ADRIAN BAZAJ

ID: 003719771

PATTERN CUTTING MACHINE

COMPUTER PROJECT
ECE 4330
 Table of Contents

Topics Page

Introduction / Problem Statement ___________________________________________________

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Original X and Y Channel & Error Plots______________________________________________

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Transfer Functions / Final Parameters ________________________________________________

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Bill of Material / Modified Block Diagram____________________________________________

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Modified X and Y Channel Plots____________________________________________________

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Modified Error Plot_______________________________________________________________
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Description of Plots_______________________________________________________________
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Trial and Error Approach 1_________________________________________________________

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Trial and Error Approach 2_________________________________________________________

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Using no Saturation Limits_________________________________________________________

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Resolving the Problem / Conclusion__________________________________________________

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Introduction

I will be spending this summer working at my uncle’s tool and die company. My uncle
has been very successful with three locations around the country. He likes to bid on very
lucrative contract for making patterns for Boeing. He has one of the few x-y pattern-cutting
machines in the country, but the machine is few generations old and doesn’t meet the
requirements to satisfy the Boeing contract. . He has asked me to take a look at the machine and
try to find the right specifications to fix the machine so that it can work at a faster pace and that
will lead in meeting the requirements for the contract with Boeing. If I get this job done he will
not end up investing in a new machine that will cost him $600K.

Moving the machine in the y-direction, the laser head moves on a track along a six-meter long
beam. The laser head moves along the y-motor, which is on the beam, and directly turns a shaft
with a spiral cut into it. To reduce friction there are ball bearing that ride in the spiral grooves in
the head. As the shaft rotates CW and CCW laser head moves back and forth along the beam. To
move the laser head in the x-direction, the motor must move the entire beam and head assembly.
The motor is mounted on a table structure that drives a second spiral shaft that passes through
one end of the beam and operates in the same way. This entire machine works when the
specification input is put into the computer and then the machine cuts that way.

The x-y machine shall be able to respond to step input of both x and y channels of five meters
and a track with a matched accuracy plus or minus 3% or less of the scale, which is about plus or
minus 0.15 meters. In addition, the cutting head must reach its final steady-state position at the
five-meter location in both the x and y direction in less that or equal to 0.40 seconds. All this
should be able to respond simultaneously. There also is a deadline that needs to be met of three
weeks and stay within the budget of four to five thousand dollars.

This is the original MatLab block diagram (with original parameters)

As we going along this project the block diagram is gong to look the same, only the parameters
will change along each trial.

The graph of X & Y channels with original parameters.

Studding the above graph, we can conclude that both X and Y are moving in different times, and
saturation is not taking place at 0.4. Therefore some more work is needed in order to get this job
done.
This graph represents the error plot of original parameters.

From the error graph of the previous page, we can see that our error is much larger than the one
that was assigned. The error is close to 2.6 meters instead of 0.15 meters.

Associating the part (a) of special problem #7 with this project I get these transfer functions
(shown on table below) from their corresponding differential equations. Doing this will help us
to get the right specifications.

Differential Equations Transfer Functions

 eerror = ecom – efb 1
eps = K eerror G=K
em = eps - eg 1
di m 1
em = Lm dt + Rm im G = Ls + R
tag = KT im G = KT
dw m 1
tag = Jt + Bt ω m G=
dt Js + B
ev = Kvω m G = Kv
t
1
θ m = ∫w m (t ) dt G=
s
0+

xposition = Ksht.leadθ m G = Ksht.lead

efb = Kpos.sensor xposition G = Kpos.sensor

The table below shows the final selection for all parameters for both the x and y channels.

Transfer Function X Channel Y Channel

Gain (K) 500 480
Total Friction (BL) 0.05 0.01
Spiral Lead (Ks) 0.05 0.05
Voltage Constant (Kv) 0.445 0.33
Resistance (R) 1.0 1.0
Torque Constant (KT) 0.445 0.33
Total Inertia (JL) 0.001 0.0001
Voltage Limit ± 160 ± 100
Current Limit ± 60 ± 50
Inductance (L) 0.001 0.001

The parameters that considered necessary change were the gain (K), a new power supply was
needed for the y-channel to adjust the current limit and voltage limit saturation. A need to
rewound the motor’s voltage constant (KV), and motor’s torque constant (KT). I capped the same
values for the torque constant and the voltage constant when the motors were rewound. The
same changes were necessary and for channel X.

The below table summarizes the bill of materials that I made the selected changes and the total
project cost.
Quantity Equipment Model Price Price for Time to Total Price
 per
Item delivery Deliver
Power #160V /
1 Supply 60A $2,800 $200 1 days $3,000
1 KT 0.445 $400 $0 5 days $400
1 KV 0.445 $400 $0 $400
1 KT 0.33 $400 $0 $400
1 KV 0.33 $400 $0 $400
Total 6 days $4,600

The reason that my uncle hired me was, so he could save many and time. The goal was not to
spend more than $ 5k, and 3 weeks on time. I ordered one new power supply which will be
shipped in a day, and some custom made Motors which will be shipped in 5 days. In worst case I
will need only 6 days for shipping. I calculated the cost and I maintained the budget.

This is the block diagram build using Matlab with the correct parameters.

This is Error Graph (Y-X) using the correct paremeters.

As shown on the above graph, we have respected the boundaries of the project, which were
between –0.15 and 0.15.
This is X and Y Graph shown with the correct parameters.

The above graph shows us that both channels X and Y have been saturated at 0.4. They meet
each other at 5 volts in 0.4 seconds.
To get started I had to change the differential equations to transfer function, so I could use them
in the calculation of my block diagram. Trial after trial and understanding the problem, I came up
with the specifications that were needed.
Applying these parameters into the cutting machine, I achieve to reduce the error that was assign
for this project. The error in meters is proximally 0.08 meters, which is close to the half of the
goal of 0.15 meters that was assigned. The saturation of both X and Y happened before 0.4
seconds. Meeting these requirements will lead my uncle to close the contract with Boeing.
I got these parameters, so my uncle could be able to bid for the contract that he hopped to sign.
The parts that I ordered arrived in a very short time and were affordable for my budget.

Approaches that lead us to the right path

When I first started this project I realized that the motors needed to be adjusted to get the right
results. I changed both KT and KV for the two motors X and Y.

Y Channel X Channel
KV 0.42 0.42
KT 0.42 0.42

This is the worst case of the project; here is the stage when I first started, using the above gain
values.

This is the graph of the X and Y for the worst case trial.
This is the result of one of my first trials. Decreasing the gain will shift the graphs to the left and
make both channels overlap before 0.4 sec. This graph shows that next I have to do some
changes with saturation limits.

This is the graph of the error (Y-X) of the worst trial.

As the above graphs shows, the error here is very large. To decrease the error I had to reduce the
gain in Y channel.
Getting closer to the motor values that I needed, I adjusted the saturation of the x-channel. X-
channel needs more power than y-channel because it also helps on moving y-channel. I
decreased the Y gain also because that will lead shifting the graph to the left of the timing line. .
The table below shows what the values are of the saturation and Gain that I used for this trial.

X Channel Y Channel
Voltage Saturation ±160 ± 100
Current Saturation ± 60 ± 50
Gain 500 480

This is Error graph while working to get the right results.

Checking the above graph we can see that the error bounds are outside the boundaries of the
project, but it gets better than the previous trial.

This is the X and Y graph while working to get the right results.
The x-axis has not been saturated yet, but it is getting really close to the real value of it.

Using no saturation limits

This is the block diagram with out using saturation.

This is the graph of error without using saturation.

Using no saturation will lead us in a big gap of error. As we observer, the error here is larger
then our boundaries. The error it gets closer to 0.6 meters.

This is the graph of the X and Y without saturation.

This is the graph of the trial with out using the saturation. As we see the graph starts at 3 instead
of 0. This makes the motors to work closely together but not exactly what we are looking for.
Resolving the problem

X Channel Y Channel
-2.3301, -0.9415,
Characteristic Roots 1.1645 ± j2.0351 0.4708 ± j0.8169
e-2.3301,
1.1645
Characteristic Modes e cos 2.0351 e-0.9415, e0.4708cos0.8169
Characteristic
Equation c e-2.3301+c1 e1.1645cos (2.0351t + θ ) c e-0.9415 +c1 e0.4708cos (0.8169t + θ )

Table above shows the characteristics modes, values and equations. All the above are based on
the new parameters.

Conclusion

After I finished my job, I went and presented it to my uncle. At first he did not take my job
seriously. He sad: “Boeing’s not going to care two cents about your fancy computer studies.
They want to see hardware working and so do I. Throw the switch and let’s see if this machine
works.” I started the machine with the right parameters, my uncle observed that saturation started
before 0.4 second and the error percentage was much lower then 0.15 that was needed from
Boeing’s standards. When I was leaving the garage my uncle yelled: : “Oh my gosh, you gotta
job when you graduate kid, $80K starting, company car, 10% share in the business, and I’ll
throw in $10K to help you through your senior year.”