Fundamentals of Engineering High-Performance Actuator Systems

Actuators are the key to allowing machines to become more sophisticated and perform complex tasks that were previously done by humans, providing motion in a safe, controlled manner.

As defined in this book, actuator design is a subset of mechanical design. It involves engineering the mechanical components necessary to make a product move as desired.

Fundamentals of Engineering High-Performance Actuator Systems, by Ken Hummel, was written as a text to supplement actuator design courses, and a reference to engineers involved in the design of high-performance actuator systems. It highlights the design approach and features what should be considered when moving a payload at precision levels and/or speeds that are not as important in low-performance applications.

The main areas covered in this book are:

• Fundamentals of actuator design
• Actuator performance
• Loads that the actuator and its surrounding structure must accommodate
• Constraints which determine the type of load the actuator needs to accommodate
• The design margin applied to components of any given design
• Environment which must include the interactions between product and the conditions it will have to perform under
• Component strength to ensure safety from failure
• Component stiffness
• Maintainability
• Reliability
• Cost