Basic System Model

Mechatronics
Introduction

• Physical systems are modeled using mathematical models.

Mathemat- ical models help engineers to understand the
behavior of the system.

• Simulations (or numerical experiments) of the developed

mathematical model reveal the behavior of the dynamic
system for the given input conditions.
The word simulation is not new for us. Software like ANSYS,
what actually do is simulation only.

• Think of starting of a motor, the motor will not get desired

speed immediately.

• Filling of a water tank-water will not be filled immediately.

• Mathematical models are equations which describe the

relationship be- tween the input and output of a system.
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• Mathematical models of time varying systems yield in the
form of dif- ferential equations.

• First physical systems are transformed to simplified

engineering sys- tems with reasonable assumptions.

• Mathematical models are developed for the engineering

systems.

• System can be made by using building blocks. Each building

block can be assumed to have single property or function.

• By combing building blocks in different ways a variety of

systems can be built up

• A system built-up in this way is called lumped parameter

system.
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Mechanical system building blocks

• The models which represent mechanical systems have

springs, dampers and masses as basic building blocks.

• Springs: They represent stiffness of a system

• Dampers: They represents the forces opposing the motion

• Masses: They represent the inertia or resistance to

acceleration

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Sprin
g
• The stiffness of a spring is defined by the relationship between
the force
F that can extend or compress.

• A spring and the resulting extension or compression x .

• For a linear spring F = kx , k is here a constant or stiffness

• Higher value of k implies greater force have to be applied to

stretch or compress the spring for given displacement.

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Damp
er
• This building block represents the types of forces felt when
one tries to push an object through fluid or move against
frictional forces.
• Faster the object is pushed greater is the resisting force.
• The damper which is used to represent damping forces
consist of a piston moving in a closed cylinder.
• The characteristic equation of damper: F dt
= c dx , where c is
constant.
damping
• When the piston is moved the fluid on other side tries to flow
through or past the friction. This flow produces the resistive
force.

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Mas
s
• This building block shows the property that bigger is the
mass, greater will be the force required to give a specific
acceleration.

• The relationship between force and acceleration comes from

Newton’s second law F = ma, where m is the constant of
proportionality.

• The governing equation for the mass:

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Energy/Power
• Energy is required to stretch a spring, accelerate a mass and
move the piston inside a damper.
• In case of spring and mass energy is stored whereas in case of
damper it is dissipated.
• The spring when stretched stores energy. This energy is
released when spring come back to its original length.
• Energy stored in a spring for an extension x in it is given by E
=
kx 2 =
1 2 1F
2 2 k
• Energy is stored in the mass when it is moving with a
velocity v. ThisThe
stops moving. energy is called
kinetic energykinetic
of the energy.This energy
mass is given by is
2 E
released when the mass
• =
1
Energymv 2is dissipated in a damper. It does not returns to
original position when input force is removed. The power
dissipated depends on velocity and is given by P = Fv = cv 2
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Rotational system

• In case of rotational systems the three basic building blocks

are torsional
spring, a rotary damper and the moment of inertia.
• In these building blocks input are torques and outputs are
• angle rotated
For a torsional spring, the angle rotated θ is proportional to
the torque
τ i.e., τ = kθ, where k is the torsional stiffness.
• For dθ the
τ isaproportional
rotary damper a disc
to the is rotated
angular in a
velocity ω.fluid
τ =and
dt
resistive
cω = c torque
• The moment of inertia building block shows the property
that greater the moment of inertia I, more the torque
2
required
quired to produce
angular the re- (α) i.e., τ = Idω
acceleration α =
dθ
dt
I =
dt2
I

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Rotational system

• In case of rotary system torsional spring and rotating mass

stores energy whereas rotary damper dissipates energy.

• The energy stored by a torsional spring when it is twisted by

2
anisangle
θ given by E =12 kθ2 12τk
=
• The energy stored by a mass of moment of inertia I, when
rotating
with an angular velocity ω is given by2 E = 1 Iω2 . This is
energy for rotary motion.
called kinetic

• The power dissipated by a rotary damper when it is rotating

with an angular velocity ω given by, P = τ ω = cω2.

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Building mechanical systems

• The net force applied is net force applied

= ma F − kx − dx
• Hence, d2
c = dt
dt
x 2
m d 2x d
• Finally, F = m 2 + kx + dt
dt x
c

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2
• The equation finally written as, F d=x2 m +
1 (k +
dt
k )x 2

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Rotational–translational systems
• There are many mechanisms which involve the conversion of
rotational motion to translational motion or vice versa. For
example, there are rack- and-pinion, shafts with lead screws,
pulley and cable systems, etc.
• Consider the case of rack-and-pinion. The rotational motion of
the pinion is transformed into translational motion of the
rack.

• The net torque on the pinion Tin − Tout is equal to the product
of inertia and angular acceleration.
d
T in − T =
ω
dt
I out and ω is angular
where I is moment of inertia
velocity.
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• The rotation of the pinion will result in a translational
velocity v of the rack. If the pinion has a radius r , then v =
rω.
• The torque equation is rewritten as, I dv
Tin − Tout = r
.
• Now consider the rack element. There dt will be a force of T/r
acting on it due to the movement of the pinion. If there is a
frictional force of cv then the net force is
dv
T out
− cv = m
r dt
• By combining the above two equations and eliminating the
Tout , we finally get,
dv (T − rcv )
dt = 1 + 2 in
rmr
The result is a first-order differential equation describing how
the out- put is related to
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the input.
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Electrical system building blocks
• The basic building blocks of electrical systems are inductors,
capaci- tors and resistors.

• Inductor:The potential difference v across inductor at any

instanton
pends de-
the rate of current dt
( di ) through it, ν = L di , where L
inductance.
is The direction ofdtthe potential difference is in the
opposite direction to the potential difference used to drive
the current through the inductor, hence the term ν refers
back e.m.f.

• The equation of inductor actually written as

1
i=L ∫ νdt

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• Capacitor:The potential difference ν across capacitor
depends
charge the capacitor plates at the instant concerned,
q on the q
C ,
ν = where C is capacitance.

• Since the current i to or from the capacitor is the rate at

which charge
moves to or from the capacitor plates,dti = dq , then the total
given
chargebyis q =
∫ idt. The governing equation of capacitor can be
finally
written
as, 1
ν ∫ idt
C
=

• Resistor: The potential difference ν across a resistor at any

instant depends on the current i through it.
ν = Ri

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Electrical system building block
summary

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Building up a model for an electrical system
• Kirchhoff’s laws can give the governing equations for the
electrical circuits with building blocks.
• Current law: The total current flowing towards a junction is
equal to the total current flowing from that junction, i.e. the
algebraic sum of the currents at the junction is zero.

• Voltage law: In a closed circuit or loop, the algebraic sum of

the potential differences across each part of the circuit is
equal to the applied e.m.f.

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Exampl
es
• Consider a simple electrical system consisting of a resistor
and capacitor in series.

• Applying Kirchhoff’s second law to the circuit loop gives ν =

ν R + ν C , where ν R is the potential difference across the
resistor and ν C that across the capacitor.
• Current
dνC
through all circuit elements is same. Also, ν R = iR
C
anddt i = νC is considered as output the relation between the
. If
input
applied voltage and output voltage is
written as,
ν = RC
dν + νC
dtC
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RLC in
series
• Resistor–inductor–capacitor system, popularly known as
RLC circuit.

• From Kirchhoff’s second law, ν = ν R +ν L +ν C , where ν L is

the potential difference across the inductor. By Kirchhoff’s
all
firstcircuit elements
law current is same and ν R = iR anddtν L = L di .ν =
through
iR +L
• By di
+ν C
substituting i = dν
CC , the final equation wedtget
dt
as,
ν = LC d 2 ν C + R dν C+ ν
C
dt dt

• In this model equation input is applied voltage and the

output is voltage across capacitor.
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RLC in
parallel
• Consider a RLC parallel
circuit.

• From Kirchhoff’s first law at node A, i1 = i2

• dνA
+Thei3.current values are,
1 i ν −Rν , i2 = L ∫ νA dt, and =
A
dt
= 1 i 3 in current ν − ν AC= ∫ νA
• Upon, substitution of these values R L
dνA
equation, 1 dt+
C dt
• .By rearranging the equation terms and putting ν A
= νC , d C R
ν = RC + C + ∫ νC
νdt
ν dt
L
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Electrical and mechanical analogies

• The building blocks for electrical and mechanical systems

have many similarities

• The mechanical analogue of the resistor is the dash-pot. Both

doesn’t store energy rather dissipate it.
• The equation for resistor element i = ν/R and the for the
dash-pot is F = cv . The force is analogous to current and
velocity to potential difference.

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Contin
ue
• Force-current:The current as being analogous to the force,
then the potential difference is analogous to the velocity and
the dash-pot constant c to the reciprocal of the resistance
(1/R).
• These analogies between current and force, potential
difference and ve- locity hold for other building blocks with
spring analogous to inductance and mass to capacitance.
• tween
Force-voltage:However, another
potential difference and set of analogies can be drawn
be-
force. d x
• The equations F = m + c + Kx of mechanical system and
dt
dx
2
ν d2=q dt
dt +R dt +Cq of the electrical system give a analogy of two
L dq
• Here, force is analogous to voltage, current to velocity and dis-
systems.
placement to charge.

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Electro- mechanical systems
• The electro-mechanical devices, such as potentiometers,
motors and generators,transform electrical signals to
rotational motion or vice versa.

• Potentiometer has an input of a rotation and an output of a

potential difference.

• The rotary potentiometer is a potential divider andν0 θ

V θmax
thus V is the potential difference across the full length of
where
= poten- tiometer track and θmax is the total angle swept
the
out by the slider in being rotated from one end of the track
to the other. The output is vo for the input θ.
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DC motor
• The d.c. motor is used to convert an electrical input signal
into a mechanical output signal. The motor basically
consists of a coil, the armature coil, which is free to rotate.
• The torque produced by the DC motor is equal to T = k1ia,
where k1
dc motor torque constant for a constant magnetic flux density.
• The back e.m.f. produced in the motor ν b = k3ω,where k3 is a
con- stant.

• For an armature controlled motor, i f νa is the voltage applied

to the armature circuit then, since there is a back e.m.f. of
νb , dia
ν a − ν b = La +
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dt
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• Substituting for ν b , we
get, dia
ν a − k 3 ω = La +
dt
Raia

• The net torque acting on the load will be T − damping

it will
torque, an d
cause acceleration
ωdt

, d
I = k1 i −
ω
dt
cω a

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Block diagram
representation

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Thermal system building blocks
• There are only two basic building blocks for thermal systems:
resis- tance and capacitance.

• There is a net flow of heat between two points if there is a

tempera- ture difference between them. The electrical
equivalent of this is that there is only a net current i
between two points if there is a potential difference v
between them.

• The relationship between the current and potential difference

being
i = ν/R, where, R is the electrical resistance between the
points.

• A
thesimilar relationship can be used to define thermal resistance
R.
n T1 − T2
q= R
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Thermal resistance
• The value of the resistance depends on the mode of heat
transfer. In the case of conduction through a solid, for
unidirectional conduction

T1 − T2
q = Ak
L
where A is the cross-sectional area of the material through
which the heat is being conducted and L the length of
material between the points at which the temperatures are
• Hence, with this mode of heat transfer L
T1 and T2 ; k is the thermal conductivity.
R=
• When
Ak
the mode of heat transfer is convection, as with liquids
and gases, then
q = Ah(T1 − T2)
where A is the surface area across which there is the
temperature difference and h is the coefficient of heat
• transfer.
Thus, with this mode of heat transfer, Ah 1

=
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Thermal capacitance
• Thermal capacitance is a measure of the store of internal
energy in a system.
• If the rate of flow of heat into a system is q1 and the rate of
flow out is q2 ,then,
rate of change of internal energy = q1 − q2
• An increase in internal energy means an increase in
temperature. There- fore,
rate of change of internal energy = mc× change in
• Thus, q1 −q = mcdT
temperature dt , where
dT
is the rate of change in
• temperature.
The above equation
2 dt is
rewritten as dT
q1− q = C
2 dt
, where C is the thermal capacitance and
C=mc

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Building a Thermal system
• Consider a thermometer at temperature T which has just
been inserted into a liquid at temperature T L .

• If the thermal resistance to heat flow from the liquid to the

thermometer
is R, then q = T RL − T , where q is the net rate of heat flow from
to thermometer.
liquid
• Since there is only a net flow of heat from the liquid to the
thermometer,
q1 = q and q2 = 0. We can write

dT
q = C dt
, where C is the thermal
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• Substituting this value of q in the earlier
equation gives

dT TL − T
C =
dt R

• Rearranging this equation dT

gives
RC dt + T = T L

• This equation, a first-order differential equation, describes

how the temperature indicated by the thermometer T will
vary with time when the thermometer is inserted into a hot
liquid.
• In the above thermal system the parameters have been
considered to be lumped . This means the temperatures are only
functions
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of time and notBasic
position within a body.December 9,
System Model 35 /
Fluid system building blocks

• In fluid flow systems there are three basic building blocks

which can be considered to be the equivalent of electrical
resistance, capacitance and inductance.
• Fluid systems are of two categorized to:Hydraulic and
pneumatic, where the fluid is a liquid and is deemed to be
incomprehensible; While in pneumatic devices gas which can
be compressed and consequently shows a density change.
• Hydraulic resistance is the resistance to flow which occurs as a
result of a liquid flowing through valves or changes in a
pipe diameter.
• The relationship between the volume rate of flow of liquid q
through the resistance element and the resulting pressure
difference (p1 − p2) is.
p1 − p2 = Rq
, where R is a constant called the hydraulic resistance. The
bigger the resistance, the
Mechatronic bigger
Basic System Modelthe pressure difference
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• This equation, like that for the electrical resistance and
Ohm’s law, assumes a linear relationship.

• Such hydraulic linear resistances occur with orderly flow

through capil- lary tubes and porous plugs but non-linear
resistances occur with flow through sharp-edged orifices or if
flow is turbulent.

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Hydraulic capacitance
• Hydraulic capacitance is the term used to describe energy
storage with a liquid where it is stored in the form of
potential energy.
• A height of liquid in a container, i.e. a so-called pressure
head, is one form of such a storage. For such a capacitance,
the rate of change of volume V in the container ie, dV /dt, is
equal to the difference between the volumetric rate at which
liquid enters the container q1 and
dV the rate at which it leaves
q2 , q1 − q = =
dh
dt dt
A2
, where A is the cross-sectional area of the container and h
the height of liquid in it.

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• But the pressure difference between the input and output is
p, where p = ρgh with ρ being the liquid density and g the
acceleration due to gravity. Thus, if the liquid is assumed to
be incompressible, i.e. its density does not change with
pressure, d (p/ρg )
q1 − q2 = A =
A dp dt
A
• The hydraulic capacitance C can be defined to be
ρ C =
ρg dt g .
dp
Therefore, q1− q = C
2
dt
• Integral from equation
for ∫
1
(q1− q )dt
C
p= 2
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Hydraulic inertance
• Hydraulic inertance is the equivalent of inductance in
electrical sys- tems or a spring in mechanical systems. To
accelerate a fluid and so increase its velocity, a force is
required.
• Consider a block of liquid of mass m. The net force acting on
the liquid is
F1 − F2 = (p1 − p2)A
, where p1 − p2 is the pressure difference and A is the area of
the cross section.
• The net force causes the mass of block to accelerate with an
accelera- tion a, and dV
(p1so
− p2)A = ma = m

dt

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• The mass of the liquid m can be written as ALρ, where ρ is
the liquid density and L is the length of the liquid block.
dV
(p1− p )A = ALρ
2
dt
• The volume rate of flow q = AV ,
therefore
dq
(p1 − p2)A =
Lρ
dt
• The above equation is
rewritten as
dq
(p1− p ) = I
2 dt
,where I is the hydraulic inertia and is defined as I Lρ
= A
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Hydraulic model
example-1
• Consider the simple hydraulic system where liquid entering
and leaving a container shown below. Develop the system
model.

• Such a system can be considered to consist of a capacitor,

the liquid in the container, with a resistor, the
valve.Inertance can be neglected since flow rates change
only very slowly.
• For the capacitor the equation can be written as
dp
(q1− q ) = C
2
dt
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• The rate at which liquid leaves the container q2 equals the
rate at which it leaves the valve. Thus for the resistor

(p1 − p2) = Rq2

• The pressure difference (p1 − p2) is the pressure due to height

ρg
in
of container,
liquid i.e. (p1 − p2) = ρgh. Therefore, hR
q2 =
• The capacitance equation is written as,
ρ gh
q1 − =
dρ
R gh dt
C
• Finally, the given system equation is A
ρ
(sinceC = g )

dh ρgh
q1 = A +
dt
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Hydraulic model
example-2
• Develop the system model for the two connected tanks
shown. Describe how the heights of the liquids in the two
containers will change with time.

• Container 1 is a capacitor and

thus
dp
q1 − q2 = C1 dt
A1
where p = gh and C
1 =ρ , so we
ρ get g
dh1
q1− q =2 A
1 dt
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• The rate at which liquid leaves the container q2 equals the
rate at which it leaves the valve R1. Thus for the resistor

(p1 − p2) = R1q2

• The pressure difference (p1 − p2) is the pressure due to

difference in heights of liquid in two containers, i.e. p1 − p2 =
(h1 − h2)gρ. Thus,

(h1 − h2)gρ = R1q2

• By substituting the value q h ) ρg

(h1− 1
q1− 2 2 = 1
R1 dh A dt

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• For the container-2, the capacitor
equation dp
q2− q =
3 C
2
where p = gh and C A1
=ρ , so we dt
1
ρ get g
dh2
q2− q =
3 A
dt
, 2
• The rate at which liquid leaves the container q3 equals the
rate
whichatit leaves the valve R2. Thus for the
resistor
(p2 − 0) = R2q3
ρ gh2
Hence, q2− = 2
dh
R2 2
(h1-h2) ρg dt A dh
R1 dt
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