What is motion control?
Motion control, also known as electric drive control, is a branch of automation, and its power source is mostly based on electric motors.
In other words, motion control is based on electric motors to control changes in physical quantities such as angular displacement, velocity, and torque of an object.
Motion control is further divided into two directions: one is motion control for the machinery industry, and the other is process control for the chemical industry.
As mentioned above, motion control is actually based on electric motors, specifically servo motors.
If a single-machine device uses only one servo motor, the focus is more on controlling the motor, such as position, speed, and torque. In this example, the control of a single motor is just one aspect of motion control.
Motion control is mainly for products and includes mechanics (electric motors are just components in mechanics), electrical systems, and software. It involves real-time control and management of the position and speed of mechanical moving parts, so that they can be transformed into the desired mechanical motion according to a predetermined control scheme.
Motion control systems come in many forms, but from a basic structural perspective, the hardware of a typical modern motion control system mainly consists of: a host computer, a motion controller, a power drive device, a motor, an actuator, and a sensor feedback detection device.
What is a motion controller?
Motion controller: refers to a control device with a central logic control unit as its core, sensors as signal-sensitive elements, and motors or power devices and actuators as the controlled objects.
The following diagram illustrates:
Motion controllers: The most common one is a PLC;
Drivers: Industrial control professionals should be very familiar with drivers;
Actuator: Servo motor;
Speed reduction mechanism: speed reducer;
An optical encoder: a type of encoder (generally used in lathe machining).
Human-computer interface: The familiar touch screen.
The motion controller sends commands to the drive mechanism, which amplifies the power and transmits the amplified signal to the actuator (servo motor). The servo motor has a built-in encoder, enabling semi-closed-loop control.
The servo motor and transmission mechanism control the machinery, and a grating ruler (also an encoder) is installed on the mechanical device to achieve full closed-loop control.
Operators can perform debugging operations throughout the entire process on-site through a human-machine interface.
