Input Shapers for Improving the Throughput of Torque-Limited Systems

A technique is presented for designing command profiles for flexible systems whose operational performance is restricted by a limit on actuator effort. To ensure maximum throughput, the command signal is restricted to a series of positive and negative pulses, whose amplitude is equal to the maximum actuator effort (torque limit). The command profiles are further required to move the system to a desired setpoint with very little residual vibration, even in the presence of modeling errors. The process for extending the method to eliminate multiple modes of vibration is also presented. The control technique is verified with both computer simulation and hardware experiments.