Mechatronics matter

… A design approach that continues to gain momentum is mechatronics. Although a bit of a buzzword, the philosophy behind it is quite sound: the aim is to bring the mechanical and electronic control worlds closer together. It means basic mechanical designs address electronic configuration and integration issues during the early stages of the design process. The aim is to reduce the chance of encountering integration problems further down the line. “The critical thing is that it forces communication and dialogue between mechanical and electronic elements, so neither is done in isolation,” says Mark Daniels, field business leader at Rockwell Automation. “Before it would be ‘this is what it is mechanically, now figure out what motors it needs, how to size them up and what actuators go on there’. It is getting the design process to be a bit smarter.” Rockwell is advocating its free piece of software to help machine builders that aren’t using the approach to get to grips and gain the benefit. And even those who think they have it ‘sussed’, it is a useful tool that is likely to come in handy. The Motion Analyser works in conjunction with mechanical designs produced in Solidworks. Designs are exported to the analyser software, which will recognise the mechanical design aspects embedded within the Solidworks file. “It allows machine designers a quick and easy way to take in some rudimentary facts and figures about an application, such as size of motors,” says Daniels. “This is something that can be seen as a ‘black art’, usually done by guys with vast experience. “The Motion Analyser tries to take out some of the guesswork and, by inputting the mechanical attributes of your system, you will get a far better first pass at knowing what you need electronically in terms of motors and control components. So there is no reinputting of data and no scope for errors.” The software also provides performance and simulation analysis that helps engineers investigate machine behaviour more effectively. And this can influence mechanical design further, highlighting areas for optimisation. The result, Rockwell says, is a design philosophy that meets the key desires of machine builders for greater innovation, more optimised performance, faster time to market and reduced business risk. And the approach reduces development costs, yet often leads to expanded functionality and a more robust, balanced product. “It is an obvious thing to do, especially given the economic situation,” says Daniels. “When you’re doing machine design, you probably have some sequential elements – in feed and out feed and a difficult mechanical task in the middle. We can handle that whole thing. This is taking a whole approach to what you are trying to do.” Economic Effect One thing that Rockwell is seeing is the growing purchase of complete engineering systems, such linear actuators and linear stages. Although these tend to be more expensive, this route saves engineering time and frees up engineering resource. “Whereas, before, we might have just put standard rotary motors on top of an existing mechanical design,” says Daniels, “using linear motors and actuators, we can put a far simpler system in place. “A number of companies have come round to this way of thinking as it provides a complete solution that works from the start and saves engineering time. Buying a pre-designed stage is something being picked up by some specialist machine builders as they end up better off and need less engineering resource to get things done.”