Ain Shams University Faculty of Engineering Mechatronics Department

Motor Sizing of Single Axis Linear Motor using SOLIDWORKS and LabVIEW

Walkthrough Guide Supplementary material for Motion

Control Course

v1.0 – 6/11/2014

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SOLIDWORKS PREPARATION ........................................................................................................................................................ 1

1.1 LOADING MOTION ADD-IN .................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 CARRIAGE AND BALL SCREW MODEL ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 CONFIGURING MOTION PROPERTIES ....................................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 CONFIGURING LINEAR MOTOR ............................................................................................................................................... 3

LABVIEW UI AND COMMUNICATION.......................................................................................................................................... 4

2.1 CREATING LABVIEW PROJECT WITH LOADED ASSEMBLY.......................................................................................................... 4 2.2 LINKING SOLIDWORKS LINEAR MOTOR TO LABVIEW AXIS ................................................................................................... 5 2.3 CORE VIS IN SOFTMOTION MODULE ...................................................................................................................................... 7

LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 LOADING MOTION ADD-IN ...................................................................................................................................................... 1 FIGURE 2 SOLIDWORKS MODEL LOCATION .............................................................................................................................................. 1 FIGURE 3 SINGLE AXIS ASSEMBLY............................................................................................................................................................ 2 FIGURE 4 MOTION PARAMETERS ............................................................................................................................................................ 2 FIGURE 5 CONFIGURING LINEAR MOTOR................................................................................................................................................. 3 FIGURE 6 DISTANCE MOTOR PARAMETERS .............................................................................................................................................. 3 FIGURE 7 ADDING ASSEMBLY FILE ........................................................................................................................................................... 4 FIGURE 8 ADDING AXIS.......................................................................................................................................................................... 5 FIGURE 9 ENABLE AUTOMATIC ACTIVE TRANSITION .................................................................................................................................. 5 FIGURE 10 DEPLOYING AXES................................................................................................................................................................... 6 FIGURE 11 SUCCESSFUL DEPLOYMENT .................................................................................................................................................... 6 FIGURE 12 STARTING SIMULATION ......................................................................................................................................................... 7 FIGURE 13 MOTOR SIZING VIS............................................................................................................................................................... 7

1

SOLIDWORKS Preparation

This section will illustrate how to prepare your mechanical model to be ready for interfacing

with NI LabVIEW®.

NOTE: This tutorial is using SOLIDWORKS® 2014 SP2. Later versions may carry changes.

1.1 Loading Motion Add-in To be able to configure motors, make sure you have motion add-in added from Tools ->

Add-Ins menu

Figure 1 Loading motion add-in

1.2 Carriage and Ball screw model Select File -> Open or simply Ctrl+O and Browse for the assembly model accompanying this

tutorial found in:

Motion Control Session\Single Axis\Velocity Profiling\Solidworks\Axis1\Axis1-

across.SLDASM

Figure 2 Solidworks model location

2

Figure 3 Single axis assembly

1.3 Configuring motion properties Before placing the driving motor, Make sure you select Motion Analysis mode in motion

study . You may set the motion properties with the following recommended parameters to

reduce CPU loading during simuation:

Figure 4 Motion parameters

1 2

3

1.4 Configuring Linear motor SOLIDWORKS supports different types of parameters (beyond the scope of this tutorial.

LabVIEW can only interact with Distance motors. Select motor icon located in motion

study bar.

I. Select Linear Motor (Actuator)

II. Select the upper face of the moving carriage (with Ain Shams University logo decal)

as motor location

III. Select the square coupling front for direction . Make sure that red

arrow direction is “left to right”.

IV. Select the coupling front in component move relative to .

Figure 5 Configuring linear motor

V. Set other parameters as below:

Figure 6 Distance motor parameters

VI. Optioal : you may rename the motor name to LMotor.

VII. It is better to disable RealView and Shadow in View settings.

II

III IV

4

LabVIEW UI and Communication

In this section two main tasks to be carried out, to start with , configuring communication

with the linear motor in SOLIDWORKS, and secondly, adding the necessary Vis for motion control.

2.1 Creating LabVIEW project with loaded assembly. Launch LabVIEW and select new project. It is better to create a dedicated folder for both

LabVIEW project and SOLIDORKS parts and assembly. Right click on my computer in the project

tree to addassembly file (Figure 7).

Figure 7 adding assembly file

The assembly file appears as a project item. Right click on the assembly file in the project

tree and select open assembly. Then, right click on the file again and click on synchronize

assembly. Make sure you see LMotor under your assembly file (or the name of linear motor in

the assembly).

5

2.2 Linking SOLIDWORKS linear motor to LabVIEW axis This is a major step where you create an axis linked to the linear motor (LMotor). Simply

right click on my computer under LabVIEW project tree and select new SoftMotion axis. From

axis manager , select the LMotor or the name of your linear motor.

Figure 8 Adding Axis

To enable communication once you start simulation, right click on the axis you just

created and check the below selection:

Figure 9 enable automatic active transition

6

Finally, select my computer, assembly file and axis from project tree (using shift while

selecting) and choose deploy from right click menu.

Figure 10 deploying axes

If conflict resolution window appears, click apply on all of them. The deployment process

starts and you shoud see successful message. This implies successful connection to SOLIDOWRKS

assembly.

Figure 11 Successful deployment

Last but not least, right click on solidworks assembly, you should see start simulation . If you

select it, SOLIDWORKS model simulation will start. It means it is now ready to receive trajectory

data from LabVIEW. Click again on assembly and select stop simulation.

7

Figure 12 Starting simulation

Up to this point, You are ready to build LabVIEW UI to interact with SOLIDWORKS model.

2.3 Core VIs in SoftMotion module SoftMotion module has many VIs for interacting with either software simulation or physical

hardware motion controllers. This tutorial will focus on VIs related to motor sizing and selection

(to be discussed in lecture)

Clear faults (Express VI) [ Clearing any previous axis faults].

Straight Line Move (Express VI) [Motion profiling]

Read (Express VI) [Reading Controlled Variabls]

Figure 13 Motor sizing VIs