Time-optimal motion planning along prescribed paths with friction and power constraints

Time-optimal motion planning along specified paths is a well-understood problem in robotics for which well-established methods exist for some standard effects, such as actuator force limits, maximal path velocity, or sliding friction. This paper describes an extension of the classical method that allows for considering, on the one hand side, additional non linear constraints such as sticking friction, acceleration limits at the end-effector, as well power limits for the overall system, and on the other, general paths featuring smooth interpolation of angular acceleration as well as arbitrary multibody systems comprising multiple loops. The methods are illustrated with two applications from robotics and the mining industry. (© 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Orbital stabilization of a class of underactuated mechanical systems

Typically, the aim of a controller is to stabilize an equilibrium or a reference trajectory. For underactuated mechanical systems this objective might not be achievable because of the occurance of limit cycles due to discontinuous effects like actuator backlash or Coulomb friction. Therefore, an alternative approach is to explicitly impose a stable periodic orbit on the system by a suited controller. This way at least amplitude, frequency and settling time can be influenced directly. (© 2012 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On the Influence of High-Frequency Excitation on Systems with Dynamic Friction

By imposing high-frequency vibrations to a system, the characteristics of dry friction for low sliding velocities can be smoothed and, consequently, undesired friction induced phenomena such as stick-slip motion can be quenched. Many studies have been published so far, most of them focussing on the reduction of friction between metal surfaces and using classical Coulomb friction models. Within this contribution the effect of high-frequency excitation on dry friction taking into account dynamic friction models will be discussed. To this end, the friction law suggested by Dahl is used and the resulting friction characteristics are compared to those obtained for the classical Coulomb friction model. Using Dahl's friction model, a reduction of the smoothing effect is observed. (© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On final motions of a Chaplygin ball on a rough plane

A heavy balanced nonhomogeneous ball moving on a rough horizontal plane is considered. The classical model of a “marble” body means a single point of contact, where sliding is impossible. We suggest that the contact forces be described by Coulomb’s law and show that in the final motion there is no sliding. Another, relatively new, contact model is the “rubber” ball: there is no sliding and no spinning. We treat this situation by applying a local Coulomb law within a small contact area. It is proved that the final motion of a ball with such friction is the motion of the “rubber” ball.     

Dynamics of a small vibro-impact pile driver

A mathematical model is developed to study periodic-impact motions and bifurcations in dynamics of a small vibro-impact pile driver. Dynamics of the small vibro-impact pile driver can be analyzed by means of a three-dimensional map, which describes free flight and sticking solutions of the vibro-impact system, between impacts, supplemented by transition conditions at the instants of impacts. Piecewise property and singularity are found to exist in the Poincaré map. The piecewise property is caused by the transitions of free flight and sticking motions of the driver and the pile immediately after the impact, and the singularity of map is generated via the grazing contact of the driver and the pile immediately before the impact. These properties of the map have been shown to exhibit particular types of sliding and grazing bifurcations of periodic-impact motions under parameter variation. The influence of piecewise property, grazing singularities and parameter variation on the performance of the vibro-impact pile driver is analyzed. The global bifurcation diagrams for the impact velocity of the driver versus the forcing frequency are plotted to predict much of the qualitative behavior of the actual physical system, which enable the practicing engineer to select excitation frequency ranges in which stable period one single-impact response can be expected to occur, and to predict the larger impact velocity and shorter impact period of such response.     

Impulse-based control of simple oscillators within the nonsmooth mechanics approach

An impulse-based control scheme for a simple spring-mass oscillator subject to set-valued friction forces is presented. In contrast to PD or PID control laws, the proposed control law prevents non-zero steady state errors and limit cycles. Motivated by Wouw and Leine [1], it is shown that impulse-based control laws can lead to satisfactory behavior if the oscillator starts sticking. In order to realize a practical implementation, the equations of motion are extended by a mathematical model of the actuator dynamics. The analysis is undertaken in the framework of nonsmooth mechanical systems. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On the Effect of Contact Compliance on Vibrational Smoothing of Dry Friction

High-frequency vibrations may be utilized in order to smooth the characteristics of dry friction at low sliding velocities and, consequently, quench undesired friction induced phenomena. Many studies have been published so far, most of them using classical Coulomb friction models and yielding compact results. Unfortunately, the agreement with related experimental results is insufficient. As the Coulomb model overestimates the smoothing effect, improved modelling seems to be necessary. Based on Dahl's friction model, the effect of longitudinal and transverse high-frequency vibrations on a 1-DoF-friction oscillator is investigated here. Accounting for contact compliance, a reduction of the smoothing effect is observed. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

On detachment conditions in the problem on the motion of a rigid body on a rough plane

The classical mechanical problem about the motion of a heavy rigid body on a horizontal plane is considered within the framework of theory of systems with unilateral constraints. Under general assumptions about the character of friction, we examine the question on the possibility of detachment of the body from the plane under the action of reaction of the plane and forces of inertia. For systems with rolling, we find new scenarios of the appearing of motions with jumps and impacts. The results obtained are applied to the study of stationary motions of a disk. We have showed the following.

A two-parameter friction model

The new friction model proposed in this paper takes all types of friction into account: sliding, pivoting and rolling friction. The model depends on two parameters. With a zero value of one parameter it is converted into the Contensou–Zhuravlev model, and with a zero value of the other parameter it is converted into the Coulomb model.The interaction of a body with the bearing surface during translational motion of the body is described fairly adequately by the classical model of dry friction (Coulomb's law). In the case of plane-parallel translational motion of the body, the Contensou–Zhuravlev model must be used;1, 2 this model takes both sliding friction and pivoting friction into account. The friction model proposed below is suitable for describing arbitrary translational motion of the body.     

The motion of a body supported at three points on a rough plane

The problem of the motion of a heavy rigid body, supported on a rough horizontal plane at three of its points, is considered. The contacts at the support points are assumed to be unilateral and subject to the law of dry (Coulomb) friction. The dynamics of possible motions of such a body under the action of gravity forces and dry friction is investigated. In the case of a plane body, it is possible to obtain particular integrals of the equations of motion.     

On the variational formulation of the dynamics of systems with friction

We discuss the basic problem of the dynamics of mechanical systems with constraints, namely, the problem of finding accelerations as a function of the phase variables. It is shown that in the case of Coulomb friction, this problem is equivalent to solving a variational inequality. The general conditions for the existence and uniqueness of solutions are obtained. A number of examples are considered. For systems with ideal constraints the problem under discussion was solved by Lagrange in his “Analytical Dynamics” (1788), which became a turning point in the mathematization of mechanics. In 1829, Gauss gave his principle, which allows one to obtain the solution as the minimum of a quadratic function of acceleration, called the constraint. In 1872 Jellett gave examples of non-uniqueness of solutions in systems with static friction, and in 1895 Painlevé showed that in the presence of friction, the absence of solutions is possible along with the nonuniqueness. Such situations were a serious obstacle to the development of theories, mathematical models and the practical use of systems with dry friction. An elegant, and unexpected, advance can be found in the work [1] by Pozharitskii, where the author extended the Gauss principle to the special case where the normal reaction can be determined from the dynamic equations regardless of the values of the coefficients of friction. However, for systems with Coulomb friction, where the normal reaction is a priori unknown, there are still only partial results on the existence and uniqueness of solutions [2–4]. The approach proposed here is based on a combination of the Gauss principle in the form of reactions with the representation of the nonlinear algebraic system of equations for the normal reactions in the form of a variational inequality. The theory of such inequalities [5] includes results on the existence and uniqueness, as well as the developed methods of solution.     

Adaptive sliding mode control of a high-precision ball-screw-driven stage

High-precision position control has been widely used in scientific instruments and semiconductor fabrication equipment. Traditionally, controllable displacements with sub-micron and nano-level resolution are usually achieved by piezoelectric actuators because of their high bandwidth and ease of control. However, the travel range of piezoelectric actuator is usually small. In this paper, the ball-screw-driven system is studied to provide long-range and high-precision performance for positioning and tracking control. In such a system, the friction dynamics are divided into the static and the dynamic regimes to describe the dynamic behavior of a conventional ball-screw-driven x-y stage. The same form of adaptive sliding mode controllers are designed in the static and dynamic regimes to obtain the precision performance for controlled stage. A proportional-integral switching surface is proposed to make it easy to assign the performance of the systems in the sliding mode motion and the controller is robust without knowing the bound of disturbance in advance. An illustrative example is included to demonstrate that the system achieves high precision (10 nm) and long-range (10 cm) positioning performance with repeatability and robustness by the proposed control approach.     

Simulation of friction phenomena between randomly rough elastic surfaces

Friction induced vibrations are a widely studied field in which the friction coefficient is one of the most important parameters. Measurements show that the friction coefficient underlies stochastic fluctuations. To gain more knowledge about the friction coefficient a finite element study is carried out in order to simulate the friction forces. The Bowden-Tabor model is implemented which calculates the friction force as the force which is needed to shear apart contact areas hold together by welding or adhesion. The dependency of the friction value on sliding velocity and normal pressure can be determined with this model. Different realization are studied and the stochastic properties of the friction value such as mean value, standard deviation, amplitude spectrum and correlation coefficient can be calculated depending on the roughness of the surface. (© 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Conditions for the onset of sliding in a plane system with friction

The problem of the plane motion of a rigid body along a fixed surface in the presence of dry (Coulomb) friction is considered. The constraint is assumed to be non-restraining. It is shown that the validity of a certain system of two inequalities of the same type guarantees that the surfaces maintain contact and that the body will continue to roll without sliding. These conditions are analysed in a few specific cases of mechanical systems.     

Rolling Contact Problem with the Generalized Coulomb Friction

This paper deals with the numerical solution of the wheel - rail rolling contact problems. The unilateral dynamic contact problem between a rigid wheel and a viscoelastic rail lying on a rigid foundation is considered. The contact with the generalized Coulomb friction law occurs at a portion of the boundary of the contacting bodies. The Coulomb friction model where the friction coefficient is assumed to be Lipschitz continuous function of the sliding velocity is assumed. Moreover Archard's law of wear in the contact zone is assumed. This contact problem is governed by the evolutionary variational inequality of the second order. Finite difference and finite element methods are used to discretize this dynamic contact problem. Numerical examples are provided. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Forced oscillations with a sliding regime range of a two-mass system interacting with a fixed stop : PMM vol. 37, n6, 1973, pp. 999–1006

We investigate, by the method developed in [1]. the forced oscillations with a sliding regime range of a two-mass system with elastic connection between the elements, impacting a fixed stop. The system being considered is a dynamic model for a number of vibrational mechanisms. Forced oscillations with a sliding regime range of a system with shock interactions are periodic motions accompanied by a period of an infinite succession of instantaneous collisions of two fixed elements of the model [2]. Within the framework of conditions of roughness of the parameter space [3], in this paper we study by the method of [1] periodic motions with a sliding regime range of a two-mass system with a stop. This problem was posed because in real systems the velocity recovery factor R changes from shock to shock, mainly taking small values (0, 0.2). At the same time, the regions of realizability of one-impact oscillations, in practice the most essential ones among motions with a finite number of interactions over a period, narrow down sharply as R decreases and becomes very small even for R < 0.6 [4]. Thus, the stability of the given operation can be ensured by a law of motion which is independent or weakly dependent on R (^*) (see footnote on the next page). By virtue of what has been said above, finite-impact periodic modes are little suitable for this purpose. Regions, delineated in the parameter space of the model being considered, of existence of stable periodic motions with a sliding regime range have proved to be sufficiently broad. By virtue of the adopted approximation of the sliding regime, the dynamic characteristics of these motions do not depend upon R. The circumstances mentioned confirm the practical value of motions with a sliding regime range in dynamic systems with impact interactions.     

The stability of the set of equilibrium positions of autonomous mechanical systems with sliding friction

Problems of the stabiity of the set of equilibrium positions of autonomous differential equations, to which the equations of motion of mechanical systems with sliding friction can be reduced, are considered (see [1, 2]). The structure of the equations, due to the specific features of the system, is taken into account substantially and the general properties of motions, investigated previously in [3, 7], and the sets which arise when analysing the equations and which possess the properties of the absolute sector are used.     

Transportation of dry fine powders by coordinated friction manipulation

The transportation of dry fine powders is an emerging technologic task, as in biotechnology, pharmaceutical or coatings industry particle sizes of processed powders are getting smaller and smaller. Fine powders are primarily defined by the fact that adhesive and cohesive forces outweigh the weight forces. This leads to mostly unwanted agglomeration (clumping) and adhesion to surfaces, what makes it more difficult to use conventional conveyor systems (e. g. pneumatic or vibratory conveyors) for transport. A rather new method for transporting these fine powders is based on ultrasonic vibrations, which are used to reduce friction and adhesion between powder and the substrate. One very effective set-up consists of a pipe, which vibrates harmoniously in axial direction at low frequency combined with a pulsed radial high frequency vibration. The high frequency vibration accelerates the particles perpendicular to the surface of the pipe, which in average leads to lower normal and thereby smaller friction force. With coordinated friction manipulation the powder acceleration can be varied so that the powder may be greatly accelerated and only slightly decelerated in each excitation period of the low frequency axial vibration of the pipe. The amount of powder flow is adjustable by vibration amplitudes, frequencies, and pulse rate, which makes the device versatile for comparable high volume and fine dosing using one setup. Within this contribution an experimental set-up consisting of a pipe, a solenoid actuator for axial vibration and a piezoelectric actuator for the radial high frequency vibration is described. An analytical model is shown, that simulates the powder velocity. Finally, simulation results are validated by experimental data for different driving parameters such as amplitude of low frequency vibration, pipe material and inclination angle. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Flow switchability and periodic motions in a periodically forced,discontinuous dynamical system

This paper presents the switchability of a flow from one domain into another one in the periodically forced, discontinuous dynamical system. The inclined line boundary in phase space is used for the dynamical system to switch. The normal vector field product for flow switching on the separation boundary is introduced. The passability condition of a flow to the separation boundary is achieved through such a normal vector field product, and the sliding and grazing conditions to the separation boundary are presented as well. Using mapping structures, periodic motions in such a discontinuous system are predicted analytically, and the corresponding local stability and bifurcation analysis are carried out. With the analytical conditions of grazing and sliding motions, the parameter maps of specific motions are developed. Illustrations of periodic and chaotic motions are given, and the normal vector fields are presented to show the analytical criteria. This investigation may help one better understand the sliding mode control. The methodology presented in this paper can be applied to discontinuous, nonlinear systems.