As the overall automation level of production line equipment continues to improve, we naturally demand "intelligent" motion control technology. So, for products like servo drives, what exactly constitutes "intelligent"?
Regarding this issue, I personally think it needs to be considered from the following three aspects.
1. Basic performance
As we mentioned earlier, a servo is a power transmission device that uses feedback to provide control for the required operation.
Looking at the current market distribution of the motion control industry, more than 80% of servo applications require drive power in the range of 50W to 5kW. Therefore, being able to cover such an output power range has become a basic requirement for a servo drive product to gain a foothold in most general industries.
However, as a servo motion control product, simply having a certain power output capability is clearly far from sufficient. It must be able to help automated equipment complete high-precision, high-dynamic motion control functions to meet users' increasingly higher requirements for product processing speed and process quality. This is reflected in specific technical indicators such as the frequency response characteristics of the servo drive and the control cycles of the speed loop and position loop, etc.
At the same time, we need to recognize that the output of a servo drive must be transmitted to the equipment load through a power actuator such as a servo motor to achieve the required motion control function. However, considering the various differences in mechanical transmission methods exhibited by different types of motion control applications, users are beginning to place increasingly higher demands on the compatibility of servo drives with motors and actuators—products from two different disciplines. Therefore, for servo drives in the industrial field, in addition to having high-resolution feedback ports, the ability to flexibly adapt to different types of feedback protocols, and a sound and open motor parameter adaptation and tuning mechanism (for connecting third-party motors or special actuators) are becoming increasingly important when connecting to motors and actuators.
In addition, when we discussed the "development trend of industrial motion control products" earlier, we mentioned that servo products should have a smaller size and installation dimensions to help users further improve the level of motion control automation of their systems within a limited time and space, and reduce the overall application cost of production line equipment.
This is reflected in the product's technical implementation. On the one hand, the slim size of a single driver and the design that allows multiple drivers to be installed side-by-side, at the same height, and seamlessly make the layout of the servo drive components in the electrical cabinet more neat and compact. On the other hand, it uses simplified wiring connections, such as reducing the types and number of ports, using motion control bus technology, and adopting a common DC bus power connection method, etc., which helps the system save on the overall number of wiring and power distribution components (such as contactors, circuit breakers, etc.) in the electrical cabinet.
2. Operation and control characteristics
When applying servo technology to the electromechanical systems of equipment, we often need to adjust and configure the drive control parameters to overcome various complex transmission problems during system operation, such as backlash, insufficient rigidity, response resonance, load jitter, etc., thereby achieving stable and reliable operation and control performance in real-world load environments. Experienced users know that this tuning process is often very time-consuming and labor-intensive; in fact, general self-tuning functions are no longer sufficient to meet the application needs of most users.
Therefore, in order to help users quickly and accurately tune and configure motion control parameters during servo system debugging, it is crucial to integrate a tuning algorithm for various response characteristics within the servo drive product. For example:
■Online adaptive control loop gain: Used to quickly adapt to changes in the mechanical frequency characteristics of the load.
■ Adaptive notch filtering: helps avoid or reduce mechanical resonance in load response.
■ Vibration suppression: It can help reduce positioning errors caused by end-effector jitter during load movement.
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Meanwhile, multi-axis collaborative motion control applications, such as synchronization, interpolation, and cam manipulation, are also very common in automated equipment. Their performance is largely constrained and affected by the existing electrical and mechanical characteristics of the system (e.g., communication cycles and mechanical installation gaps). In this situation, each servo unit in the system needs a reasonable and effective compensation algorithm. This algorithm should be able to fine-tune and optimize its output actions based on real-time comparisons of motion control data between axes, thereby ensuring that the multi-axis system as a whole achieves better output performance.
3. Ease of operation
In equipment operation and control applications, servo systems are often considered a difficult technology to master. Besides the factors mentioned above that are influenced by the electromechanical environment, this is also largely due to the cumbersome and complex operating procedures involved. For example, many products require users to consult manuals while typing, or carry a laptop, connect a data cable, and open debugging software to perform various application functions such as parameter modification, fault diagnosis, and startup testing.
However, if a set of debugging software (APP) based on mobile terminals could be developed for servo products, users could quickly complete application operations such as parameter configuration, startup testing, and fault diagnosis of servo drives using only their mobile phones or tablets. Wouldn't the operation, running and debugging process of the equipment on site become much simpler?
We recommend watching under WiFi conditions; those with unlimited data can watch as they please.
It's clear from the above discussion that today's servo drives required by users are no longer just high-configuration hardware products. They also need to leverage their integrated drive and control algorithms and supporting application software to help users quickly solve various practical problems encountered in the operation and control of automated equipment, such as installation, debugging, parameter configuration, tuning, and optimization. This simplifies various operational processes at the product application level, gradually freeing equipment users from heavy physical labor and allowing them to focus their limited attention on more meaningful tasks such as improving equipment functionality and enhancing process quality.
This is actually a manifestation of the intelligence of servo technology.
