Topological Approaches to Mechatronic Systems: A Review

An interest in the mechanical topology approach is to reduce the mass considerably in order to minimize the costs of manufacturing, transporting and purchasing products. The same interest can be found in mechatronic topological approaches where many disciplines should be fit together, facing therefore many and variant constraints. Distinguish topological approaches are found in the literature. Many are more specific for a single domain than a complex system. Two main classes of topological approaches are structured. The first class is based on a theoretical approach that states the KBR topological graph and the MGS language while topology is primarily structural form. These topological modeling approaches tend to combine two disciplines of a Mechatronic system. The second class is the disciplined approaches that recapitulate the topological approaches of each mechatronic discipline. The topological optimization of the mechanical, electronic and control model is summarized. In the light of the literature, there is a lack of a specific topological method for a mechatronic system that encompasses the structural complexity of complex systems. Since the topology is first and foremost a structural shape, the mechanical topological model, which is structurally based, should constitute the algorithmic foundation by integrating the functional and structural constraints of other disciplines.