Analysis of Underlapped Symmetrically Ported Valve-Controlled Asymmetric Cylinder Drive

Abstract

The valve-controlled cylinder drive system is the most common type among hydraulic applications. Nonlinear behaviour in such systems is inevitable when the valve spool is around its null position. We utilised the component linking method to investigate the nonlinearities in a Moog valve-controlled asymmetric cylinder drive system by simulation in Fortran, in which a generalised concept is introduced and validated by comparing to the experimental results. An X factor is proposed in the generalised concept to describe the asymmetric cylinder state, which is a constant when the cylinder is extending or retracting, but numerically calculated when the valve spool is in the underlap region. This analytical solution is approximately 200 times more computationally efficient than the numerical solution method. This paper utilises the component linking method to simulate the Moog valve-controlled asymmetric cylinder drive system in Matlab Simulink, and proposes an analytical solution for the X factor when the valve spool is in the underlap region. This analytical solution is approximately 200 times more computationally efficient than the numerical solution method.

Keywords

• Moog
• asymmetric cylinder
• analytical solution
• component linking
• <i>X</i>-factor