Open AccessA Cost-Effective Electro-Hydraulic Actuator Solution with Open Circuit Architecture
Author(s) -
Shaoyang Qu,
David Fassbender,
Andrea Vacca,
Enrique Busquets
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of fluid power
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.254
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 2332-1180
pISSN - 1439-9776
DOI - 10.13052/ijfp1439-9776.2224
Subject(s) - actuator , electro hydraulic actuator , hydraulic circuit , hydraulic machinery , electrification , engineering , computer science , efficient energy use , range (aeronautics) , automotive engineering , simulation , control engineering , mechanical engineering , electrical engineering , electricity , aerospace engineering
With the recent electrification trend in the fluid power area, more research has been incentivized to propose cost-effective and energy-efficient solutions for hydraulic systems. Hence, electro-hydraulic actuator (EHA) architectures receive increasing attention. The paper proposes a novel open-circuit EHA architecture, with the goal to obtain a cost-effective solution for mobile applications while maximizing the overall system efficiency. The proposed EHA is capable of meeting or exceeding traditional off-road machine performance, therefore enabling further electrification of off-road machines. Four-quadrant functionality, covering the full speed range, is achieved by a combination of a variable electro-hydraulic drive and valves with different functions. Focusing on the steady-state performance, the functionality is validated by numerical as well as experimental methods. A simulation model based on the Amesim environment and a dedicated test setup was developed to verify the performance. The good match between simulation and experimental results confirms the potential of the formulation approach of the proposed EHA for applications with different duty cycles and power levels.