0000000000075361
AUTHOR
Morten Kjeld Ebbesen
Dynamic Response of a Rigital Displacement Motor Operating with Various Displacement Strategies
Digital displacement technology has the potential of revolutionizing the performance of hydraulic piston pumps and motors. Instead of connecting each cylinder chamber to high and low pressure in conjunction with the shaft position, two electrically-controlled on/off valves are connected to each chamber. This allows for individual cylinder chamber control. Variable displacement can be achieved by using different displacement strategies, like for example the full stroke, partial stroke, or sequential partial stroke displacement strategy. Each displacement strategy has its transient and steady-state characteristics. This paper provides a detailed simulation analysis of the transient and steady…
Novel Concept for Electro-Hydrostatic Actuators for Motion Control of Hydraulic Manipulators
Self-contained hydraulic cylinders have gained popularity in the recent years but have not been implemented for high power articulated hydraulic manipulators. This paper presents a novel concept for an electro-hydrostatic actuator applicable to large hydraulic manipulators. The actuator is designed and analyzed to comply with requirements such as load holding, overload handling, and differential flow compensation. The system is analyzed during four quadrant operation to investigate energy efficiency and regenerative capabilities. Numerical simulation is carried out using path control and 2DOF anti-swing of a hydraulic crane as a load case to illustrate a real world scenario. A comparison wi…
An analysis of model predictive control with integral action applied to digital displacement cylinders
This article aims to analyze Model Predictive Control (MPC) for the control of multi-chamber cylinders. MPC with and without integral action has been introduced. Three different algorithms have been used to solve the optimization problem in the MPC. The different algorithms have been compared with an industrial solver. The influence of changing mass, choosing a different middle line pressure, system delays, signal noise, velocity estimation, and changing pressure levels has been investigated. It is concluded that for the small prediction horizon used in the paper a simple algorithm such as A can produce results as good as the previously used Differential Evolution algorithm in less than hal…
A Review on Approaches for Condition Based Maintenance in Applications with Induction Machines located Offshore
Published version of an article in the journal: Modeling, Identification and Control. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.4173/mic.2012.2.4 Open access This paper presents a review of different approaches for Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) of induction machines and drive trains in offshore applications. The paper contains an overview of common failure modes, monitoring techniques, approaches for diagnostics, and an overview of typical maintenance actions. Although many papers have been written in this area before, this paper puts an emphasis on recent developments and limits the scope to induction machines and drive trains applied in applications located offshore.
Development of Point-to-Point Path Control in Actuator Space for Hydraulic Knuckle Boom Crane
This paper presents a novel method for point-to-point path control for a hydraulic knuckle boom crane. The developed path control algorithm differs from previous solutions by operating in the actuator space instead of the joint space or Cartesian space of the crane. By operating in actuator space, almost all the parameters and constraints of the system become either linear or constant, which greatly reduces the complexity of both the control algorithm and path generator. For a given starting point and endpoint, the motion for each actuator is minimized compared to other methods. This ensures that any change in direction of motion is avoided, thereby greatly minimizing fatigue, jerky motion,…
Classification and Review of Pump-Controlled Differential Cylinder Drives
Pump-controlled hydraulic cylinder drives may offer improved energy efficiency, compactness, and plug-and-play installation compared to conventional valve-controlled hydraulic systems and thus have the potential of replacing conventional hydraulic systems as well as electro-mechanical alternatives. Since the late 1980s, research into how to configure the hydraulic circuit of pump-controlled cylinder drives has been ongoing, especially in terms of compensating the uneven flow requirements required by a differential cylinder. Recently, research has also focused on other aspects such as replacing a vented oil tank with a small-volume pressurized accumulator including the consequences of this i…
Modeling of Wind Turbine Gearbox Mounting
In this paper three bushing models are evaluated to find a best practice in modeling the mounting of wind turbine gearboxes. Parameter identification on measurements has been used to determine the bushing parameters for dynamic simulation of a gearbox including main shaft. The stiffness of the main components of the gearbox has been calculated. The torsional stiffness of the main shaft, gearbox and the mounting of the gearbox are of same order of magnitude, and eigenfrequency analysis clearly reveals that the stiffness of the gearbox mounting is of importance when modeling full wind turbine drivetrains.
Novel concept for stabilising a hydraulic circuit containing counterbalance valve and pressure compensated flow supply
In this paper, a novel concept for stabilising a hydraulic system containing a counterbalance valve and a pressure compensated flow supply is presented. The concept utilizes a secondary circuit where a low-pass filtered value of the load pressure is generated and fed back to the compensator of the flow supply valve. The novel concept has been investigated theoretically and experimentally. A linear model has been developed to verify the improved stability conditions. The novel concept has been implemented on a single boom actuated by a cylinder. The results show that the pressure oscillations in an otherwise unstable system can be suppressed with the novel concept. This happens without any c…
Adaptive Feedforward Control of a Pressure Compensated Differential Cylinder
This paper presents the design, simulation and experimental verification of adaptive feedforward motion control for a hydraulic differential cylinder. The proposed solution is implemented on a hydraulic loader crane. Based on common adaptation methods, a typical electro-hydraulic motion control system has been extended with a novel adaptive feedforward controller that has two separate feedforward states, i.e, one for each direction of motion. Simulations show convergence of the feedforward states, as well as 23% reduction in root mean square (RMS) cylinder position error compared to a fixed gain feedforward controller. The experiments show an even more pronounced advantage of the proposed c…
Numerical and Experimental Study of a Novel Concept for Hydraulically Controlled Negative Loads
This paper presents a numerical and experimental investigation of a novel concept that eliminates oscillations in hydraulic systems containing a counterbalance valve in series with a pressure compensated flow supply. The concept utilizes a secondary circuit where a low-pass filtered value of the load pressure is generated and fed back to the compensator of the flow supply valve. The novel concept has been implemented on a single boom actuated by a cylinder. A nonlinear model of the system has been developed and an experimental verification shows good correspondence between the model and the real system. The model is used for a parameter study on the novel concept. From the study it is found…
Definition of performance requirements and test cases for offshore/subsea winch drive systems with digital hydraulic motors
Abstract A subsea crane is normally mounted on a floating vessel and equipped with a winch system. The crane can operate in water down to 3000 m. The vessel tends to move up and down due to waves. This heave motion makes offshore lifting operations challenging. In order to ease the winch operation in rough sea, the winch can be equipped with additional systems like active heave compensation and constant tension. In active heave compensation and constant tension system, both motion and force control of the winch are important. This paper presents a digital displacement winch drive system and gives a description of challenges related to subsea lifting operations. The operation challenges are …
Experimental analysis of occupational whole-body vibration exposure of agricultural tractor with large square baler
Abstract This study investigates longitudinal whole-body vibration in agricultural tractors powering a large square baler. The aim is to test the hypothesis that four-wheel drive has an influence on the longitudinal dynamic response. A number of experimental measurements are carried out on a specific vehicle combination driving uphill and downhill. The whole-body vibration exposure is measured at the operator seat under different conditions. The statistic results show a significant difference on the whole-body vibration exposure depending on operating conditions. Driving uphill and downhill with four-wheel drive activated showed the highest difference with increased vibration level at downh…
Non-linear optimization of track layouts in loop-sorting-systems
Optimization used for enhancing geometric structures iswell known. Applying obstacles to the shape optimization problemis on the other hand not very common. It requires a fast contact search algorithmand an exact continuous formulation to solve the problem robustly. This paper focuses on combining shape optimization problemswith collision avoidance constraints by which a collision detection algorithmis presented. The presentedmethod is tested against the commercial loop-sorting-system used for sorting of medium sized items. The objective is to minimize price and footprint of the system whilemaintaining its functionality. Contact constraints are in this context important to include as variou…
Application of Model Predictive Control in Discrete Displacement Cylinders to Drive a Knuckle Boom Crane
In this paper, two Discrete Displacement Cylinders (DDCs) are used to drive the boom of a knuckle boom crane. DDCs operate by connecting one of several available pressure levels to each chamber in order to produce different forces. A trade-off exists with such systems, between the accuracy of tracking and energy dissipation due to switching. A popular way to approach this problem is a Force Shifting Algorithm (FSA). However, in this paper, the trade-off is managed by use of a Model Predictive Control (MPC) algorithm. The tracking accuracy and energy efficiency of the MPC and FSA strategies for DDCs are compared to a PID strategy for standard cylinders. The comparison is obtained by use of a…
Online Deflection Compensation of a Flexible Hydraulic Loader Crane Using Neural Networks and Pressure Feedback
The deflection compensation of a hydraulically actuated loader crane is presented. Measurement data from the laboratory are used to design a neural network deflection estimator. Kinematic expressions are derived and used with the deflection estimator in a feedforward topology to compensate for the static deflection. A dynamic deflection compensator is implemented, using pressure feedback and an adaptive bandpass filter. Simulations are conducted to verify the performance of the control system. Experimental results showcase the effectiveness of both the static and dynamic deflection compensator while running closed-loop motion control, with a 90% decrease in static deflection.
Modeling and Parameter Identification of Deflections in Planetary Stage of Wind Turbine Gearbox
The main focus of this paper is the experimental and numerical investigation of a 750[kW] wind turbine gearbox. A detailed model of the gearbox with main shaft has been created using MSC.Adams. Special focus has been put on modeling the planet carrier (PLC) in the gearbox. For this purpose experimental data from a drive train test set up has been analyzed using parameter identification to quantify misalignments. Based on the measurements a combination of main shaft misalignment and planet carrier deflection has been identified. A purely numerical model has been developed and it shows good accordance with the experimental data.
Digital Hydraulic Technology for Linear Actuation:A State of the Art Review
This paper analyses the current state of the art in linear actuation with digital hydraulics. Based on the differences in their aims the paper partitions the area into four actuation concepts – parallel valve solutions, single switching valve solutions, multi-chamber cylinders, and multi-pressure cylinders. The concepts are evaluated based on accuracy and smoothness of motion, switching load, reliability, efficiency and the number of components required.
A Self-Contained Cylinder Drive with Indirectly Controlled Hydraulic Lock
This paper presents a self-contained pump-controlled hydraulic linear drive including an innovative load holding sub-circuit. For safety critical applications such as crane manipulators, locking valves or load holding valves are enforced by legislation, but the load holding functionality may also be used actively to decrease the energy consumption for applications where the load is kept stationary for longer periods of time. The system proposed in this paper is based on a simple hydraulic architecture using two variablespeed electric motors each connected to a fixed-displacement pump. This architecture is well-known inacademic literature, but in this paper a novel load holding sub-circuit h…
Feasibility study of electromechanical cylinder drivetrain for offshore mechatronic systems
Currently, there is an increasing focus on the environmental impact and energy consumption of the oil and gas industry. In offshore drilling equipment, electric motors tend to replace traditionally used hydraulic motors, especially in rotational motion control applications. However, force densities available from linear hydraulic actuators are still typically higher than those of electric actuators. Therefore, usually the remaining source of hydraulic power is thereby the hydraulic cylinder. This paper presents a feasibility study on the implementation of an electromechanical cylinder drivetrain on an offshore vertical pipe handling machine. The scope of this paper is to investigate the fea…
Thermo-Hydraulic Modelling and Experimental Validation of an Electro-Hydraulic Compact Drive
Electro-hydraulic compact drives (ECDs) are an emerging technology for linear actuation in a wide range of applications. Especially within the low power range of 5–10 kW, the plug-and-play capability, good energy efficiency and small space requirements of ECDs render this technology a promising alternative to replace conventional valve-controlled linear drive solutions. In this power range, ECDs generally rely on passive cooling to keep oil and system temperatures within the tolerated range. When expanding the application range to larger power classes, passive cooling may not be sufficient. Research investigating the thermal behaviour of ECDs is limited but indeed required for a successful …
Study of a Self-Contained Electro-Hydraulic Cylinder Drive
Self-contained electro-hydraulic cylinders that can be powered just by an electrical wire will be popular in the coming years. Combining electrical-drives and hydraulic cylin- ders exploits some excellent properties of these two technologies and enables flexible implementation. To fully benefit from such a drive solution, there is the need to develop electro-hydraulic cylinders capable of operating independently as opposed to standard hydraulic systems that are connected to a central power supply. Therefore, this paper presents a numerical investigation of a self-contained electro-hydraulic cylinder with passive load- holding capability. The corresponding dynamic model is proposed and used …
mplicit Identification of Contact Parameters in a Continuous Chain Model
Accurate contact modeling is of great importance in the field of dynamic chain simulations. In this paper emphasis is on contact dynamics for a time-domain simulation model of large chains guided in a closed loop track. The chain model is based on theory for unconstrained rigid multibody dynamics where contact within the chain and with the track is defined through continuous point contacts using the contact indentation and rate as means. This paper presents an implicit method to determine contact parameters of the chain model through the use of none gradient optimization methods. The set of model parameters are estimated by minimizing the residual between simulated and measured results. The…
Suspension system performance optimization with discrete design variables
Published version of an article in the journal: Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00158-013-0888-7 Suspension systems on commercial vehicles have become an important feature meeting the requirements from costumers and legislation. The performance of the suspension system is often limited by available catalogue components. Additionally the suspension performance is restricted by the travel speed which highly influences the ride comfort. In this article a suspension system for an articulated dump truck is optimized in sense of reducing elapsed time for two specified duty cycles without violating a certain comfort th…
Enhanced chain dynamics in loop-sorting-systems by means of layout optimization and a kinematic model of the polygon action
Published version of an article in the journal: Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00158-011-0743-7 Poor dynamics owing to polygon action is a known concern in mechanical applications of closed articulated chains. In this paper a kinematic model of the polygon action in large chains of loop-sorting-systems is proposed. Through optimization techniques the chain dynamics is improved by minimizing the polygon action using a parametric model of the track layout as design variables. Three formulations of the kinematic polygon action are tested on an average sized planer tracks layout to find a superior model. Verificati…
Development of 3D Anti-Swing Control for Hydraulic Knuckle Boom Crane
In this paper, 3D anti-swing control for a hydraulic loader crane is presented. The difference between hydraulic and electric cranes are discussed to show the challenges associated with hydraulic actuation. The hanging load dynamics and relevant kinematics of the crane are derived to model the system and create the 3D anti-swing controller. The anti-swing controller generates a set of tool point velocities which are added to the electro-hydraulic motion controller via feedforward. A dynamic simulation model of the crane is made, and the control system is evaluated in simulations with a path controller in actuator space. Simulation results show significant reduction in the load swing angles …
Anti-swing control of a hydraulic loader crane with a hanging load
Abstract In this paper, anti-swing control for a hydraulic loader crane is presented. The difference between hydraulic and electric cranes are discussed to show the challenges associated with hydraulic actuation. The hanging load dynamics and relevant kinematics of the crane are derived to create the 2-DOF anti-swing controller. The anti-swing controller is added to the electro-hydraulic motion controller via feedforward. A dynamic simulation model of the crane is made, and the control system is evaluated in simulations with a path controller in actuator space. Simulation results show significant reduction in the load swing angle during motion. Experiments are carried out to verify the perf…
Mass Estimation of Self-Contained Linear Electro-Hydraulic Actuators and Evaluation of the Influence on Payload Capacity of a Knuckle Boom Crane
Abstract Self-contained linear hydraulic drives are characterized by having integrated the hydraulic power unit e.g. electrical prime mover, hydraulic pumps etc. and the hydraulic cylinder in a single compact unit. Compared to the hydraulic cylinder itself, the mass of the self-contained linear actuator is significantly larger. For some applications, e.g. crane manipulators the additional mass of the actuators compared to conventional valve-controlled hydraulics, may reduce the payload capacity, which is a central performance parameter. As a case study, a medium sized two link knuckle boom crane is modelled and by assuming the force capability of the hydraulic cylinders to be the limiting f…
Analysis of requirements for valve accuracy and repeatability in high efficiency digital displacement motors
Traditional variable displacement piston machines achieve high efficiency when operating at high displacements, but struggle with poor efficiency at low displacements. The pistons are connected to high pressure and low pressure in conjunction with the output shaft position and the displacement is changed by changing the piston stroke, resulting in almost constant friction, leakage, and compressibility losses independent of displacement. In digital displacement machines, the rotary valve is replaced by two fast switching on/off valves connected to every cylinder. By controlling the fast switching on/off valves, the cylinders can be controlled individually and friction, leakage and compressib…
A Gasless Reservoir Solution for Electro-Hydraulic Compact Drives with Two Prime Movers
Abstract Due to an increased focus on improving the energy efficiency and compactness of hydraulic linear actuators, the electro-hydraulic compact drive (ECD) has received increased attention lately. In this study the ECD consists of variable-speed electric motors and fixed-displacement pumps, which are directly connected to the cylinder, thus controlling the linear motion in a throttleless manner. Furthermore, ECDs are self-contained systems, i.e. based on a fully enclosed oil circuit, in order to avoid external contamination and air to enter the system and to increase system compactness. Conventionally a low-pressure gas-loaded accumulator is used as an oil reservoir to compensate for the…