"MECHATRONICS"

by Dan S. Necsulescu - University of Ottawa, Canada

This Mechatronics book, published in 2002 by Prentice Hall, is authored by dr. Dan Necsulescu, professor of mechanical engineering at University of Ottawa in Canada. The book was written for a first course in Mechatronics taught at senior undergraduate level in the departments of mechanical, electrical, computer and general engineering. This text provides a self-contained, modern treatment of the computer based mixed systems integration. The book covers fundamental topics starting with the physical properties, continuing with mathematical modeling and computer simulation and ending with applications illustrated by numerically and experimentally generated results. It explores all major topics in mechatronics and offers a detailed presentation of selected devices as well as numerous MATLAB, Simulink and LabVIEW applications. The focus is on presenting thoroughly, selected devices and methods, rather than an incomplete overview of a large number of industrial solutions.
State of the art approaches in mechatronic systems design and integration are presented as follows:
-object oriented approach for modular modeling, virtual prototyping and hardware-in-the-loop experimentation.
-virtual instrumentation for system monitoring and automation.
-real-time and embedded solutions for mechatronic systems integration.
Students learn basic concepts by numerical examples and computer simulations using student editions of popular engineering software (MATLAB, Simulink and LabVIEW).
One chapter is dedicated to describing laboratory experiments for a mechatronics course; these experiments are described in sufficient detail such that the teacher can reproduce and adapt them for a particular laboratory equipment available.
The book contains over 200 homework problems and computer programming exercises to reinforce concepts learned in each chapter. Numerous numerical examples provide students with structured solutions to follow when completing homework.
The content of the book is presented in eight chapters:
1. Computer integration of Electro-Mechanical systems
2. Sensors modeling
3. Actuators modeling
4. Interfacing
5. Mixed dynamic Systems Modeling and Simulation
6. Data Acquisition and Virtual Instrumentation
7. Real-Time Monitoring and Control: PC Based and Embedded Microcontrollers
8. Laboratory Experiments for Mechatronics
A Solutions Manual is available for professors adopting the book as a reference for thair courses.
The book was already adopted at several universities in North America.