Method for assessing the current and additional load on the parallel kinematic structure mechanisms electric drive system

Introduction. The problem of the load on an electric drive system in a parallel kinematic structure is considered. The task of developing a fault-tolerant system that provides performing a given process in case of a failure of one or more drives is described. The work objective is to create a method for estimating the current and additional load on each drive of the mechanism of a parallel kinematic structure. The solution enables to correct the operating mode when performing a given process without compromising serviceable drives.Materials and Methods. Previously, a diagnostic method was developed. It is based on the calculation and analysis of the coefficients of straight lines that approximate the envelopes of the values of the wavelet transform coefficients of electric motor current signals, taking into account the characteristic scales. This makes it possible to determine the current technical condition of the electric motor and find malfunctions. The logical continuation of this approach is the proposed method for assessing the current and additional load. It provides finding the current load on the drive based on the coefficients of the lines approximating the envelopes of the wavelet coefficients of the current signal. To calculate the additional load, the number and location of faulty drives are taken into account.Results. For each scale of the wavelet coefficients, the relative coefficients and the current load on each drive are determined. The possibility of redistributing the load to two adjacent jacks was checked; the behavior of the system in this case was investigated. The load moved by the faulty jack is redistributed to two adjacent jacks in equal shares - 14.76 % each. The total load on the drives is 44.28 %, which is safe for the servo. The load on the drive of the fourth jack does not change (29.52 %). The drives have a sufficient safety margin. It is established that all three operating modes are acceptable for the studied servo drive, and they do not cause dynamic overloads and premature failure.Discussion and Conclusions. The experimental studies on the method of assessing the current and additional load have shown its adequacy and high efficiency. It was found that when the drives were disconnected from one of the racks of the mechanism, the system performed a load redistribution on the drives. Thus, it was possible to avoid their dynamic overloads and premature failure. This means that the solution is able to ensure the reliable functioning of the complex at the time of renovation work.