Power sources
(Actuators)
Actuators
• Actuators are devises that makes robot move.
• Each joint of robot is actuated by an actuator.
• Three basic types of power sources are used
for actuation of robots:
Hydraulic drives
Pneumatic drives
Electric drives
Hydraulic Drives
• Hydraulic systems use incompressible fluid as the working
medium.
• The system basically consists of : Pump, Hydraulic valves,
Reservoir, filter and Hydraulic actuator
Hydraulic Drives
• The pump pumps the fluid at a high pressure.
• The valves controls and regulates the direction of the flow
of the high-pressure fluid.
• The reservoir stores the hydraulic fluid.
• The hydraulic actuator coverts the fluid energy (the high-
pressure fluid send by the control valves) in to mechanical
energy (motion).
• The filter removes minute particles from the fluid, which
may cause blocking of the orifices of valves.
Hydraulic Actuators
• There are two main types of hydraulic
actuators:
Hydraulic cylinders- for linear motion
Hydraulic motors - for rotary motion
Hydraulic Drives
• Larger robots used hydraulic drives for actuation.
• Hydraulic actuators have faster response and higher torque
than other types of actuators.
• Hence, hydraulic-drive robots are used when high-speed
manipulator of substantial loads is required.
• One drawback of hydraulic-drive robots is the lack of
cleanliness due to oil leakage.
• Hydraulic-drive robots are usually large. Hence, required
more floor space.
Hydraulic Drives
• Some advantages of hydraulic drive include:
– It gives greater speed and strength
– It gives highest power to weight ratio
– It is used for heavy pay loads
– It can be used for large working envelope
– It is safe and reliable to work in wet and dirty conditions
– It can be used in hazardous (explosive) environment.
• Some disadvantages of hydraulic drive include:
• It occupies more space
• Maintenance should be done regularly
Hydraulic Drives
• Some disadvantages of hydraulic drive include:
• The material of storage tank, piping, cylinder and piston can be
corroded with the hydraulic fluid. Therefore one must be careful
while selecting materials and hydraulic fluid.
• The structural weight and size of the system is large which makes
it unsuitable for the smaller instruments.
• The small impurities in the hydraulic fluid can permanently
damage the complete system, therefore one should be careful and
suitable filter must be installed.
• The leakage of hydraulic fluid is also a critical issue and suitable
prevention method and seals must be adopted.
• The hydraulic fluids, if not disposed properly, can be harmful to
the environment.
Pneumatic Drives
• Pneumatic systems are similar to Hydraulic systems.
• But, pneumatic systems uses air as the working medium.
• They are confined mainly to the limited sequence robots and
robots that are limited to pick-and-place.
• Hence, smaller robots that possesses fewer degrees of
freedom (2-4 joints) use pneumatic-drive.
• Totally pneumatic drives robots are cheaper and simple.
• But difficult to control and have a poor dynamic
performance compared to hydraulic-drive.
• Thus, their use and popularity are limited.
Electric Drives
• Electric drives robots use either DC motors or AC motors
for actuation.
• Electric drives are relatively cheaper, cleaner and quieter
than other types of robots.
• They have better accuracy and require less floor space.
• However, electric drives are generally not as speedy and
powerfully as hydraulic robots.
• They are also expensive for larger and powerful robots, and
can become fire hazard.
• Electric drives can either be direct-drives, in which the
motors actuate the robots without a transmission linkage.
Electric Drives
• Or non-direct-drives in which the motor actuates the robots’
joint via a transmission mechanisms such as gears.
• Direct-drive design eliminates the use of transmission
linkage, hence reduced cost.
• It also eliminates the problem backlash, friction and
compliance due to transmission linkage thus makes the
robot more efficient.
• However, this drive design is limited to rotary motion only
and the dynamics of the actuators may be much more
complex.
Electric Drives
• Most of the robots today use electric drive in form of either
DC stepper motors, DC servomotors or AC servomotors for
actuation.
• Small and medium size robots are usually powered using
DC servomotors and stepper motors as the electric drives.
• Larger robots utilized ac motors as the electric drives.
• DC servomotors are mostly used because they are easy to
control.
• The advantages of AC servomotors include: Simple
circuitry; Instantaneous starting ,stopping and reverse; high
reliability; long life span and cheapness.
• However, they are nonlinear, hence difficult to control.
Transmission Mechanisms
• Non-direct-drive robots require a transmission mechanism
that would connect the motor with the corresponding joint.
• Using the transmission mechanisms:
– Power can be transmitted at distance
– Speed can be reduced and torque increased
– Character of motion can be changed from the input to the output of
the transmission system:
• Rotation to Translation
• Translation to Rotation
Transmission Mechanisms
• However, the used transmission mechanisms:
– Complicates the robots design (thus increasing cost)
– Introduces backlash (which leads to lower accuracy when
positioning some objects)
– Introduces friction (which leads to low efficiency)
– Introduces elastic deformation (leads to undesired oscillations)
• The commonly used transmission mechanisms include:
– Gears
– Toothed rack-and-pinion
– Recirculating ball nut and screw
– Tooth belts
– Chains
Gears
• For most industrial robots the actuators are coupled
to the respective robot link though a gear train.
• Mostly gear drives allow rotation-to-rotation power
transmission.
• Using gears, the torque of the drive can be increased
by increasing the gear ratio.
• Gears introduces backlash
and friction which leads to
inaccuracy and low
efficiency.
Gears
Gears
Rack-and-Pinion
• Toothed rack-and-pinion transmission allows
rotation-to-translation transformation motion and
vice vasa.
• Rotation-to-translation transformation can be
achieved using motor.
• While, translation-to-rotation transformation can be
achieved using hydraulic cylinder.
• Rack-and-pinion transmission
is precise and inexpensive.
Recirculating ball nut
and screw
• Recirculating ball nut and
screw represents a very
efficient Rotation-to-
translation transformation.
• It provides very high
precision (zero backlash
and high stiffness)
• However, it is expensive.
Toothed belts
• Toothed belt are used to transmit rotary motion at
long distance.
• Speed reduction is possible, but not common (Speed
ratio is usually 1:1)
• Toothed belt transmissions are very light, simple
and cheap.
• However, they form backlash and deformation that
cause vibrations.
Chains
• Chain drive can replace toothed belt for transmitting
rotary motion at long distance.
• It has no backlash and can be made to have stiffness
that prevents vibrations.
• However, chain transmission is heavy.
