Investigation into the Independent Metering Control Performance of a Twin Spools Valve with Switching Technology-controlled Pilot Stage

In hydraulic area,independent metering control(IMC)technology is an effective approach to improve system efficiency and control flexibility.In addition,digital hydraulic technology(DHT)has been verified as a reasonable method to optimize system dynamic performance.Integrating these two technologies into one component can combine their advantages together.However,few works focused on it.In this paper,a twin spools valve with switching technologycontrolled pilot stage(TSVSP)is presented,which applied DHT into its pilot stage while appending IMC into its main stage.Based on this prototype valve,a series of numerical and experiment analysis of its IMC performance with both simulated load and excavator boom cylinder are carried out.Results showed fast and robust performance of pressure and flow compound control with acceptable fluctuation phenomenon caused by switching technology.Rising time of flow response in excavator cylinder can be controlled within 200 ms,meanwhile,the recovery time of rod chamber pressure under suddenly changed condition is optimized within 250 ms.IMC system based on TSVSP can improve both dynamic performance and robust characteristics of the target actuator so it is practical in valve-cylinder system and can be applied in mobile machineries.

Energy Efficient Thermal Comfort Control for Residential Building Based on Nonlinear EMPC

For purpose of achieving the desired thermal comfort level and reducing the economic cost of maintaining the thermal comfort of green residential building,an energy efficient thermal comfort control strategy based on economic model predictive control(EMPC)for green residential buildings which adopts household heat metering is presented.Firstly,the nonlinear thermal comfort model of heating room is analyzed and obtained.A practical nonlinear thermal comfort prediction model is obtained by using an approximation method.Then,the economic cost function and optimization problem of energy-saving under the necessary thermal comfort requirements are constructed to realize the optimal economic performance of the dynamic process.The energy efficient thermal comfort MPC(EETCMPC)is designed.Finally,the comparison and analysis between EETCMPC and Double-layer Model Predictive Control(DMPC)is simulated.The simulation results reveal that when the clothing insulation is typical,the energy efficiency of EETCMPC is 8.9%and 11.6%,respectively,in the two simulation scenarios.When the clothing insulation varies with temperature,the energy efficiency of EETCMPC is 7.29%and 9.15%,respectively,and the total energy consumption is reduced by about 1.65%and 14.6%,respectively,compared with the typical clothing insulation.The economic performance is improved in the thermal comfort dynamic process of heating room.

An integrated approach for dynamic traffic routing and ramp metering using sliding mode control

The problem of designing integrated traffic control strategies for highway networks with the use of route guidance, ramp metering is considered. The highway network is simulated using a first order macroscopic model called LWR model which is a mathematical traffic flow model that formulates the relationships among traffic flow characteristics in terms of density, flow, and mean speed of the traffic stream. An integrated control algorithm is designed to solve the proposed problem, based on the inverse control technique and variable structure control（super twisting sliding mode）. Three case studies have been tested in the presence of an on-ramp at each alternate route and where there is a capacity constraint in the network. In the first case study, there is no capacity constraint at either upstream or downstream of the alternate routes and the function of the proposed algorithm is only to balance the traffic flow on the alternate routes. In the second case study, there is capacity constraint at downstream of alternate routes. The proposed algorithm aims to avoid congestion on the main road and balance the traffic flow on the alternate routes. In the last case study, there is capacity constraint at upstream of alternate routes. The objective of proposed algorithm is to avoid congestion on the main road and to balance the traffic flow on the alternate routes. The obtained results show that the proposed algorithms can establish user equilibrium between two alternate routes even when the on-ramps, located at alternate routes, have different traffic demands.