Theoretical and Experimental Studies of a Switched Inertance Hydraulic System in a Four-Port High-Speed Switching Valve Configuration

Min Pan, Andrew Plummer and Abdullah El Agha
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Min Pan: Centre for Power Transmission and Motion Control, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Andrew Plummer: Centre for Power Transmission and Motion Control, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Abdullah El Agha: Centre for Power Transmission and Motion Control, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 6, 1-13

Abstract: The switched inertance hydraulic system (SIHS) is a novel high-bandwidth and energy-efficient digital device which can adjust or control flow and pressure by a means that does not rely on throttling the flow and dissipation of power. An SIHS can provide an efficient step-up or step-down of pressure or flow rate by using a digital control signal. In this article, analytical models of an SIHS in a four-port high-speed switching valve configuration are proposed, and the system dynamics and performance are investigated theoretically and experimentally. The flow responses, system characteristics, and power consumption can be predicted effectively and accurately by using the proposed models, which were validated by comparing with experiments and with numerical simulation. The four-port configuration is compared with the three-port configuration, and it is concluded that the former one is less efficient for valves of the same size, but provides a bi-direction control capability. As bi-direction control is a common requirement, this constitutes an important contribution to the development of efficient digital hydraulics.

Keywords: digital hydraulics; switched inertance hydraulic systems; four-port switching valves; efficient fluid power (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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