Identification of mechanical backlash in electromechanical systems for control purposes

In the last half century, especially industrial, robotic and automotive sectors started to take an important place in our lives with developing technology. The working principles of these sectors are mostly based on mechanical systems. One of the biggest factors that affects the working mechanism of a system negatively is the backlash formed in the mechanical parts. In order to reduce the damage caused by the backlash in mechanical systems, backlash must be compensated. The first stage of this starts with the identification of backlash size. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the identification of backlash size formed in mechanical systems. For this purpose, using computer simulation two feedback control system models, the first one for a mechanical system with backlash and the other one for a mechanical system without backlash, have been created. Kalman filter has been designed to see and understand the effect of backlash on load positions more accurately. Changes in load positions have been observed by using step input signal. Sum of the absolute value of the differences between load positions with backlash and load positions without backlash has been obtained. In order to achieve the value of estimated backlash size, an equation proportional to the obtained absolute sum result has been formulated. Estimated backlash values have been obtained by performing simulation experiments for different actual backlash values and their accuracy has been confirmed.