A detailed walkthrough of st

1. Ain Shams University
Faculty of Engineering
Mechatronics Department
Motor Sizing of Single Axis Linear Motor
using SOLIDWORKS and LabVIEW
Walkthrough Guide
Supplementary material for Motion
Control Course

2. v1.0 – 6/11/2014
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SOLIDWORKS PREPARATION ........................................................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 LOADING MOTION ADD-IN .................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 CARRIAGE AND BALL SCREW MODEL ....................................................................................................................................... 1
1.3 CONFIGURING MOTION PROPERTIES ....................................................................................................................................... 2
1.4 CONFIGURING LINEAR MOTOR ............................................................................................................................................... 3
LABVIEW UI AND COMMUNICATION.......................................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 CREATING LABVIEW PROJECT WITH LOADED ASSEMBLY.......................................................................................................... 4
2.2 LINKING SOLIDWORKS LINEAR MOTOR TO LABVIEW AXIS ................................................................................................... 5
2.3 CORE VIS IN SOFTMOTION MODULE ...................................................................................................................................... 7
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE 1 LOADING MOTION ADD-IN ...................................................................................................................................................... 1
FIGURE 2 SOLIDWORKS MODEL LOCATION .............................................................................................................................................. 1
FIGURE 3 SINGLE AXIS ASSEMBLY............................................................................................................................................................ 2
FIGURE 4 MOTION PARAMETERS............................................................................................................................................................ 2
FIGURE 5 CONFIGURING LINEAR MOTOR................................................................................................................................................. 3
FIGURE 6 DISTANCE MOTOR PARAMETERS .............................................................................................................................................. 3
FIGURE 7 ADDING ASSEMBLY FILE ........................................................................................................................................................... 4
FIGURE 8 ADDING AXIS.......................................................................................................................................................................... 5
FIGURE 9 ENABLE AUTOMATIC ACTIVE TRANSITION.................................................................................................................................. 5
FIGURE 10 DEPLOYING AXES................................................................................................................................................................... 6
FIGURE 11 SUCCESSFUL DEPLOYMENT .................................................................................................................................................... 6
FIGURE 12 STARTING SIMULATION ......................................................................................................................................................... 7
FIGURE 13 MOTOR SIZING VIS............................................................................................................................................................... 7

3. 1
SOLIDWORKS Preparation
This section will illustrate how to prepare your mechanical model to be ready for interfacing
with NI LabVIEW®.
NOTE: This tutorial is using SOLIDWORKS® 2014 SP2. Later versions may carry changes.
1.1 Loading Motion Add-in
To be able to configure motors, make sure you have motion add-in added from Tools ->
Add-Ins menu
Figure 1 Loading motion add-in
1.2 Carriage and Ball screw model
Select File -> Open or simply Ctrl+O and Browse for the assembly model accompanying this
tutorial found in:
Motion Control SessionSingle AxisVelocity ProfilingSolidworksAxis1Axis1-
across.SLDASM
Figure 2 Solidworks model location

4. 2
Figure 3 Single axis assembly
1.3 Configuring motion properties
Before placing the driving motor, Make sure you select Motion Analysis mode in motion
study . You may set the motion properties with the following recommended parameters to
reduce CPU loading during simuation:
1 2
Figure 4 Motion parameters

5. 3
1.4 Configuring Linear motor
SOLIDWORKS supports different types of parameters (beyond the scope of this tutorial.
LabVIEW can only interact with Distance motors. Select motor icon located in motion
study bar.
I. Select Linear Motor (Actuator)
II. Select the upper face of the moving carriage (with Ain Shams University logo decal)
as motor location
III. Select the square coupling front for direction . Make sure that red
arrow direction is “left to right”.
IV. Select the coupling front in component move relative to .
Figure 5 Configuring linear motor
II
V. Set other parameters as below:
Figure 6 Distance motor parameters
III
VI. Optioal : you may rename the motor name to LMotor.
VII. It is better to disable RealView and Shadow in View settings.
IV

6. 4
LabVIEW UI and Communication
In this section two main tasks to be carried out, to start with , configuring communication
with the linear motor in SOLIDWORKS, and secondly, adding the necessary Vis for motion control.
2.1 Creating LabVIEW project with loaded assembly.
Launch LabVIEW and select new project. It is better to create a dedicated folder for both
LabVIEW project and SOLIDORKS parts and assembly. Right click on my computer in the project
tree to addassembly file (Figure 7).
Figure 7 adding assembly file
The assembly file appears as a project item. Right click on the assembly file in the project
tree and select open assembly. Then, right click on the file again and click on synchronize
assembly. Make sure you see LMotor under your assembly file (or the name of linear motor in
the assembly).

7. 5
2.2 Linking SOLIDWORKS linear motor to LabVIEW axis
This is a major step where you create an axis linked to the linear motor (LMotor). Simply
right click on my computer under LabVIEW project tree and select new SoftMotion axis. From
axis manager , select the LMotor or the name of your linear motor.
Figure 8 Adding Axis
To enable communication once you start simulation, right click on the axis you just
created and check the below selection:
Figure 9 enable automatic active transition

8. Finally, select my computer, assembly file and axis from project tree (using shift while
6
selecting) and choose deploy from right click menu.
Figure 10 deploying axes
If conflict resolution window appears, click apply on all of them. The deployment process
starts and you shoud see successful message. This implies successful connection to SOLIDOWRKS
assembly.
Figure 11 Successful deployment
Last but not least, right click on solidworks assembly, you should see start simulation . If you
select it, SOLIDWORKS model simulation will start. It means it is now ready to receive trajectory
data from LabVIEW. Click again on assembly and select stop simulation.

9. 7
Figure 12 Starting simulation
Up to this point, You are ready to build LabVIEW UI to interact with SOLIDWORKS model.
2.3 Core VIs in SoftMotion module
SoftMotion module has many VIs for interacting with either software simulation or physical
hardware motion controllers. This tutorial will focus on VIs related to motor sizing and selection
(to be discussed in lecture)
 Clear faults (Express VI) [ Clearing any previous axis faults].
 Straight Line Move (Express VI) [Motion profiling]
 Read (Express VI) [Reading Controlled Variabls]
Figure 13 Motor sizing VIs