Design support for motion control systems : a mechatronic approach

This thesis discusses the development of a design support for motion control systems, using a mechatronic design approach. The placement module of the Philips Fast Component Mounter (FCM), an industrial pick-and-place machine, is used as a running example. To fully exploit the advantages of mechatronic design, tuning a ready-for-use controller is not sufficient. Rather, an elaborate and complex trajectory for the design of a control system has to be followed to obtain a deep understanding of the design problem. By providing high-quality design support the amount of knowledge about the design problem early in the design process will increase. This is important, as at these moments there is still considerable design freedom. Consequently, better founded design decisions can be made and the development time decreases.