Experimental Testing of a Variable Displacement Pump/Motor That Uses a Hydro-Mechanically Timed Digital Valving Mechanism to Achieve Partial-Stroke Piston Pressurization (PSPP)

Author(s):  
Alissa Montzka ◽  
Nathan Epstein ◽  
Michael Rannow ◽  
Thomas R. Chase ◽  
Perry Y. Li

Abstract This work describes an efficient means to adjust the power level of an axial piston hydraulic pump/motor. Conventionally, the displacement of a piston pump is varied by changing the stroke length of each piston. Since the losses do not decrease proportionally to the displacement, the efficiency is low at low displacements. Here, with partial-stroke piston pressurization (PSPP), displacement is varied by changing the portion of the piston stroke over which the piston is subjected to high pressure. Since leakage and friction losses drop as the displacement is decreased, higher efficiency is achieved at low displacements with PSPP. While other systems have implemented PSPP with electric or cam-actuated valves, the pump described in this paper is unique in implementing PSPP by way of a simple, robust hydro-mechanical valve system. Experimental testing of a prototype PSPP pump/motor shows that the full load efficiency is maintained even at low displacements.

Author(s):  
Samir Kumar Hati ◽  
Nimai Pada Mandal ◽  
Dipankar Sanyal

Losses in control valves drag down the average overall efficiency of electrohydraulic systems to only about 22% from nearly 75% for standard pump-motor sets. For achieving higher energy efficiency in slower systems, direct pump control replacing fast-response valve control is being put in place through variable-speed motors. Despite the promise of a quicker response, displacement control of pumps has seen slower progress for exhibiting undesired oscillation with respect to the demand in some situations. Hence, a mechatronic simulation-based design is taken up here for a variable-displacement pump–controlled system directly feeding a double-acting single-rod cylinder. The most significant innovation centers on designing an axial-piston pump with an electrohydraulic compensator for bi-directional swashing. An accumulator is conceived to handle the flow difference in the two sides across the load piston. A solenoid-driven sequence valve with P control is proposed for charging the accumulator along with setting its initial gas pressure by a feedforward design. Simple proportional–integral–derivative control of the compensator valve is considered in this exploratory study. Appropriate setting of the gains and critical sizing of the compensator has been obtained through a detailed parametric study aiming low integral absolute error. A notable finding of the simulation is the achievement of the concurrent minimum integral absolute error of 3.8 mm s and the maximum energy saving of 516 kJ with respect to a fixed-displacement pump. This is predicted for the combination of the circumferential port width of 2 mm for the compensator valve and the radial clearance of 40 µm between each compensator cylinder and the paired piston.


Author(s):  
Pandeli Borodani ◽  
Davide Colombo ◽  
Marco Forestello ◽  
Patrizio Turco ◽  
Riccardo Morselli

The plant under control is the hydraulic circuit arranged by CNH in a prototype agriculture tractor of medium segment, where instead of the conventional main hydraulic pump, a new device electronically piloted, is installed. The main purpose is basically to obtain some advantages according to the energetic point of view, by means of an appropriate control structure, managing the electronic variable displacement pump. The frontier of the new systems requires the employment of the advanced control techniques, in order to assure the levels of precision, reliability, robustness demanded from systems. The control design methodology employed in the present case is based on robust H∞ optimization techniques, where robust stability properties are guaranteed in presence of unaccountable dynamics and other destabilizing factors. The effectiveness of the proposed control approach is tested on the demonstrative tractor realized from the CNH Agriculture at Modena plants, in all real conditions.


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shawn R. Wilhelm ◽  
James D. Van de Ven

A variable displacement hydraulic pump/motor with high efficiency at all operating conditions, including low displacement, is beneficial to multiple applications. Two major energy loss terms in conventional pumps are the friction and lubrication leakage in the kinematic joints. This paper presents the synthesis, analysis, and experimental validation of a variable displacement sixbar crank-rocker-slider mechanism that uses low friction pin joints instead of planar joints as seen in conventional variable pump/motor architectures. The novel linkage reaches true zero displacement with a constant top dead center position, further minimizing compressibility energy losses. The synthesis technique develops the range of motion for the base fourbar crank-rocker and creates a method of synthesizing the output slider dyad. It is shown that the mechanism can be optimized for minimum footprint and maximum stroke with a minimum base fourbar transmission angle of 30 deg and a resultant slider transmission angle of 52 deg. The synthesized linkage has a dimensionless stroke of 2.1 crank lengths with a variable timing ratio and velocity and acceleration profiles in the same order of magnitude as a comparable crank-slider mechanism. The kinematic and kinetic results from an experimental prototype linkage agree well with the model predictions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 07010
Author(s):  
Paolo Casoli ◽  
Barbara Zardin ◽  
Salvatore Ardizio ◽  
Massimo Borghi ◽  
Francesco Pintore ◽  
...  

Increasing interest in reducing pollutant emissions and fuel consumption of off-road vehicles has led to research alternative systems that aim to reduce the power dissipations of the hydraulic circuits. This work presents the advantages of few alternative solutions for a hydraulic high-pressure circuit of a medium-size tractor. The standard high-pressure circuit is a typical multiusers load sensing system that uses a single variable displacement pump to feed: steering, trailer brake, rear remotes, hitch and suspension. The alternative architectures have been simulated and compared in terms of mechanical energy consumption. In particular, the steering has been separated from the circuit, it has been actuated by means of a dedicated pump moved by an electric motor, in this way the priority valve could be removed and losses due the pressure compensators are reduced. A further architecture based on the insertion of the LS signal conditioner was studied. The results show that relevant energy saving can be achieved with the new alternative architectures; the physical prototyping of the most promising solutions will be realized as the next step of the project.


Author(s):  
Changqing Tian ◽  
Chunpeng Dou ◽  
Xianting Li ◽  
Yunfei Liao

The aim of this paper is to find out the steady-state performance and piston-stroke-length control behaviour of a variable displacement wobble-plate compressor for an automotive air-conditioning system by experimental investigation. First, a new method and device to measure the piston stroke length of the variable displacement compressor has been developed, with which the test bench for the variable displacement compressor has been set up. Second, the steady-state performance of the variable displacement compressor, such as the relative volumetric efficiency and the relative isentropic efficiency at partial piston stroke length, has been obtained. The influence of the work condition and compressor rotary speed on the relative volumetric efficiency can be neglected according to the test data. Finally, the critical wobble-plate case pressure is proposed in this paper to judge whether the piston stroke length will change or not. The critical wobble-plate case pressure when the piston stroke length decreases is greater than that when the piston stroke length increases, which is less influenced by the piston stroke length itself from the test data. The higher the compressor discharge pressure or rotary speed, the greater the critical wobble-plate case pressure. The piston stroke length can be adjusted automatically along with the air-conditioning load when the compressor rotary speed or air conditioning load changes.


Author(s):  
Zhiru Shi ◽  
Gordon Parker ◽  
Jonathan Granstrom

Variable displacement, swash-plate controlled, axial-piston pumps are widely used in applications that require high pressure and variable flow rates. The pump consists of a rotating barrel assembly that houses several pistons in a circular array. A swash-plate is used to control the displacement of the pistons to adjust the output flow of hydraulic fluid. As the barrel rotates, the pistons slide along the angled swash-plate and draw oil from the supply and then discharge oil into the high pressure circuit. This results in an almost constant output flow rate. This paper analyzes the kinematics of a pump based on its geometry dependent characteristics. The analysis assumes an idealized case in which there is no oil leakage and the fluid is considered to be incompressible. It is revealed through the analysis that the piston displacement and the pump output flow are slightly increased by using a conical barrel. Instantaneous and mean flow rate equations are used to describe the output flow characteristics and flow ripple effect. The output flow rate ripple profile is found to be a function of both swash-plate angle and the conical barrel angle. A term defined as the flow rate uniformity coefficient is used to better quantify the flow ripple phenomenon. A frequency analysis is performed on the output flow rate and an additional order is found to be present when using a conical barrel pump versus one with a cylindrical barrel when the pumps have an odd number of pistons. Conical barrel piston pumps are found to have a slight increase in piston displacement, velocity, and acceleration relative to the rotating barrel frame of reference over a pump with a cylindrical barrel. This translates into an increase in the output flow rate for a conical piston pump under the same operating conditions. The conical barrel is also found to have a reduction in the rotational inertia allowing for faster angular acceleration. The presence of an extra order from a frequency analysis for a conical pump with an odd number of pistons has the potential to cause unwanted noise or vibration to the structure or components attached to the pump.


Author(s):  
N. P. Mandal ◽  
R. Saha ◽  
S. Mookherjee ◽  
D. Sanyal

An in-line axial-piston swash-plate pump with pressure compensator is widely used for its fast speed of response and power economy. Although several simulation based design approaches exist to minimize issues like fluid-born noises, ample scope exists for more exhaustive design analysis. The most popular pressure compensator for a variable displacement pump with a spool valve actuating the control and bias cylinders has been taken up here. With an existing comprehensive flow dynamics model, an updated model for swiveling dynamics has been coupled. The dynamics also includes the force containment and friction effects on the swash plate. A design optimization has been accomplished for the pressure compensator. The target of the optimal design has been set as minimizing the transient oscillations of the swash plate, the compensator spool, pressures in the bias and control cylinders along with avoidance of both over-pressurization and cavitation in the bias cylinder. It has been found that the orifice diameters in the spring-side and at the metering port of the spool valve and in the backside of the bias cylinder have critical role in arriving at an optimum design. The study has led to a useful design procedure for a pressure compensated variable displacement pump.


Author(s):  
Sondre Nordås ◽  
Morten K. Ebbesen ◽  
Torben O. Andersen

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 compressibility losses can be minimized resulting in high efficiency even at low displacements. Previous studies have shown that high efficiency digital displacement machines require fast switching valves with high flow capacity and optimal valve timing strategy. When the digital displacement motor is to start, stop or be controlled at low speeds, the on/off valves must be able to open against high pressure difference. When opening the valves actively, the valve timing has to be conducted properly to minimize valve throttling losses and flow and pressure peaks. First, this paper shortly describes a previously developed method to estimate valve characteristics like transition time and flow capacity for a digital displacement machine. Then the paper presents a novel method of describing the required valve accuracy and repeatability to keep the valve throttling losses low and machine efficiency high.


Author(s):  
Neeraj Kumar ◽  
Bikash Kumar Sarkar ◽  
Subhendu Maity

Abstract This research mainly focused on the axial piston variable displacement pump, which is the most important part of the fluid power system. The variable displacement axial piston has been found as versatile and flexible for electro-hydraulic applications. Heavy industries such as automobile, aircraft, and mining use an axial piston pump due to its high power to weight ratio, continuous variable power transmission, low inertia, self-lubricating properties, and good controllability. The main challenges with the hydraulic system are highly nonlinear, leakages, unknown external disturbance, etc. The mathematical model of the variable displacement pump along with swashplate control has been developed. The model is used to identify the pump health condition with pressure and flow measurement, i.e., ripple pattern. The pressure and flow ripple will vary from the regular pattern due to wear and tear, i.e., increased leakage flow. The main source of the increase in leakage flow is due to wear in piston and cylinder bore. The piston chamber pressure, kinematical flow, and discharge area model of the pump has been validated with the existing results. The pump pressure control is very much essential for the enhancement of the performance of the electro-hydraulic system. In the present study, a conventional PID controller has been used as a backup to maintain system performance within the permissible faults. The electro-hydraulic system has been employed for swash-plate control of the pump to obtain desire pressure flow at the exit of the pump. MATLAB Simulink has been used for the simulation study of the pump.


Author(s):  
Mark A. Batdorff ◽  
John H. Lumkes

Hydraulic pumps can be fixed or variable displacement. Fixed displacement pumps are typically smaller, lighter, less expensive, and can be of any design (gear, vane, axial piston, radial piston, ect.)[1]. Variable displacement pumps are often axial piston with an adjustable swash plate. A virtually variable displacement pump (VVDP) is a fixed displacement pump combined with a fast switching control valve that performs the same function as a variable displacement pump. This is done by always pumping full flow, but using the control valve to divert only a certain percentage of flow to the system, and the rest back to tank. A VVDP has several advantages over a traditional variable swash axial piston pump. First, the pump can be of any design, not just axial piston. Second, the flow control bandwidth can be much faster because it is only limited by the bandwidth of the fast switching control valve and system accumulator, not the bandwidth of a swash plate. Third, a VVDP pump can be more efficient because it can operate at its optimum pressure and flow setting. On the downside a VVDP will require a high speed valve. There are also added switching power losses due to constant metering over valves, compressing and decompressing hydraulic oil, and metering during transition between pumping to system and tank. This paper concentrates on modeling these three switching losses.


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