Actuator performance envelope through nonlinear test bed

Abstract

With the increased importance of actuator performance in robotic applications, many robot manufacturers have focused on assuring quality, reliability, conformance to design, and application suitability in their actuators.Performance metrics for actuator evaluation have been proposed to improve understanding of an actuator's nonlinear characteristics.Thorough actuator testing can provide necessary feedback information on the effectiveness of the robot actuator for a specific task.This report describes the development and use of performance maps and performance envelopes for electromechanical actuators using an advanced dynamic dynamometer test bed.Initial test data in the form of performance maps is created for a range of rated output power and dynamic loading for brushless DC motors.The core contributions of this research are the creation and manipulation of actuator performance maps and envelopes, and the design and development of a nonlinear test bed for electromechanical actuators.To create a performance map, specific criteria must be developed to describe the performance characteristics of an actuator.The performance criteria are formulated to define, anticipate,