Control performance of an air motor-can air motors replace electric motors?

Abstract

Pneumatic actuators are among a variety of actuators under active study by the robotics community, for the advantages they offer over conventional electric actuators widely used in present-day robots. So far, however, only pneumatic cylinders which provide linear actuation have been mainly studied in literature. Air motors are the pneumatic counterparts of electric motors, providing rotary actuation. They have several advantages over electric motors, especially high power-to-weight and power-to-size ratios, good compliance, and resistance to environmental hazards. We consider the model-based control of vane-type air motors which are the most commonly used class of air motors. Various control problems are considered namely, position control, trajectory control, adaptive control, and force control. Results of experimental implementation on an industrial vane-type air motor illustrate the effectiveness of the air motor as a high-performance rotary actuator.