Evaluation Framework for the Comparison of Modular Drivetrain Architectures

Modular drivetrains have recently been introduced in literature as a method to cope with load variations and provide an easily adaptable machine design. Although some research regarding the performance of a modular drivetrain has already been performed, a method to evaluate and compare several modular drivetrain architectures on multiple performance criteria is not yet available. This paper presents an evaluation framework that can be used to compare the different architectures against each other and the traditional benchmark alternative. The benchmark system under consideration is an industrial single motor driven slider crank application with a continuous rotating motion. Three modular variants of the benchmark system are presented. From the evaluation, the modular architectures are found to outperform the benchmark case regarding energy consumption, tracking error and speed variation at the expense of a slight cost increase. An assessment of the additional investment cost compared to the increased performance is possible using this evaluation framework