Hydraulic Actuation System Research Articles

Design and Testing of a Multi-Cylinder Piezopump for Hydraulic Actuation

Hydraulic actuation systems are widely used in industries such as aerospace, the marine industry, off-highway vehicles, and manufacturing. There has been a shift from the hydraulic distribution of power from a centralized supply to electrical power distribution, to reduce the maintenance requirements and weight and improve the efficiency. However, hydraulic actuators have many advantages, such as power density, durability, and controllability, so the ability to convert electrical to hydraulic power locally to drive an actuator is important. Traditional hydraulic pumps are inefficient and unsuitable for low-power applications, making piezopumps a promising alternative for the conversion of electrical to hydraulic power in the sub-100 W range. Currently, the use of piezopumps is limited by their maximum power (typically a few watts or less) and low flows. This paper details the design, simulation, and testing of a multi-cylinder piezopump designed to push the envelope of the power output. The simulation results demonstrate that pumps with two or three cylinders show increasing benefits in terms of hydraulic and electrical performance due to the reduced flow and current ripple compared to a single-cylinder pump. The experimental results from a two-cylinder pump confirm this, and the effect of the phase relationship between the drive signals is investigated in detail. The experimental pump has fast-acting disc-style reed non-return valves, allowing piezostack drive frequencies of up to 1.4 kHz to be used. Custom power electronics tailored to the pump are developed. These features are critical in demonstrating the potential for multi-cylinder piezopumps to play an important role as a future actuation solution.

Study and Experimental Verification on Anti-Disturbance Control Strategy for Electro-Mechanical Servo Systems

With technological advances and industrial upgrading, electro-mechanical actuators (EMAs) have gradually replaced traditional hydraulic actuation systems. During operation, force servo systems inevitably suffer from external force or position disturbances, thus affecting the output performance of the system. Therefore, it is of significant engineering application value to develop EMA anti-disturbance control strategies that exhibit strong robustness and are more easily applicable to engineering practice. In this study, an open-loop transfer function of the system with command signals and disturbance signals as inputs was established based on the nonlinear mathematical models built for the core components of EMAs. To overcome the impact of external position disturbances on the motion performance of the force servo system, a proportional integral derivative (PID) controller was introduced and a high-order transfer function associated with various parameters such as speed and acceleration was derived and obtained as feedforward compensation based on the mathematical model. By incorporating a three-loop PID controller, the impact of external disturbance forces on the motion performance of the position servo system was overcome and the tracking accuracy of the system was also improved. Finally, simulation models were built using AMESim software (AMESim 2020, LMS Imagine.Lab, Roanne, France) and a dual-channel EMA performance testing system was developed. Simulation and test results indicated that both anti-disturbance control methods exhibited strong robustness and excellent anti-disturbance performance, with the control accuracy and dynamic performance almost unaffected by disturbances. This verified the correctness of the single-channel EMA anti-disturbance control strategy and the usability of the simulation model.

Estimation of the clutch pressure basing on reduced order model of the hydraulic actuator system

Estimation of the clutch pressure basing on reduced order model of the hydraulic actuator system

Adaptive sliding mode control with disturbance estimation for hydraulic actuator systems and application to rock drilling jumbo

For achieving high-performance control of hydraulic actuator systems, an adaptive sliding mode control with disturbance estimation algorithm is proposed and successfully applied to the hydraulic actuator systems of rock drilling jumbo. A switching extended state observer for hydraulic actuator systems is proposed, which combines the advantages of the linear extended state observer and the nonlinear extended state observer to estimate system disturbances more efficiently. The designed parameter adaptive law provides adaptivity to the system parameters, while the disturbance estimation algorithm can online estimate the unknown disturbances, such integration can enhance the adaptability and robustness of the sliding mode control algorithm. Rigorous simulation tests and practical application experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed controller. The reliability of the designed parameter adaptive law and switching extended state observer is validated in detail in simulation studies. In the application experiments of rock drill jumbo, the results indicate the proposed controller is superior to sliding mode control with disturbance estimation and PID control. The average error of the developed controller is reduced by 58 %, 54 %, and 56 % compared to the sliding mode control with disturbance estimation controller, and 82 %, 78 %, and 79 % compared to the PID controller in tracking the low-frequency, high-frequency, and superimposed sinusoidal signals, respectively. Moreover, both the convergence of the uncertain parameters and the estimation of the unknown disturbances in the experiments are satisfactory. These experimental results adequately demonstrate the practical application value of the proposed controller.

A robot-assisted tracheal intubation system based on a soft actuator?

Tracheal intubation is the gold standard of airway protection and constitutes a pivotal life-saving technique frequently employed in emergency medical interventions. Hence, in this paper, a system is designed to execute tracheal intubation tasks automatically, offering a safer and more efficient solution, thereby alleviating the burden on physicians. The system comprises a tracheal tube with a bendable front end, a drive system, and a tip endoscope. The soft actuator provides two degrees of freedom for precise orientation. It is fabricated with varying-hardness silicone and reinforced with fibers and spiral steel wire for flexibility and safety. The hydraulic actuation system and tube feeding mechanism enable controlled bending and delivery. Object detection of key anatomical features guides the robotic arm and soft actuator. The control strategy involves visual servo control for coordinated robotic arm and soft actuator movements, ensuring accurate and safe tracheal intubation. The kinematics of the soft actuator were established using a constant curvature model, allowing simulation of its workspace. Through experiments, the actuator is capable of 90° bending as well as 20° deflection on the left and right sides. The maximum insertion force of the tube is 2N. Autonomous tracheal intubation experiments on a training manikin were successful in all 10 trials, with an average insertion time of 45.6s. Experimental validation on the manikin demonstrated that the robot tracheal intubation system based on a soft actuator was able to perform safe, stable, and automated tracheal intubation. In summary, this paper proposed a safe and automated robot-assisted tracheal intubation system based on a soft actuator, showing considerable potential for clinical applications.

An Improved Zero-Flowrate Switching Control Method to Reduce Switching Losses in a Hydraulic Actuator

Hydraulic switching actuators are high-efficiency, fast response, and low-cost solutions for hydraulic control systems. One of the challenging problems is throttling losses during valve transitions. Previously, the authors proposed a zero-flowrate switching method to reduce the throttling energy loss of the switching valve, where a hydraulic resonator is applied to make the flowrates through the lines approaching zero before the valves are switched off. The major challenge of this approach is fast switching valves whose transition times are less than 2 ms. In this paper, an improved zero-flowrate switching method is presented. It utilizes the capacity with independent inlet/outlet ports to regulate flowrates through the lines. Models of capacity applied in a simple line with different pressure signals are developed to explore characteristics of the capacity, based on which a complete actuation system is developed. In the complete model, resistance and inductance are optimized to achieve the desired flowrate response. The improved zero-flowrate switching method reduces throttling energy losses by 99.945% compared to a hard switching system. The simulation results demonstrated that the improved zero-flowrate switching method performs as expected in the design condition. A capacity with proper volume is able to regulate flowrates through all the lines to zero, with the help of appropriate resistance and inductance. Compared to the previous zero-flowrate switching method, the novel strategy allows slower switching valves applied in hydraulic actuation systems and achieves better efficiency performance. This research paves a new avenue for reducing throttling energy losses and improves system efficiency in hydraulic switching actuators, as well as most of the hydraulic switch-mode circuits.

Dynamic performance prediction and experimental analysis of wet clutch actuator considering thermal flow characteristics

The hydraulic actuator system (HAS) for wet clutches in heavy-duty vehicle transmissions is required to have a fast response and high precision in the pressure regulation procedure. Conventional pressure control valves for HAS are almost slide spool structures, which perform a large flow force at a high flow rate. An open-center spool structure is designed and developed in this paper, which is a combination of a traditional slide spool and a valve sleeve. It has an orifice-groove combination throttling orifice, which can take into account the large through-flow capacity and small flow force. Firstly, to deeply understand the mechanism of pressure variation in the clutch chamber, a high-fidelity dynamic characteristic mathematical model of HAS considering the oil temperature is proposed. Secondly, the functional relationship between the oil temperature on the medium physical property parameters and the orifice thermal flow parameters in the model is deduced in detail. An experimental bench to measure the pressure valve dynamic performance and actuator pressure regulation characteristics in a wide temperature domain is then designed and implemented to validate the accuracy of the simulation model. Finally, the mechanisms of oil temperature and system pressure on pressure impact and pressure response are quantitatively analyzed in association with a supervised learning algorithm. The feasible domains of the two adjustable variables are also explored. This study provides a new perspective on dynamic control and energy saving of HAS pressure valves and a new method for the prediction of HAS performance under complicated operating conditions.

Maximum Power Point Tracking Control of Offshore Hydraulic Wind Turbine Based on Radial Basis Function Neural Network

A maximum power point tracking control strategy for an affine nonlinear constant displacement pump-variable hydraulic motor actuation system with parameter uncertainty, used within an offshore hydraulic wind turbine, is studied in this paper. First, we used the feedback linearization method to solve the affine nonlinear problem in the system. However, offshore hydraulic wind turbines have strong parameter uncertainty characteristics. This conflict was resolved through the further application of RBF neural network adaptive control theory. So, we combined feedback linearization with RBF adaptive control as the control theory, and then two control laws were compared by setting the pump rate and rating as outputs, respectively. It is shown by the MATLABR2016a/Simulink emulation results that power control is smoother than speed and friendlier for electric networks. It is also shown by the emulation results, in terms of the undulatory wind speed condition, that the feedback linearization–RBF neural network adaptive control strategy has perfect robustness. According to the simulation results, the feedback linearization–RBF neural network adaptive control strategy adopts the RBF neural network to approach complex nonlinear models and solve the parameter uncertainty problem. This control law also avoids the use of feedback linearization control alone, which can result in the system becoming out of control.

Soft Wearable Body-Powered Hydraulic Actuation System for a Prosthetic Finger Design.

Finger and fingertip loss is the most common form of upper-limb amputation. With a focus on amputations involving the loss of distal and/or partial middle finger segments, this paper outlines the design and development of a novel soft body-powered hydraulically-driven actuation system for a prosthetic finger, while offering an in-depth examination of its subsystems. The proposed device utilises a soft wearable hydraulic mechanism to transfer pressure from the proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint of the human finger to the distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint of the prosthetic finger, enabling movement of the soft prosthetic DIP joint. The design parameters of the soft actuator, such as its configuration, constituent material, and volume were analysed through experiments with able-bodied participants. Each participant tried 42 different actuators while flexing their index finger, repeating the task four times, yielding 168 trials per participant. The human and prosthetic finger flexion angles and resultant pressures were measured using an Aurora electromagnetic sensor and a fluid pressure transducer. All data was segmented and analysed. Soft actuator designs were selected through statistical analysis of the material (Agilus 30 and Dragon Skin 30), configuration (chambers located underside or around the PIP joint), and volume. The study demonstrated that the selected soft wearable hydraulic mechanism transferred generated pressure from the participant's PIP joint effectively, enabling movement of the prosthetic digit. Our research contributes to current developments in versatile body-powered prosthetic devices, laying the foundations for broad applications in affordable healthcare devices.

Comparison of hydraulic, pneumatic and electric linear actuation systems

Different applications or industries use different systems for linear actuation, such as hydraulic, pneumatic or electric. Electric systems are becoming increasingly popular and are already replacing hydraulic systems in various applications. These are known to be potentially harmful to the environment, as large amounts of fluid can be released into the environment in the event of a pipe burst or other accident. This paper presents the results of a comparison between hydraulic, pneumatic and electric systems under variable conditions but with similar loads in all three systems. The common feature of all three systems is the input power, which was limited to 1.1 kW. There was no hydraulic accumulator in the hydraulic system and no pressure vessel in the pneumatic system, so no stored energy could influence the system behaviour or results. The main difference between the systems studied was the profile of displacement and power consumption. The most consistent response and lowest power consumption were obtained with the electric system, although both hydraulic and pneumatic systems can achieve consistent response with some modifications.

Predefined-Time and Prescribed-Performance Control Methods Combined with Second-Order Terminal Sliding Mode Control for an Unmanned Planing Hull System with Input Delay and Unknown Disturbance

In this study, we investigate a terminal sliding mode control (TSMC) system combined with predefined-time and prescribed-performance control methods for an unmanned planing hull (UPH) system in the presence of a control input delay at the heading axis and a porpoising motion due to pitching-moment disturbance. A second-order TSMC system is adopted to bypass the unstable heading-angle response of the conventional first-order TSMC system caused by the control input delay of the hydraulic rudder actuator system. Next, predefined-time and prescribed-performance control methods are proposed to enhance the disturbance rejection performance of an uncertain UPH. The results of sequential comparative simulations show that the disturbance rejection performance of the proposed hybrid disturbance rejector using both the predefined-time and prescribed-performance control methods for a porpoising motion is superior to those of conventional controller systems without introducing disturbance observers.

Terminal sliding mode fault‐tolerant control for aviation redundant hydraulic actuation system based on robust fault reconstruction

AbstractThis paper investigates the fault‐tolerant control problem for a dual‐redundant hydraulic actuation system on active/active (A/A) mode subject to servovalve leakage and disturbances. The change in system dynamics caused by servovalve leakage is modeled as an additive time‐varying fault. Then, an enhanced iterative learning observer with improved robustness against abrupt unknown input is designed for fault reconstruction. In view of the high relative degree of the plant, an auxiliary variable is adopted to facilitate the controller design. Combined with the fault reconstruction results, an adaptive continuous nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode (NFTSM) fault‐tolerant controller is developed, in which an NFTSM manifold is constructed based on the auxiliary variable to achieve fast convergence of trajectory tracking errors. An adaptive continuous reaching law with less chattering is designed to compensate for the influence of the lumped disturbance. Lyapunov stability analysis demonstrates that this method can ensure finite‐time convergence of sliding variable and can guarantee the trajectory tracking errors converge to the neighborhood of the origin exponentially. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through a comparative simulation study.

MPC-ESO Position Control Strategy for a Miniature Double-Cylinder Actuator Considering Hose Effects.

Miniature hydraulic actuators are especially suitable for narrow-space and harsh environment arrangement. However, when using thin and long hoses to connect components, the volume expansion caused by pressurized oil inside can have significant adverse effects on the performance of the miniature system. Moreover, the volumetric variation relates to many uncertain factors that are difficult to describe quantitatively. This paper conducted an experiment to test the hose deformation characteristics and presents the Generalized Regression Neural Network (GRNN) to describe the hose behavior. On this basis, a system model of a miniature double-cylinder hydraulic actuation system was established. To decrease the impact of nonlinearity and uncertainty on the system, this paper proposes a Model Predictive Control (MPC) based on Augmented Minimal State-Space (AMSS) model and Extended State Observer (ESO). The extended state space acts as the prediction module model for the MPC, and the disturbance of the ESO estimates is fed to the controller to improve the anti-disturbance capability. The full system model is validated by comparison between the experiment and the simulation. For a miniature double-cylinder hydraulic actuation system, the proposed MPC-ESO control strategy contributes to a better dynamic than conventional MPC and fuzzy-PID. In addition, the position response time can be reduced by 0.5 s and achieves a 4.2% reduction in steady-state error, especially for high-frequency motion. Moreover, the actuation system with MPC-ESO exhibits better performance in suppressing the influence of the load disturbance.

Recent Developments of Actuation Mechanisms for Continuum Robots: A Review.

Traditional rigid robots face significant challenges in congested and tight environments, including bulky size, maneuverability, and safety limitations. Thus, soft continuum robots, inspired by the incredible capabilities of biological appendages such as octopus arms, starfish, and worms, have shown promising performance in complex environments due to their compliance, adaptability, and safety. Different actuation techniques are implemented in soft continuum robots to achieve a smoothly bending backbone, including cable-driven actuators, pneumatic actuators, and hydraulic actuation systems. However, designing and developing efficient actuation mechanisms, motion planning approaches, and control algorithms are challenging due to the high degree of redundancy and non-linearity of soft continuum robots. This article profoundly reviews the merits and drawbacks of soft robots' actuation systems concerning their applications to provide the readers with a brief review reference to explore the recent development of soft robots' actuation mechanisms technology. Moreover, the authors have surveyed the recent review studies in controller design of continuum robots as a guidance for future applications.

An extended state observer-based sliding mode control method for hydraulic servo system of marine stabilized platforms

The marine stabilized platform is a critical apparatus to ensure the stability of offshore equipment and operations with respect to the inertial coordinate system. However, the hydraulic actuating system of the platform is challenging to control due to the severe offshore environment and hydraulic parameter perturbations. Therefore, to improve the stability and anti-disturbance performance of the hydraulic actuators on the marine stabilized platform, an extended state observer-based sliding mode control (ESO-SMC) method is proposed in the paper. We first analyze the kinematic model of the platform and the dynamic model of the hydraulic servo system. Then, ESO-SMC is designed, and its stability is verified. The novel Marine Predator Algorithm (MPA) is used to optimize the parameters in ESO-SMC design. Simulation is performed in MATLAB/Simulink using an engineering ship model and a stabilized platform model on the ship. Compared with the traditional Sliding Mode Control (SMC), Velocity Feedforward PID (VFPID), and PID methods, ESO-SMC performs best in resisting external wave load disturbances and flow gain parameter perturbations. In conclusion, ESO-SMC is a reliable control approach for enhancing the anti-interference performance of the hydraulic servo system on marine stabilized platforms in the simulation.

Energy-Efficient Hydraulic Pump Control for Legged Robots Using Model Predictive Control

Hydraulic actuating system exhibits potential for legged robots to achieve highly agile dynamic movement because of their high power-to-weight ratio. However, the low energy efficiency of the hydraulic system can reduce the operating time and cause heat dissipation. In this article, an optimal control framework based on the model predictive control (MPC) is proposed to improve energy efficiency and provide robust supply of pressure required for robot tasks. The MPC includes the power loss function and supply pressure regularization term as the cost function and limitation on the pump speed and acceleration as the constraints. When implemented to the hydraulic biped robot, LIGHT, the proposed method allows legged robots to achieve the commanded motion without losing balance while minimizing energy consumption. The energy saving performance of the proposed method with MPC is also validated via simulation and experiment.

Research of Comprehensive Modeling of Two-Dimensional Vector Nozzle/Actuator Load/Turbofan Engine

To investigate the effect of the dynamic deflection process of a two-dimensional vector nozzle on its actuator load and engine performance, a comprehensive modeling method of two-dimensional vector nozzle/actuator load/turbofan engine is proposed. Firstly, based on the two-dimensional vector nozzle spatial motion model, combined with force and moment analysis, the mechanical model of vector nozzle actuation system is established; The load spectrum of the actuating system under different working conditions and deflection angles is obtained by CFD numerical simulation results; Using AMESim, the hydraulic actuation system model of two-dimensional vector nozzle is established. Finally, a two-dimensional vector nozzle/actuator/turbofan engine comprehensive model is established based on the component-level model of turbofan engine. The comprehensive model can accurately calculate the changes of main performance parameters such as engine rotor speed, thrust and pre-turbine temperature when the nozzle vector deflects. The simulation results show that the load on the nozzle actuator is positively correlated with the deflection angle, and the load change will lead to the fluctuation of the output displacement of the hydraulic actuation system. During vector deflection, due to the change of engine circulation capacity and thrust coefficient, the performance parameters such as engine low-pressure rotor speed and surge margin fluctuate greatly.

Observer-based motion axis control for hydraulic actuation systems

Unknown dynamics including mismatched mechanical dynamics (i.e., parametric uncertainties, unmodeled friction and external disturbances) and matched actuator dynamics (i.e., pressure and flow characteristic uncertainties) broadly exist in hydraulic actuation systems (HASs), which can hinder the achievement of high-precision motion axis control. To surmount the practical issue, an observer-based control framework with a simple structure and low computation is developed for HASs. First, a simple observer is utilized to estimate mismatched and matched unknown dynamics for feedforward compensation. Then combining the backstepping design and adaptive control, an appropriate observer-based composite controller is provided, in which nonlinear feedback terms with updated gains are adopted to further improve the tracking accuracy. Moreover, a smooth nonlinear filter is introduced to shun the “explosion of complexity” and attenuate the impact of sensor noise on control performance. As a result, this synthesized controller is more suitable for practical use. Stability analysis uncovers that the developed controller assures the asymptotic convergence of the tracking error. The merits of the proposed approach are validated via comparative experiment results applied in an HAS with an inertial load as well.

Constrained Optimization of a Hydraulic Actuation System

Operators of mobile platforms that employ hydraulic actuation, such as excavators, seek more efficient power transfer from source to load. Pump-controlled architectures achieve greater efficiency than valve-controlled architectures but exhibit poor tracking performance. We present a system-design optimization technique that ensures compliance with design requirements and minimizes peak input power, which correlates inversely with efficiency. We utilize the optimization technique to size a valve-controlled hydraulically actuated stabilized mount on a mobile platform. Our optimization framework accounts for the disturbance spectrum, a stabilization performance measure, the system dynamics, and control system design. Our technique features automated requirement derivation in the form of a parameter estimation, which supports design decisions under constraints. Our results show that one of four inequality constraints is active. This constraint represents a common design rule and results in limiting efficiency. We show that relaxing this constraint is practically feasible and leads to higher efficiency in achieving the required performance. We propose adding an inerter to justify the relaxed constraint and present the resulting open-loop servo transfer function.

Modeling and bifurcation analysis of a hydraulic actuator system with different valve spool geometry

The valve spools of hydraulic actuator systems are usually designed into various geometries to achieve different flow characters. Because of the coupling nonlinear flow rate-pressure character and dynamic motion of the valve spool, self-excited vibration can happen in some working conditions of the system, which can lead to unexpected dynamic performance. The object of this paper is to investigate the stability of a hydraulic system with three different spool geometries, a normal sharp edge spool, a spool with chamfer, and a spool with u shape notches. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of flow force and flow rate under different pressure difference and valve openings are proposed to obtain the pressure-flow characters of flow field inside the valves with different spool geometries. A nonlinear dynamic model of the actuator system dynamics is established basing on the CFD results of pressure control valve and the system. Numerical Bifurcation analyses are carried out to study the effect of spool geometries on the bifurcation point of the system. Simulation results suggest that the spool geometries can affect the flow characters of the valve and decrease the stable region of the parameter plane.