Member drive system with constant velocity in a given plane

Claim 2

A drive system having means for moving of a member in two related rectilinear directions within a selected plane and at adjustable velocities whereby the direction of movement within the plane is varied, comprising drive means for moving the member in the second direction, velocity-sensing means to sense and generate a relatEd signal corresponding to the velocity movement in said second direction, and an active generating means having an input connected to said sensing means and having an output connected to the first drive means to control the velocity of said first drive means in accordance with changes in the velocity movement in said second direction, the output signal of the generating means varying with the input in accordance with a circular function.

Claim 3

The drive system drive of claim 1 wherein said generating means establishes an output in accordance with a semicircle function defined by the vector summation of the relative velocities in the two directions with the radius of the semicircle function corresponding to the selected constant velocity in the plane.

Claim 4

The drive system drive of claim 1 wherein said generating means includes an electronic signal generator having an output signal related to the input signal by a constant amplitude rotatable vector and connected so as the input signal from said velocity-sensing means generates an output signal related to the required velocity of the member in the first direction in order to maintain a constant velocity in the plane.

Claim 5

The drive system drive of claim 1 wherein said generating means includes an absolute function signal generator connected to said sensing means and establishing a corresponding polarity signal independent of the polarity of the input signal, and a quarter circle generator having an input means connected to said absolute function generator and an output signal related to said input by said circular function.

Claim 6

The drive system of claim 4 wherein said quarter circle generator includes an operational amplifier having a plurality of feedback impedance elements connected in parallel branches and each branch including a series-connected unidirectional conducting element and impedance elements between succeeding branches to the output side of the operational amplifier, whereby the output signal is essentially a quarter circle function in response to the input signal of said absolute function generator.

Claim 7

The drive system of claim 4 wherein said absolute function generator including an operational amplifier and a feedback network establishing a relatively negative reference output corresponding to the radius of the circle function with a relatively zero input and varying linearly in a corresponding direction with varying opposite polarity inputs to said zero input.

Claim 8

The drive system of claim 4 having an operational amplifier connected between the sensing means and the absolute function generator and having an adjustable feedback potentiometer, an output operational amplifier, an adjustable potentiometer connected to the output of the circle generating means and to said output operational amplifier, said potentiometers having ganged adjustable taps to control the radius of the circle function and thereby the velocity of the member in the given plane.

Claim 9

The drive system of claim 1 wherein said generating means includes an operational amplifier means having a plurality of feedback impedance elements connected in parallel branches and each branch including a series-connected unidirectional conducting element and impedance elements between succeeding branches to the output side of the operational amplifier means, whereby the output signal is essentially a circular function of the input signal.

Claim 10

The drive system of claim 8 wherein the generating means includes an absolute function generator having input means connected to the sensing means and an output means connected to said operational amplifier, said absolute function generator including an operational amplifier and a feedback network establishing a relatively negative reference output corresponding to the radius of the circle function with a relatively zero input and varying linearly in a corresponding direction with varying opposite polarity inputs relative to said zero input.

Claim 11

The drive system of claim 9 having an operational amplifier connecTed between the sensing means and the absolute function generator and having an adjustable feedback potentiometer, an output operational amplifier, an adjustable potentiometer connected to the output of the circle generating means and to said output operational amplifier, said potentiometers having ganged adjustable taps to control the radius of the circle function and thereby the velocity of the member in the given plane.

Claim 12

The drive system of claim 9 including an angle positioning means connected to maintain a selected angular orientation of the member in said plane, a position-sensitive means having an essentially fixed output in the steady state and an output proportional to the change in position in the second direction, a cosine function element connected to said position-sensitive means to produce an output proportional to the product of the position-sensitive means output and the cosine element and connected to the input of the absolute function generator, said cosine functional element being coupled to said angle positioning means for corresponding positioning.

Claim 13

The drive system of claim 1 wherein said generating means includes an operational amplifier having a plurality of feedback resistors connected in parallel branches and each branch including a series-connected diode, resistors connected between succeeding impedances to the output side of the operational amplifier, the diodes in succeeding branches being biased to conduct in response to an increased output amplitude of the amplifier to successively reduce the gain and thereby establish an output signal essentially corresponding to a circle function of the input signal.

Claim 14

The drive system of claim 12 wherein the generating means includes an absolute function generator having input means connected to the sensing means and an output means connected to said operational amplifier, said absolute function generator including an operational amplifier and a feedback resistor establishing a relatively negative reference output corresponding to the radius of the circle function with a relatively zero input and varying linearly in a corresponding direction with varying opposite polarity inputs relative to said zero input, and including adjustable potentiometers to preset the magnitudes of the slopes equal to each other and equal to one, an input operational amplifier connected between the sensing means and the absolute function generator and having a first circle control adjustable feedback potentiometer, an output operational amplifier, a second circle control adjustable potentiometer connected to the output of the circle generating means and to said output operational amplifier, said first and second circle control potentiometers including a dual-cup potentiometer to establish corresponding setting of the potentiometer taps to control the radius of the circle function and thereby the velocity of the member in the given plane.

Claim 15

The drive of claim 13 including an angle positioning means connected to maintain a selected angular orientation of the member in said plane, a position-sensitive means having an essentially fixed output in the steady state and an output proportional to the change in position in the second direction, a cosine function element connected to said sensitive means to produce an output proportional to the output of the sensitive means and connected to the input of an input operational amplifier, said cosine function element being coupled to said angle positioning means for corresponding positioning.

Claim 16

The drive system of claim 1 wherein said second drive means is a closed loop control, a third drive means angularly positions the member in a third direction, a transducer is coupled to sense the displacement error of the member in said second direction and establish a positional related signal, a cosine function generator coupled to the third drive means and connected to said transducer and to said active generating means and to said first drive means and to said third drive means.

Claim 17

The drive system of claim 1 including an angle positioning means connected to maintain a selected angular orientation of the member in said plane, a position-sensitive means having an essentially fixed output in the steady state and an output proportional to the change in position in the second direction, a cosine function element connected to said position-sensitive means to produce an output proportional to the product of the position-sensitive means output and the cosine element and connected to the input of the circle generating means, said cosine function element being coupled to said angle positioning means for corresponding positioning.

Claim 18

The drive system of claim 16 wherein said second drive means includes a closed loop feedback control unit having a proportional plus integral controller connected to the output of the cosine function element, and a summing input connected to the output of the controller said velocity sensing means.

Claim 19

The tool drive system of claim 16 wherein said positioning means includes a sine function generator coupled to the output angle position drive means, velocity signal means establishing an output proportional to the desired horizontal velocity and connected to the sine function generator to establish an output means, and an input means connected to actuate said angle position drive means and connected to said output means and to the output of said velocity sensing means.

Claim 20

The drive system of claim 16 wherein said second drive means includes a closed loop feedback control unit having a control input connected to the output of the cosine function element and having said velocity sensing means connected in an inner feedback loop within the closed loop, angle positioning means including a sine function generator coupled to the output angle position drive means, velocity signal means establishing an output proportional to the desired horizontal velocity and connected to the sine function generator to establish an output means, and an input means connected to actuate said angle position drive means and connected to said output means and to the output of said velocity sensing means and an angle velocity drive sensing means, and said first drive systems includes a velocity sensing means connected to the input in common with the output of the active generating means.

Claim 21

The drive system of claim 1 having a position-sensing means coupled to sense the position of the member in said second direction and establishing a corresponding position signal, and means to add said position signal to the velocity related signal as the input of said generating means.

Claim 22

The drive system of claim 1 wherein said generating means includes a first summing means having an input connected to said sensing means and to a preset signal means, a signal inverting means connected to said sensing means, a second summing means connected to said preset signal means and to said inverting means, multiplying means connected to said summing means, and a square root function means connected to said multiplying means and having an output connected to the first drive means to control the velocity of said first drive means, the output signal of the square root function means varying with the input in accordance with a circular function.

Claim 23

The drive system drive of claim 1 having a preset input means and wherein said generating means includes means to establish a pair of signals corresponding to the sum and to the difference of signals of said preset input means and said velocity sensing means, and means to multiply said pair of signals, and means to take the square root of said last named means to establish said output signal.