Paper: Contactless position sensing and control of pneumatic cylinders using a hall effect sensor array.
This paper proposes an accurate position sensing method and subsequent positional control for pneumatic actuators.
An array of hall effect sensors is used to allow contactless sensing of the flux field produced by a magnet located inside most pneumatic cylinders.
The hardware functions conjointly with the proposed algorithm that fuses the sensor data and determines the piston position through predefined mathematical functions produced by data analyses and careful sensor calibration.
The hall effect sensors used have a high sensitive dependence on initial conditions, due to the fundamental non-linearity of the equations describing their response, therefore careful system identification and numerical model validation was performed.
Preliminary solenoid valve controllers are proposed, allowing for full positional control of pneumatic pistons and location stabilization.
This extends the uses of such actuators further than currently accustomed, and allows a cylinder to act as a linear actuator that exhibits compliant behaviour due to the underlying compressibility of air.
String transducer and Hall Effect sensors array mounted onto a pneumatic cylinder, for gathering data and piston control.
Hojnik, Tim, Flick, Paul, & Roberts, Jonathan (2017) Contactless position sensing and control of pneumatic cylinders using a hall effect sensor array. In Kodagoda, S, Alempijevic, A, & Vidal Calleja T, T (Eds.) Proceedings of the Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation 2017:. Australian Robotics and Automation Association, Australia, pp. 1-8.
Download the full paper here.
For more information, contact us.