Hydraulic systems are complex dynamical systems whose performance can be degraded by certain faults, specifically internal or external leakage. The objective of this research is to develop an appropriate signal processing approach for detection and isolation of these faults. By analyzing the dynamics of the hydraulic actuator, an internal leakage is shown to increase the damping characteristic of the system and change the transient response of the pressure signals. An external leakage, on the other hand, drops the pressure signals without having a significant effect on transient responses. Offline detection of internal leakage in hydraulic actuators is first examined by using fast Fourier, wavelet and Hilbert-Huang transforms. The original pressure signal is decomposed using these transform methods and the frequency component which is sensitive to the internal leakage is identified. The root mean square of the processed pressure signal is used and a comparison of the three transforms is made to assess their ability to detect internal leakage fault, through extensive validation tests. The wavelet transform method is shown to be more suitable for internal leakage detection compared to the other two methods. The wavelet based approach is then extended to an online detection method of internal leakage fault. The online approach considers the more realistic case of an actuator that is driven in a closed-loop mode to track pseudorandom position reference inputs against a load emulated by a spring. Furthermore, the method is shown to remain effective even with control systems which are tolerant to leakage faults. Next, the application of wavelet transform to detect external leakage fault using both offline and online applications in hydraulic actuators is described. The method also examines the isolation of this fault from actuator internal leakage in a multiple-fault environment. The results show that wavelet transform is a fast and easily-implementable method for leakage detection in hydraulic actuators without any need to explicitly incorporate the model of actuator or leakage. Internal leakages as low as 0.124 lit/min, are shown to be detectable, for 80% of the times using structured input signal. For online application, internal leakages in the range of 0.2-0.25 lit/min can be identified. External leakages as low as 0.3 lit/min can be detected in all offline and online applications. Other methods such as observer based and Kalman filter methods, which require the model of the actuator or leakage fault, cannot report leakage detection of magnitudes as low as that reported in this work. The low leak rate detection and not requiring a model of the actuator or leakage make this method very attractive for industrial implementation.

Hydraulic systems are complex dynamical systems whose performance can be degraded by certain faults, specifically internal or external leakage. The objective of this research is to develop an appropriate signal processing approach for detection and isolation of these faults. By analyzing the dynamics of the hydraulic actuator, an internal leakage is shown to increase the damping characteristic of the system and change the transient response of the pressure signals. An external leakage, on the other hand, drops the pressure signals without having a significant effect on transient responses. Offline detection of internal leakage in hydraulic actuators is first examined by using fast Fourier, wavelet and Hilbert-Huang transforms. The original pressure signal is decomposed using these transform methods and the frequency component which is sensitive to the internal leakage is identified. The root mean square of the processed pressure signal is used and a comparison of the three transforms is made to assess their ability to detect internal leakage fault, through extensive validation tests. The wavelet transform method is shown to be more suitable for internal leakage detection compared to the other two methods. The wavelet based approach is then extended to an online detection method of internal leakage fault. The online approach considers the more realistic case of an actuator that is driven in a closed-loop mode to track pseudorandom position reference inputs against a load emulated by a spring. Furthermore, the method is shown to remain effective even with control systems which are tolerant to leakage faults. Next, the application of wavelet transform to detect external leakage fault using both offline and online applications in hydraulic actuators is described. The method also examines the isolation of this fault from actuator internal leakage in a multiple-fault environment. The results show that wavelet transform is a fast and easily-implementable method for leakage detection in hydraulic actuators without any need to explicitly incorporate the model of actuator or leakage. Internal leakages as low as 0.124 lit/min, are shown to be detectable, for 80% of the times using structured input signal. For online application, internal leakages in the range of 0.2-0.25 lit/min can be identified. External leakages as low as 0.3 lit/min can be detected in all offline and online applications. Other methods such as observer based and Kalman filter methods, which require the model of the actuator or leakage fault, cannot report leakage detection of magnitudes as low as that reported in this work. The low leak rate detection and not requiring a model of the actuator or leakage make this method very attractive for industrial implementation.

Automotive active suspension, advanced seismic testing, and force/torque emulations of space manipulators are examples of applications, where the hydraulic actuator force control is required. In double-rod hydraulic actuators, the actuator force is the differential pressure across the actuator multiplied by the piston effective area. The focus of this work is to control the actuator force of a double-rod hydraulic actuator by controlling the differential pressure across the actuator. The double-rod hydraulic actuator of this study is run by two independent circuits: 1) electro-hydraulic actuation and 2) electro-hydrostatic actuation. In general, developing controllers for hydraulic actuators is challenging due to the presence of parametric uncertainties and uncertain nonlinearities. Also, a specific challenge in force control of hydraulic actuators is the limiting effect of environment dynamics on the maximum achievable tracking bandwidth. Considering the above challenges, in this research for the first time, quantitative feedback theory (QFT) is employed to control the hydraulic actuator force. Using QFT, a robust, linear, fixed-gain, and low-order controller is designed for each actuation system which: (i) keeps the closed-loop response within desired tracking bounds (ii) guarantees the closed-loop stability around desired operating points, (iii) rejects disturbance, and (iv) achieves desired tracking bandwidth. Among the performance criteria, special attention is paid to achieve high tracking bandwidth. Trade-offs between different performance criteria towards achieving high tracking bandwidth, are discussed. Experimental results are presented to validate that the performance criteria are satisfied by the designed QFT controllers. The QFT controllers are synthesized based on the families of frequency responses of the hydraulic actuation systems, which limits the stability results of the closed-loop system, only for these families of the frequency responses. In this thesis, to investigate the nonlinear stability of the closed-loop systems with QFT controllers, for the first time, Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy modeling and its corresponding stability theory are used. The stability conditions are presented in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). As a result, the nonlinear stability of the designed QFT controllers for both the actuation systems is proven in the presence of parametric uncertainties. / February 2016

This thesis presents a general simulation framework used for evaluating the performance of bilateral teleoperation systems under consistent and controllable network conditions. A teleoperation system is where an operator uses a master device to control a slave robot through a communication link. The communication link between the master and slave has an important impact on the system performance. Network emulation using ns-2 has been proposed as a way of simulating the communication link. It allows for the network conditions to be controlled and for repeatable results. The proposed setup was used to test the performance of a hydraulic actuator under various conditions of wired and wireless networks. Three control schemes were evaluated using various combinations of time delay and packet loss. The system was also tested simulating wireless communication between the master and slave to determine the effects of transmission power and distance on the performance of the system.

This thesis presents a general simulation framework used for evaluating the performance of bilateral teleoperation systems under consistent and controllable network conditions. A teleoperation system is where an operator uses a master device to control a slave robot through a communication link. The communication link between the master and slave has an important impact on the system performance. Network emulation using ns-2 has been proposed as a way of simulating the communication link. It allows for the network conditions to be controlled and for repeatable results. The proposed setup was used to test the performance of a hydraulic actuator under various conditions of wired and wireless networks. Three control schemes were evaluated using various combinations of time delay and packet loss. The system was also tested simulating wireless communication between the master and slave to determine the effects of transmission power and distance on the performance of the system.

Os atuadores hidráulicos são usados em muitas aplicações e áreas de trabalho devido à sua capacidade para manipular grandes forças com baixa inércia, pouca vibração e capacidade de trabalho por longos períodos de tempo. Entretanto, o maior problema no uso destes tipos de atuadores são as características dinâmicas tais como não-linearidade e variação de parâmetros, as quais dificultam seu controle em malha fechada. Assim, para controlar sistemas hidráulicos, é necessário o uso de modelos matemáticos não lineares e a aplicação de leis de controle complexas para obter um seguimento de trajetória com alta precisão. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é a obtenção de um sistema que siga com precisão as trajetórias de referência do tipo senoidais. Para tanto, este trabalho aborda o projeto de uma lei de controle por realimentação de estados (feedback linearization) combinada com o princípio do modelo interno para aplicar no sistema hidráulico de atuação de uma máquina de ensaios de fadiga. O princípio do modelo interno é aplicado utilizando um compensador dinâmico (que contém pólos imaginários com a mesma freqüência que o sinal de referência) num laço externo do sistema linearizado por realimentação de estados. Uma lei de controle do tipo realimentação de estados, considerando os estados do sistema linearizado e os do compensador dinâmico, é projetada para garantir estabilidade no sistema de malha fechada. A fim de avaliar a estratégia de controle proposta são discutidos e apresentados simulações do modelo experimental. / Hydraulic actuators are used in many applications due to their ability in driving large forces with low inertia and little vibration for a long period of time. However, the main problem in controlling these kinds of systems concerns their dynamics, which presents several nonlinearities and parameters variations. Thus, to control hydraulic systems, appropriated nonlinear models and complex control techniques to achieve a stable force regulation with a specified performance are necessary. The purpose of this work is the application of a feedback linearization scheme in the design of a force controller for a hydraulic actuator used in a fatigue test machine. The main control objective considered regards the achievement of sinusoidal force reference tracking. With this aim the internal model principle is applied by using a dynamic compensator (containing imaginary poles with the same frequency of the force reference) in an outer regulation loop. A state feedback control law, considering both the states of the feedback linearized hydraulic system and the ones of the dynamic compensator, is therefore designed in order to stabilize the whole closed-loop system. Experimental model identification and simulation control results are presented and discussed.

Os atuadores hidráulicos são usados em muitas aplicações e áreas de trabalho devido à sua capacidade para manipular grandes forças com baixa inércia, pouca vibração e capacidade de trabalho por longos períodos de tempo. Entretanto, o maior problema no uso destes tipos de atuadores são as características dinâmicas tais como não-linearidade e variação de parâmetros, as quais dificultam seu controle em malha fechada. Assim, para controlar sistemas hidráulicos, é necessário o uso de modelos matemáticos não lineares e a aplicação de leis de controle complexas para obter um seguimento de trajetória com alta precisão. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é a obtenção de um sistema que siga com precisão as trajetórias de referência do tipo senoidais. Para tanto, este trabalho aborda o projeto de uma lei de controle por realimentação de estados (feedback linearization) combinada com o princípio do modelo interno para aplicar no sistema hidráulico de atuação de uma máquina de ensaios de fadiga. O princípio do modelo interno é aplicado utilizando um compensador dinâmico (que contém pólos imaginários com a mesma freqüência que o sinal de referência) num laço externo do sistema linearizado por realimentação de estados. Uma lei de controle do tipo realimentação de estados, considerando os estados do sistema linearizado e os do compensador dinâmico, é projetada para garantir estabilidade no sistema de malha fechada. A fim de avaliar a estratégia de controle proposta são discutidos e apresentados simulações do modelo experimental. / Hydraulic actuators are used in many applications due to their ability in driving large forces with low inertia and little vibration for a long period of time. However, the main problem in controlling these kinds of systems concerns their dynamics, which presents several nonlinearities and parameters variations. Thus, to control hydraulic systems, appropriated nonlinear models and complex control techniques to achieve a stable force regulation with a specified performance are necessary. The purpose of this work is the application of a feedback linearization scheme in the design of a force controller for a hydraulic actuator used in a fatigue test machine. The main control objective considered regards the achievement of sinusoidal force reference tracking. With this aim the internal model principle is applied by using a dynamic compensator (containing imaginary poles with the same frequency of the force reference) in an outer regulation loop. A state feedback control law, considering both the states of the feedback linearized hydraulic system and the ones of the dynamic compensator, is therefore designed in order to stabilize the whole closed-loop system. Experimental model identification and simulation control results are presented and discussed.

Os atuadores hidráulicos são usados em muitas aplicações e áreas de trabalho devido à sua capacidade para manipular grandes forças com baixa inércia, pouca vibração e capacidade de trabalho por longos períodos de tempo. Entretanto, o maior problema no uso destes tipos de atuadores são as características dinâmicas tais como não-linearidade e variação de parâmetros, as quais dificultam seu controle em malha fechada. Assim, para controlar sistemas hidráulicos, é necessário o uso de modelos matemáticos não lineares e a aplicação de leis de controle complexas para obter um seguimento de trajetória com alta precisão. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é a obtenção de um sistema que siga com precisão as trajetórias de referência do tipo senoidais. Para tanto, este trabalho aborda o projeto de uma lei de controle por realimentação de estados (feedback linearization) combinada com o princípio do modelo interno para aplicar no sistema hidráulico de atuação de uma máquina de ensaios de fadiga. O princípio do modelo interno é aplicado utilizando um compensador dinâmico (que contém pólos imaginários com a mesma freqüência que o sinal de referência) num laço externo do sistema linearizado por realimentação de estados. Uma lei de controle do tipo realimentação de estados, considerando os estados do sistema linearizado e os do compensador dinâmico, é projetada para garantir estabilidade no sistema de malha fechada. A fim de avaliar a estratégia de controle proposta são discutidos e apresentados simulações do modelo experimental. / Hydraulic actuators are used in many applications due to their ability in driving large forces with low inertia and little vibration for a long period of time. However, the main problem in controlling these kinds of systems concerns their dynamics, which presents several nonlinearities and parameters variations. Thus, to control hydraulic systems, appropriated nonlinear models and complex control techniques to achieve a stable force regulation with a specified performance are necessary. The purpose of this work is the application of a feedback linearization scheme in the design of a force controller for a hydraulic actuator used in a fatigue test machine. The main control objective considered regards the achievement of sinusoidal force reference tracking. With this aim the internal model principle is applied by using a dynamic compensator (containing imaginary poles with the same frequency of the force reference) in an outer regulation loop. A state feedback control law, considering both the states of the feedback linearized hydraulic system and the ones of the dynamic compensator, is therefore designed in order to stabilize the whole closed-loop system. Experimental model identification and simulation control results are presented and discussed.

[pt] O controle de empuxo vetorial (TVC) é usado para o controle de atitude de foguetes aeroespaciais. No caso de propulsão usando combustível líquido, tradicionalmente o bocal é conectado ao corpo do foguete através de uma junta cardânica. Dois atuadores hidráulicos são colocados ao redor do bocal para controlar sua orientação. Nesta tese, o TVC é tratado como uma plataforma robótica de base fixa. Ao invés de usar servo-válvulas comerciais para controlar os atuadores, uma nova válvula de controle é proposta. Primeiro uma plataforma cardânica é considerada com transdutores de posição angular medindo o deslocamento da cruzeta da junta. Em seguida, uma nova configuração da plataforma é proposta substituindo o cardan por uma junta homocinética. Neste caso, a realimentação da posição da plataforma é feito usando um estimador de atitude em tempo real. Este estimador é um filtro complementar baseado em matrizes de orientação que coleta dados de uma central inercial (IMU). A modelagem do sistema começa com a cinemática. Na sequência, a modelagem dinâmica utiliza a formulação de Newton-Euler para obter a equação de movimento. A modelagem do sistema hidráulico é apresentada com o modelo da nova válvula de controle e do atuador. Inicialmente, um controlador puramente proporcional é proposto. Durante a validação experimental é mostrado que devido as características do sistema de atuação, mesmo este simples controlador é preciso e confiável. Em seguida é demonstrado um método para avaliar outras estratégias de controle. A comparação entre a plataforma cardânica e homocinética mostra que, nas condições analisadas, ambas têm um comportamento dinâmico similar. Nas duas configurações da plataforma o sistema se mostrou preciso e confiável. / [en] Thrust Vector Control (TVC) is used for the attitude control of spacecrafts. In the case of liquid-propellant fuel, the nozzle is traditionally connected to the rocket frame through a gimbal. Two hydraulic actuators are placed around the nozzle to control its orientation. In this Thesis, TVC is treated as a fixed base robotic platform. Instead of using commercial servo-valves to control the actuators, a novel control valve is proposed. First a gimbaled platform is considered with two angular position transducers to measure the angular displacement of the joint crosshead. Then, a homokinetic platform configuration is proposed replacing the gimbal by a constant velocity joint. In this case, the platform position feedback is done using a real-time attitude estimator. The estimator is a complementary filter based on orientation matrices that collects data from an inertial measurement unit (IMU). The modeling of the system begins with kinematics. Then, the dynamic modeling uses the Newton-Euler formulation to obtain the equation of motion. The modeling of the electro-hydraulic system is presented with the model of the novel control valve and the linear actuator. Initially, a full proportional controller is proposed. During the experimental validation it is shown that due to the characteristics of the actuation system, even this simple controller is accurate and reliable. Thereafter, method is demonstrated to evaluate novel control strategies. The comparison between the gimbaled and homokinetic platform shows that, under the analyzed conditions, they have a similar dynamic behavior. In both platform configurations the system is accurate and reliable.

Already since some time, Bosch Rexroth offers solutions as compact servo hydraulic actuators (SHA). Because there are lot of requests from the market, we thought about reducing the inquiry processing time and delivery time by designing a kit system for the SHA solutions. This system should be flexible enough to cover different technical solutions (e.g. cylinder), functionalities and design styles [... aus dem Text]