Papers by Keyword: Design for Control

Abstract: The work deals with the optimal design of a single-axis solar tracker, which is used to adjust the daily position of a photovoltaic system in order to capture as much as possible solar radiation. The two main components of the solar tracker (the mechanical device and the control system) have been coupled (integrated) in the concurrent engineering concept. For assuring high stability and robustness, the control system is a cascaded two-loop employing LPF (Low-Pass Filter) controllers. The controlled parameter in the main (external) loop is the daily angle of the photovoltaic platform, while in the secondary (internal) loop the linear velocity in the driving actuator is monitored. The mono-objective optimization problem is described in the following way: to minimize the difference between the imposed and current daily angle (thus preserving a high energetic efficiency of the tracking system), considering the controllers’ gains as independent design parameters.

Abstract: The goal of this research is to develop a design and optimization methodology for the mechatronic modules of machine tools by treating all important characteristics from all involved engineering domains in one single process. In this study, a mechatronic system of machine tools was broken into a structure and control two-level systems. In the first stage for structure design process, the Pro/E was used to build up the 3D models and the AnSys was employed to design the mechanical structure and select the optimal components for the machine tools. Next, in the control design process, a common controller type was designed by MATLAB in this stage. Then, three important parameters were established for the machine tools design to achieve the overall system performance.