In order to eliminate the influence of the joint torsional vibration on the system operation accuracy, the parameter identification and the elastic torsional vibration control of a flexible-joint robot are studied. Firstly, the flexible-joint robot system is equivalent to a rotor dynamic system, in which the mass block and the torsion spring are used to simulate the system inertia link and elasticity link, for establishing the system dynamic model, and the experimental prototype is constructed. Then, based on the mechanism method, the global electromechanical-coupling dynamic model of the flexible-joint robot system is constructed to clear and define the mapping relationship between the driving voltage of the DC motor and the rotational speed of joint I and joint II. Furthermore, in view of the contradiction between the system response speed and the system overshoot in the vibration suppression effect of the conventional PID controller, a fuzzy PID controller, whose parameters are determined by the different requirements in the vibration control process, is designed to adjust the driving voltage of the DC motor for attenuating the system torsional vibration. Finally, simulation and control experiments are carried out and the results show that the designed fuzzy PID controller can effectively suppress the elastic torsional vibration of the flexible-joint robot system with synchronization optimization of control accuracy and dynamic quality.

The piezoelectric actuators are used to investigate the active vibration control of flexible manipulators in this paper. Based on the assumed mode method, piezoelectric coupling model, and Hamilton’s principle, the dynamic equation of the single flexible manipulator (SFM) with surface bonded actuators is established. Then, a singular perturbation model consisted of a slow subsystem and a fast subsystem is formulated and used for designing the composite controller. The slow subsystem controller is designed by fuzzy sliding mode control method, and the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) optimal control method is used to design fast subsystem controller. Furthermore, the changing trends of natural frequencies along with the changes in the position of piezoelectric actuators are obtained through the ANSYS Workbench software, by which the optimal placement of actuators is determined. Finally, numerical simulations and experiments are presented. The results demonstrate that the method of optimal placement is feasible based on the maximal natural frequency, and the composite controller presented in this paper can not only realize the trajectory tracking of the SFM and has a good result on the vibration suppression.

The optimal placement and active vibration control for piezoelectric smart single flexible manipulator are investigated in this study. Based on the assumed mode method and Hamilton’s principle, the dynamic equation of the piezoelectric smart single flexible manipulator is established. Then, the singular perturbation method is adopted and the coupled dynamic equation is decomposed into slow (rigid) and fast (flexible) subsystems. After that, the couple optimal placement criterion of piezoelectric actuators is proposed on the base of modal H₂ norm of the fast subsystem and the change rate of natural frequencies. Using an improved particle swarm optimization algorithm, the optimal placement of piezoelectric actuators is realized. Subsequently, in order to verify the validity and feasibility of the presented optimal placement criterion, the composite controller is designed for the active vibration control of the piezoelectric smart single flexible manipulator. Finally, numerical simulations and experiments are presented. The results demonstrate that the piezoelectric smart single flexible manipulator system has a better single modal controllability and observability and has a good result on the vibration suppression using the optimization results of actuators. The proposed optimal placement criterion and method are feasible and effective.

Motor-driven flexible manipulator systems (MDFMSs) are widely used in industry robot fields. During the dynamic modeling, the separate investigation method which neglects the dynamic behavior of the driving motor will cause an error in the dynamic analysis of the flexible manipulator, especially with high-speed operations. This paper proposes a coupled dynamic model of the MDFMS in which the driving motor and flexible manipulator are considered as an integrated system, which can clearly reflect the influence of the dynamic effect of the driving motor. Based on the proposed dynamic model, the vibration responses of the flexible manipulator under different velocities, accelerations and structure parameters, as well as the effect mechanism of the driving motor on the vibration responses, are investigated. The results obtained in this paper contribute to the structure design, motion optimization and dynamic analysis of flexible manipulators.

Aiming to the torsional vibration destabilization phenomenon of the wheel-side transmission system direct-driven by the high-power motor, the system torsional vibration bifurcation characteristics and control strategy are analyzed. Through defining the system electromechanical coupling relationship between the electrical link and the mechanical link, the dynamic model of the wheel-side direct-driven transmission system is constructed. Then, based on the Routh–Hurwitz stability criterion, the system Hopf bifurcation characteristics caused by the change of the wheel-ground friction during driving are revealed. Furthermore, with the nonlinear feedback controller and the Washout filter combined, the system torsional vibration stabilization controller is constructed by introducing the system torsional vibration signals into the motor control voltage. The results show that the linear part of the torsional vibration stabilization controller can effectively change the system stability region, as well as the cubic nonlinear part of the torsional vibration stabilization controller can control the stability of the system bifurcation points and suppress the limit cycle amplitude. The research results can provide theoretical basis and technical support for the performance improvement and integrated application of the wheel-side direct-driven transmission system in the electric bus.