Environmental Robust Position Control for Compact Solenoid Actuators by Sensorless Simultaneous Estimation of Position and Force

This paper aims to realize compact actuation systems by sensorless approach. This study adopts solenoid actuators which have advantageous characteristics from the view point in inexpensive cost, simple structure, and high-output force in spite of difficulty in low cost position and force sensing. Some sensorless position estimation techniques for solenoid actuators were reported. However, position and force simultaneous estimation has not sufficiently been achieved. In addition, any real-time feedback control has not been reported. This paper proposes sensorless feedback position control for compact solenoid actuators. The force generation and position/force estimation are conducted by using a dc supply power superposed by an ac component. This control technique has three main features: 1) separation of the power supply into ac and dc components for the position estimation, 2) simultaneous real-time estimation of position and force, and 3) robust feedback position control. Simulations and experiments were conducted for verification of the proposed control with the above three features, and the results indicated that error between the estimation and actual positions was within 0.2 mm. This proposed system offers a new avenue for compact and inexpensive application field.