Electro-Hydraulic Plant Dynamics Model for Early Control Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
The development of accurate electro-hydraulic system models is time-consuming and resource-intensive, serializing the control system development process and making it difficult to meet product development timelines, especially in electro-hydraulic systems with nonlinearities.
Innovation Solution
A method is introduced to generate a plant dynamics model of electro-hydraulic systems over multiple operating points using test or specification data, allowing for the determination of command pressure, overshoot, rise time, damping coefficient, natural frequency, and gain parameters, which collectively define transfer functions for the model, enabling early control system design and correlation with physical design criteria.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If an accurate plant dynamics model is obtained using conventional approaches (requiring physical prototype and dynamic characterization), then the model accuracy is improved, but the development time is increased due to serialization of the development process
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by enabling control system design to begin before the physical plant is available. Designers can work with preliminary models and simulations in the early stages, and then transfer the developed control system to the actual physical plant later. This eliminates the serial dependency where control design must wait for complete plant characterization, thereby reducing development time while maintaining sufficient model accuracy for design purposes.
2Manufacturing precision
If control system design waits for complete plant dynamics characterization, then the control design accuracy is improved, but the productivity is reduced due to sequential development phases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables preliminary control system design to be performed using available information before complete plant dynamics characterization is available. This preliminary design can then be refined and transferred to the actual plant, maintaining control design accuracy while significantly improving development productivity through parallel execution of design activities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a preliminary model copy of the plant that can be used for control design purposes. This copy doesn't need to be perfectly accurate to enable productive design work, and the control system developed using this copy can be transferred to the actual plant, thereby improving productivity without sacrificing ultimate control design accuracy.
3Reliability
If a physical prototype is manufactured for model characterization, then the model reliability is improved, but the device complexity and resource requirements are increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a preliminary model copy rather than requiring a complete physical prototype for the purpose of control system design. This copying approach maintains sufficient model reliability for design work while avoiding the device complexity and resource requirements of manufacturing a full-scale physical prototype, especially in early development stages.
Data Source
AI summary
The dynamic response characteristics of an electro-hydraulic (EH) physical plant is represented by a model. The model includes a series of second order transfer functions, one for each operating point, of the EH physical plant. Command pressure, overshoot, rise time, damping coefficient, natural frequency and gain parameters are determined in developing each transfer function. The model can be used to advance the time in which the design and development of a control system for the EH physical plant can begin.