MECHATRONICS
Innovation in todays Industrial system or industrial control system (ICS) is often only
possible due to the embedded system. Particularly, the software connects previously
isolated systems resulting in, so-called, advanced mechatronic systems. Mechatronics is
an interdisciplinary way of combining the classical engineering disciplines for mechanical
and electrical engineering, electronic engineering and computer science. The word,
Mechatronics is composed of mecha from mechanics and tronics from electronics. In
other words, technologies and developed products will be incorporating electronics more
and more into mechanisms, intimately and organically, and making it impossible to tell
where one ends and the other begins.
Field of study involving the analysis, design, synthesis, and selection of systems that
combine electronics and mechanical components with modern controls and
microprocessors
INTRODUCTION: The word Mechatronics was first introduced by the senior engineer of a
Japanese company, Yaskawa, in 1969. The company was granted trademark rights on
the word in 1971. The word soon received broad acceptance in industry and, in order to
allow its free use, Yaskawa decided to abandon his rights on the word in 1982. The
Mechatronics systems consist of components from different physical domains, which are
closely coupled and therefore interact with one another. Moreover, the behavior of the
components is highly non-linear.
WHAT IS MECHATRONICS?
Today it means mechatronics engineering activities including designing, testing and
operation of machinery and equipment, in which there is a high level of functional
integration of mechanical systems with electronics and computer control.
Mechatronics is an interdisciplinary field, combining in a synergistic manner the classical
knowledge of mechanical engineering, hydraulics, pneumatics, electronics, optics and
computer science. A typical mechatronic system picks up signals from the environment,
processes them to generate output signals, transforming them for example into forces,
motions and actions. The aim of Mechatronics is to improve the functionality of technical
systems and the creation of new concepts of machinery and equipment with built-in
"artificial intelligence".
Mechatronics provides an opportunity, not only humanization of machines, but also it
changes the mindset and the approach to technological issues and most importantly
teaching new technologies and ways of acquiring knowledge and skills. The most
important feature of mechatronic devices is the ability to process and communicate
information accurately in a form of different types of signals (mechanical, electrical,
hydraulic, pneumatic, optical, chemical, biological), with high level of automation of
these devices.
Nowadays a lot of machines and even simple household appliance consist of
mechanisms driven by motors and actuators with electrical control circuits. The overall
control of these machines is done by programmable components like PLC's, micro-
controllers or even PC's. The major difference between conventional machinery with
electronic components and mechatronic machinery is that the former adds electronic
components, while the latter integrates electronic components. Adding some electronics
to a machine means adding additional functions, and integrating electronics means
furnishing extended capability to the machinery.
Objectives Of Mechatronics: Mechatronics has mainly the objective to improve technical
properties, i.e., to make machines work faster and to make manufacturing cheaper. In
industry, products and processes are designed from scratch, and therefore they are
known, and dealing with them is a kind of straightforward action where the behavior can
be predicted, at least in principle. Even there, however, the complexity of tasks and
situations is increasing, leading already to the use of unconventional tools like fuzzy
control, neural networks, expert systems, and their combinations. Figure shown the
mechatronics industry system
Mechatronics Design Step: Mechatronic products are commonly used in industry and
everyday life. Designing of mechatronic products requires approach that takes into
account: interdisciplinary design, market related constraints, multifunctionality, user-
friendly operation and demand of minimization of the cost of the whole product
operation period. Thus designers who create mechatronic products should possess
comprehensive interdisciplinary knowledge, ability to co-operate in an interdisciplinary
designing team as well as team management skills, and knowledge how to use the up-
to-date tools of computer aided engineering. Additionally the know-how in scheduling
and carrying out prototyping of mechatronic systems is very useful.
Type of Elements:
Electromechanical elements: – Sensors, A variety of physical variables can be measured
using sensors. Actuators, DC servomotor, stepper motor, relay, solenoid, speaker, light
emitting diode (LED), shape memory alloy, electromagnet, and pump apply commanded
action on the physical process. IC-based sensors and actuators digital-compass,
potentiometer, etc.
Fig: – Mechatronics Design Process
Electrical elements:- Electrical components e.g., resistor (R), capacitor (C), inductor (L),
transformer, etc
Electronic elements:- Analog/digital electronics, transistors, thyristors, opto-isolators,
operational amplifiers, power electronics, and signal conditioning.
Control interface /computing hardware elements:- Analog-to-digital (A2D) converter,
digital-to-analog (D2A) converter, digital input/output (I/O), counters, timers,
microprocessor, microcontroller, data acquisition and control (DAC) board, and digital
signal processing (DSP) board
Computer/Information System:- Computer elements refer to hardware/software utilized
to perform, computer- aided dynamic system analysis, optimization, design, and
simulation, virtual instrumentation, rapid control prototyping, hardware-in-the-loop
simulation, PC-based data acquisition and control
Elements of Mechatronics:- Typical knowledge base for optimal design and operation of
mechatronic systems comprises of: Dynamic system modelling and analysis. Thermo-
fluid, tructural, hydraulic, electrical, chemical, biological, etc. Decision and control
theory, Sensors and signal conditioning, Actuators and power electronics, Data
acquisition. A2D, D2A, digital I/O, counters, timers, etc. Hardware interfacing, Rapid
control prototyping, Embedded computing. Balance theory, simulation, hardware, and
software.
Mechatronics is the result of applying information systems to physical systems. The
physical system, the rightmost dotted block, consists of mechanical, electrical, and
computer (electronic) systems as well as actuators, sensors, and real time interfacing.
Sensors and actuators are used to transduce energy from high power, usually the
mechanical side, to low power, the electrical and computer or electronic side. The block
labeled mechanical systems frequently consists of more than just mechanical
components and may include fluid, pneumatic, thermal, acoustic, chemical, and other
disciplines as well.