International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 40 (2000) 10511064

High precision linear slide. Part II: control and measurements

Samir Mekid *, Olivier Olejniczak
` gne, Division Systemes Me ` gne Cedex, France de Technologie de Compie caniques, 60206 Compie Universite Received 29 June 1999; accepted 12 November 1999

Abstract Design and construction of a linear slide have been discussed in Mekid [S. Mekid, High precision linear slide. Part I: design and construction, Int. J. Mach. Tools & Manufact. 40 (2000) 10391050]. Very high precision in nanometric scale depends on mechanical design and servo control with a very precise and adequate metrology. However, servo technology is employed as a method for going beyond mechanical accuracy limits. For that purpose the linear slide is controlled using two methods: ProportionalIntegral Derivative (PID) controller and Internal Model Controller (IMC) that would compensate automatically for unmodeled mechanical behaviors such as prerolling phenomena. The paper focuses on the design of a numerical controller able to handle imprecision in the model of behavior of mechanical and electromechanical components of the bench. The metrology frame including laser interferometer and optic linear encoder was used for the measurements. 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Linear axis control; Brushless motor with permanent magnets; High precision motion; Numerical controllers; Internal Model Control

1. Introduction For decades, the accuracy was limited by the performance of the mechanical design but recently servo-technology was employed as a method for going beyond mechanical accuracy limits. By setting up the linear slide project, the purpose was to get specialized knowledge and experience in the eld of very high precision machine design, small stroke and heavy carriage [1]. A previous concern was for large stroke (3 m) and heavy carriages (220 kg) [2,3].
* Corresponding author. P.O. Box 9167, 31982 Hofuf, Saudi Arabia. Fax: +966-3-5940-514. E-mail address: smekid@kfu.edu.sa (S. Mekid).

0890-6955/00/$ - see front matter 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 8 9 0 - 6 9 5 5 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 1 1 0 - 8

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Modeling and experimental validation carried out in order to conceive a single axis translation system, tting into the following specications: Mass of the slide table=100 kg, Stroke=220 mm, Positioning accuracy=16 nm, Maximal translation speed=10 mm/s, Global geometrical accuracy 1 m.

Some mechanical phenomena that inuence the accuracy are still quite difcult to model precisely such as prerolling friction: for which several attempts were made [3,18,19]. Some of them are unknown, such as electrical non-linearities. The Internal Model Control (IMC) controller will compensate automatically and dynamically for the effect of unmodeled mechanical behaviors (prerolling resistance, electric non-linearities and magnetism) on the quality of the straight motion. It is used to decrease the dependence of the PID controller over the accuracy of this model. This technique has been found superior because it deals with operating conditions. The paper introduces some aspects relative to the development of a speed and position numerical-controller for the linear slide. The rst part describes the electrical and electronic structure of the linear slide bench to give an understanding of the validity of some approximation made in order to develop a single variable and linear model of behavior suitable for the setting up of PID controller. Because of the complexity equations involved, while studying the functioning of a test bench at nano scale, it was decided to develop a PID controller using a conventional structure dynamically compensated by a more global approach: the IMC. The last part of this paper, which is based on the analysis of experimental results, discusses improvements and limitations of the structure proposed for the controller.

2. Control design Fig. 1 shows a global view of the physical structure of the control of the linear slide bench. The following paragraph presents the structure of the numerical-feedback control system including an inner-speed control-loop with a PID corrector and an outside position control loop with a Proportional (P) corrector. A model of behavior is developed to control the brushless motor and then introduce the concept of Internal Model Control (IMC), which was used to decrease the dependence of the PID controller over the accuracy of this model. Brushless servomotors are now a standard in the industry because of their very low cost and their need for minimal maintenance [4]. With permanent magnets on the rotor, they appear now as an interesting option to replace step motors in applications where a high quality of positioning is required. Moreover, their electromechanical dynamic performance and reliability are far superior to that of AC motors and are simpler to control than asynchronous motors when current is chosen to command the statoric torque. The use of linear operational ampliers as power converters to feed the statoric coils in the motor offers a very dynamic and linear response.

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Fig. 1. Structure of the linear bench control structure.

2.1. Mathematical model The equations involved in the control of current driven brushless electrical motor with permanent magnets on the rotor are linear, and consequently easy to program in the numerical calculators [5]. Eq. (1) describes the relation between the angular acceleration of the rotor and the torque developed by the motor [6]: J. where d2q dt2 J Cem(t) Cr(t) acceleration of the rotor (m/s2) inertia of the mechanical system (kg/m2) electromotive torque of the motor (Nm), resistive torque (loading torque, friction...) (Nm) d2q Cem(t)Cr(t) dt2 (1)

and Eq. (2) gives the value of the electromotive torque Cem(t) as a function of the statoric current: Cem(t)Km.i(t).siny(t) where Km i(t) y(t) constant given by the constructor characterizing the motor (Nm/A) amplitude of the statoric current (A) angular difference between the statoric and the rotoric magnetic elds angle (rad) (2)

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To simplify the control of the linear slide, the resistive torque Cr(t) can be considered as a nearly static external disturbance, whose inuence will be compensated for by the integral term of the corrector. In addition, we assume Cr(t)=0 in Eq. (1). The impact of this approximation will be lowered by the great deal of attention paid to the design of the bench and pertaining to the avoidance of all sources of static friction. With this hypothesis, Eqs. (1) and (2) will be combined leading to Eq. (3) which summarizes the behavior of a current-driven brushless motor: J. d2q Km.i(t).siny(t) dt2 (3)

In order to optimize the functioning of the motor, from the power consumption point of view, p the angular difference between the statoric and the rotoric magnetic elds y(t) can be set to . 2 In view of the position of the rotoric eld the optimizing is easily achieved by feeding each statoric coil individually in order to form an homogeneous magnetic eld. In this particular application, a rotary incremental encoder with a 12-bit resolution gives the position of the rotor. p If y= , the sinus term of Eq. (3) disappears. Eq. (4), which describes the behavior of a current 2 driven brushless AC motor (with permanent magnets on the rotor) becomes a second order, linear and mono-variable equation suitable for the setting up of a PID controller [9]. J. d2q Km.i(t) dt2 (4)

2.2. Proportional integral derivative (PID) controller The structure of the numerical control system is presented in Fig. 2 including an inner feedback speed control with a PID corrector and an outside position control loop with a P corrector [8]. The Process Model block gures the implementation of the control law deduced from Eq. (4). It determines the value of the current, which commands the motor.

Fig. 2. Structure of the linear slide control system.

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The block called Mechanical Load describes the process, namely the totality of mechanical and electromechanical phenomena. This represents the real behavior of the linear slide. Eq. (1) assumes that the load constituted by the mechanical system is mostly inertial [7]. When studying the output of the linear slide, while working in nearly static conditions, or at extremely low speeds [3,11], it appears that various and complex phenomena such as electromagnetic reluctance in the motor, eccentricity of the motorization roller, recirculation noise in the rotors bearings, surface roughness of the motorization bar, ground vibrations transmitted to the slide table through the granite base, oil pressure pulsation in the hydrostatic bearings...etc, affect considerably the behavior of the bench. These mechanical behavior effects were ignored in the implementation of the controller because the complexity of the equations involved is incompatible with the power of most real-time calculators. This led to the implementation of an Internal Model Control. The speed calculus-block includes the real-time, rst-order derivation algorithm used to evaluate the translation speed of the slide table from the information furnished by the linear incremental encoder. The numerical controller was developed on a 12 MHz 32 bits 68020 microprocessor system with a VME bus, working under PDOS, a multitasking operating system and programmed in C language. Statoric currents sources are commanded by two analogical outputs over the range 6 A with a 16 bit resolution. In accordance with the dynamic of the system, the digital/analogical converters frequency was set to Fe=330 Hz [7]. 2.3. Internal model control (IMC) To compensate dynamically for the effect of unmodeled mechanical behaviors on the quality of the straight motion, an Internal Model Control scheme (whose global approach of the notion of precision of the model avoids focusing on any specic phenomena or mechanical behavior effects) was added on top of the PID controller [10,12,13]. Basically, it consists of introducing into the control a variable characterizing the difference between the output of the process and modeling [14,15]. Its value is then converted into an image of the extra torque required to compensate unmodeled loads and is added to the motors command calculated by the PID controller. This control scheme is presented in Fig. 3 where block M represents the model of the Process

Fig. 3. Principle of the IMC applied to the PID speed control loop.

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and M1 its reverse. M1 exists and is stable because the model of behavior of the bench (Eq. (4)) was kept single variable and linear and all zeros were eliminated from it through various approximation as detailed in [16]. Moreover, the calculus of the modeling error is achieved at the acceleration level of the control in order to avoid the presence of integral terms in the model M. It means that the modeling error is considered as the difference between the slide tables translation acceleration predicted by the model and the one measured. The real acceleration is obtained by a double-numerical derivation of the information provided by the linear incremental encoder. A low-pass numerical lter was used to reduce the amount of high frequency noise introduced by the derivations and focus the action of the IMC loop on very low frequency disturbances. Indeed, if the modeling error calculated at the sample time n contains a lot of numerical noise, when used to modify the value of the motors command at the time n+1, it would act as a powerful noise generator which goes against the initial purpose of the IMC. The order of the lter was limited to reduce the dephasing. The very low cut-off frequency of the lter does not affect the natural frequency of the control as the IMC loop acts independently of the PID control which determines the dynamic of the servo system (Figs. 4 and 5). 3. Experiments The following paragraph presents experimental results obtained with the PID controller included, and IMC loop for speed and position control of the linear slide. 3.1. Dynamic of response The dynamic of the system is mostly set by the systems mechanical components (magnetic saturation in the motor, sliding between the motorization bar and roller) and by the tuning of the correctors. The natural frequency of the PID speed control loop was estimated at around 110 Hz and only 30 Hz for the position-feedback loop which means that the dynamic of the linear slides translation control will be very low. This has been conrmed by experimentation. Indeed, a time response of 1 s is measured in Fig. 6 which shows the position output in response to a 25 nm command. It also appears that the IMC contributes to slowing down the system. However, the IMC loop acts independently of the PID control. When the bench is nearly static, the accuracy on the

Fig. 4. Graphical representation of the separate action of the IMC loop and PID servo control.

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Fig. 5.

Compensation of prerolling friction by IMC.

Fig. 6. Position output of the controller including the IMC to a 25 nm command.

measure of the modeling error is poor due to the noise induced by the double-numerical derivation required to calculate the acceleration of the slide table. Therefore, during the dynamic phase of the positioning, the IMC compensation of the motors command may act against the action calculated by the PID control which consequently slows down the response of the system. The same behavior has been predicted in [12].

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The time response reaches 15 s for a displacement of the slide table over the totality of the stroke as shown in Fig. 7. In this case, the dynamic of the system is set by the shape of the command, which was calculated in order to avoid the magnetic saturation of the motor. 3.2. Dynamic error Important dynamic errors were measured both on the speed and position output of the system. A dynamic error of nearly 25% is shown in Fig. 8(a), which presents the response of the controller to a 0.001 m/s command. In Fig. 6, which presents the position output of the system to a 25 nm command, the slide table overtakes its optimal position by two resolutions of the linear incremental encoder. The high amplitude of the dynamic error is partly due to the presence of a static load not included in the model and which must be compensated for by the integral term of the speed corrector, introducing a delay in the system. This load results from mechanical behaviors such as the crushing of the motorization bar under the pre-load exerted on the roller [3]. The delay introduced by the IMC also disturbs the positioning of the slide table and therefore is seen by the PID control as an external disturbance, which contributes to the overstepping [12]. As an illustration of the phenomena, the stabilization time to a command of amplitude 0.001 m/s is 40% compared to only 25% with the IMC control (Fig. 8) measured on the speed output of the PID servo control alone. Nevertheless, the dynamic error can be restrained to t the resolution of the linear incremental encoder by using a dynamic command as displayed in Fig. 9 instead of a step command. The gain on the precision of the output is counterbalanced by a loss in the dynamic as the response time measured in Fig. 9 is about 3 s while it is only 1 s in Fig. 6. On the other hand, for a position command of 0.5 m, the IMC controller shows a signicant improvement. The settling time and the rise time are improved by a factor of 1/4 (Fig. 10) com-

Fig. 7. Position output of the controller including the IMC to a 0.22m command.

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Fig. 8. Speed output of the controller including: (a) IMC (b) PID to a 0.001 m/s command.

Fig. 9.

Position output of the controller including the IMC to a 25 nm dynamic command steps.

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Fig. 10.

(a) PID controller (b) IMC controller.

pared to the PID controller which lose time when trying to compensate for the mechanical behaviors by using several control cycles. 3.3. Static error and accuracy The static error measured in the speed output to a command of amplitude 0.001 m/s shown in Fig. 8 is about 0.003% of the optimum speed value and the accuracy about 10%. The rst measure results from the quality of the mechanical design of the bench, which eliminated any clearance or hysteresis effect. The relatively low accuracy of the output reects the presence of noise sources which are inherent to the mechanic of the bench (geometrical errors, inuence of rugosity) but also to the design of the servo controller (derivation noise) and which induce errors in the calculus of the translation speed. Environmental factors (ground vibrations, magnetic disturbances) also disturb the motion of the slide table. Nevertheless, IMC proves here its validity as it improves the accuracy of the speed-response by 20% compared to the one measured with only the PID controller [Fig. 8(b)]. The static error in positioning is greatly inferior to the resolution of the linear-incremental encoder as it was measured equal to 0.004% of the optimum value of the position on the response of the IMC controller to a command of amplitude 25 nm (Fig. 6). The accuracy is more or less two resolutions of the linear incremental encoder, as the slide table occasionally moves one resolution away from its optimum position, under the action of disturbance loads external to the system [3]. 3.4. Compensation of unmodeled prerolling friction As an example of an unmodeled mechanical behavior: prerolling friction that constitutes the major problem for our case has been taken into account by IMC as follows. The rolling friction

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value depends on the preload between the roller and the rod. Consequently, it reduces the response stability of the carriage. In fact, the PID term should rstly, compensate for the prerolling friction and then start to move the carriage as a next step. So, it appears from Fig. 5 that PID control needs around 0.8 s to compensate for the resistant torque. However the IMC controller takes into account the resistant torque almost immediately. This behavior shows that IMC could take into account phenomena that are not included in the model because their mathematical formulations are sometimes quite difcult to establish.

4. Measurements on precision movement 4.1. Metrology frame and measuring system An axiom 2/20 laser interferometer from ZYGO has been used to measure straightness, pitch and yaw angle. Since refractive index is inuenced by environment parameter, a correction is applied; the initial value of the refractive index can be calculated from the values obtained, using Edlens general formula [3]. A standard paroscientic pressure transducer with a digital interface board has been used with 1.2 bar measure range and 108 as precision. Output pressure is fully compensated for internal temperature effects over the calibrated temperature range. An environment temperature transducer is used with 1% precision and 103C resolution within an intelligent device. The two transducers with the axiom 2/20 laser interferometer were connected via RS-232 serial ports. 4.2. Movement precision The friction drive was centered with the carriage to provide high linearity. Fig. 11 shows the straightness of controlled motion of the system at very low speed (1 mm/s).

Fig. 11.

Straightness of the slide table.

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Fig. 12.

Reverse step motion.

4.3. Angle measurements As for the pitch angle, the measurements have been done by the laser interferometer with the angle device. It was observed that a variation of pitch angle of 2.5 arcsec and roll angle of 3.5 arcsec knowing that the noise announced by ZYGO Company is 0.06 arcsec. 4.4. Positioning precision The step response determines the smallest step size that can be achieved with the drive system without major disturbances. The minimum acceptable step response will be between two resolutions (e.g. 1632 nm). Fig. 12 shows the response of the stage position which precisely followed the reference. No backlash was observed. To analyze the feed characteristic of a reversing motion, the table performs a square path with a 25 nm step and 2 s period. Fig. 13 shows a continuous step positioning of the linear slide. A 50 nm step is negatively and positively repeated ve times and a 300 nm displacement is obtained overall.

Fig. 13. Continuous step response.

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5. Conclusion A single axis stage mechanism with a heavy carriage, driven by a brushless motor, is dedicated to small stroke. The accuracy is improved by using the internal model control (IMC) as compared to PID controller. The analysis of the results shows the ability of IMC control to deal with unmodelled mechanical behaviors such as prerolling friction even if the mathematical formulation is not known. The use of IMC improves the robustness of the PID servo systems speed output. When positioning around the resolution of the linear incremental encoder, the imprecision on the error of modeling limits the advantages that can be gained from it. With regard to the future improvement of IMC functioning, it seems appropriate to reduce the amount of noise included in the evaluation of the error of modeling. To that effect several options are available: 1. use of higher resolution speed or acceleration captors to compensate easily the unmodelled mechanical disturbances. 2. use of laser interferometer which permits a resolution of 1.25 nm (i.e. ZYGO) in linear position but the technology presents some difculties in mastering temperature, pressure together with hygronomy. 3. use of interpolation card for high linear incremental encoder resolution (HEIDENHAIN offers a 4 nm resolution instead of 16 nm) The scheme of the model could also be completed in order to compensate for phenomena appearing at nanoscale. By developing a new controller based on a state space control which is better in controlling non-linear multi-variable control laws [12,17]. The estimation of the error of modeling could be used, not to modify directly the command, as in IMC, but to elaborate dynamically a model of this difference as in some predictive control schemes. This approach would reduce considerably the dependence of the performances of the servo control on the quality of the measurement of modeling error.

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1064 S. Mekid, O. Olejniczak / International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture 40 (2000) 10511064 [9] D.K. Anand, Introduction to control system, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1984. [10] O. Olejniczak, M. Bonis, D. Lahmar, Control of permanent magnets brushless electrical motor: performances of an internal model control algorithm, Proceedings of the 7th international precision engineering seminar, Kobe, Japan, May 1993. rique de haute pre cision dun axe line aire par un moteur synchrone a ` aimants [11] O. Olejniczak, Asservissement nume de Technologie de Compie ` gne, 1994. permanents. Ph.D. thesis, Universite gulation par calculateur nume riques, Eyrolles, 1987. [12] C. Foulard, S. Gentil, J.P. Sandraz, Commande re ` s basse vitesse dun moteur autosynchrone, Confe rence [13] D. Lahmar, L. Loron, M. Bonis, Asservissement en tre al, juin 1992. canadienne sur lAutomatisation Industrielle, Montre ` le interne: pre sentation et applications, Congre ` s International S.E.E. [14] A. Rault, D. Jaume, Commande par mode e, Nice, mai 1984. Automatique Applique [15] C. Canudas, K.J. Astrom, K. Braun, Adaptive friction compensation in DC motor drives, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 3 (1987) 681685. [16] Y. Okazaki, T. Bispink, M. Weck, Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Ultraprecision in Manufacturing Engineering, Aachen, Germany, May 1994. [17] P. Borne, G. Dauphin-Tanguy, J.P. Richard, F. Rotella, I. Zambettakis, Commande et optimisation des processus, TECHNIP (1990). [18] S. Hiroshi, K. Tadayoshi, Journal of Japan Society for Lubrication Engineering 29 (1984) 1. [19] K. Tadayoshi, K. Osamu, Analysis of damped vibration of a system with rolling friction, Japanese Journal of Technology 35 (1990) 6.