Structure and Control Method for a Pneumatic Muscle Actuated Seat Used in a Motion Simulator

摘要

The paper presents the general structure and the feedback control method of a compact type of driving simulator, having a mobile suspended seat actuated by pneumatic muscles. The completed simulator is intended to be used as an advertising demonstrator for the university and also for various research projects. In order to better observe the viability and behavior of the proposed feedback structure, a scaled model is constructed using similar pneumatic muscle actuation of a 3+1 DOF suspended mass. For analysis purposes, multi-step pressure and tri-state muscle contraction control is employed. The feedback data is exchanged between the software simulator and the motion control PLC by using a custom software application.