Volume 1, Issue 1, 2016.

Influence of Industrial Internet of Things on Mechatronics 

Stevan STANKOVSKI, Gordana OSTOJIĆ, Xiaoshuan ZHANG

In the last decade the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has been growing in all manufacturing plants, but in the last couple of years connectivity has taken a startling leap forward. Connecting sensors to a plant-wide network enables control engineers and plant managers to monitor the entire plant on a set of SCADA/HMI screens from a central location or locally on a machine. Also, industrial connectivity has moved outside the plant. All these facts have a huge impact on mechatronics, especial on design of mechatronics devices. In this paper is presented a brief overview of the impact of IIoT in different area in Mechatronics.

 Sliding Mode Fuzzy Control for Rotary Inverted Pendulum

Vlastimir NIKOLIĆ, Nikola MILISAVLJEVIĆ, Ivan ĆIRIĆ, Ivan PAVLOVIĆ, Boban RAJKOVIĆ

A Rotary Inverted Pendulum control is a common problem due to the complexity of the task – inherent nonlinearity and external environmental disturbances. In this paper we design and use the sliding mode controller (SMC) in an attempt to optimally control an Inverted Pendulum during stabilization near the balancing state. Taking into consideration the occurrence of chattering due to implementation imperfections as one of the weaknesses of the SMC, we additionally introduce a fuzzy system to the classical SMC in order to improve control and to avoid drastic changes of the manipulated variable. The numerical simulation and experimental results are analysed in the conclusion.

Mechanical System for the Rehabilitation of Human Hand Function

Lena ZENTNER, Hans-Christoph SCHOLLE, Martin FEIERABEND, Bernd FAENGER, Nikolaus-Peter SCHUMANN

The hands are used to perform very different activities, and to carry out necessary daily needs. Due to their exposed location and frequent use, hands have a high risk of injury. Permanent damage is not limited to physical performance, but can also have psychological effects on the patient. Therefore, the fullest possible rehabilitation of the hand is desirable. Only a very limited number of therapeutically necessary movement tasks can be taken on nowadays using the current technical systems for hand rehabilitation. Motivated by these facts, a new system is conceived: each joint of the finger can be separate moved by fluid-driven. The system can measure forces, the number of movements and other data for each joint. In this paper, the conception of the mechanotherapy system will be limited to one finger.

Influence of welded Joint Structure on Fatigue Strength of the Impact Loaded Weld Fillet Joint between Radial Carrier and Rapping Device Drive Shaft

Josip SERTIĆ,  Dražan KOZAK, Damir ŠIMUNIĆ, Ivan SAMARDŽIĆ, Ivan GELO, Dino BUČEVIĆ-KERAN

Cleaning heat exchanger surfaces of the steam boiler from layers of ash ensures higher heat energy efficiency of the smoke. With harp type heat exchangers for cleaning it is possible to apply mechanical rapping devices which are used in a waste incinerator steam boiler in Riverside. That device is composed of rapping device drive shaft with welded radial carriers. The fracture of the welded joint between radial carrier and rapping device drive shaft occurred during active work of a waste incinerator steam boiler in Riverside. Welded joint between radial carrier and drive shaft was made as double fillet weld. This welded joint is loaded with impact load which causes material fatigue due to the repetitive behaviour. This paper presents results of welded joint laboratory research. Hardness measuring and metallographic testing established current states of welded joints on a rapping device drive shaft. Conducted research enabled evaluation of the results procured through mathematical model, which was established during earlier research. Procured results proved the appliance of fillet weld joint loaded with impact load to be a bad choice. It has been confirmed that earlier suggested analytical calculation model is applicable with designing of a rapping device.

Mechatronics in the Technical University Sofia – Result of the Cooperation between the Mechanical Engineering Faculties in Nis and Sofia 

Todor NESHKOV

Analyses of the career development of students in the subject of Engineering have shown that specialized education in Mechatronics is necessary to be designed. Thus Mechatronics has become one of the newest university specialities in Engineering. This is induced by the present-day demand of the industry which show a major need of engineers who have interdisciplinary skills and the abilities to come up with new ideas and products for the rapidly changing market, and they have to have very good knowledge in modern information technologies. In this way educational programs in Mechatronics have been developed in many countries around the world including in the Technical University of Sofia.

Gait rehabilitation robotics: State-of-the-art and future trends 

Danijela RISTIĆ-DURRANT

Rehabilitation robotics is a growing field of research dedicated to investigation of the application of robotics in motor therapy procedures for recovering motor control and motor capabilities in persons with impairment following such diseases as stroke, as well as to development of robotic and mechatronic technical aids for independent living for disabled and elderly people. In this paper, the focus is on lower-limb robotic rehabilitation. An overview of the state-of-the-art in gait rehabilitation robotics is given. In particular, the novel gait rehabilitation system developed within the EU FP7 project CORBYS is presented. The CORBYS system represents state-of-the-art system with respect to both mechanical Degrees of Freedom (DoF) enabling training of natural-like walking and robot control enabling integration of high-level robot cognitive capabilities. A gap between the state-of-the-art research platforms such as CORBYS and gait rehabilitation systems with commercialization capabilities which influences the future trends in research and development of the gait rehabilitation systems is also discussed in the paper.