Page 19 - The Mechatronics Handbook

MECHANICS OF SOLIDS
TRANSLATIONAL AND ROTATIONAL SYSTEMS
FLUID SYSTEMS
ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS
THERMAL SYSTEMS
MICRO- AND NANO-SYSTEMS
ROTATIONAL ELECTROMAGNETIC MEMS
PHYSICAL SYSTEM ANALOGIES

FIGURE 1.1 The key elements of mechatronics.

FIGURE 1.2 Water-level float regulator. (From Modern
Control Systems, 9th ed., R. C. Dorf and R. H. Bishop,
Prentice-Hall, 2001. Used with permission.)

systems appeared in Greece from 300 to 1 B.C. with the development of float regulator mechanisms [7].
Two important examples include the water clock of Ktesibios that used a float regulator, and an oil lamp
devised by Philon, which also used a float regulator to maintain a constant level of fuel oil. Later, in the
first century, Heron of Alexandria published a book entitled Pneumatica that described different types of
water-level mechanisms using float regulators.
In Europe and Russia, between seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, many important devices were
invented that would eventually contribute to mechatronics. Cornelis Drebbel (1572–1633) of Holland
devised the temperature regulator representing one of the first feedback systems of that era. Subsequently,
Dennis Papin (1647–1712) invented a pressure safety regulator for steam boilers in 1681. Papin’s pressure
regulator is similar to a modern-day pressure-cooker valve. The first mechanical calculating machine was
invented by Pascal in 1642 [8]. The first historical feedback system claimed by Russia was developed by
Polzunov in 1765 [9]. Polzunov’s water-level float regulator, illustrated in Fig. 1.2, employs a float that rises
and lowers in relation to the water level, thereby controlling the valve that covers the water inlet in the boiler.
Further evolution in automation was enabled by advancements in control theory traced back to the
Watt flyball governor of 1769. The flyball governor, illustrated in Fig. 1.3, was used to control the speed

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