Single-rod Hydraulic Actuators Research Articles

Design and implementation of a nonlinear robust controller based on the disturbance observer for the active spray boom suspension

Spray boom vibrations are one of the main causes of the uneven distribution of agrochemicals. Using active suspension to maintain the correct height of nozzles is critical for obtaining a uniform spray pattern and minimizing the possibility of spray drift. However, the electro-hydraulic active pendulum boom suspension has nonlinear uncertain factors such as parameter uncertainties, external disturbances, model error, etc., which complicate the design of the controller. Therefore, this paper proposes a nonlinear robust feedback control method with disturbances compensation, which integrates a robust controller and disturbance observers through the backstepping method. Initially, to verify the performance of the controller, the Lyapunov stability theory is used to prove that the proposed controller can guarantee the given transient performance and the final tracking accuracy. Furthermore, taking the active suspension of a 28 m wide boom driven by a single-rod hydraulic actuator as an implementation case, the proposed NRCDC controller was compared with a variety of control schemes through a rapid control prototype of a pendulum active suspension. Finally, the proposed control scheme is implemented on a self-propelled sprayer with a boom of 12 m in length. The field test results show that all the performance indicators of the NRCDC controller are better than the other three conventional controllers. Both laboratory and field tests have verified the effectiveness and high performance of the proposed controller. Keywords: robust control, sprayer boom, boom suspension, hydraulic control system, disturbance observer DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20231601.7007 Citation: Cui L F, Xue X Y, Kong W, Ding S M, Gu W, Le F X. Design and implementation of a nonlinear robust controller based on the disturbance observer for the active spray boom suspension. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2023; 16(1): 153–161.

The Cavitation Issue in Asymmetrical Axial-Piston Pumps

Abstract Pump-controlled single-rod hydraulic actuators have long been the subject of intensive research toward building valve-less, more efficient systems. The main challenge is to deal with the uneven flows into and out of the differential cylinders. Over the past few years, several hydraulic circuits providing flow compensation have been proposed using hydrostatic pumps with identical input and output flows. However, one alternative solution would be to use a pump, whose input/output flow ratio matches the area ratio of the differential cylinder. Typical design and prototyping of the so-called asymmetrical pumps have been well reported previously. In this paper, we theoretically study the flow behavior in a common design of asymmetrical axial-piston pumps and demonstrate some serious internal flow characteristics that can drastically limit the performance and range of operation of these pumps. Cavitation is the main problem to be addressed, and cannot be overlooked because of the very nature of the pump design.

A Lyapunov Stable Controller for Bilateral Haptic Teleoperation of Single-Rod Hydraulic Actuators Subjected to Base Disturbance

In this paper, a control scheme is developed and evaluated for stable bilateral haptic teleoperation of a single-rod hydraulic actuator subjected to base disturbance. The proposed controller, based on Lyapunov stability technique, is capable of reducing position errors at master and slave sides, and provides a feel of the contact force between the actuator and the task environment to the operator without a need for direct measurement. The controller requires only the measurements of the actuator line pressures and displacements of the master and slave. The system stability is insensitive to the uncertainties of the physical parameters and of the measurement of the base point motion. Stability of the proposed controller incorporating hydraulic nonlinearities and operator dynamics with an estimated upper value for the base disturbance is analytically proven. Simulation studies validate that the proposed control system is stable while interacting with a task environment. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of control scheme in maintaining stability, while having good position tracking by the hydraulic actuator as well as providing a haptic feel to the operator without direct measurement of interaction force, while the hydraulic actuator is subjected to base disturbance.

Mapping the Efficiency of a Double Acting, Single-Rod Hydraulic-Actuator Using a Critically Centered Four-Way Spool Valve and a Load-Sensing Pump

In this paper, an efficiency map is created for a double-acting, single-rod hydraulic-actuator using a critically centered four-way spool valve and a load-sensing pump. The purpose of this research is to provide an understanding of the performance of a valve-controlled hydraulic actuator under all operating conditions. This paper considers a four-quadrant set of operating conditions, where each quadrant represents a different combination of actuator retraction or extension and overrunning or resistive loading. This four-quadrant efficiency map is the first presentation of its kind in the literature, and clearly demonstrates the performance characteristics and limitations for this hydraulic system. For its most common operation of an actuator extending under a resistive load, the map shows that this system can operate at over 82% efficiency and can move large loads. The map also shows physical limitations for the system, such as maximum pressure limits, maximum displacement limits, and valve limits. The efficiency map is plotted in nondimensional form, which presents the most general understanding of system performance and also allows dimensional values to be reconstructed for a similar system of any size.

A Lyapunov Stable Controller for Bilateral Haptic Teleoperation of Single-Rod Hydraulic Actuators

A Lyapunov stable control scheme is designed and implemented for bilateral haptic teleoperation of a single-rod hydraulic actuator. The proposed controller is capable of reducing position errors at master and slave sides, as well as perceiving the interaction force between the actuator and the task environment without a need for direct measurement of force. The controller only requires the actuator's line pressures and displacements of the master and slave. Stability of the proposed controller incorporating hydraulic nonlinearities and operator dynamics is analytically proven. Simulation studies demonstrate that the proposed system can reach an equilibrium point while interacting with an environment exhibiting stiffness. Experimental results confirm that the controller is able to effectively maintain stability, while having good position tracking by the hydraulic actuator as well as perceiving the contact force between the actuator and the task environment without direct measurement. This kind of haptic feedback force is a suitable choice for applications where mounting a force sensor at the end-effector is not feasible, such as excavators and backhoes. This work contributes to enhancing the operator's ability to perform stable haptic-enabled teleoperation of hydraulic manipulators.

Control of spool position of on/off solenoid operated hydraulic valve by sliding-mode controller

The use of on/off solenoid operated hydraulic valves instead of proportional valves has been attracting the interest of many researchers and engineers. However, there exist difficulties in controlling the on/off valve because of highly nonlinear characteristics including hysteresis and saturation. This paper considers the application of on/off solenoid operated hydraulic valves to control position of a hydraulic cylinder with the aim of evaluating, feasibility and practicability of their implementation and understanding the potential benefits when they are used in existing hydraulic systems. Assuming that only the current is measured, a sliding mode observer is designed to estimate the spool position and velocity. To alleviate the aforementioned difficulties in controlling the spool position, a nonlinear observer-based controller of an on/off solenoid valve is designed, taking into account the estimated values, based on a nonlinear model including hysteresis and saturation. The control objective is to track a desired spool trajectory. Simulation and experimental results illustrate the efficiency of the designed controller. The proposed controller is validated again in a single-rod hydraulic actuator. Experimental results show that the fluid flow through the valve orifice by controlling the spool position was successfully controlled.

Internal Leakage Fault Detection and Tolerant Control of Single-Rod Hydraulic Actuators

The integration of internal leakage fault detection and tolerant control for single-rod hydraulic actuators is present in this paper. Fault detection is a potential technique to provide efficient condition monitoring and/or preventive maintenance, and fault tolerant control is a critical method to improve the safety and reliability of hydraulic servo systems. Based on quadratic Lyapunov functions, a performance-oriented fault detection method is proposed, which has a simple structure and is prone to implement in practice. The main feature is that, when a prescribed performance index is satisfied (even a slight fault has occurred), there is no fault alarmed; otherwise (i.e., a severe fault has occurred), the fault is detected and then a fault tolerant controller is activated. The proposed tolerant controller, which is based on the parameter adaptive methodology, is also prone to realize, and the learning mechanism is simple since only the internal leakage is considered in parameter adaptation and thus the persistent exciting (PE) condition is easily satisfied. After the activation of the fault tolerant controller, the control performance is gradually recovered. Simulation results on a hydraulic servo system with both abrupt and incipient internal leakage fault demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed fault detection and tolerant control method.

Robust control of an electro-hydraulic proportional speed control system with a single-rod hydraulic actuator

A robust control algorithm is proposed to focus on the non-linearity and parameters'uncertainties of an electro-hydraulic proportional speed control system (EHPSCS) with a single-rod hydraulic actuator. The robust controller proposed does not need to design stable compensator in advance, is simple in design and has large scope of uncertainty applications. The feedback gains of the robust controller proposed are small, so it is easily implemented in engineering applications.Experimental research on the speed control under the different conditions is carried out for an EHPSCS. Experimental results show that the robust controller proposed has better robustness subject to parametric uncertainties, and adaptability of parameters' variation of control system itself and plant parameter variation.

Adaptive robust motion control of single-rod hydraulic actuators: theory and experiments

High-performance robust motion control of single-rod hydraulic actuators with constant unknown inertia load is considered. The two chambers of a single-rod actuator have different areas, so the dynamic equations describing the pressure changes in them cannot be combined into a single load pressure equation. This complicates controller design since it not only increases the system dimension but also brings in the stability issue of the added internal dynamics. A discontinuous projection-based adaptive robust controller (ARC) is constructed. The controller takes into account not only the effect of parameter variations coming from the inertia load and various hydraulic parameters but also the effect of hard-to-model nonlinearities such as uncompensated friction forces and external disturbances. It guarantees a prescribed output tracking transient performance and final tracking accuracy in general while achieving asymptotic output tracking in the presence of parametric uncertainties. In addition, the zero error dynamics for tracking any nonzero constant velocity trajectory is shown to be globally uniformly stable. Experimental results are obtained for the swing motion control of a hydraulic arm and verify the high-performance nature of the proposed strategy. In comparison to a state-of-the-art industrial motion controller, the proposed algorithm achieves more than a magnitude reduction of tracking errors. Furthermore, during the constant velocity portion of the motion, it reduces the tracking errors almost down to the measurement resolution level.

Adaptive Robust Motion Control of Electra-Hydraulic Servo Systems Driven by Single-Rod Actuators

This paper studies the high performance robust motion control of electro-hydraulic servo systems driven by single-rod actuators. In contrast to the double-rod hydraulic actuators studied previously, the two chambers of a single-rod hydraulic actuator have different areas. As a result, the dynamic equations describing the pressure changes in the two chambers cannot be combined into a single load pressure equation. This complicates the controller design since it not only increases the dimension of the system to be dealt with but also brings in the stability issue of the added internal dynamics. An adaptive robust controller based on discontinuous projection method is constructed. The resulting controller is able to take into account not only the effect of parametric uncertainties coming from the inertia load and various hydraulic parameters but also the effect of uncertain nonlinearities such as uncompensated friction forces and external disturbances. Non-differentiability of the inherent nonlinearities associated with hydraulic dynamics is carefully examined and addressing strategies are provided. The controller guarantees a prescribed transient performance and final tracking accuracy in the presence of both parametric uncertainties and uncertain nonlinearities while achieving asymptotic tracking in the presence of parametric uncertainties.