Development of Test Methodology for Electromechanical Linear Actuators

Abstract: This master thesis aims to develop a test methodology for electromechanical linear actuators. A linear actuator acts as a linear motor, converting a power source to linear motion. The electromechanical linear actuator in this project has an electric motor as its power source and uses a rack and pinion system to transfer that power to linear motion.  The test methodology is to impose a force onto the rack of the actuator, to ensure that operation under a load scenario is within specification. To accomplish this, the design of a test rig implementation is analyzed. The test rig consists of the test unit, which is to be tested, the load unit, which is to provide the load force, and a control system for the load unit. The load unit is another linear actuator and is controlled via a load cell. The load cell gives out the load force being applied, and the controller gives out the corresponding appropriate motor command to the load unit to ensure the load force is as desired. This analysis is done through simulation of the setup. Viable options for the setup were first analyzed in order to implement the deemed promising options for a setup into a simulation environment. The simulation environment in this project was Simscape, an extension of MATLAB’s Simulink. In simulation the parameters for the test rig were rigorously analyzed, in order to determine acceptable thresholds. The primary load unit tested was another electromechanical linear actuator from Cascade Drives, the model A-100-8P. Two secondary setups, one using the same model as being tested, and another setup using two of the models being tested. Simulation found that the suggested options’ applied load force have a poor rise time, large overshoot and substantial oscillation errors. The primary source for this was determined to be the latency between load cell input, and motor command output in the controller. The poor metrics from the result could lead to problems when emergency braking, and with a long honing period, which would render most test data unusable.