Analysis of Velocity Estimation Methods for High-Performance Motion Control Systems

Abstract:

The majority of all commercial electronics hardware is manufactured using Surface Mount Technology (SMT). Nevertheless, the increased complexity and miniaturization of electronics impose tough performance requirements on the automation process.

The research in this paper concerns test and analysis of alternative velocity estimation methods for high-performance embedded motion control systems. The motion system in Mycronic's pick and place machines is regulated by a motion controller consisting of a feedforward component and a feedback controller. The linear displacement is measured with an incremental encoder and the velocity is estimated with a state observer. Previous work suggests that the velocity estimation is inadequate.

Different observer designs including state and disturbance estimators were tested and evaluated through simulations in Matlab Simulink. After that, experiments were performed on a conveyor retrieved from a pick and place machine. The results show that a Kalman filter is the best state estimator. Moreover, improved robustness was obtained by including a disturbance estimator in the observer design.

Examiner: Prof. Dimos Dimarogonas