A Control Strategy for Mechatronic Action of a Pipe Organ Using a VCM Actuator

In pipe organs, the oldest and most commonly chosen system for connecting the organist operator to the source of sound (i.e., the pipes to the action) is mechanical action. This article presents a mechatronic action with a voice coil motor (VCM) actuator to reproduce the action of a mechanical action on pipe organ. The mechatronic action makes it feasible to mechanically separate the keyboard from the pipes and to determine the control strategy for the mechatronic action by utilizing sensors, an actuator and a microcontroller. The time response of the organ pipe with mechanical action and the requirements for mechatronic action were outlined. The control strategy was preceded by measurements of the mechanical action and measurements of the behavior of the VCM actuator system, which moves the pneumatic valve pallet. Two control strategies, open-loop and closed-loop, were proposed and analyzed for the mechatronic action with the VCM actuator. According to the results, the suggested control strategies successfully reproduce the mechanical action’s behavior to a good extent.