Siemens Industrial Automation, Inc.

Comau S.p.a.

Carl H Russell, Iii

Donald K Taylor

Richard J Maczka

An auxiliary resolver position tracking (RPT) system for an industrial robot includes a resolver excitation and monitoring system which is powered by an uninterruptable power supply which includes a battery. The RPT system generates trapezoidal excitation pulses for the resolvers in the robot when no external excitation signal is applied, for example when the robot is shut down. Since there is relatively little motion to be detected in these instances, the RPT system switches between a slow position sampling rate, when no motion is detected, and a fast sampling rate when motion is detected. When operating on battery power, the RPT only switches to the fast sampling rate when motion is detected. To ensure that no motion data is lost when the system switches back to the slow sampling rate, the high sampling rate is maintained for a time sufficient to capture any residual motion of the robot. In addition, the RPT includes circuitry to detect when the external excitation signal is absent, to detect when individual invalid position samples may be taken and to distinguish between valid motion and a jitter condition in which the sensed resolver position oscillates between two quadrants.

Algorithm for optimizing data sampling in a discrete periodic system

Sampling bipolar peak detector for sensing a non-symmetrical decay of an

Open circuit detection for a pulsed resolver position sensing system

Method for optimizing sampling rates for position tracking for motion

Method for eliminating position tracking errors in the presence of

An auxiliary resolver position tracking (RPT) system for an industrial robot includes a resolver excitation and monitoring system which is powered by an uninterruptable power supply which includes a battery. The RPT system generates trapezoidal excitation pulses for the resolvers in the robot when no external excitation signal is applied, for example when the robot is shut down. Since there is relatively little motion to be detected in these instances, the RPT system switches between a slow position sampling rate, when no motion is detected, and a fast sampling rate when motion is detected. When operating on battery power, the RPT only switches to the fast sampling rate when motion is detected. To ensure that no motion data is lost when the system switches back to the slow sampling rate, the high sampling rate is maintained for a time sufficeint to capture any residual motion of the robot. In addition, the RPT includes circuitry to detect when the external excitation signal is absent, to detect when individual invalid position samples may be taken and to distinguish between valid motion and a jitter condition in which the sensed resolver position oscillates between two quadrants.

Software controllable circuit for resolver excitation switching in a

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Johnson City, TN, United States of America

Carl H Russell, Iii