Using-Adams-Mechatronics-MD-Adams-2010

Welcome to Adams/Mechatronics About Adams/Mechatronics Adams/Mechatronics is a plug-in to Adams which can be used to easily incorporate control systems into mechanical models Adams/Mechatronics has been developed based on the Adams/Controls functionality and contains modeling elements which transfer information to/from the control system For example, using Adams/Mechatronics in Adams/Car, you can quickly create assemblies of vehicle systems including control systems, and then analyze them to understand their performance and behavior Using Adams/Mechatronics you can create control systems with different level of complexity You can use function builder to build a simple control function If you have your control system defined in a control package such as Easy or Matlab/Simulink, then you can perform a co-simulation between mechanical model defined in Adams and control system defined in the control package Alternatively, you can generate the control system code as a dynamic link library file (a dll file in Windows, also known as external system library or simply ESL file in Adams/Mechtronics) using the control package and then all calculations with Adams You will also be able to include control system parameters in a design study in Adams/Insight for simultaneous optimization of both control system and mechanical system Furthermore, you will be able to switch the control code in the model by selecting ESL (external system library) property files which refer to different ESL files You can, for instance, use Adams/Mechatronics together with Adams/Car to: • Tune both control parameters and suspension/driveline parameters to optimize shunt-and-shuffle phenomena • Investigate the influence of active damping control on the forces in the suspension components or body structure • Validate your complete vehicle model including control system with a corresponding model for Hardware-In-The-Loop studies Based on the analysis results, you can quickly adjust the chassis characteristics or control parameters and redo the analysis to evaluate the effects of the adjustment For example, you can quickly change control code to investigate the best handling characteristics for your vehicle Once you complete the analysis of your model, you can easily share your work with others You can also create different plots of the controller input/output signals and vehicle dynamic responses In addition, you can access other users' models without overwriting their data Benefits of Adams/Mechatronics Adams/Mechatronics enables you to work faster and smarter with control systems, facilitate understanding the effects of design change in the controls systems and mechanical system on total system performance Adams/Mechatronics From a modeling perspective, Adams/Mechatronics has following benefits: • A control system has to be setup and coupled to mechanical system only once • Control systems and control signals are handled as components among others • The model can easily be used by different users, including those who are not familiar with the control systems • Automatic signal unit conversions • Easy to connect transducer and actuator signals to the control systems • Overview and modify the control system input and output specifications Model and Data Reuse A key benefit of using Adams/Mechatronics is that it shares data and simulation components of control system with Adams This means that complete system-level optimization becomes easier for complex problems such as shunt-and-shuffle, ABS impact on ride/judder, etc For instance, you can load the Adams/Car assembly containing a control system as any other assembly, without having to perform several manual tasks to run the coupled simulation In addition, Adams/Mechatronics includes a Signal Manager for setting up the connection (transducer and actuator signals) between the mechanical system and the control systems The settings you choose in the Signal Manager are automatically saved with the subsystems of the assembly, so that the next time the assembly is opened, no further settings are needed before submitting the simulation Starting Adams/Mechatronics Because Adams/Mechatronics is a plug-in to Adams, you first start Adams and then load Adams/Mechatronics In Windows, you start Adams/Car or Adams/View from the start menu For more information, see Starting Adams/Car or Starting Adams/View In UNIX, you start Adams/Car or Adams/View from the Adams Toolbar For information on the Adams Toolbar, see Running and Configuring Adams To start Adams/Mechatronics: Start Adams/Car or Adams/View as explained in respective documentation From the Tools menu, select Plug-in Manager Find Adams/Mechatronics in plug-in list, and then select one or both of the following options • Load: loads Adams/Mechatronics in the current session • Load at Startup: instructs Adams to load Adams/Mechatronics in all future Adams sessions Select OK Welcome to Adams/Mechatronics Adams/Mechatronics will be loaded into Adams The Adams interface now includes Mechatronics menu in last position Please also note that the Mechatronics plug-in will load automatically if you open an assembly which refers to a subsystem which contains a control system related object File Architecture in Adams/Mechatronics In Adams/Car case, figure below shows the database table directories in the shared database of Adams/Mechatronics Note that: • external_system_libraries.tbl contains property files related to external system files generated by control software like Matlab/Simulink and Easy5 • disturbance_files.tbl contains property files containing control signal disturbance data in ASCII, RPCIII or DAC format In Adams/View case, as there is no database table, dynamic link file is stored in a user-specified target folder Adams/Mechatronics Learning the Basics Adams/Mechatronics Basic Concepts in Adams/Mechatronics Here the basic components and terms used in Adams/Mechatronics are briefly described • Transducer Signal • Actuator Signal • Control System • Control System Input • Control System Output • Mechanical System • Signal Manager • External System Library (ESL) While the picture below illustrates how the (transducer and actuator) signals from the mechanical systems are connected to the control systems via the control system inputs/outputs, we will try to describe each term Learning the Basics Transducer Signal Transducer signals are used to measure a certain signal from an arbitrary location of the mechanical system For example, it can measure the rotational velocity of a wheel or the instantaneous brake pressure The measured signal is sent to the control system via the control system input Actuator Signal Actuator signals are used to transfer the output from the control system to the mechanical system For example, the actuator signal could be a brake pressure of an ABS control system, which would be used in the force expressions of the brake model in the mechanical system Typically in Adams/Car, you would Adams/Mechatronics create a point torque actuator in the template builder and in the function expression refer to the actuator signal Note: it is important to pay attention to difference between following terms: the Actuator Signal which is an Adams/Mechatronics component and Actuators which is an Adams/Car component Control System A Control System in the context of Adams/Mechatronics is an object which contains information about the type of controller, the number of input channels and output channels, etc Control System Input Control system inputs are created when you create a control system The number of inputs specified for the control system will determine the number of control system input objects that are auto-created Using the Signal Manager, you can hook up the appropriate transducer signal (or other control system output) to the corresponding control system input Since the control system inputs are always automatically created, you can only perform Modify operations on them Control System Output Control system outputs are created when you create a control system The number of outputs specified for the control system will determine the number of control system output objects that are auto-created Using the Signal Manager, you can hook up the appropriate control system output to the corresponding actuator signal Since the control system outputs are always automatically created, you can only perform Modify operations on them Mechanical System In Adams/Mechatronics the mechanical system refers to the mechanical model excluding the control systems Note that you can exploit Adams/Mechatronics components such as transducer/actuator signals without the need for a new version of the model (template in Adams/Car) since you can activate/deactivate the control system See Activity in Adams/Mechatronics for more information Signal Manager The Signal Manager is a graphic interface in Adams/Mechatronics where you connect the mechanical system(s) to the control system(s), i.e., connect the transducer signals to the control system inputs and control system outputs to the corresponding actuator signals Note that you can also connect a control system output of one control system to input of another control system Typically, you need to use the Signal Manager only once for a complete model and then connections will be saved within the model The next time you open the model, the signal connections will be setup automatically Learning the Basics External System Library (ESL) External system library (ESL) is a general term used for code generated by control packages like Matlab/RTW (Real-Time Workshop) or Easy5 This code is saved in a file with dll (dynamic link library) extension on Windows or so (shared objects) extension on Unix operating system To provide an effective access to the ESL file, Adams/Mechatronics uses ESL property file, which in turn points to a ESL file and contains other information such as control system parameters name and value This provides the possibilities to perform a design study in Adams/Insight In Adams/Car, ESL property files are stored in external_system_libraries.tbl directory in the Adams/Car database In Adams/View, they are stored in a user-specified folder 10 Adams/Mechatronics 12 Adams/Mechatronics Create/Modify Transducer/Actuator or Control System Input/Output For the option: Disturbance: Disturbance Signal Do the following: There are four ways to specify the disturbance signal: • Run-time expression: • Function Expression In Adams/Car, the expression must be a function on time or set to a constant value In Adams/View, it can be any arbitrary function • Function Unit Choose a unit string available the unit type Total signal = scale_factor * (general_function * unit_factor1 +/* disturbance_function* unit_factor2) • ASCII file (*.daf): • ASCII File Disturbance ASCII file • Channel Label Specifies with column data to use in the file • Scale Factor Disturbance Scale Factor: Total signal = scale_factor * (general_function * unit_factor1 +/* disturbance_file_data * disturbance_scale_factor * unit_factor2) • RPC file: RPCII file Channel Numberă Scale Factor • Channel Unit Set the specific unit used by the channel • Time Unit Set the time unit that is used in the RCPII file Total signal = scale_factor * (general_function * unit_factor1 +/* RPCII_file_data (channel_bnumber)* channel_scale_factor* unit_factor2) Dialog Box - F1 help 13 Create/Modify Transducer/Actuator or Control System Input/Output For the option: Do the following: • DAC file • DAC file • Channel Unit Set the specific unit used by the channel • Time Unit Set the time unit that is used in the DAC file Total signal = scale_factor * (general_function * unit_factor1 +/* DAC_file_data * DAC_scale_factor * unit_factor2) Delay: Determines if any delay signal effect should be applies or not Active Delay: Signal To Delay If disturbance is not active, there is only one choice (function) In that case delay applies to the function specified in the general tab container If disturbance is active, then there are three choices on where to apply the delay as follows • Function (only) • Delays only the function (specified in the general tab container) Total Signal = scale_factor * (delayed[general_function] * unit_factor1 +/* disturbance * unit_factor2) • Disturbance (Only) • Delays only the disturbance input Total Signal = scale_factor * (general_function * unit_factor1 +/* delayed[disturbance] * unit_factor2) • Disturbed Function • Delays the disturbed general function, i.e., after disturbance has been applied on the function signal Total Signal = scale_factor * delayed [general_function * unit_factor1 +/* disturbance * unit_factor2] Delay: Initial History If active, you enter the delay function initial history value which is used when time is less than delay time If inactive, the initial history value is calculated from the initial value of function being delayed (not implemented) 14 Adams/Mechatronics Create/Modify Transducer/Actuator or Control System Input/Output For the option: Do the following: Delay: Shown only in the Adams/Car Standard Interface mode Delay Time Type Determines the type of delay time function to be used: • Run time expression • Function dependent only on time or a constant value • Template Expression • A delay time function that has been defined and stored in the template • The function could also be dependent on a state • You can not modify the template expression You can only override it with the run time expression above Delay: Delay Time Function Adams expression defining the magnitude of the delay The delay can be constant, function of time or state dependent In Adams/Car standard Interface, the function should only dependent on time or set to a constant value The magnitude must be positive Negative values will be taken as zero Request Active Turns auto-created signal request on or off Measure Active Turns auto-created signal measure on or off Select to add any comments about the control system to help you manage and identify it Select to open a dialog box where you can set active and inactive objects and also dependent object Dialog Box - F1 help 15 Delete Control System Delete Control System Mechatronics -> Control System -> Delete Deletes a Control System For the option: Control System Do the following: Use the right mouse button to browse for the control system object you want to delete 16 Adams/Mechatronics Delete Transducer/Actuator or Control System Input/Output Delete Transducer/Actuator or Control System Input/Output Mechatronics -> Mechanical System -> Transducer Signal/Actuator Signal -> Delete Mechatronics -> Control System -> Input/Output -> Delete Deletes a Transducer or Actuator Signal or Control System Input/Output For the option: Transducer Signals/ Actuator Signals/ Control System Inputs/ Control System Outputs Do the following: Right click to browse for the control signal object you want to delete Dialog Box - F1 help 17 Export Plant for Co-simulation /Setting up ESL Export Plant for Co-simulation /Setting up ESL Mechatronics -> Tools -> Export Plant Exports necessary files for a chosen control package For the option: Do the following: System Name Right-click to browse for the control system of type co-simulation or ESL File Prefix This option is only used in case of ESL simulation preparation Specify the file prefix for the exported files Adm File This option is only used in case of co-simulation in Adams/Car Pick the appropriate adm file (you must run a 'file only' analysis before choosing this option to generate an adm file which provides the analysis name to Adams) Target Software Select the controls software you want to use for creating your controller Analysis Type Currently it is always set to non_linear, which exports the plant for dynamic analysis Previously you might select between non_linear and linear, which created a linearized representation of the model in terms of (A, B, C, D) matrices to perform a linear analysis Initial Static Analysis Select one of the following: • Yes: Performs initial static analysis • No: Does not perform initial static analysis Adams will automatically run the appropriate static analysis, and thus you should normally say 'No' on this option Initialization Command Select and provide the command for initialization Adams/Solver Choice Select one of the following: • Fortran - Uses the default Adams/Solver (FORTRAN) for this simulation • C++ - Uses Adams/Solver (C++) for this simulation User Defined Library Name Enter the name of the user-defined library Adams Host Name Enter the name of the host machine from which the Adams plant is being exported This host name is used if you choose TCP/IP-based communication to perform co-simulation or function evaluation between Adams and MATLAB or Easy5 18 Adams/Mechatronics External System Library (ESL) Property File External System Library (ESL) Property File Mechatronics -> Tools -> ESL Property File Creates a property file for an ESL For the option: Do the following: From Control Package Select either Easy5 or MATLAB as the control package which has been used to generate the External System Library file External System Library Right-click to select the existing ESL file (.dll or so) which includes the subroutines you want to use in your ESL controller Property file name Enter a name for the property file The file will be stored in the external_system_libraries.tbl directory in the Adams/Car database In Adams/View, it will be placed in target directory (see below) Target Directory (only in Adams/View) Select path to where the ESL property file will be stored (only in Adams/View) Select to easily choose the path of target directory Dialog Box - F1 help 19 Rearrange Control Signal Input/Output Rearrange Control Signal Input/Output Mechatronics -> Control System -> Input/Output -> Rearrange Changes the channel number of a Control Signal Input/Output For the option: Do the following: Input/Output Control Signal Use the right mouse button to browse for the control signal you want to move Signal Index Enter an integer value indicating on which channel you want the signal to be Control System This field is automatically filled in Number of Inputs/Outputs This field is automatically filled in Select to display a dialog box where you can get information about the control system and its input and output signals 20 Adams/Mechatronics Rename Control System Rename Control System Mechatronics -> Control System -> Rename Renames a Control System For the option: Old System Name Do the following: Use the right mouse button to browse for an existing control system New System Name Enter the new name that you want assigned to the control system Dialog Box - F1 help 21 Rename Transducer/Actuator or Control Signal Input/Output Rename Transducer/Actuator or Control Signal Input/Output Mechatronics -> Control System -> Input/Output -> Rename Mechatronics -> Mechanical System -> Transducer Signal/Actuator Signal -> Rename Renames a Transducer or Actuator or Control Signal Input/Output For the option: Do the following: Old Signal Name Right click to browse for an existing control signal New Signal Name Enter the new name of the transducer/actuator signal 22 Adams/Mechatronics Select Model Select Model Mechatronics -> Signal Manager -> Display Select the model with the control systems to display the Signal Manager For the option: Model Do the following: Select the model with control systems Dialog Box - F1 help 23 Select Objects Select Objects Select objects that should be activated or deactivated depending on the connection of the related actuator/transducer signal If the dialog box is entered via the control system create/modify dialog box, you specify the objects which should be activated if the control system is set to function Note: There is no symmetry functionalities when selecting objects Therefore, the user has to select objects for the left and right sides separately The same applies when selecting function objects for control systems of type function For the option: Do the following: Object Shows the name of the actuator or control signal input (not editable) Active objects Right click to select all the objects that should be active if the actuator/transducer signal is connected For control systems, select the objects that should be activated when the control system is active and of function type Inactive objects Right click to select all the objects that should be inactive if the actuator/transducer signal is connected Dependent Object Right click to find the object that should be dependent on the actuator signal 24 Adams/Mechatronics Signal Manager Signal Manager Mechatronics -> Signal Manager -> Display Select Model dialog box opens and the text box is populated with the available models Select the appropriate model and click OK Signal Manager dialog box enables you to hook up transducer signals and actuator signals to the appropriate input/output channel in the control system For the option: Do the following: Assembly Assembly you want to work on is already displayed Control System Name Select the control system you want to hook up Nume Inputs Click on the button to display a list of available Transducer Signals or other control system's Output Signals Note that the list will only display those Transducer Signals (or Control System Output Signals) which have the correct Unit Type Num Outputs Click on the button to display a list of available Actuator Signals or other control system's Input Signals Note that the list will only display those Actuator Signals (or Control System Input Signals) which have the correct Unit Type Further, on the right-hand side of the selected Actuator or Input Signal, there is an integer indicating how many Actuators or Control System Input Signals make use of the same Control System Output Select to display a dialog box where you can get information about the control system and its input and output signals Dialog Box - F1 help 25 Signal Overview Signal Overview Mechatronics -> Info -> Signals Displays overview information about the different kinds of signals in the assembly; Transducer Signals, Actuator Signals, Control System Inputs and Control System Outputs For the option: Do the following: Model Select the model you want to get information about Signal Type Select the type of signals you want to include in the overview View options Select the content of the information Display in information window If you check this option, you can see the information in a window Save information to a file If you check this option, you can write the file name in the adjoining field, and the information will be saved to the provided file 26 Adams/Mechatronics Signal Overview