Current status and development trend of mechatronics technology

Mechatronics is an emerging edge discipline, which is in the development stage and represents the development direction of the mechanical revolution of the mechanical industry [1]. It is generally believed that mechatronics technology is an interdisciplinary and comprehensive high-tech, and is an independent interdisciplinary course composed of microelectronics, computer technology, information technology, mechanical technology and other technologies. The IEEE/ASME of the United States gave a more comprehensive definition in 1996: "We have initially defined mechatronics as 'cooperative integration of mechanical engineering and electronic and intelligent computer control in the design and manufacture of industrial products and processes' , including the following 11 aspects: (1) molding and design; (2) system integration; (3) actuators and sensors; (4) intelligent control; (5) robots; (6) manufacturing; (7) motion control; (8) Vibration and noise control; (9) Micro-devices and optoelectronic subsystems; (10) Automotive systems; (11) Other applications. At present, the definition of the Japan Machinery Promotion Association is widely adopted internationally: "Mechatronics is the introduction of microelectronics technology in the main functions, power functions, information functions and control functions of machinery, and the combination of mechanical devices and related software for electronic devices. The general term [3] of the system is composed of various technologies such as mechanical manufacturing technology, electronic technology, information processing technology, testing and sensor technology, control technology, interface technology, computer technology, and servo drive. Mechatronics technology has a huge impetus to the development of modern industry, so all countries in the world are vigorously promoting mechatronics technology.

1 Status of foreign mechatronics development

The development of mechatronics can be roughly divided into three stages. The first phase (also known as the primary phase) was before the 1960s, during which people unconsciously used electronic technology and made it widely recognized. In the second phase, mechatronics technology and products have been greatly developed. In the third phase, countries have begun to pay great attention to and support mechatronics technologies and products.

The first international advanced mechatronics conference held in Tokyo, Japan in 1989 was a sign of the deep development of mechatronics. Governments also began to promote and develop mechatronics technologies and products in a planned manner. At present, Japan and the United States are world leaders in the development and application of mechatronic products. The US Department of Commerce has published a research report on Japan's mechatronics. It has compared the basic research, advanced development and product formation of Japan and the United States in terms of mechatronics technology. The conclusion is that in addition to machine vision and software. Japan’s basic research is comparable to that of the United States. At present, they have listed smart sensors, computer chip manufacturing technology, artificial intelligence industrial robots with tactile and human-machine dialogue functions, flexible manufacturing systems, etc. as major research topics in high-tech fields, and invested a large amount of funds to support the development of related technologies.

In the late 1990s, mechatronics entered a period of in-depth development. Optics, communication technology, and micro-machining technology have entered the electromechanical integration, and a new branch of opto-mechatronics and micro-mechatronics has emerged. At the same time, the modeling design, analysis and integration methods of mechatronic systems, as well as the discipline system and development trends have been studied in depth. Artificial intelligence technology, neural network technology and optical fiber technology have also opened up a vast development world for mechatronics technology.

Therefore, the mechatronics products have developed rapidly, mainly in the following four aspects:

(1) Mechatronics products are found in almost all manufacturing sectors. In industrialized countries, CNC machine tools account for 30% to 40% of the total number of machine tools. Industrial robots are moving towards intelligent and intelligent systems, and the number will increase by 25% to 30% in the next decade. Intelligent robots will gradually enter the fields of office, management, entertainment, and home.

(2) The transition of mechatronics from stand-alone to integrated manufacturing. Computer Integrated Manufacturing System (CIMS) is the general trend of the development of the world's manufacturing industry. It breaks the boundaries between the existing departments and controls the "logistics" and "information flow" to achieve business decision-making, product development and production. The organic combination of preparation, production experiment and production management. The implementation of CIMS is the optimal synthesis of global dynamics.

(3) Laser technology has entered the field of mechatronics. Opto-mechatronics is a combination of laser technology and mechanical and electronic technology. It not only greatly expands the application field of mechatronics, but also causes major changes in some industries. It is the best combination of information industry and manufacturing today.

(4) Microfabrication technology and equipment are developing rapidly. The rapid development of microelectronics technology and its industry has led to the rise of a large number of high and new technologies. Microfabrication technology and equipment not only support the development of the electronics industry, but also play a decisive role in the birth and development of micromachines.

2 Status of domestic mechatronics development

China began to study and apply mechatronics from the early 1980s. The State Council established the Mechatronics Leading Group and listed it as the “863 Program”. In the formulation of the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" and the 2010 Development Outline, the international development trend of mechatronics technology and its possible impact have been fully considered. Many colleges and universities, research institutions and some large and medium-sized enterprises have A lot of work has been done on the development and application of technology. Although there are still some gaps between domestic mechatronics technology and advanced countries such as Japan, Europe and America [6], with the rapid development of the new technology revolution, China has increased the research and development of mechatronics technology and determined it. Give priority support to the national high-tech key research areas and have achieved certain results.

(1) Numerical control technology. China's numerical control technology started in 1958. At the end of the "Ninth Five-Year Plan", the domestic market share of domestic CNC machine tools reached 50%, and the domestic CNC system (popular type) also reached 10%. Throughout the development of China's CNC technology in the past 50 years, especially after four five-year plans, the overall results have achieved good results. At present, it has an annual production capacity of more than 3,000 CNC systems and more than 5,000 spindle and feed devices. In the past ten years, the machining accuracy of ordinary CNC machine tools has been increased from 10μm to 5μm, and the precision machining center has been improved from 3~5μm to 1~1.5μm, and the precision of ultra-precision machining has begun to enter the nanometer scale (0.01μm). 7].

(2) Industrial robots. In 1986, China's research and development of robots was included in the national science and technology plan. Now we have mastered the design and manufacturing technology, control system and software programming technology, kinematics and trajectory planning technology of robotic manipulators, and produced some key components of robots. In the practical stage, we have developed a variety of robots for arc welding, spot welding, painting, assembly, handling, injection molding, stamping, and the ability to walk forward and backward, climb walls, and operate underwater. At present, relevant domestic scientific research institutions and enterprises have mastered the optimized manufacturing technology of industrial robot operating machines, solved the design techniques of industrial robot control and drive system, the key technologies of robot software design and programming, and also mastered arc welding, spot welding and Development and preparation technology for large robot automatic production lines (workstations) and peripheral equipment. At present, there are more than 200 units engaged in robot research and development in China, and more than 50 companies specializing in the development of the robot industry. There are nearly 10,000 industrial robots in the Chinese market, including fully domestic industrial robots. The industrial concentration of the three industrial robot companies accounts for about 30%.

(3) Computer integrated manufacturing system aspects. After years of theoretical and technical preparations in China, CIMS has developed rapidly. At present, the National CIMS Engineering Research Center has been established in Tsinghua University, and seven CIMS unit technical laboratories and eight CIMS training centers have been established in famous universities and research institutes [9]. In 2000, more than 20 provinces and cities, more than 10 industries, and more than 200 enterprises of different scales and types have achieved huge economic benefits through the implementation of CIMS application demonstration projects. At present, the further pilot application of CIMS has been extended to many fields such as machinery, electronics, aviation, aerospace, light industry, textile, metallurgy, petrochemical, etc., and more and more attention and input from various industries are being obtained.

3 Trends in mechatronics

Mechatronics is a cross-integration of mechanical, electronic, optical, control, computer, information and other multidisciplinary. Its development and progress depend on and promote the development and progress of related technologies. Throughout the development status of mechatronics at home and abroad and the development trend of high and new technology, mechatronics will develop in the following directions:

(1) Green

The development of industry has brought about tremendous changes in people's lives. On the one hand, the material is rich and the life is comfortable; on the other hand, the resources are reduced and the ecological environment is seriously polluted. As a result, people called for the protection of environmental resources and return to nature. The concept of green products came into being under such a call, and greening is the trend of the times. In the life process of design, manufacture, use and destruction, green products meet specific environmental protection and human health requirements, are harmless or less harmful to the ecological environment, and have extremely high resource utilization. The greening of mechatronics products mainly refers to the non-polluting ecological environment when used, and can be recycled after being scrapped [6]. The development of industry has reduced resources and the ecological environment has been seriously polluted. Green has become the trend of the times, and the greening of products has become a major feature to adapt to future development.

If we refer to mechanical devices and mechanical devices for manufacturing mechanical products collectively as mechanical systems, the functions of mechatronics technology can be summarized as: improving the performance of mechanical systems, completing functions that traditional mechanical systems cannot perform; and improving the intelligence of mechanical systems. To make people work in a more comfortable environment; to improve the recyclability of mechanical systems; to reduce the consumption of raw materials in mechanical systems; to reduce the energy consumption of mechanical systems; to reduce the environmental pollution of mechanical systems, it can be seen that at least three of them are Related to environmental protection. Therefore, in the 21st century, the mission of mechatronics technology is to provide a high-performance, high raw material utilization, low energy consumption, low pollution, environmentally comfortable and recyclable intelligent mechanical products, that is, to provide a kind of Sustainable development of green products.

(2) Intelligent

Intelligentization is an important development direction for the development of mechatronics technology in the 21st century. The artificial intelligence system is a knowledge processing system, which includes three basic problems: knowledge representation, knowledge utilization and knowledge acquisition. Its ultimate goal is to simulate human problem solving, reasoning and learning. The research of artificial intelligence in the construction of mechatronics has been paid more and more attention. The intelligence of robots and CNC machine tools is an important application. "Intelligence" is a description of machine behavior. Based on the theory of control, it absorbs new ideas and methods such as artificial intelligence, operations research, computer science, fuzzy mathematics, psychology, physiology and chaotic dynamics to simulate human intelligence. It has the ability to judge reasoning, logical thinking, and independent decision-making in order to obtain higher control objectives. At present, expert systems, fuzzy systems, neural networks and genetic algorithms are the four main technologies for the realization of mechatronics products (systems), which are independent and develop and infiltrate each other. As manufacturing automation continues to increase, intelligent manufacturing system controllers will emerge to simulate the intelligent manufacturing activities of human experts, and to analyze, judge, reason, conceive, and make decisions about manufacturing problems [10].

(3) Networking

In the 1990s, the outstanding achievement of computer technology was network technology. The rise and rapid development of network technology has brought tremendous changes to people's daily life in science and technology, industrial production, politics, military, education, etc., and it has also brought significant influence to mechatronics technology, for example, through network to electromechanical integration. The device is remotely controlled. Various networks connect the global economy and production, and competition among enterprises will also be globalized. Once the new mechatronic products are developed, as long as they are unique in function and reliable in quality, they will soon be sold worldwide. Due to the popularity of the network, various remote control and monitoring technologies based on the network are in the ascendant, and the remotely controlled terminal equipment itself is a mechatronic product. Fieldbus and LAN technology have become the trend of home appliance networking, using home network (homenet) to connect various household appliances into a computer-centric computer integrated appliance system (CIAS), so that people can share at home The convenience and happiness brought by high technology. Therefore, mechatronics products are undoubtedly moving towards the direction of networking.

(4) Miniaturization

The emergence of miniaturization in the late 1980s is a trend in the development of mechatronics to micro-machines and micro-fields. For more than ten years, Micro Electro Mechanic System (MEMS) has received much attention as a new cutting-edge branch of mechatronics technology. It refers to mechatronic products with geometric dimensions of less than 1cm3, and to micron and nanometers. Level development. Micro-electromechanical systems are highly integrated with micro-mechanical, micro-electronic and software technologies. The difficulty is that micro-mechanics does not simply scale down large-sized machines. Due to the miniaturization of the structure, in materials, mechanism design, friction characteristics, Some special problems have arisen in terms of processing methods, testing and positioning, and driving methods.

Micro-mechatronics products are small in size, low in energy consumption, flexible in movement, can enter the space that ordinary machinery cannot enter, and are easy to perform fine operations, so they have incomparable advantages in biomedical, military, and information. Therefore, it has broad application prospects in the fields of biomedicine, aerospace, information technology, industry and agriculture, and even national defense. At present, sub-micron mechanical components have been fabricated in the laboratory using etching techniques in the fabrication of semiconductor devices.

(5) Modularization

Mechatronic products and technologies can be divided into three major parts: mechanical, electronic and software. Modular technology is the common technology of these three. Modular technology can reduce product development and production costs, improve the generalization of components between different products, and improve product assembly, maintainability and scalability. The mechatronics module, which integrates mechanical, electronic and software, represents the future development direction of products, with a high degree of autonomy, good coordination and self-organization. In short, modular design and manufacturing is the basic method and development trend of mechatronic systems. With the rapid increase in the price/performance ratio of microprocessors and the rapid development of micromechanical electronics (MEMS) technology, various mechatronic modules will appear more and more on the market. With these modules, a variety of new mechatronic products can be designed and manufactured quickly and easily.

Mechatronics is the crystallization of the development of many science and technology, and is an inevitable requirement for the development of social productive forces to a certain stage. In the 21st century, mechatronics technology will become the protagonist of the machinery industry, bringing significant economic and social benefits in all aspects. The emergence of mechatronics is not isolated. It is the crystallization of the development of many science and technology and the inevitable requirement for the development of social productive forces to a certain stage. With the development of science and technology, the trend of integration of various technologies will become more and more obvious. The mechatronics technology with the organic combination of mechanical technology and microelectronic technology is the inevitable trend of the development of mechanical industry. The broad development prospects will also become brighter and brighter.

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