DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING SPEED OF SERVO MOTOR

Abstract: The speed controller includes a compensatior (2) having variable gain. A controller (5) varies the integral gain of the compensator (2) so that it varies in reverse proportion to an estimated speed of the servo motor calculated based on speed signals that are discretely fed back. In particular, a high-speed positioning is realized based upon real speed signals during the low-speed operation.

Description: This invention relates to a servomotor velocity control apparatus forming a digital servo system the gain of which is capable of being varied. In an ordinary digital servo system, the torque command of a servomotor is set based on an error signal between a commanded velocity and an actual velocity, and a pulse coder generally is used as velocity detecting means for detecting the actual velocity. To accurately control the velocity and position of the servomotor based on the error signal, a PI compensating circuit is usually required for performing a proportional operation and an integrating operation. In order to minimize the influence of frictional resistance in the servo system which includes such a compensating circuit, consideration has been given to altering the proportional gain and integration gain of the compensating circuit in dependence upon the velocity of the servomotor. With this conventional servo system, it becomes necessary to suitably alter the integration gain when it is attempted to maintain positional accuracy by removing the influence of external disturbances. However, when the motor is operating at a low velocity, stablized operation of the feedback system is lost. The reason for this is that the actual velocity signal from the velocity detecting means such as the pulse coder is fed back in discrete fashion; hence, velocity detection resolution declines at low rotational speeds. More specifically, when the resolution of detected velocity declines, an offset due to static frictional resistance develops in the servo system when it is operating at very low velocity. Consequently, even if an attempt is made to raise positioning accuracy by changing the integration gain based on the actual velocity signal fed back from the pulse coder, the gain cannot be altered by making a proper evaluation of the amount of offset. An irregularity develops in the rotational velocity of the servomotor as a result. The present invention has been devised in view of the foregoing problem and its object is to provide a servomotor velocity control apparatus in which high-speed positioning is made possible, based on an actual velocity signal fed back in discrete fashion, by means of a velocity feedback loop provided with a PI compensating circuit in which the integration gain of a digital servo system can be varied. The present invention makes use of an observer for computing estimated servomotor velocity, and in fact EP-A-208788 discloses the use of such an observer and indeed a servomotor velocity control apparatus in accordance with the precharacterising part of the attached claim 1. According to the present invention there is provided a servomotor velocity control apparatus for controlling the velocity of a servomotor by a velocity command signal, the apparatus comprising: velocity detecting means operable to output a pulsed actual velocity signal the frequency of which is proportional to the detected actual servomotor velocity; arithmetic means for computing the error between actual servomotor velocity and the velocity command signal (which may be a discrete velocity command signal); compensating means, which has a control gain including an integration gain, for forming a torque command for the servomotor based on the error computed by the arithmetic means; and observer means for computing an estimated velocity on the basis of the pulsed actual velocity signal and the torque command; characterised by: control means for setting and controlling said integration gain of the compensation means to be inversely proportional to said estimated velocity computed by the observer means, when said estimated velocity is below a predetermined value. In accordance with the servomotor velocity control apparatus of the present invention, the estimated velocity of the servomotor is computed from a velocity signal fed back in a discrete manner, and an integration gain is obtained that is inversely proportional to the estimated velocity. As a result, the resolution of the velocity signal at low velocity is effectively improved, thereby making it possible to vary the integration gain of the digital servo system and achieve high-speed positioning from the actual velocity signal fed back discretely by the velocity feedback loop provided with the PI compensating circuit. Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a timing diagram for describing the operation of the embodiment. An embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a velocity control apparatus embodying the present invention. The velocity control apparatus includes a compensating circuit 2, which has a predetermined control gain, supplied with a velocity command Vcmd via an adder circuit 1. The compensating circuit 2 converts the velocity command Vcmd into a torque command T for a servomotor 3. The latter is driven and controlled by the torque command T in accordance with the commanded velocity Vcmd. An estimated velocity W and, which is obtained by estimating the actual velocity of the servomotor 3, is fed back to the adder circuit 1, which computes an error between this feedback and the velocity command Vcmd. The error is outputted to the compensating circuit 2 as a velocity error. The compensating circuit 2 is for setting the power of the servomotor 3, such as a predetermined driving current, based on the velocity error. The control gain G of the compensating circuit is set as follows: G = Kp + Ki/s where Kp and Ki represent proportional gain and integration gain, respectively. The characterizing feature of the velocity control apparatus of the invention resides in the fact that the integration gain Ki is variable, as will be set forth below, in dependence upon the estimated velocity W and. Specifically, the velocity control apparatus is such that an actual velocity signal W from the servomotor 3 is inputted as a pulse signal, the frequency of which is proportional to velocity, formed discretely by velocity detecting means such as a pulse coder. Since the servomotor 3 ordinarily rotates at a high velocity, the velocity detection range of the velocity detecting means is set to be large. As a consequence, velocity resolution at low velocity declines in relative terms. Accordingly, in a case where the actual velocity signal W from the servomotor 3 is obtained from a pulse coder or the like, an observer 4 is provided for computing the estimated velocity W and from the actual velocity W and the torque command T, and the integration gain Ki of the compensating circuit 2 is set so as to be inversely proportional to the estimated velocity W and. Numeral 5 denotes a gain setting unit adapted to set the integration gain Ki to zero when the estimated velocity W and is above a certain value, and to increase the integration gain Ki so as to be inversely proportional to the estimated velocity W and when the velocity of the servomotor 3 decreases to cause a certain amount of decline in the velocity resolution of the pulse coder. In the above-described arrangement, the velocity signal fed back to the adder circuit 1 also is the estimated velocity W and from the observer 4. However, the estimated velocity W and need not necessarily be used in the error computation. The reason is that it will suffice to adopt an arrangement in which the actual velocity signal W from the servomotor 3 is fed back to the adder circuit 1. When positioning is performed at low speed by performing PI control in accordance with the velocity command Vcmd in the servomotor velocity control apparatus thus constructed, the estimated velocity W and of the servomotor 3 is computed from the discretely fed back actual velocity signal W, and the integration gain of the compensating circuit 2 can be changed so as to be inversely proportional to the estimated velocity. Fig. 2 illustrates the relationship between motor velocity [(a) in Fig. 2] and the variable integration gain Ki. Fig. 2(b) shows the manner in which velocity resolution declines when the actual velocity signal W from the velocity detecting means such as a pulse coder is indicative of a low velocity. Fig. 2(c) illustrates the velocity W and of the servomotor 3 estimated by the observer 4. By estimating velocity in a continuous manner, the integration gain Ki of the compensating circuit 2 can be varied in inverse proportion to the estimated velocity W and via the gain setting unit 5 when the velocity resolution of the pulse coder deteriorates to a certain degree [(d) in Fig. 2]. Specifically, in [(d) of Fig. 2], the broken line indicates the oscillation of Ki caused when the integration gain Ki is varied in PI control in correspondence with the actual velocity signal W when the latter is indicative of a low velocity. By contrast, with the above-described embodiment, the integration gain Ki altered in accordance with the estimated velocity W and from the observer 4, as indicated by the solid line, in effect improves the resolution of the velocity signal fed back at low velocity. With regard to variably setting the integration gain Ki by the gain setting unit 5, it is preferred that the gain be altered continuously with respect to the estimated velocity W and. However, this can be performed in discrete fashion within practical limits. The servomotor velocity control apparatus of the present invention computes the estimated velocity of a servomotor from a velocity signal fed back in discrete fashion, and alters integration gain so as to be inversely proportional to the estimated velocity, thereby in effect raising the resolution of the velocity signal at the time of low velocity. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the arithmetic means 1, the compensating means 2, and the control means 5 are arranged as a computer system which processes digital signals.

Claims: A servomotor velocity control apparatus for controlling the velocity of a servomotor (3) by a velocity command signal (Vcmd), the apparatus comprising: velocity detecting means operable to output a pulsed actual velocity signal (W) the frequency of which is proportional to the detected actual servomotor velocity; arithmetic means (1) for computing the error between actual servomotor velocity and the velocity command signal (Vcmd); compensating means (2), which has a control gain including an integration gain (Ki), for forming a torque command (T) for the servomotor (3) based on the error computed by the arithmetic means (1); and observer means (4) for computing an estimated velocity (W and) on the basis of the pulsed actual velocity signal (W) and the torque command (T); characterised by: control means (5) for setting and controlling said integration gain (Ki) of the compensation means (2) to be inversely proportional to said estimated velocity (W and) computed by the observer means (4), when said estimated velocity (W) is below a predetermined value. A servomotor velocity control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said compensating means (2) is constituted by a proportional integrating circuit in which the integration gain (Ki) becomes zero when the estimated velocity (W) is greater than said predetermined value. A servomotor velocity control apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the integration gain (Ki) of said compensating means (2) is set and controlled continuously by said control means (5). A servomotor velocity control apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein said arithmetic means (1), said compensating means (2) and said control means (5) are arranged as a computer system which processes digital signals.

Inventors: KUWANO, HIRONOBU, SAKAMOTO, KEIJI
Applicants: FANUC LTD.
Application year: 1988
Main classification: H02P5
IPC codes: H02P29, H02P23