Fluid Control Valve Self-Calibration for Wear Compensation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Fluid control devices face challenges in maintaining optimal performance due to aging and wear of supply and exhaust air valves, leading to undesirable changes in control or regulation behavior, which existing technologies fail to address effectively during operation.
Innovation Solution
A fluid control device with a control means that performs a valve diagnostic method by varying control signals for the supply and exhaust air valves within defined intervals, recording value pairs to adapt to the fluidic behavior and compensate for aging and wear, ensuring a constant pressure level at the working connection, and storing these values for future adjustments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If calibration is performed during operation, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-calibration by automatically varying control signals for the supply air valve and exhaust air valve, recording sensor signal values, and determining calibration curves without external intervention. The control unit executes the calibration method autonomously during operation, allowing the system to adapt to aging and wear phenomena while maintaining simplicity.
2Measurement precision
If control signals are varied for calibration, then measurement precision is improved, but stability of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The calibration process is implemented as a periodic action that can be executed at predetermined time intervals or after a predetermined number of operating hours. This allows the system to maintain operational stability during normal operation while periodically performing calibration to update the calibration curve, thus improving measurement precision without compromising overall stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system determines calibration curves in advance during calibration phases and stores them for use during normal operation. By performing the calibration action preliminarily and storing the results, the system achieves high measurement precision during operation without needing to continuously vary control signals, thereby maintaining operational stability.
3Reliability
If valve diagnostic is performed frequently, then reliability is improved, but loss of time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The calibration process uses partial action by varying control signals only within a defined range around the current operating point rather than across the entire operating range. This approach provides sufficient calibration data to maintain reliability while significantly reducing the time required compared to full-range calibration, thus balancing reliability improvement with time efficiency.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a fluid control device comprising a valve arrangement (4) comprising an air inlet valve (5) for providing a working fluid to a working connection (40) of a fluid consumer (3) and comprising an air outlet valve (6) for discharging working fluid from the working connection (40) of the fluid consumer (3), and a control means (9), the control means (9) being electrically connected to the air inlet valve (5) and to the air outlet valve (6) and designed for controlling the air inlet valve (5) and the air outlet valve (6), and comprising a sensor input (11) for processing a sensor signal and connected to a sensor (12) which is designed for the determination of a functional state of the fluid consumer (3) and for providing a sensor signal to the control means (9), the control means (9) being designed so as to implement a valve diagnosis method such that a first control signal (66) for the air inlet valve (5) and a second control signal (67) for the air outlet valve (6) are varied, while maintaining a pre-definable sensor signal level (68) of a sensor signal provided by the sensor (12), respectively between a lower interval threshold and an upper interval threshold, and the control means (9) is designed for recording value pairs (69 to 77) for the first and second control signals (66, 67).