Pulse Shaping of an Impulse Controller to Improve Precision of Machines with Friction

This paper investigates the effect of using force impulses of different shapes to control machines with friction to achieve more precise positioning and better low speed velocity control. It is shown that by shaping the pulses the smallest available movement of the servomechanism, can be reduced, and so it´s precision is enhanced. Several new force impulse controllers are investigated and their benefits, including improved precision and reduced machine vibration, described and experimentally verified. These benefits are achieved without mechanical modifications or any requirement for higher tolerance mechanical components, and the control scheme does not have to replace, but can be used to augment, a conventional PID controller.