The company makes actuators, devices that fit on to the valves along pipelines, controlling the opening and closing of the valve.
There's never been an actuator failure.
Since all links are assumed rigid, the compliance of the mechanism will be induced solely by the compliance of the actuators.
One of the topics is the implementation of alternative actuators replacing the widely spread electrical drives, in order to make lightweight structures and compliant joints.
Three actuators provide gross/fine opening and closing of the tips plus lateral motion.
The performance index was the energy consumed by the actuators during the motion, evaluated from the dynamic model of the mechanism and actuators.
However, the inertia of the axis hardware, including actuators, has a very significant influence on the performance of supporting axis.
