Designing a Control for a Material Fatigue Testing Machine

Diploma Thesis from the year 2001 in the subject Electrotechnology, grade: 1,3 (A), University of Kaiserslautern (Escuela Superior de Ingenieros de Sevilla, Spain), course: Semester Final Paper, language: English, abstract: PROJECT DESCRIPTION One main field of activity of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Material Science at the Escuela Superior de Ingenieros de Sevilla is material fatigue testing. In order to evaluate material characteristics under specified conditions, material probes are outset to biaxial movements, i.e. traction or pressure, and torsion. The machines for this particular application typically use hydraulics for the power generation; the exact movement is achieved by servo-ventils. Industrial manufacturers demand at least 300.000 EUR for building a machine like that. This appears very expensive, keeping in mind the very basic task of the machine. Whereas a university of western industrialized countries may bear inversions like that, for universities of third world it is hardly possible to procure such a machine. This was the motivation for the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Material Science at the Escuela Superior de Ingenieros de Sevilla to start a project in order to find a cheap as well as reliable solution for biaxial material fatigue testing. [...]