Excerpts

FEATURES OF THE BOOK Mechatronics is an engineering field which, together with intelligent structures, robotics, micro-, and nanoelectromechanical systems, etc., appears as part of "high-tech" fields of mechanical and electrical engineering. Mechatronic systems represent integrated mixed systems. Besides a mechanical structure and mechanisms for motion transmission, such systems contain electrical and electronic components, as well as sensors and actuators, under computer monitoring and control. Mechatronics is the engineering field of the design of mixed computer integrated electromechanical systems. Modeling mixed systems, virtual prototyping, and hardware in the loop experimentation are some of the methods used in mechatronic system design. This book was written with a senior undergraduate-level mechatronics course in the mechanical, electrical, or computer engineering departments in mind. The prerequisites for using the book are a basic course in computers and an electrical engineering fundamentals course. A course in control systems is useful, but not a prerequisite. This text provides a self-contained, modern treatment of the computer-based mixed systems integration. The book covers fundamental topics starting with the physical properties, continuing with mathematical modeling and computer simulation and ending with applications illustrated by numerically and experimentally generated results. It explores all major topics in mechatronics and offers a detailed presentation of selected devices as well as numerous MATLAB®, Simulink™, and LabVIEW™examples of applications. MATLAB™and Simulink™are registered trademarks of The MathWorks, Inc. LabVIEW™is a product of National Instruments™. This book contains a unified presentation of sensors, actuators, signal conditioning, and control parts (as signal transmission and conversion components) as well as mechanical power transmission, and electrical power transmission parts (as power transmission components). Power amplifiers and servovalves are typical signal-topower conversion components, while sensors convert variables of power transmission components into signals. Power transmission components are represented in a generic framework using cuts and two-port elements for both electrical and mechanical components. Two port elements are known as quadripoles, and are used for electric circuit representation. Free body diagrams are used for solid body mechanics calculations. This generic approach is a basis for modular modeling and encapsulation in the transition toward object-oriented modeling. Cuts and two port element representations also facilitate the introduction of virtual prototyping and hardware in the loop experimentation for mechatronic systems. Simulation examples are developed using a popular graphical programming simulation language, Simulink. Subsystem encapsulation procedure from Simulink is employed to illustrate modular modeling and interchangeability of mechatronic system components. System monitoring and control examples are presented using another popular graphical programming language, LabVIEW, as well as MATLAB Data Acquisition Toolbox. It is important to mention that LabVIEW and MATLAB/Simulink are available in Student Editions. The book also presents various solutions for real-time monitoring and control implementation. PC, DSP, target PC, and embedded computers are discussed 'as alternative solutions for computer integration of mechatronic systems. Examples of applications with a 16-bit microcontroller and a simple 8-bit embedded computer are presented as examples of solutions for controlling DC motors. Examples of laboratory experiments for mechatronics are described in the last chapter. These examples start with simple experimental set-ups for interfacing readily available sensors and actuators with a PC using LabVIEW. Other examples use MATLAB Data Acquisition Toolbox and Windows Sound Card for sound acquisition. Finally, robotics examples illustrate more complex data acquisition and control using dSPACE development system. In conclusion, the main features of the book are as follows: Ample coverage of all important topics in mechatronics for teachers and students. Innovative organization and approach: It begins with fundamentals and physical principles of instruments, actuators, devices, hardware, and software; continues with a systematic treatment of signal and power conversion, data acquisition, and analysis topics; and concludes with an examination of mechatronic systems design issues. Teaches basic concepts from numerical examples and computer simulations using student editions of popular engineering software (MATLAB, Simulink, and LabVIEW). Balanced treatment of various mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering topics of mechatronics. Focus on a more detailed presentation of selected devices and methods, rather than an incomplete overview of the large variety of industrial solutions. State-of-the-art approaches in mechatronic systems design and integration: -- object-oriented approach for modular modeling, virtual prototyping, and hardware-in-the-loop experimentation. -- virtual instrumentation for system monitoring and automation. -- real-time and embedded solutions for mechatronic systems integration. Detailed presentation of MATLAB, Simulink, and LabVIEW examples such that students can easily practice and modify these examples. Description of laboratory experiments for a mechatronics course. Experiments are described in sufficient detail such that the teacher can reproduce and adapt them for a particular laboratory equipment available. Numerous homework problems and computer programming exercises to reinforce concepts presented in each chapter. Various numerical examples give structured solutions to be followed by the students when completing homework. Acknowledgments In developing the content of this book, I benefited from the research work with my former graduate students: Jean de Carufel, Rahim JassemiZargani, Victor Lonmo, Robert DeAbreu, Mohammad Eghtesad, Kazuo Kiguchi, and Bumsoo Kim, as well as with my current graduate students, Nisan Rowhani and Marcel Ceru. In particular, they contributed in the detailed design and execution of the experimental set-ups: dual-arm robot, mobile robot, piezoelectric experiment, thermocouple experiment, strain gauge experiment, and the interfacing of DC servomotor with a PC. Also, several graduate students enrolled in my mechatronics course--M. Panait, C. Giurgea, S. E. Zandi, W Saksawangcan, S. Ahmed, A. Baig, T. Boutros, A. Patel, and T. McCullogh--contributed to the finalization of the design and in the execution of experimental set-ups for interfacing a PC using LabVIEW with a thermistor, piezoelectric actuator and sensor, light emitting diode and photosensor, and DC motor velocity control and Hall sensor measurement. M. Makasare, chief technician in my department, contributed with improvements in the realization of these experimental set-ups. Excerpted from Mechatronics by D. S. Necsulescu All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.