Fluid-dynamic analysis and multi-objective design optimization of piezoelectric servo valves

Abstract

This paper proposes an effective methodology for the fluid-dynamic design optimization of the main spool of a piezoelectric servo valve. The aim is to improve global performances of the piezoelectric servo valve by reducing the flow force acting on the main spool and the mass of the main spool. The main disturbance forces acting the main spool were analyzed. The steady-state flow force acting on the main spool was derived and the relationship between the flow force and the design parameters of the main spool was established. The design problem of the main spool was formulated mathematically as a multi-objective optimization problem. The minimum steady-state flow force and the minimum mass of main spool were considered as optimization objectives. The elitist non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) was applied and a set of Pareto-optimal solutions was calculated. The optimized results were analyzed and the final design parameters of the main spool were selected for the simulation analysis and experimental research. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation was employed to calculate the forces acting on the main spool. Simulation results show the flow force acting on the optimized main spool is significantly reduced. The unoptimized and optimized main spools were machined and experimental study was performed. Results show that the piezoelectric servo valve equipped with the optimized main spool has better response performance and dynamic bandwidth. The dynamic bandwidth is measured to 172 Hz under the amplitude attenuation of −3 dB. Compared with the piezoelectric servo valve with unoptimized main spool, the dynamic bandwidth of the piezoelectric servo valve with optimized main spool is increased by 26%.