A model-based design methodology for the development of mechatronic systems

The development of mechatronic systems involves the use of multiple disciplines, from mechanical engineering to electronics engineering and computer science.Traditionally, every discipline was developed independently and then integrated to generate the final system. However, high-quality designs cannot be achieved without simultaneously considering all the engineering disciplines. This integrated approach carries an intrinsic complexity into system design process and numerous researches are on-going in order to find out optimal methods. This article illustrates a methodology based on Model-Based System Engineering to support the integrated development of complex mechatronic devices. The main contribution is the introduction of a design methodology based on the W model and the identification of SysML as the tool to support the whole process.This method will also address the problem of “devices interchangeability”, that means the possibility to develop the functionality of a system with different operation principles, at a very early stage of the development process (i.e. during the conceptual development). To achieve this goal, the methodology treats the problem of linking the conceptual with executable models to enable the validation by simulation.Main advantages of this methodology are in providing, to the mechatronic systems designers, a fixed schedule which does not limit their intuition and reduces complexity through a hierarchical approach. The process has been tested through the rationalization of the choices that have brought to the current solution of the filling system of an automatic filling machine for liquid foodstuff.     

Comparative analysis of design concepts of mechatronics systems with a CAD tool for system architecting

In mechatronics systems design, designers need to deal with complexity derived from the integration of subsystems with various engineering disciplines. In particular, while developing product architecture for the next generation systematically, the present generation systems in the market should be reviewed in terms of their functional overview as well as module structure. This paper proposes a method for developing product architecture by a comparative analysis of the functional overview as well as physical decomposition of existing mechatronics systems. The method employs function–behaviour–state modelling and a computer-aided design (CAD) system for system architecting (SA-CAD) as a modelling scheme and modelling environment, respectively. The paper describes the application of the proposed method in the development of product architecture of autonomous vacuum cleaning robots.     

Model-integrated mechatronics - toward a new paradigm in the development of manufacturing systems

The traditional approach for the development of manufacturing systems considers the constituent parts of the system, i.e., mechanical, electronic, and software, to be developed independently and then integrated to form the final system. This approach is being criticized as inappropriate for the complexity and the dynamics of today's systems. This paper proposes an architecture that promotes model integration not only for implementation space artifacts but also in artifacts of the early analysis and design phases of the development process. The proposed architecture, which promotes reuse and significantly decreases development and validation time, is at the heart of a new paradigm called model-integrated mechatronics (MIM). MIM applies domain-specific modeling languages for the concurrent engineering of mechanical, electronic and software components of mechatronic systems. It simplifies the integrated development process of manufacturing systems by using as basic construct the mechatronic component. The MIM paradigm was utilized to define "Archimedes," a system platform that supports the engineer through a methodology, a framework, and a set of tools to automate the development process of agile mechatronic manufacturing systems.     

Tracking the consequences of design decisions in mechatronic Systems Engineering

The design of mechatronic systems involves several technical and scientific disciplines. It is often difficult to anticipate, at the outset, the consequences of design decisions on the ultimate effectiveness of such complex systems, in which case the evaluation process is required to support the designers each time engineering choices must be made or justified. Since designers may belong to different technical and scientific cultures however, their understanding of both the design stakes and the evaluation process is too often biased. Moreover, design choices take place in an uncertain context and according to multiple criteria, some of which may be contradictory. In order to track the consequences of design decisions, we are proposing a conceptual data model to perform evaluations within the MBSE framework of Systems Engineering. We then proceed by relying on the relationships demonstrated by such a model to identify the potential impacts of design choices on future product performance. Since data available during the conceptual phase of the design are typically uncertain or imprecise, an original research protocol is extended to a qualitative impact analysis for the purpose of highlighting the most promising alternative system design solutions (ASDS). An example in the mechatronics field serves to illustrate our proposals.     

Virtual prototyping of embedded control software in mechatronic systems: A case study

The large majority of technological devices can be seen as the sum of components of heterogeneous nature (electrical, mechanical, thermal, software, etc.) so that their analysis and design calls for the use of tools from different engineering disciplines. Integration among the different tools is particularly relevant at control system design level, since it is at this stage that it is required to analyze the behavior of both each single component and the system as a whole, with different levels of detail. In this paper mechatronic systems are considered, that exhibit a strong interplay between mechanical and electrical components, and the issue of modeling and designing embedded control algorithms and architectures for such systems is addressed. In particular, an integrated virtual prototyping approach for analyzing the system behavior down to embedded software level is proposed, that can be used in a wide number of situations that can represent the actual real-world operational conditions of consumer products. This approach can be used for system design (in particular at control systems level), embedded software design, and virtual testing so as to optimize and reduce the costs of late stage software development, physical prototypes, and their testing. The case study is based on some recently derived software tools that perform the co-simulation of the firmware execution and the multi-physical controlled system dynamics. The actual control software implemented in the final product can be entirely developed and tested inside the virtual prototype. To prove the validity and potentialities of the proposed approach, a real case study is presented, regarding a very common, though complex to simulate, mechatronic system such as an electric sliding gate. It turns out that the proposed environment goes beyond hardware-in-the-loop tools, since it does not require the use of specific hardware (the hardware itself is simulated in detail) but allows to analyze in detail the status of the microprocessors and peripherals at arbitrary time-scales and allows the designer to study at the earliest design stages the dynamics between the multi-physical controlled system and the firmware, without committing to a given hardware structure.     

Closed-Loop Modeling in Future Automation System Engineering and Validation

This paper presents a new framework for design and validation of industrial automation systems based on systematic application of formal methods. The engineering methodology proposed in this paper is based on the component design of automated manufacturing systems from intelligent mechatronic components. Foundations of such componentspsila information infrastructure are the new IEC 61499 architecture and the automation object concept. It is illustrated in this paper how these architectures, in conjunction with other advanced technologies, such as Unified Modeling Language, Simulink, and net condition/event systems, form a framework that enables pick-and-place design, simulation, formal verification, and deployment with the support of a suite of software tools. The key feature of the framework is the inherent support of formal validation techniques achieved on account of automated transformation among different system models. The paper appeals to developers of automation systems and automation software tools via showing the pathway to improve the system development practices by combining several design and validation methodologies and technologies.     

基于复杂系统的电磁兼容设计方法可行性分析

目前,电磁兼容(EMC)设计已成为复杂系统设计的一个重要组成部分,电磁兼容设计方法主要有测试分析法、经验分析法和建模仿真法三种。从日益复杂的电磁环境的要求出发,结合高度集成的复杂系统电磁兼容设计的实际困难以及电磁兼容设计人员的具体情况,分析测试分析法、经验分析法和建模仿真法这三种电磁兼容设计方法的可行性,指出三种方法的适用范围和面临的问题,从实用角度提出建立电磁兼容数据库,将电磁兼容测试数据、电磁兼容设计经验和电磁兼容模型全部入库的建议,对提高复杂系统的电磁兼容性具有现实意义。     

An architecture model to support cooperative design for mechatronic products: A control design case

Efficient integration of systems in the mechatronic industry is critical for complex product development and is still challenging. A particular example of this situation can be pinpointed in the development of control software for mechatronic products: design is not carried out in a concurrent way in order to exploit the synergy among domain experts and many “last minute” problems are detected and forcefully solved in the control software domain at an advanced development stage. Unfortunately, industrially applicable research to improve integration in the development process is currently at a stale. This work addresses system architecting introducing a model, a method, and a tool implementation, which aim to help changing this situation by supporting cooperative design, providing usable documentation and improving understanding of the design process by the stakeholders.     

Design for control-a concurrent engineering approach formechatronic systems design

The well-accepted basis for developing a mechatronic system is a synergetic concurrent design process that integrates different engineering disciplines. In this paper, a general model is derived to mathematically describe the concurrent design of a mechatronic system. Based on this model, a concurrent engineering approach, called design for control (DFC), is formally presented for mechatronic systems design. Compared to other mechatronic design methodologies, DFC emphasizes obtaining a simple dynamic model of the mechanical structure by a judicious structure design and a careful selection of mechanical parameters. Once the simple dynamic model is available, in spite of the complexity of the mechanical structure, the controller design can be facilitated and better control performance can be achieved. Four design scenarios in application of DFC are addressed. A case study is implemented to demonstrate the effectiveness of DFC through the design and control of a programmable four-bar linkage     

A holistic concurrent design approach to robotics using hardware-in-the-loop simulation

This paper discusses a practical approach to the concurrent design of robot manipulators, which is based on an alternative design methodology, namely Holistic Concurrent Design (HCD), as well as the utilization of a modular hardware-in-the-loop simulation. Holistic concurrent design is a systematic design methodology for mechatronic systems that formalizes subjective notions of design, resulting in the simplification of the multi-objective constrained optimization process. Its premise is to enhance the communication between designers with various backgrounds and customers, and to consider numerous design variables with different natures concurrently. The methodology redefines the ultimate goal of design based on the qualitative notion of satisfaction, and formalizes the effect of designer’s subjective attitude in the process. The hardware-in-the-loop platform involves physical joint modules and the control unit of a manipulator in addition to the software simulation to reduce modeling complexities and to take into account physical phenomena that are hard to be captured mathematically. This platform is implemented in the HCD design architecture to reliably evaluate the design attributes and performance supercriterion during the design process. The resulting architecture is applied to redesigning kinematic, dynamic and control parameters of an industrial manipulator.     

Safety analysis of mechatronic product lines

Most methodologies for the design and analysis of mechatronic systems target a single product. From a business perspective, successful product development requires shortening development times, reducing engineering costs and offering a greater variety of product options for customers. In software engineering, the software product line (SPL) technology has been developed to meet these conflicting goals, and several major companies have reported success stories resulting from SPL adoption. In mechanical engineering, similar methodologies have been developed under the name of product platforms. Methodologies for analyzing product qualities such as safety or reliability have been introduced for both SPL and product platforms. The problem with these methodologies is that they consider either software or mechanical product design, so they do not guide developers to find the best balance between the controller and the equipment to be controlled. Several system properties of a mechatronic product line should be investigated with mechatronic analysis methodologies before the development process branches to software, electronic and mechanical design. In particular, safety is one system property that can only be analyzed by considering both the equipment and its controller, so mechatronic methodologies early in the design are advantageous for discovering safety-related design constraints before costly design commitments are made. This paper extends the Functional Failure Identification and Propagation (FFIP) framework to the safety analysis of a mechatronic product line with options in software signal connections and equipment. The result of applying FFIP is that unsafe combinations of options are removed from the product line.     

Mechatronic curriculum – retrospect and prospect

Recently, many attempts have been pursued to devise an engineering curriculum that will allow students to successfully enter the engineering fields. Mechatronics is a unifying theme that permeates and comprehends modern engineering. One weakness of the computer, electrical, and mechanical engineering curricula is the failure to achieve sufficient background, knowledge, depth, and breadth in integrative multidisciplinary areas to solve complex engineering problems. To overcome this weakness, the integration and developments are sought through mechatronics. The mechatronic curriculum can be viewed as the vehicle by which students are introduced to subject matter, multidisciplinary areas, and disciplines, e.g., electrical, mechanical, and computer engineering fields of study. Mechatronics is a part of the modern integrated (confluent) curriculum due to interaction, interpretation, relevance, and systematization. Efficient and effective means to assess the current trends in modern engineering with assessments analysis and outcome prediction must be devised through the mechatronic paradigm. The multidisciplinary mechatronic courses, combined with the variety of active student learning processes and synergetic teaching styles, will produce a level of overall student accomplishments that is greater than any achievements which can be produced by refining the conventional electrical and mechanical curricula. The multidisciplinary mechatronic paradigm serves very important purposes because it brings new depth to electrical, mechanical, and computer areas, advances students knowledge and background, provides students with the basic problem-solving skills that need to cope with advanced electromechanical systems controlled by microprocessors or digital signal processors (DSPs), covers state-of-the-art hardware, and applies modern software environments. Through the mechatronic curriculum, important program objectives and goals can be achieved and assessed. The integration of mechatronic courses into the engineering curriculum is reported in this article.     

What is mechatronics?

With the explosively increasing cost/size-effectiveness of computers, mechatronic systems are becoming common in any engineering discipline dealing with the modulation of physical power. In this article, I attempt a definition of mechatronics that will allow for its differentiation as an identifiable field of engineering and then follow this direction to discuss some of the associated design philosophy. The definition draws on the centrality of computing in mechatronic systems.     

大型面天线CAE分析与电性能计算的集成

研究了CAD/CAE集成建模技术和天线组合结构理论,基于反射面位移场并采用PO法分析天线远区电场,解决了由背架、反射面和中心体组成的组合结构网格自动划分难题,开发了面向大型雷达天线结构的集成分析系统.此系统可辅助结构设计人员对天线结构参数进行修改,对结构形状、分布方式进行调整,对天线加工精度、装配精度提出合理要求.工程案例的应用结果证明了该系统的有效性与准确性.     

数字信道化的级联设计

在宽带信号侦察中数字信道化是一个极其重要的环节。当侦察的信号带宽非常宽,需要的数字信道化个数很大时,用一级信道化实现非常困难。其中,大点数、高速率的DFT设计和硬件实现是一个最突出的难点。针对这个问题,提出了一种数字信道化的级联实现结构,把实信号的数字信道化与复信号的数字信道化级联起来,能够大大降低设计难度,并且这种基于模块化的设计便于工程实现。仿真结果证明,这种方法能够有效实现实信号的无盲区、抗混叠的频谱恢复。     

Model-based system design of annealing simulators

We discuss several aspects of mechatronic product development processes, such as finding and evaluating design concepts and dependencies between design parameters. One of the key issues in the development of modern mechatronic systems is the benefit of consistent integration of mechanical, electrical, and electronic control and software aspects from the very beginning of the earliest design phases. Even for a single design problem defined by a given specification, different designers will probably respond with a variety of different design concepts, each of which may be acceptable in terms of meeting the specification. In the conceptual design phase, we propose that some aspects of design, such as hierarchy of parameters and modularity of the design, are analysed with conceptual models. The application presented in this paper shows the conceptual design of an experimental laboratory annealing simulator (anneal.sim-lab). Physical simulation of the annealing process requires consideration of different heating methods for various types of specimen. One critical step is the modularisation of sections (annealing, cooling, and quenching), and their geometric arrangement. We use a design structure matrix to analyse the requirements and their structure and demonstrate a realisation in a parametric 3D-CAD model.     

An example of design—Embodiment for electrorheological fluid based mechatronic transmission components

In this paper some design concept for mechatronic components used in transmission systems with ER fluid based on the testing of physical models is proposed. The proposed design concept of mechatronic components of a transmission system was used to control a viscous brake where application of various ER fluids was considered in order to vary its performance. The main problem was to investigate whether changes of rheological characteristics due to the application of different fluids correspond to changes of torque carried by the brake throughout the entire range of angular velocities.Based on the brake testing results it was concluded that the results obtained for one working fluid could be successfully used for the design of a brake with an ER fluid having different rheological characteristics.