Improvement of Torque Estimation for Series Viscoelastic Actuator Based on Dual Extended Kalman Filter

Adding damping such as viscoelastic element in series elastic actuators (SEA) can improve the force control bandwidth of the system and suppression of high frequency oscillations induced by the environment. Thanks to such advantages, series viscoelastic actuators (SVA) have recently gained increasin...

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Main Authors: Hui Wei, Kui Xiang, Haibo Chen, Biwei Tang, Muye Pang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-09-01
Series:Actuators
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0825/10/10/258
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author Hui Wei
Kui Xiang
Haibo Chen
Biwei Tang
Muye Pang
author_facet Hui Wei
Kui Xiang
Haibo Chen
Biwei Tang
Muye Pang
author_sort Hui Wei
collection DOAJ
description Adding damping such as viscoelastic element in series elastic actuators (SEA) can improve the force control bandwidth of the system and suppression of high frequency oscillations induced by the environment. Thanks to such advantages, series viscoelastic actuators (SVA) have recently gained increasing research interests from the community of robotic device design. Due to the inconvenience of mounting torque sensors, employing the viscoelastic elements to directly estimate the output torque is of great significance regarding the real-world applications of SVA. However, the nonlinearity and time-varying properties of viscoelastic materials would degrade the torque estimation accuracy. In such a case, it is paramount to simultaneously estimate the output torque state and viscoelastic model coefficients in order to enhance the torque estimation accuracy. To this end, this paper first completed the design of a rubber-based SVA device and used the Zenner linear viscoelastic model to model the viscoelastic element of the rubber. Subsequently, this paper proposed a dual extended Kalman filter- (DEFK) based torque estimation method to estimate the output torque and viscoelastic model coefficients simultaneously. The noisy observations of two Kalman filters were provided by motor current-based estimated torque. Moreover, the dynamic friction of harmonic drive of the designed SVA was modeled and compensated to enhance the reliability of current-based torque estimation. Finally, a number of experiments were carried out on SVA, and the experimental results confirmed the DEFK effectiveness of improving torque estimation accuracy compared to only-used rubber and only-used motor current torque estimation methods. Thus, the proposed method could be considered as an effective alternative approach of torque estimation for SVA.
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spelling doaj.art-82be441a2a214662a49a01dd621b723a2023-11-22T17:03:05ZengMDPI AGActuators2076-08252021-09-01101025810.3390/act10100258Improvement of Torque Estimation for Series Viscoelastic Actuator Based on Dual Extended Kalman FilterHui Wei0Kui Xiang1Haibo Chen2Biwei Tang3Muye Pang4School of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, ChinaSchool of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, ChinaSchool of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, ChinaSchool of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, ChinaSchool of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, ChinaAdding damping such as viscoelastic element in series elastic actuators (SEA) can improve the force control bandwidth of the system and suppression of high frequency oscillations induced by the environment. Thanks to such advantages, series viscoelastic actuators (SVA) have recently gained increasing research interests from the community of robotic device design. Due to the inconvenience of mounting torque sensors, employing the viscoelastic elements to directly estimate the output torque is of great significance regarding the real-world applications of SVA. However, the nonlinearity and time-varying properties of viscoelastic materials would degrade the torque estimation accuracy. In such a case, it is paramount to simultaneously estimate the output torque state and viscoelastic model coefficients in order to enhance the torque estimation accuracy. To this end, this paper first completed the design of a rubber-based SVA device and used the Zenner linear viscoelastic model to model the viscoelastic element of the rubber. Subsequently, this paper proposed a dual extended Kalman filter- (DEFK) based torque estimation method to estimate the output torque and viscoelastic model coefficients simultaneously. The noisy observations of two Kalman filters were provided by motor current-based estimated torque. Moreover, the dynamic friction of harmonic drive of the designed SVA was modeled and compensated to enhance the reliability of current-based torque estimation. Finally, a number of experiments were carried out on SVA, and the experimental results confirmed the DEFK effectiveness of improving torque estimation accuracy compared to only-used rubber and only-used motor current torque estimation methods. Thus, the proposed method could be considered as an effective alternative approach of torque estimation for SVA.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0825/10/10/258SVAoutput torque estimationdual extended Kalman filterrubber modelharmonic drive friction compensation
spellingShingle Hui Wei
Kui Xiang
Haibo Chen
Biwei Tang
Muye Pang
Improvement of Torque Estimation for Series Viscoelastic Actuator Based on Dual Extended Kalman Filter
Actuators
SVA
output torque estimation
dual extended Kalman filter
rubber model
harmonic drive friction compensation
title Improvement of Torque Estimation for Series Viscoelastic Actuator Based on Dual Extended Kalman Filter
title_full Improvement of Torque Estimation for Series Viscoelastic Actuator Based on Dual Extended Kalman Filter
title_fullStr Improvement of Torque Estimation for Series Viscoelastic Actuator Based on Dual Extended Kalman Filter
title_full_unstemmed Improvement of Torque Estimation for Series Viscoelastic Actuator Based on Dual Extended Kalman Filter
title_short Improvement of Torque Estimation for Series Viscoelastic Actuator Based on Dual Extended Kalman Filter
title_sort improvement of torque estimation for series viscoelastic actuator based on dual extended kalman filter
topic SVA
output torque estimation
dual extended Kalman filter
rubber model
harmonic drive friction compensation
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0825/10/10/258
work_keys_str_mv AT huiwei improvementoftorqueestimationforseriesviscoelasticactuatorbasedondualextendedkalmanfilter
AT kuixiang improvementoftorqueestimationforseriesviscoelasticactuatorbasedondualextendedkalmanfilter
AT haibochen improvementoftorqueestimationforseriesviscoelasticactuatorbasedondualextendedkalmanfilter
AT biweitang improvementoftorqueestimationforseriesviscoelasticactuatorbasedondualextendedkalmanfilter
AT muyepang improvementoftorqueestimationforseriesviscoelasticactuatorbasedondualextendedkalmanfilter