The mechatronic approach to designing motion as a system
EDITOR’ S CHOICE MECHATRONICS IN PRACTICE
KOLLMORGEN
The mechatronic approach to designing motion as a system
When people talk about mechatronics, it’ s often framed as something futuristic— the next big leap in automation. In truth, it describes something engineers have been working toward for decades: designing machines where the mechanical, electrical, and control systems work together as one.
Arne Linder, Product Manager Drives at Kollmorgen explores the benefits and key aspects of applying a mechatronic approach to designing motion systems.
What’ s changed is the level of sophistication we can now achieve, and the expectation that we should. The idea of building a machine from isolated parts, each with its own setup and software, no longer fits how modern automation works. A mechatronic approach instead looks at the entire system as a single organism where the motor, drive, controller, and software are not just compatible, but interconnected. Correctly applied to today’ s motion systems, this concept can deliver greater precision, faster commissioning, and easier long-term support.
You can see this in how advanced machines are now designed and developed. Rather than treating electrical, mechanical, and control engineering as separate stages, they’ re part of one continuous process: from virtual design and simulation to physical commissioning and maintenance. Each discipline informs the others and the end result is a machine that moves, and evolves, as a unified system.
From components to cooperation
For a long time, setting up a servo system meant – rather ironically, for automation projects – doing everything by hand. Engineers had to enter the motor parameters into the drive manually, refer to look-up tables, and hope nothing was mistyped. Small errors in those numbers could lead to poor performance, instability, or unexpected behavior. Even something as minor as a misplaced decimal point could have catastrophic consequences and potentially even cause a motor to damage itself or rapidly overheat.
The idea of building a machine from isolated parts, each with its own setup and software, no longer fits how modern automation works.
30 PECM Issue 80