Influence of Magnetic Reluctances of Magnetic Elements on Servo Valve Torque Motors

The current research of electro-hydraulic servo valves mainly focuses on the vibration, pressure oscillating and source of noise. Unfortunately, literatures relating to the study of the influence of the magnetic reluctances of the magnetic elements are rarely available. This paper aims to analyze the influence of the magnetic reluctances of the magnetic elements on torque motor. Considering these magnetic reluctances ignored in previous literatures, a new mathematical model of servo valve torque motor is developed and proposed based on the fundamental laws of electromagnetism. By using this new mathematical model and the previous models, electromagnetic torque constant and magnetic spring stiffness are evaluated for a given set of torque motor parameters. A computer simulation by using AMESim software is also performed for the same set of torque motor parameters to verify the proposed model. The theoretical results of electromagnetic torque constant and magnetic spring stiffness evaluated by the proposed model render closer agreement with the simulation results than those evaluated by the previous models. In addition, an experimental measurement of the magnetic flux densities in the air-gaps is carried out by using SFL218 servo valve torque motor. Compared with the theoretical results of the magnetic flux densities in the air-gaps evaluated by the previous models, the theoretical results evaluated by the proposed model also show better agreement with the experimental data. The proposed model shows the influence of the magnetic reluctances of the magnetic elements on the servo valve torque motor, and offers modified and analytical expressions to electromagnetic torque constant and magnetic spring stiffness. These modified and analytical expressions could provide guidance more accurately for a linear control design approach and sensitivity analysis on electro-hydraulic servo valves than the previous expressions.

A seventh-order model for dynamic response of an electro-hydraulic servo valve

In this paper, taking two degrees of freedom on the armature–flapper assembly into account, a seventh-order model is deduced and proposed for the dynamic response of a two-stage electro-hydraulic servo valve from nonlinear equations. These deductions are based on fundamental laws of electromagnetism, fluid, and general mechanics. The coefficients of the proposed seventhorder model are derived in terms of servo valve physical parameters and fluid properties explicitly.For validating the results of the proposed model, an AMESim simulation model based on physical laws and the existing low-order models validated by other researchers through experiments are used to compare with the seventh-order model. The results show that the seventh-order model can reflect the physical behavior of the servo valve more explicitly than the existing low-order models and it could provide guidance more easily for a linear control design approach and sensitivity analysis than the AMESim simulation model.