Software filters out servo resonance
Software filters out servo resonance
Baldor has developed a software upgrade for its low-cost brushless AC servo drives which allows machine-builders to implement configurable anti-resonance filters to combat mechanical problems such as noise and vibration which can affect production quality and shorten the lives of components such as bearings.
The new configuration tool for the MicroFlex single-axis drives allows users to set up application-specific notch or low-pass filters. Without this filtering, machine builders often have to detune their systems with soft servo-loop gains, resulting in reduced dynamic performance, longer settling times and, sometimes, steady-state errors.
The alternatives are to tolerate the vibration and noise (and their potential consequences), to add mechanical dampening, or to modify coupling components. If, as often happens, the problems only emerge during commissioning, then electrical changes that impair performance are often the only practical cure.