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MechatronicsCraneProject(MCP)

StevenChen,DariusWajda,OscarWasilik,DepartmentofMechanicalEngineering,UniversityofOttawa

DescriptionoftheProject

TheprojectconsistsofaHammerheadcrane0.60mhighwiththreedegreesoffreedomforliftingobjectsandpositioning
themaccurately.Allcranemotionsandamastersafetyswitchcanbecontrolledfromadashboard(seeFigure2forthe
dashboard).
Althoughtherearemanycranetoysets,thiscraneisunique:itincludeselectronicsensorsforsafeoperation.Sensors
includeamagneticswitchtopreventoverretractionofthehoistcableathermistorandavoltagesuppressordiodefor
powersurgeprotectionandamasterkillswitch.

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Introduction

Electronicsprovideausefulapproachtocontrollingheavyanddangerousmachinery.
Althoughourcraneisbynomeansheavyordangerousitdoesreplicatethedangersthatalifesizedcraneandcraneoperator
wouldexperience.
Inthisway,ourlittlecraneactedasadangerlaboratoryinwhichwecouldtestoutvarioussafetysensors.

ComponentsList
(1)9Vbattery
(1)Batteryclip
(3)DPDTknifeswitches
(3)9VMotors(models#43362,and47154)
(1)L.E.D.
(1)12VDCMagneticreedswitch
(lots)Lego(gears,winches,shafts,pulleys,structural)
(lots)Sewingthread
(1)Breadboard
(1)Slidingswitch
(lots)ofwiring

Figure1:Thedashboardstructureandcomponents.
CircuitDiagram

Thecircuitisallintegratedonthedashboard.Wecontrolthecraneusingthree`knifeswitches`.Eachthreepositionswitchmay
provideapositive,negative,orzerovoltagetotheLEGOmotors.Wecontrolthepolarityofthevoltageinthemotor,andsowe
alsocontrolthedirectionofthemotor.WhenusingtheNIMultisimsimulationsoftwarewerepresentedoneknifeswitchasa
`box`offourswitches.

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Figure2:Therealizedcircuit.

SafetyFeatures
Themechatronicscraneemploysfoursafetyfeatures:
Amasterkillswitch
Amagneticoverhoistsensor
Powersurgeprotection
Overcurrentprotection

MasterKillSwitch
Thisswitchcorrespondstothebigredbuttonfoundonmostheavymachineryandequipment.Usingthisswitchwillseverthe
powersourcefromeverycomponent.Thecranestopsallmotionsincaseofanemergency
(seeFigure2toviewtheswitchonthedashboard).

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MagneticOverhoistSensor

Thissensorpreventsthehoistcablefromwindinguptootight.Amagnetontheloadhookactivatesthesensorwhenthe
loadhookistoohigh.Thehoistmotorthenstops,butitcanstillreversetolowertheloadsafely.Oneofthefirst
electronicoverhoistsensorswaspatentedin1990byGeorgeCoull(http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4905849.html).
SeeFigure3forthelocationofthesensoronthecrane.SeeFig.4foracloseupofthesensorsystem.

Figure3:Mechatroniccraneandmagneticsafetysensor.

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Figure4:Magneticsafetysensorsystem.

OvercurrentProtection
OurLEGOmotorscameprefabricatedwitha1.7PTCthermistorresistor.Thethermistorincreasesitsresistancewith
increasingtemperature.Thetemperatureofthethermistorincreaseswithhighcurrents.Therefore,athighcurrents,the
thermistorhashighresistancetosubduethecurrent.Thethermistorprotectsthemotorcomponentsfromdamagebyhigh
currentlevels.Thefollowingchartusesasimplifiedlinearmodeltopredicttheincreaseinresistancewithincreasing
temperatureandtheresistanceseffectonthecurrent.

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SurgeProtection
OurLEGOmotorsalsoincludeabidirectionaltransientvoltagesuppressordiode.Essentially,thisdiodeallowscurrentpeaksto
flowthrough(tothethermistor)butclipsthewaveformofanysurgesorvoltagepeaks(seeFig.6).

Figure6:Currentandvoltageactivityforabidirectionaltransientvoltagesupressordiode(inset)
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MechanicalDesign
Allgearsetsweremadetosuittheoutputtorquesandspeedsforeachcranefunction.Forexample,torotatetheboom
tookagearreductionof200:1.Tohoistthecableonlytookagearreductionof4:1.Themotorinputspeedfortheboommotor
isaboutonethirdslowerthanthatofthehoistmotoratthesamevoltage.Thehoistmotorandtrolleymotorwerethesame
model(43362).Differentgearratioswereusedforeachmotortoperformhoistingandtrolleymotionatdifferentspeedsand
torques.

SimulationandValidation
Thecranecomponentsweretestedusingacircuitmodelingsoftware:NIMultisim.Wecouldnotfindanyknife
switchsimulationssoweusedboxesoffourswitcheswiththesameeffect.Justasexpected,whenaforwardswitchwas
selectedthemotorreadapositivevoltageof9V.Naturally,whenareverseswitchwaspulledthemotorreadanegativevoltage
of9V.Followingaretheresultsofoursimulations,validatedbyactualtests:

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Issues
Allcomponentsbehavedasexpected.Weattributethissuccesstoourstraightforwarddesignandourrigorous
testing:
CircuittestingusingMultisimsoftware.
Testingofindividualphysicalcomponentsandofeachelectronicpartindependently.
Combiningallelectronicandphysicalcomponentsonlyaftertesting.

NextSteps
Inthefuturewecouldimplementdigitalmotorcontrolforthetrolleywiththefollowingdesign:

Fiveswitchescontrolthepositionofthemotor.Acounterandpushbuttonrepresentanopticalencoderonthemotor.
Thecounternotesthetrolleylocationbasedonthenumberofspinsfromitsmotor.Thecomparatorcomparesthedifference
betweenthedesiredtrolleylocation(theuserbutton)andtheactualtrolleylocation(countervalue).Thiscircuitallowsfor
forwardandreversecontrolofthemotor.Themotorstopsatthedesiredlocation.Iftheuserchoosesnoswitches(shown),the
motorwillreversebacktotheresetposition,selectingtheRresetswitch,andthecounterresets.

Figure7:Digitaltrolleymotorcontrolcircuit.
Thedigitalmotorcontrolcircuitcanbeexplainedusingsixswitches,acounter,andacomparator.(Seebelow.)The
sixthswitchbelowdoesnotrepresentaswitchinFigure7.Insteadresetrepresentshavingnoswitchesselected.Seethe
explanatoryfigurebelowforthelogicfunctionsofhowacomparatorandcounterworktopositionthetrolley.

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ConcludingRemarks

Thecraneworksasexpected.
Thesensorsystemsprovidesafetyfeedbackcontrol.
Mechatronicssystemintegrationwasachievedthroughcombiningelectronics,control,actuatorsand
sensors,andmechanicse.

ResourcesusedandReferences

Philo(2009)Philohometowercraneproject:retrievedonOctober10,2009from
http://philohome.com/towercrane/tc.htm
Philo(2009)Lego9Vmotorscomparedcharacteristics:retrievedonOctober10,2009from
http://www.philohome.com/motors/motorcomp.htm
NorthwesternUniversity(2008)NorthwesternUniversityMechatronicProjectexamples:retrievedonOctober10,2009
from
http://lims.mech.northwestern.edu/~design/mechatronics/
NorthwesternUniversity(2009)NorthwesternUniversityMechatronicResourceWikisite:retrievedonOctober10,
2009from
http://hades.mech.northwestern.edu/index.php/Main_Page

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