Dynamic modelling of electromechanical multibody systems

A unified methodology for modelling electromechanical multibody systems is presented. The systems are comprised of rigid or flexible multibody sub-systems and electrical networks of analog components. The sub-systems are coupled by transducers such as DC motors, moving-plate capacitors, and moving-coil inductors. The electromechanical system is represented by a single graph representation; linear graph theory is then used to generate a relatively small number of system equations. The graph-theoretic formulation is efficient, unifying, and systematic, and was readily implemented in a computer algorithm using symbolic programming. The formulation and computer implementation are demonstrated using two examples of electromechanical systems: a simple condensator microphone and a robot manipulator actuated by DC motors.