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Real-time position control of intelligent pneumatic actuator (IPA) system using optical encoder and pressure sensor

Ahmad ‘Athif Mohd Faudzi (Department of Control and Mechatronics Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Malaysia)
Khairuddin Osman (Department of Industrial Electronics, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Durian Tunggal, Malaysia)
Mohd Fua'ad Rahmat (Department of Control and Mechatronics Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Malaysia)
Koichi Suzumori (Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan)
Nu'man Din Mustafa (Department of Control and Mechatronics Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Malaysia)
Muhammad Asyraf Azman (Department of Control and Mechatronics Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Malaysia)

Sensor Review

ISSN: 0260-2288

Article publication date: 9 September 2013

573

Abstract

Purpose

Intelligent pneumatic actuator (IPA) is a new generation of actuator developed for Research and Development (R&D) purposes in the academic and industrial fields. The purpose of this paper is to show the application of optical encoder and pressure sensor in IPA, to develop a real-time model similar to the existing devices, and to assess the position control performance using a proportional-integrative (PI) controller and a bang-bang controller in real-time.

Design/methodology/approach

A micro optical encoder chip is used to detect cylinder rod position by reading constructed laser stripes on a guide rod, whereas a pressure sensor is used to detect the chamber pressure reading. To control the cylinder movements by manipulating pulse-width modulation (PWM) cycles, two unit valves of two ports and two positions were used. A PI controller and a bang-bang controller are used with suitable gain value to drive the valve using PWM to achieve the target actuator position.

Findings

The results show the experimental results of the closed-loop position tracking performance of the system using a data acquisition (DAQ) card over MATLAB software.

Originality/value

This paper presents a real-time model used to replace the microcontroller-based system from previous IPA design. The paper proposes two control strategies, PI and bang-bang, to control position using encoder and pressure reading.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) under UTM-NAS Grant No. R.J130000.7723.4P008, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) Malaysia and Okayama University for their support.

Citation

‘Athif Mohd Faudzi, A., Osman, K., Fua'ad Rahmat, M., Suzumori, K., Din Mustafa, N. and Asyraf Azman, M. (2013), "Real-time position control of intelligent pneumatic actuator (IPA) system using optical encoder and pressure sensor", Sensor Review, Vol. 33 No. 4, pp. 341-351. https://doi.org/10.1108/SR-09-2012-692

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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