Mechatronics-Basic-Introduction

Mechatronics is as old as the history of modern engineering practice, But at the same time it is as new as few decades The word àmechatronicsảwas introduced in Japan in 1969, spread through Europe in seventies and soon after commonly used in United States The development of mechatronics has gone through three stages: The first stage corresponds to the years around the introduction of word mechatronics During this stage, technologies used in mechatronics systems developed rather independently of each other and individually With start of eighties a synergic integration of different technologies started taking place A notable example is opto-electronics, an integration of optics and electronics The concept of hardware/software co-design also started in this year The third stage, which is considered as start of µMechatronics Age¶, starts with the early nineties The most notable aspect of this stage are more and more integration of different engineering disciplines and increased use of computational intelligence in the mechatronics products and systems Another important development in the third stage is the concept of àmicromechatronisả, i.e., start of miniaturization the components such as microactuators and microsensors Mechatronics is therefore not a new branch of engineering, but a newly developed concept that underlines the necessity for integration and intensive interaction between different branches of engineering The core disciplines of the mechatronics are undoubtedly set by the name, i.e, mechanics and electronics Definition ‡Now we can give a more formal description for mechatronics: Mechatronics describes a multi-disciplinary engineering activity, which has been practiced for a number of years It integrates the classical fields of mechanical engineering, electronics engineering and computer science/information technology at the design stage of a product or a system ‡ µMecha 'should be understood as the widest aspects of mechanical engineering, ‡ whilst'tronics'should be understood to embrace all aspects of microelectronics, electromechanics (modern electrical drives-motion control), control theory, computer science/engineering and information technology A key factor in the mechatronics philosophy is the integration of microelectronics and information technology into mechanical systems, so as to obtain the best possible solution Design of such products and processes, therefore, has to be the outcome of a multi-disciplinary activity rather than an interdisciplinary one Hence mechatronics challenges the traditional engineering thinking, because the way it is operating, is crossing the boundaries between the traditional engineering disciplines DISPLACEMENT, AND POSITION SENSORS Displacement Measurement Measurement of displacement is the basis of measuring: Position Velocity Acceleration Stress Force Pressure Proximity Thickness Displacement Sensors types ‡ Potentiometers displacement sensors ‡ Inductive displacement sensors ‡ Capacitive displacement sensors ‡ Eddy current displacement sensors ‡ Piezoelectric displacement sensors ‡ Ultrasonic displacement sensors ‡ Magnetostrictive displacement sensors ‡ Optical encoder displacement sensors ‡ Strain Gages displacement sensors A ladder diagram PLC wiring diagram PLC scan Basic logic And logic OR logic Combine AND and OR logic Example Cell layout Program Wiring diagram EXPLANATION OF THE PROGRAM Rung If a part arrives and no part is stopped, trigger the barcode reader Rung If it is a right part, activate the stopper Rung If the stopper is up, the machine is not busy and the robot is not busy; load the part onto the machine Rung If the task is completed and the robot is not busy, unload the machine Data types Operators A up-counter functional block