Backlash estimation for industrial flexible drive-train systems

Abstract

Backlash in gearing and other transmission components is a common positioning-degrading phenomenon that develops over time in industrial machines. High-performance machine tool controls use backlash compensation algorithms to maintain accurate positioning of the tool to cope with such deadzone phenomena. As such, estimation of the magnitude of deadzones is essential. This paper addresses the generic problem of accurately estimating the width of the deadzone in a single-axis mechanical drive train. The paper suggests a scheme to estimate backlash between motor and load, employing a sliding mode observer and a nonlinear adaptive estimator. The efficacy of the approach is illustrated via simulations.