Dynamics of electromagnetic slip coupling for hydraulic power steering application and its energy-saving characteristics

To improve high-speed road feel and enhance energetic efficiency of hydraulic power steering(HPS) system in heavy-duty vehicles, an electromagnetic slip coupling(ESC) was applied to the steering system, which regulated discharge flow of steering pump to realize variable assist characteristic as well as uniquely transfer on-demand power from engine to steering pump. The model of ESC was established and the dynamic characteristics of ESC were presented by the way of simulation and experiment. Upon the layout of the assist characteristics, output torque of ESC was derived. Based on the ESC model, the output torque characteristics of ESC were simulated under steering situation and straight driving situation, respectively. The consistency of simulated ESC output torque and the one deduced from assist characteristics verifies the correctness of the ESC dynamic model. To illustrate energy saving characteristics of ESC-HPS, energy consumption comparison of ESC-HPS and conventional HPS was carried out qualitatively and quantitatively. It follows that the energy consumption of ESC-HPS decreases by 50% compared with that of HPS.

Dynamic characteristics of hydraulic power steering system with accumulator in load-haul-dump vehicle

Using hydraulic power steering system of model EIMCO 922 load-haul-dump vehicle as a simulation example, the dynamic characteristics of hydraulic power steering system in load-haul-dump vehicle were simulated and discussed with SIMULINK software and hydraulic control theory. The results show that the dynamic characteristics of hydraulic power steering system are improved obviously by using bladder accumulator, the hydraulic power steering system of model EIMCO 922 load-haul-dump vehicle generates vibration at the initial stage under the normal steering condition of pulse input, and its static response time is 0.25 s shorter than that without bladder accumulator. Under the normal steering working condition, the capacity of steering accumulator for absorbing pulse is directly proportional to the cross section area of connecting pipeline, and inversely proportional to the length of connecting pipeline. At the same time, the precharge pressure of nitrogen in steering accumulator should be 60%80% of the rated minimum working pressure of hydraulic power steering system. Under the abnormal steering working condition, the steering cylinder piston may obtain higher motion velocity, and the dynamic response velocity of hydraulic power steering system can be increased by reducing the pressure drop of hydraulic pipelines between the accumulator and steering cylinder and by increasing the rated pressure of hydraulic power steering system, but the dynamic characteristics of hydraulic power steering system in load-haul-dump vehicle have nothing to do with the precharge pressure of nitrogen in steering accumulator.

LVP Modeling and Dynamic Characteristics Prediction of A Hydraulic Power Unit in Deep-Sea

A hydraulic power unit （HPU） is the driving ＂heart＂ of deep-sea working equipment. It is critical to predict its dynamic performances in deep-water before being immerged in the seawater, while the experimental tests by simulating deep-sea environment have many disadvantages, such as expensive cost, long test cycles, and difficult to achieve low-temperature simulation, which is only used as a supplementary means for confirmatory experiment. This paper proposes a novel theoretical approach based on the linear varying parameters （LVP） modeling to foresee the dynamic performances of the driving unit. Firstly, based on the varying environment features, dynamic expressions of the compressibility and viscosity of hydranlic oil are derived to reveal the fluid performances changing. Secondly, models of hydraulic system and electrical system are accomplished respectively through studying the control process and energy transfer, and then LVP models of the pressure and flow rate control is obtained through the electro-hydraulic models integration. Thirdly, dynamic characteristics of HPU are obtained by the model simulating within bounded closed sets of varying parameters. Finally, the developed HPU is tested in a deep-sea imitating hull, and the experimental results are well consistent with the theoretical analysis outcomes, which clearly declare that the LVP modeling is a rational way to foresee dynamic performances of HPU. The research approach and model analysis results can be applied to the predictions of working properties and product designs for other deep-sea hydraulic pump.

Control of Hydraulic Power System by Mixed Neural Network PID in Unmanned Walking Platform

To speedily regulate and precisely control a hydraulic power system in a unmanned walking platform(UWP),based on the brief analysis of digital PID and its shortcomings,dual control parameters in a hydraulic power system are given for the precision requirement,and a control strategy for dual relative control parameters in the dual loop PID is put forward,a load and throttle rotation-speed response model for variable pump and gasoline engine is provided according to a physical process,a simplified neural network structure PID is introduced,and formed mixed neural network PID(MNN PID)to control rotation speed of engine and pressure of variable pump,calculation using the back propagation(BP)algorithm and a self-adapted learning step is made,including a mathematic principle and a calculation flow scheme,the BP algorithm of neural network PID is trained and the control effect of system is simulated in Matlab environment,real control effects of engine rotation speed and variable pump pressure are verified in the experimental bench.Results show that algorithm effect of MNN PID is stable and MNN PID can meet the adjusting requirement of control parameters.

Hydraulic Power Take-off and Buoy Geometries Charac-terisation for a Wave Energy Converter

In the past few decades, world energy consumption grew considerably. Regarding this fact, wave energy should not be discarded as a valid alternative for the production of electricity. Devices suitable to harness this kind of renewable energy source and turn it into electricity are not yet commercially competitive. The work described in this paper aims to contribute to this field of research. It is focused on the design and construction of robust, simple and affordable hydraulic Power Take-Off using hydraulic commercial components.

Full Power Hydraulic Brake System Based on Double Pipelines for Heavy Vehicles

The hydraulic caliper disc brake system with air-over-oil is widely adopted at present for heavy vehicles,which makes use of air pressure system propelling the hydraulic pressure system acting on friction plates divided and combined for braking.There are some disadvantages such as pneumatic components failure,dust polluted and produce lots of heat in hydraulic caliper disc brake system.Moreover,considering the demands of the high speed,heavy weight,heavy load and fast brake of heavy vehicles,the full power hydraulic brake system based on double pipelines for heavy vehicles is designed and analyzed in this paper.The scheme of the full power hydraulic brake system,in which the triloculare cylinder is controlled by dual brake valve,is adopted in the brake system.The full power hydraulic brake system can accomplish steering brake,parking brake and emergent brake for heavy vehicles.Furthermore,electronic control system that is responsible for coordinating the work of hydraulic decelerator and hydraulic brake system is developed for different speed brakes.Based on the analysis of the influence of composed unit and connecting pipeline on braking performance,the nonlinear mathematic model is established for the full power hydraulic brake system.The braking completion time and braking pressure in braking performance of the double-pipeline steering brake and parking brake are discussed by means of simulation experiments based on Matlab/Simulink,and the simulation results prove that the braking performance of steering brake and parking brake meets the designing requirement of the full power hydraulic brake system.Moreover,the test-bed experiments of the brake system for heavy vehicles are carried out.The experimental data prove that the braking performance achieves the goal of the design,and that the full power hydraulic brake system based on double pipelines can effectively enhance braking performance,ensure braking reliability and security for heavy vehicles.

GAS AND OIL POWER DISTRIBUTION RATIO OF A NEW HYDRAULIC BREAKER

The working principle of a new hydraulic breaker operated jointly by gas and hydraulic flow which has a reasonable structure, high efficiency and long piston life-span, is analyzed, and the optimal power distribution ratio of the sealed nitrogen gas to the high-pressure oil in the process of piston impacting is studied. Through theoretical analysis, optimization simulation and detailed calculation, it is determined that the impact system has optimal mechanical performance and highest efficiency when the distribution ratio φ is between 0.3 and 0.5. The theoretical result is also verified by repeated tests.

Object-oriented CAD for Hydraulic Circuits of Pressing Machines

This paper describes the design and implementation of an intelligent computer-aided design (ICAD) system for hydraulic circuits of pressing machines. The CAD system is developed based on the object-oriented approach. The application domain of hydraulic presses has been studied thoroughly. The engineering data and the design knowledge are organized in an object-oriented database. A case study has been selected to illustrate the usefulness of the object-oriented CAD system in real applications.

Connection Technology of HPTO Type WECs and DC Nano Grid in Island

Wave energy fluctuating a great deal endangers the security of power grid especially micro grid in island. A DC nano grid supported by batteries is proposed to smooth the output power of wave energy converters（WECs）. Thus, renewable energy converters connected to DC grid is a new subject. The characteristics of WECs are very important to the connection technology of HPTO type WECs and DC nano grid. Hydraulic power take-off system（HPTO） is the core unit of the largest category of WECs, with the functions of supplying suitable damping for a WEC to absorb wave energy, and converting captured wave energy to electricity. The HPTO is divided into a hydraulic energy storage system（HESS） and a hydraulic power generation system（HPGS）. A primary numerical model for the HPGS is established in this paper. Three important basic characteristics of the HPGS are deduced, which reveal how the generator load determines the HPGS rotation rate. Therefore, the connector of HPTO type WEC and DC nano grid would be an uncontrollable rectifier with high reliability, also would be a controllable power converter with high efficiency, such as interleaved boost converter-IBC. The research shows that it is very flexible to connect to DC nano grid for WECs, but bypass resistance loads are indispensable for the security of WECs.

Research on Energy Conversion System of Floating Wave Energy Converter

A wave power device includes an energy harvesting system and a power take-off system. The power take-off system of a floating wave energy device is the key that converts wave energy into other forms. A set of hydraulic power take-off system, which suits for the floating wave energy devices, includes hydraulic system and power generation system. The hydraulic control system uses a special“self-hydraulic control system”to control hydraulic system to release or save energy under the maximum and the minimum pressures. The maximum pressure is enhanced to 23 MPa, the minimum to 9 MPa. Quite a few experiments show that the recent hydraulic system is evidently improved in efficiency and reliability than our previous one, that is expected to be great significant in the research and development of our prototype about wave energy conversion.

Based on the PLC technology automation design of on-board pump station oil temperature control system

Vehicle hydraulic pump station, often work environment is poor, the environment temperature difference is very big, the natureof the hydraulic oil is affected by temperature is very big, a lot of damage, PLC automatic control scheme and design of pumping station, the oiltemperature automatic control system realized the automation of the oil temperature control, greatly improving the pump station of the outdoorenvironment to adapt to the performance.

Flux enhancement during ultrafiltration of produced water using turbulence promoter

Concentration polarization and membrane fouling remain one of the major hurdles for the implementation of ultrafiltration of produced water. Although many applications for ultrafiltration were already suggested, only few were implemented on an industrial scale. Among those techniques, turbulence promoter can be more simple and effective in overcoming membrane fouling and enhancing membrane flux. As for the result that turbulence promoter increase fluid velocity, wall shear rates and produce secondary flows or instabilities, the influence of turbulence promoter was investigated on permeate flux during produced water ultrafiltration and the potential application of this arrangement for an industrial development. Experimental investigations were performed on 100 KDa molecular weight cut-off PVDF single-channel tubular membrane module using four kinds of turbulence promoters. It is observed that the significant flux enhancement in the range of 83%--164% was achieved while the hydraulic dissipated power per unit volume of permeate decreased from 31%--42%, which indicated that the using of turbulence promoter is more efficient than operation without the turbulence promoter. The effects of transmembrane pressure and cross-flow velocity with and without turbulence promoter were studied as well. Among the four kinds of turbulence promoters, winding inserts with 20.0 mm pitch and 1.0 mm wire diameter showed better performances than the others did.

Influence of Flow Regime on the Vegetation Zonation along Mountain Streams in the Western Cape, South Africa

Zonation patterns of riparian vegetation have been sampled and described in mountain streams in two catchments in the Hottentots-Holland Mountains, Western Cape, South Africa. Six main vegetation types that differ in structure and species composition, are dominant along these river banks: Aquatic vegetation, Wetbanks, Palmiet, Scrub, Forest and Shrubland(Fynbos). The study aims to correlate the vegetation patterns to flooding patterns, in particular the inundation frequency and stream power. A problem arises: because these catchments are ungauged, like most mountain catchments, with the only weirs at the downstream end of the catchment. Discharge data at the weirs are extrapolated to the sites upstream by multiplication with a factor based on the size of the subcatchment that drains through a sample site. In this way, recurrence intervals for floods in mountain streams are derived. Discharges at sites are also calculated using bed roughness(Manning's n) and slope in straight sections with uniform flow conditions. Stream power is derived from the discharges calculated in this manner. The combination of stream power and recurrence intervals explains the occurrence of most vegetation types occurring on the banks, except for one type: Afromontane Forest. This type is probably more dependent on other factors, such as protection from fire and the depth of the groundwater table.

Tidal current turbine based on hydraulic transmission system

Tidal current turbines(TCTs) are newly developed electricity generating devices.Aiming at the stabilization of the power output of TCTs,this paper introduces the hydraulic transmission technologies into TCTs.The hydrodynamics of the turbine was analyzed at first and its power output characteristics were predicted.A hydraulic power transmission system and a hydraulic pitch-controlled system were designed.Then related simulations were conducted.Finally,a TCT prototype was manufactured and tested in the workshop.The test results have confirmed the correctness of the current design and availability of installation of the hydraulic system in TCTs.