Bond graph modeling and simulating of 3 RPR planar parallel manipulator

A 3-RPR planar parallel robot is a kind of planar mechanisms, which can work at high speed, with high accuracy and high rigidity. In this paper, a multi-body bond graph system will be built for the 3-RPR planar parallel manipulator (PPM), along with 3 PID controllers which give commands to 3 DC motors respectively. The advantage of bond graphs is that they can integrate different types of dynamics systems, the manipulator, the control and the motor can be modelled and simulated altogether in the same process. Bond graph will be established for each rigid body with body-fixed coordinate’s reference frames, which are connected with parasitic elements (damping and compliance) to each other. The PID set-point signals are generated by the explicit inverse kinematic equations. The 3 prismatic lengths constitute the measured feedback signals. In order to make the end-effector reach the ideal position with target orientation, the three links should reach the target lengths simultaneously. In this study, the dynamics simulation of 3-RPR PPM is conducted after building the bond graph system. As the 3 motors are working simultaneously and independently, the end-effector will arrive to the expected position. Finally, the bond graph and control system are validated with the compiled results and 3D animation. Force plot and torque plot will be generated as dynamics performance. Moreover, kinematics of manipulators are also calculated using bond graph. Eventually, bond graphs are shown to be effective in solving not only dynamic but also kinematic problems.