Impact of Typical Steady-state Conditions and Transient Conditions on Flow Ripple and Its Test Accuracy for Axial Piston Pump

The current research about the flow ripple of axial piston pump mainly focuses on the effect of the structure of parts on the flow ripple. Therein, the structure of parts are usually designed and optimized at rated working conditions. However, the pump usually has to work in large-scale and time-variant working conditions. Therefore, the flow ripple characteristics of pump and analysis for its test accuracy with respect to variant steady-state conditions and transient conditions in a wide range of operating parameters are focused in this paper. First, a simulation model has been constructed, which takes the kinematics of oil film within friction pairs into account for higher accuracy. Afterwards, a test bed which adopts Secondary Source Method is built to verify the model. The simulation and tests results show that the angular position of the piston, corresponding to the position where the peak flow ripple is produced, varies with the different pressure. The pulsating amplitude and pulsation rate of flow ripple increase with the rise of pressure and the variation rate of pressure. For the pump working at a constant speed, the flow pulsation rate decreases dramatically with the increasing speed when the speed is less than 27.78% of the maximum speed, subsequently presents a small decrease tendency with the speed further increasing. With the rise of the variation rate of speed, the pulsating amplitude and pulsation rate of flow ripple increase. As the swash plate angle augments, the pulsating amplitude of flow ripple increases, nevertheless the flow pulsation rate decreases. In contrast with the effect of the variation of pressure, the test accuracy of flow ripple is more sensitive to the variation of speed. It makes the test accuracy above 96.20% available for the pulsating amplitude of pressure deviating within a range of ~6% from the mean pressure. However, with a variation of speed deviating within a range of ±2% from the mean speed, the attainable test accuracy of flow ripple is above 93.07%. The model constructed in this research proposes a method to determine the flow ripple characteristics of pump and its attainable test accuracy under the large-scale and time-variant working conditions. Meanwhile, a discussion about the variation of flow ripple and its obtainable test accuracy with the conditions of the pump working in wide operating ranges is given as well.

Present Status and Prospect of High-Frequency Electro-hydraulic Vibration Control Technology

Electro-hydraulic vibration equipment(EHVE)is widely used in vibration environment simulation tests,such as vehicles,weapons,ships,aerospace,nuclear industries and seismic waves replication,etc.,due to its large output power,displacement and thrust,as well as good workload adaptation and multi-controllable parameters.Based on the domestic and overseas development of high-frequency EHVE,dividing them into servo-valve controlled vibration equipment and rotary-valve controlled vibration equipment.The research status and progress of high-frequency electro-hydraulic vibration control technology(EHVCT)are discussed,from the perspective of vibration waveform control and vibration controller.The problems of current electro-hydraulic vibration system bandwidth and waveform distortion control,stability control,offset control and complex vibration waveform generation in high-frequency vibration conditions are pointed out.Combining the existing rotary-valve controlled high-frequency electro-hydraulic vibration method,a new twin-valve independently controlled high-frequency electro-hydraulic vibration method is proposed to break through the limitations of current electro-hydraulic vibration technology in terms of system frequency bandwidth and waveform distortion.The new method can realize independent adjustment and control of vibration waveform frequency,amplitude and offset under high-frequency vibration conditions,and provide a new idea for accurate simulation of high-frequency vibration waveform.

STOCHASTIC OPTIMAL CONTROL OF STRONGLY NONLINEAR SYSTEMS UNDER WIDE-BAND RANDOM EXCITATION WITH ACTUATOR SATURATION

A bounded optimal control strategy for strongly non-linear systems under non-white wide-band random excitation with actuator saturation is proposed. First, the stochastic averaging method is introduced for controlled strongly non-linear systems under wide-band random excitation using generalized harmonic functions. Then, the dynamical programming equation for the saturated control problem is formulated from the partially averaged Itō equation based on the dynamical programming principle. The optimal control consisting of the unbounded optimal control and the bounded bang-bang control is determined by solving the dynamical programming equation. Finally, the response of the optimally controlled system is predicted by solving the reduced Fokker-Planck-Kolmogorov （FPK） equation associated with the completed averaged Itō equation. An example is given to illustrate the proposed control strategy. Numerical results show that the proposed control strategy has high control effectiveness and efficiency and the chattering is reduced significantly comparing with the bang-bang control strategy.

Effects of supported angle on stability and dynamical bifurcations of cantilevered pipe conveying fluid

The effects of the supported angle on the stability and dynamical bifurcations of an inclined cantilevered pipe conveying fluid are investigated. First, a theoretical model of the pipe is developed through the force balance and stress-strain relationship. Second, the response surfaces, stability, and critical lines of the typical hanging system （H-S） and standing system （S-S） are discussed based on the modal analysis. Last, the bifurcation diagrams of the pipe are presented for different supported angles. It is shown that pipes will undergo a series of bifurcation processes and show rich dynamic phenomena such as buckling, Hopf bifurcation, period-doubling bifurcation, chaotic motion, and divergence motion.

MODELING AND CONTROLLING OF PARALLEL MANIPULATOR JOINT DRIVEN BY PNEUMATIC MUSCLES

A parallel manipulator joint driven by three pneumatic muscles and its posture control strategy are presented. Based on geometric constraints and dynamics, a system model is developed through which some influences on dynamic response and open-loop gain are analyzed including the supply pressure, the initial pressure and the volume of pneumatic muscle. A sliding-mode controller with a nonlinear switching function is applied to control posture, which adopts the combination of a main method that separates control of each muscle and an auxiliary method that postures error evaluation of multiple muscles, especially adopting the segmented and intelligent adjustments of sliding-mode parameters to fit different expected postures and initial states. Experimental results show that this control strategy not only amounts to the steady-state error of 0. 1° without overshoot, but also achieves good trajectory tracking.

PRESSURE COMPENSATION METHOD OF UNDERWATER HYDRAULIC SYSTEM WITH HYDRAULIC POWER UNIT BEING UNDER ATMOSPHERIC CIRCUMSTANCE AND PRESSURE COMPENSATED VALVE

Based on the analysis of the-state-of-the-art of pressure compensation of underwater hydraulic systems （UHSs）, a new method of pressure compensation of UHSs, whose hydraulic power unit is in the atmospheric circumstance, is proposed. And a pilot-operated relief valve with pressure compensation is realized. The pressure compensation precision is guaranteed by direct detection. Its dynamic performance and stability are improved by a dynamic feedback. Theoretical study, simulation and experiment show that the pilot-operated relief valve with pressure compensation has a fine property of tracking underwater ambient pressure and meet the requirement of underwater ambient pressure compensation.

ELECTRO-HYDRAULIC COMPOUND CONTROL METHOD AND CHARACTERISTIC OF CONTROL FOR TENSION SYSTEM WITH HIGH INERTIA LOADS

Based on the pressure regulation circuit adopting electro-hydraulic proportional relief valve to control tension, a new type of electro-hydraulic compound control circuit with throttle control unit is presented, which can obtain optimal dynamic damping ratio through real-time altering pressure-flow gain of the throttle control unit, improve the dynamic characteristic of tension follow-up control for the tension system with high inertia loads. Moreover, the characteristic when the cable linear velocity variation causes change of tension is investigated, and a compound control strategy is proposed. The theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the electro-hydraulic compound control circuit is effective and the characteristic of the compound control strategy is satisfactory.

Lumped Parameter Mass Flow Rate and Pressure Control Characteristics Model for High-Speed Pneumatic PWM on/off Valve

Aiming at solving the problem of strong coupling characteristic of the key parameters of high-speed pneumatic pulse width modulation( PWM) on / off valve, a general lumped parameter mathematical model based on the valves time periods was well developed. With this model,the mass flow rate and dynamic pressure characteristics of constant volumes controlled by high-speed pneumatic PWM on /off valves was well described. A variable flow rate coefficient model was proposed to substitute for the constant one used in most of the prior works to investigate PWM on /off valves' dynamical pressure response, and a formula for disclosing the inherent relationship among the PWM command signal,static mass flow rate,and sonic conductance of the valve was newly derived.Finally,an extensive set of analytical experimental comparisons were implemented to verify the validity of the proposed mathematica model. With the proposed model, PWM on /off valves' characteristics,such as mass flow rate,step pressure response of the valve control system,mean pressure and ripple amplitude,not only in the linear range,but also in the nonlinear range can be wel predicted; Good agreement between measured and calculated results was obtained,which proved that the model is helpful for designing a control strategy in a closed loop control system.

The Flow Simulation and Experimental Study of Low-Specific-Speed High-Speed Complex Centrifugal Impellers＊

Based on the Navier-Stokes equations and the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model, three-dimensional turbulent flow in four low-specific-speed centrifugal impellers are simulated numerically and analyzed. The relative velocity distribution, pressure distribution and static pressure rise at the design point are obtained for the regular impeller with only long blades and three complex impellers with long, mid or short blades. It is found that the back flow region between long-blade pressure side and mid-blade suction side is diminished and is pushed to pressure side of short blades near the outlet of impeller at suction side by the introduction of mid, short blades, and the size of back flow becomes smaller in a multi-blade complex impeller. And the pressure rises uniformly from inlet to outlet in all the impellers. The simulated results show that the complex impeller with long, mid and short blades can improve the velocity distribution and reduce the back flow in the impeller channel. The experimental results show that the back flow in the impeller has an important influence on the performance of pump and a more-blade complex impeller with long, mid and short blades can effectively solve low flow rate instability of the low-specific-speed centrifugal pump.

Dynamic simulation and optimal control strategy for a parallel hybrid hydraulic excavator

The primary focus of this study is to investigate the control strategies of a hybrid system used in hydraulic excavators. First, the structure and evaluation target of hybrid hydraulic excavators are analyzed. Then the dynamic system model including batteries, motor and engine is built as the simulation environment to obtain control results. A so-called multi-work-point dynamic control strategy, which has both closed-loop speed PI (proportion integral) control and direct torque control, is proposed and studied in the simulation model. Simulation results indicate that the hybrid system with this strategy can meet the power demand and achieve better system stability and higher fuel efficiency.

Design of A Hydraulic Power Take-off System for the Wave Energy Device with An Inverse Pendulum

This paper describes a dual-stroke acting hydraulic power take-off （PTO） system employed in the wave energy converter （WEC） with an inverse pendulum. The hydraulic PTO converts slow irregular reciprocating wave motions to relatively smooth, fast rotation of an electrical generator. The design of the hydraulic PTO system and its control are critical to maximize the generated power. A time domain simulation study and the laboratory experiment of the full-scale beach test are presented. The results of the simulation and laboratory experiments including their comparison at full-scale are also presented, which have validated the rationality of the design and the reliability of some key components of the prototype of the WEC with an inverse pendulum with the dual-stroke acting hydraulic PTO system.

Design and Kinematic Analysis of a Novel Humanoid Robot Eye Using Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

This paper proposed a novel humanoid robot eye, which is driven by six Pneumatic Artificial Muscles （PAMs） and rotates with 3 Degree of Freedom （DOF）. The design of the mechanism and motion type of the robot eye are inspired by that of human eyes. The model of humanoid robot eye is established as a parallel mechanism, and the inverse-kinematic problem of this flexible tendons driving parallel system is solved by the analytical geometry method. As an extension, the simulation result for saccadic movement is presented under three conditions. The design and kinematic analysis of the prototype could be a sig- nificant step towards the goal of building an autonomous humanoid robot eye with the movement and especially the visual functions similar to that of human.

Position, Singularity and Workspace Analysis of 3-PSR-O Spatial Parallel Manipulator

Although the parallel mechanisms have the advantages of high accuracy, velocity, stiffness, and payload capacity, the shortcomings of the space utilization and workspace limit the applications in the confined space. A novel 3 degrees of freedom spatial parallel manipulator 3-PSR-O（prismatic-spherical-revolute） is proposed, which possesses a compact architecture and extended workspace while maintaining the inherent advantages of the parallel mechanisms. The direct-inverse position, singularity and workspace are investigated. The mapping method is adopted in the position analysis, and the closed form solution is derived in the form of a six order equation. The singularity analysis of the mechanism is also carried out based on the geometrical constraints, including six singularity boundaries. A feature boundary, which is independent of the prismatic joints＇ stroke limit, is obtained by integrating the six singularity boundaries. According to the formation of the reachable workspace, a concept of basic workspace is also introduced and presented in the analytical way. By demarcating the basic workspace along the central height with the feature boundary, the reachable workspace can be derived and analyzed more efficiently. Finally, a comparative study on the space utilization between the 3-PSP parallel mechanism and the new mechanism is also presented. The area of feature boundary of the new mechanism is about 140% of the 3-PSP parallel mechanism, while its installation radius is only 1/2 of the 3-PSP parallel mechanism. The proposed parallel mechanism shows great space utilization, and is ideally suited for applications in confined space occasions such as immersion lithography, nano-imprint etc.

Flow field simulation and establishment for mathematical models of flow area of spool valve with sloping U-shape notch machined by different methods

Precise function expression of the flow area for the sloping U-shape notch orifice versus the spool stroke was derived. The computational fluid dynamics was used to analyze the flow features of the sloping U-shape notch on the spool, such as mass flow rates, flow coefficients, effiux angles and steady state flow forces under different operating conditions. At last, the reliability of the mathematical model of the flow area for the sloping U-shape notch orifice on the spool was demonstrated by the comparison between the orifice area curve derived and the corresponding experimental data provided by the test. It is presented that the bottom arc of sloping U-shape notch （ABU） should not be omitted when it is required to accurately calculate the orifice area of ABU. Although the theoretical flow area of plain bottom sloping U-shape notch （PBU） is larger than that of ABU at the same opening, the simulated mass flow and experimental flow area of ABU are both larger than these of PBU at the same opening, while the simulated flow force of PBU is larger than that of ABU at the same opening. Therefore, it should be prior to adapt the ABU when designing the spool with proportional character.

Design of wearable hand rehabilitation glove with soft hoop-reinforced pneumatic actuator

Traditional hand rehabilitation gloves usually use electrical motor as actuator with disadvantages of heaviness,bulkiness and less compliance.Recently,the soft pneumatic actuator is demonstrated to be more suitable for hand rehabilitation compared to motor because of its inherent compliance,flexibility and safety.In order to design a wearable glove in request of hand rehabilitation,a soft hoop-reinforced pneumatic actuator is presented.By analyzing the influence of its section shape and geometrical parameters on bending performance,the preferred structure of actuator is achieved based on finite element method.An improved hoop-reinforced actuator is designed after the fabrication and initial measurement,and its mathematical model is built in order to quickly obtain the bending angle response when pressurized.A series of experiment about bending performance are implemented to validate the agreement between the finite element,mathematical and experimental results,and the performance improvement of hoop-reinforced actuator.In addition,the designed hand rehabilitation glove is tested by measuring its output force and actual wearing experience.The output force can reach 2.5 to 3 N when the pressure is 200 kPa.The research results indicate that the designed glove with hoop-reinforced actuator can meet the requirements of hand rehabilitation and has prospective application in hand rehabilitation.

Synchronous tracking control of 6-DOF hydraulic parallel manipulator using cascade control method

The synchronous tracking control problem of a hydraulic parallel manipulator with six degrees of freedom (DOF) is complicated since the inclusion of hydraulic elements increases the order of the system.To solve this problem,cascade control method with an inner/outer-loop control structure is used,which masks the hydraulic dynamics with the inner-loop so that the designed controller takes into account of both the mechanical dynamics and the hydraulic dynamics of the manipulator.Furthermore,a cross-coupling control approach is introduced to the synchronous tracking control of the manipulator.The position synchronization error is developed by considering motion synchronization between each actuator joint and its adjacent ones based on the synchronous goal.Then,with the feedback of both position error and synchronization error,the tracking is proven to guarantee that both the position errors and synchronization errors asymptotically converge to zero.Moreover,the effectiveness of the proposed approach is verified by the experimental results performed with a 6-DOF hydraulic parallel manipulator.

Motion control of thrust system for shield tunneling machine

The thrust hydraulic system of the prototype shield machine with pressure and flow compound control scheme was introduced. The experimental system integrated with proportional valves for study was designed. Dynamics modeling of multi-cylinder thrust system and synchronous control design were accomplished. The simulation of the synchronization motion control system was completed in AMESim and Matlab/Simulink software environments. The experiment was conducted by means of master/slave PID with dead band compensating flow and conventional PID regulating pressure. The experimental results show that the proposed thrust hydraulic system and its control strategy can meet the requirements of tunneling in motion and posture control for the shield machine, keeping the non-synchronous error within ±3 mm.

STUDY ON THE INTERACTION OF SEDIMENTING CYLINDRICAL PARTICLES IN STILL FLUID

The sedimentations of two cylindrical particles in three different initial relative po- sitions are numerically simulated using the lattice Boltzmann method.The movement characteristics and particle interactions during their sedimentation are presented and discussed in detail.The results show that,(i)if the two particles are released parallel but separated horizontally,they push away each other,rotate inwards and separate horizontally as they fall;(ii)if the two particles are released par- allel but separated vertically,the sedimentation behavior can be classified into three stages:trailing, tumbling and separating;(iii)if the two particles are released perpendicular but separated vertically, the sedimentation behavior can be characterized as:trailing and rotating,touching and sliding.In order to validate our simulation,experiments were also conducted and the results agree well with the numerical ones.

Adaptive Robust Motion Trajectory Tracking Control of Pneumatic Cylinders with LuGre Model-based Friction Compensation

Friction compensation is particularly important for motion trajectory tracking control of pneumatic cylinders at low speed movement. However, most of the existing model-based friction compensation schemes use simple classical models, which are not enough to address applications with high-accuracy position requirements. Furthermore, the friction force in the cylinder is time-varying, and there exist rather severe unmodelled dynamics and unknown disturbances in the pneumatic system. To deal with these problems effectively, an adaptive robust controller with LuGre model-based dynamic friction compensation is constructed. The proposed controller employs on-line recursive least squares estimation（RLSE） to reduce the extent of parametric uncertainties, and utilizes the sliding mode control method to attenuate the effects of parameter estimation errors, unmodelled dynamics and disturbances. In addition, in order to realize LuGre model-based friction compensation, the modified dual-observer structure for estimating immeasurable friction internal state is developed. Therefore, a prescribed motion tracking transient performance and final tracking accuracy can be guaranteed. Since the system model uncertainties are unmatched, the recursive backstepping design technology is applied. In order to solve the conflicts between the sliding mode control design and the adaptive control design, the projection mapping is used to condition the RLSE algorithm so that the parameter estimates are kept within a known bounded convex set. Finally, the proposed controller is tested for tracking sinusoidal trajectories and smooth square trajectory under different loads and sudden disturbance. The testing results demonstrate that the achievable performance of the proposed controller is excellent and is much better than most other studies in literature. Especially when a 0.5 Hz sinusoidal trajectory is tracked, the maximum tracking error is 0.96 mm and the average tracking error is 0.45 mm. This paper constructs an adaptive robust controller which can compensate the friction force in the cylinder.