes the effects of loop used the reducer's output displacement
higher order terms at those frequencies. feedback. In general, the increase of the
In the Fig.G(b), it can be observed that loop gain in this system will be restricted
the gain is evidently attenuated with - 4 0 because of the reducer's compliance and
dB/dec gradient at the frequencies for backlash. To avoid this, it may be more
which 5 rad/sec < W < 70 rad/sec. From the effective to measure the motor rotor
results, it is suggested that in the position directly for position feedback. In
proposed system, the frequency ranges in t.his case, however, to calucurate the
which the system behavior can be desired torque from Tr=KXr, some
approximately described by a second order precausions will be needed because
system is about 6 times expanded, reducer's non-linearity will be included
comparing with the open loop system. This
-
between the inner and outer loops. This is
means that by introducing the inner and the a future problem to be investigated.
outer loops, the natural frequency of the
system was expanded from lOrad/sec(=Wo) to References
at least more than 70 rad/sec, and results
in the improvement of the rigidity of the R. P. Paul, Modeling, trajectory
system defeated by the torque sensor calculation and servoing of a computer
compliance. controlled arm", AIM-177, Stanford
University .41 Lab., 1972.
6 . Discussions and Conclusions D. E. Whitney, "Force feedback control
of manipulator fine motions", Trans.
Observing Fig.5, Wn in eqs.(8) and ( 9 ) of ASME J. DSMC, Vo1.99, No.2, p.91, 1982.
the experimental setup is supposed to be J.Y.S. Luh, W.D. Fisher, and R.P. Paul,
about 80 rad/sec. A s J was less than n*Ja "Joint Torque Control by a Direct
in the used experimental setup, WiiWo=lO Feedback for Industrial Robots", IEEE
rad/sec. Therefore, the natural frequency Trans. Automatic Control, Vol.AC-28,
of the proposed system, J W d + W g will be No.2, p.153, 1983.
about 81 rad/sec. This value supports the C. Wu, Compliance Control of a Robot
'I

results of dynamic experiments. Manipulator Based on Joint Torque

To achieve a torque control using a geared Servo", Int'l J. of Robotics Research,
DC motor, currently, the torque sensory Vo1.3, No.3, p.55, 1985.
feedback based on the torsional angle H. Asada and S . K. Lim, "Design of
detection is used. This kind of system has joint torque sensors and torque
almost same control structure as the feedback control for direct-drive
proposed system. The difference is if there arms," Proc. of 1985 ASME Winter Annual
is the direct detection of the reducer's Meeting, Robots and Manufacturing
output displacement. The above experimental Automation Symp.,p.277, 1985.
results indicated that how Wn of the inner R. K. Roberts, R. P. Paul and R . M.
position servo system can be increased is Hillbery, "The effect of wrist force
important to get a torque control system sensor stiffness on the control of
with high structural stiffness. To meet robot manipulators," Proc. of the 1985
this requirement, the direct detectjon of TEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and
the motor output displacement will provide Automation, p.269, 1985.

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