Introduction

The Quanser Linear Servo Base Unit with Inverted Pendulum [1] is an inverted pendulum that is balanced
using the linear motion of the servo base unit. The balanced pendulum uses 2 sensors to determine the
position of the linear servo base unit and the angle of the of the inverted pendulum. It then uses a dc
motor to move the linear servo base unit such that the angle of the pendulum is held constant at the
desired value.

Mechanical Assemblies
As seen in Figure 1, the system consists of 4 mechanical
sub-assemblies. The first assembly in the rack and pinion
assembly upon which the entire mechatronic devices
rests on. The second assembly is the DC motor driven
linear base which attaches to the rack and pinion via a
gear and a guide rod which provides support. The torque
from the DC motor creates translation via the rack and
pinion assembly allowing the linear driven base to move.
This motions provides the force required to keep the
pendulum balanced. The DC motor also contains a
quadrature encoder. The third assembly is the mounting
Figure 1: Linearly Actuated Inverted Pendulum
for the pivot of the pendulum which contains another
quadrature encoder. This pivot contains some damping
due to friction. The fourth and final assembly is the pendulum itself which has some mass and moment of
inertia. These subsystems can be coupled together using a summation of forces and summation of angular
momentum to create a system model based on the position of the linear base and the angle the pendulum
makes with the ground.

Actuators
The system uses one actuator which might be a brushed
coreless DC motor provided by Micromo [2] whose supplier is
Faulhaber [3]. The coreless DC motor [4,5] has no internal core
and only windings making it lighter. This allows it to accelerate
with less power and change direction more easily. This is
especially crucial for the inverted pendulum setup because
steep accelerations across small distances is required to keep Figure 2: DC Motor Model
the pendulum balanced. The electro mechanical coupling
existing in the DC motor can be modelled as shown in Figure 2. This model [6], using a summation of
angular momentum about the rotating portion of the DC motor and Kirchhoff’s voltage loop law, allows
the angular velocity of the model to be determined as a function of voltage. The signal used to control
this motor is pulse width modulation where the duty cycle determines the electrical power being
delivered to the motor. This pulse width signal is generated in the
microcontroller and sent to the motor.

Sensors
The system uses two quadrature encoders that gives
counts/revolution. The first quadrature encoder is on the
brushed coreless DC motor and the second quadrature encoder
is on the pivot between pendulum and the linear servo base. This Figure 3: Quadrature Encoder
quadrature encoder counts 4096 counts/revolution. The concept
behind a quadrature encoder is shown in Figure 3 [7]. The encoder has 2 channels that are 90 degrees out
of phase. This way, the trailing edge determines the direction. If B pluses before A, the rotation is in one
direction. If A pluses before B, the rotation is in the other direction. When A and B both pulse together,
the indicator ups the counter indicating some angular rotation has occurred. The sum of simultaneous
pluses from A and B are equal to 4096 on the encoders used in this system.

Computation
There are numerous choices for the computation of the signals and controls algorithms for this device. A
National Instruments CompactRIO [8] can be used coupled with a Quanser DAC add-on for the
CompactrRIO[1] which collects and sends signals between the CompactRIO and system. The CompactRIO
provides a Field Programmable Gate Array (FGPA) for fast and efficient generation of the pulse width
modulation for motor control as well as a real-time environment for the implementation of signal
acquisition from the system and performing control algorithm computation using acquired signals.

Control Algorithms
A relatively easy to
implement control
algorithm to control
the position of the
linear servo base and
balancing the
pendulum is a
cascading PID [9]
Figure 4: Cascading Controller Architecture. controller which
allows control of the
position of the liner servo base via an inner control loop and the control of the pendulum angle via an
outer control loop. The block diagram of the feedback control setup is shown below in Figure 4. This
requires the dynamics of the inner loop to be significantly faster than the dynamics of the outer loop [9].

Mechatronics Breakdown and Improvements to System

Force on Inverted Angular Position of Position/Accleration of Linear Servo

Pendulum Inverted Pendulum Linear Servo Base Base Motor

Linear Servo Base Position Sensor

CompactRIO CompactRIO
Microcontroller Interface
Inverted Pendulum Angular Sensor

Figure 5: Mechatronics Breakdown of Quanser Inverted Pendulum

Figure 5 shows the mechatronics breakdown of the Quanser inverted Pendulum system. This
system is very susceptible to chatter from the sensors where noise in the signals being received by the
microcontroller adversely affects the output position of the linear base servo. As such, high quality sensors
must be used which reduce chatter. Also, setting a higher sampling rate on the data acquisition can lead
to better control signals being sent to the liner servo base.
References
[1] Homepage, Quanser Inc. [Online]. Available: http://www.quanser.com

[2] Coreless DC Motors. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2017, from http://www.micromo.com/dc-motors

[3] FAULHABER. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2017, from

https://fmcc.faulhaber.com/technology/PGR_13801_13601/PGR_13813_13801/en/DE/

[4] Sato, M. (1976). U.S. Patent No. 3,993,920. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

[5] Furuta, K. (1978). U.S. Patent No. 4,093,882. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

[6] DC Motor Speed: System Modeling. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2017, from
http://ctms.engin.umich.edu/CTMS/index.php?example=MotorSpeed§ion=SystemModeling

[7] Quadrature Encoder Fundamentals. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2017, from
http://www.ni.com/white-paper/4763/en/

[8] CRIO-9037 Controller With 1.33 GHz Dual-Core CPU, 160T FPGA, and Wi-Fi. (n.d.). Retrieved January
29, 2017, from http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/213601

[9] Fundamentals of cascade control. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2017, from
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/fundamentals-of-cascade-
control/bcedad6518aec409f583ba6bc9b72854.html