Este trabalho apresenta técnicas de projeto de controle neural e controle difuso para uma plataforma de Stewart acionada hidraulicamente. O modelo dinâmico não linear da plataforma de Stewart com seis graus de liberdade foi desenvolvido no ambiente de sistemas multicorpos ADAMS. Este pacote comercial foi usado para economizar tempo e esforço na modelagem de um sistema mecânico complexo e na programação para obter a resposta no tempo do sistema. A plataforma de Stewart é um manipulador paralelo com alta relação força-peso e acuracidade de posicionamento comparada a manipuladores seriais convencionais. As desvantagens dos mecanismos seriais é que cada articulação suporta o peso da articulação seguinte e mais o objeto a ser manipulado. A plataforma de Stewart tem recebido recentemente considerável interesse de pesquisadores dado o sucesso de suas aplicações e potencial vantagens sobre os manipuladores convencionais. Uma aplicação bastante popular da plataforma de Stewart é o simulador de vôo onde a plataforma executa movimento com acelerações similares àquelas de uma aeronave. Embora muitas pesquisas na literatura tenham dedicado amplo esforço para cinemática, dinâmica e projeto mecânico de manipuladores baseados em plataforma de Stewart, pouca atenção tem sido dada ao problema de controle deste tipo de manipulador. Um esquema de controle difuso e de redes neurais foi adotado para lidar com as não linearidades, distúrbios e incertezas dos parâmetros, e precisão necessária no posicionamento e orientação da plataforma. Redes neurais artificiais e lógica difusa fornecem um paradigma computacional característico e tem demonstrado resultado para uma faixa de problemas práticos onde a técnica computacional convencional não tem sucesso. Em particular, a habilidade do controle neural e do controle difuso para representar mapeamento não linear encoraja o estudo de controle neural e difuso para representar problemas de controle não linear. Resultados de simulação são apresentados, mostrando que as técnicas propostas podem ser usadas na plataforma de Stewart. / This work presents a neural and fuzzy control design technique for a hydraulically driven Stewart platform. The non-linear dynamic model of a Stewart platform with six degrees of freedom was developed in the multibody systems environment ADAMS. This commercial package was used to save time and effort in modelling the complex mechanical system and in the programming to get the time response of the system. The Stewart platform is a parallel manipulator with high force-to-weight ratio and position accuracy compared to conventional serial manipulators. The disadvantage of serial mechanisms is that each link has to support the weigth of all the following links in addition to the object to be supported. The Stewart platform has recently received considerable research interest due to its successful applications and potential advantages over the conventional manipulators. A quite popular application of the Stewart platform is the flight simulator where the platform performs motion with accelerations similar to those of an airplane. Although much of the research in the literature has devoted extensive effort to the kinematics, dynamics and mechanisms design of the Stewart platform-based manipulators, little attention has been paid to the control problem of this type of manipulators. A fuzzy and neural network control scheme was adopted to deal with the nonlinealities, disturbances and uncertainties of the parameters, and required precision in position and orientation the platform. Artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic provide a distinctive computational paradigm and have proven to be effective for a range of practical problems where conventional computation techniques have not succeeded. In particular, the ability of neural and fuzzy control techniques to represent non-linear mappings encourages the study of these techniques to be used for controling complex non-linear control problems. Simulations results are presented, showing that the proposed technique can be used in a Stewart platform.

Este trabalho apresenta técnicas de projeto de controle neural e controle difuso para uma plataforma de Stewart acionada hidraulicamente. O modelo dinâmico não linear da plataforma de Stewart com seis graus de liberdade foi desenvolvido no ambiente de sistemas multicorpos ADAMS. Este pacote comercial foi usado para economizar tempo e esforço na modelagem de um sistema mecânico complexo e na programação para obter a resposta no tempo do sistema. A plataforma de Stewart é um manipulador paralelo com alta relação força-peso e acuracidade de posicionamento comparada a manipuladores seriais convencionais. As desvantagens dos mecanismos seriais é que cada articulação suporta o peso da articulação seguinte e mais o objeto a ser manipulado. A plataforma de Stewart tem recebido recentemente considerável interesse de pesquisadores dado o sucesso de suas aplicações e potencial vantagens sobre os manipuladores convencionais. Uma aplicação bastante popular da plataforma de Stewart é o simulador de vôo onde a plataforma executa movimento com acelerações similares àquelas de uma aeronave. Embora muitas pesquisas na literatura tenham dedicado amplo esforço para cinemática, dinâmica e projeto mecânico de manipuladores baseados em plataforma de Stewart, pouca atenção tem sido dada ao problema de controle deste tipo de manipulador. Um esquema de controle difuso e de redes neurais foi adotado para lidar com as não linearidades, distúrbios e incertezas dos parâmetros, e precisão necessária no posicionamento e orientação da plataforma. Redes neurais artificiais e lógica difusa fornecem um paradigma computacional característico e tem demonstrado resultado para uma faixa de problemas práticos onde a técnica computacional convencional não tem sucesso. Em particular, a habilidade do controle neural e do controle difuso para representar mapeamento não linear encoraja o estudo de controle neural e difuso para representar problemas de controle não linear. Resultados de simulação são apresentados, mostrando que as técnicas propostas podem ser usadas na plataforma de Stewart. / This work presents a neural and fuzzy control design technique for a hydraulically driven Stewart platform. The non-linear dynamic model of a Stewart platform with six degrees of freedom was developed in the multibody systems environment ADAMS. This commercial package was used to save time and effort in modelling the complex mechanical system and in the programming to get the time response of the system. The Stewart platform is a parallel manipulator with high force-to-weight ratio and position accuracy compared to conventional serial manipulators. The disadvantage of serial mechanisms is that each link has to support the weigth of all the following links in addition to the object to be supported. The Stewart platform has recently received considerable research interest due to its successful applications and potential advantages over the conventional manipulators. A quite popular application of the Stewart platform is the flight simulator where the platform performs motion with accelerations similar to those of an airplane. Although much of the research in the literature has devoted extensive effort to the kinematics, dynamics and mechanisms design of the Stewart platform-based manipulators, little attention has been paid to the control problem of this type of manipulators. A fuzzy and neural network control scheme was adopted to deal with the nonlinealities, disturbances and uncertainties of the parameters, and required precision in position and orientation the platform. Artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic provide a distinctive computational paradigm and have proven to be effective for a range of practical problems where conventional computation techniques have not succeeded. In particular, the ability of neural and fuzzy control techniques to represent non-linear mappings encourages the study of these techniques to be used for controling complex non-linear control problems. Simulations results are presented, showing that the proposed technique can be used in a Stewart platform.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-08T14:59:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1407103 bytes, checksum: 027945d54e4116245c2d9c32a5cb0ca6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-07-31 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This work presents the simulation of a hydraulic system with two degrees of freedom used to position a load on a horizontal plane, using a Generalized Minimum Variance controller (GMV) defined by ISERMANN et al (1992). For this, the Physics laws used to determinate the mathematical linear model that represents the real hydraulic system in study are presented. After, the identification of a new model is simulated, that is used to design the GMV controller. Basically, the system is composed by: power circuit, two spool valves, two performance cylinders and a load to be positioned. The cylinder 1 moves the load in the X axis direction and the cylinder 2 moves the load in the Z axis direction. The load is coupled on the rod end of the cylinder 2, and the kit coupled on the rod end of the cylinder 1. The results obtained by GMV controlling the hydraulic system with two degrees of freedom to follow three reference ways in XZ horizontal plane, are shown and commented based on performance specifications that the system must obey. / Este trabalho apresenta a simulação de um sistema hidráulico de dois graus de liberdade para posicionamento de uma carga num plano horizontal, utilizando um controlador de Mínima Variância Generalizada (GMV) definido por ISERMANN et al (1992). Para tal, apresentam-se as leis da física que foram utilizadas para a determinação de um modelo matemático linear que representa, na simulação, o sistema hidráulico real em estudo. Em seguida simula-se a identificação de um novo modelo utilizado para projetar o controlador GMV. O sistema é composto, basicamente, por: circuito de potência, duas válvulas do tipo carretel, dois cilindros de atuação e uma carga a ser posicionada. O cilindro 1 movimenta a carga na direção do eixo X e o cilindro 2 movimenta a carga na direção do eixo Z . A carga é acoplada à extremidade da haste do cilindro 2 e este conjunto é acoplado à haste do cilindro 1. Os resultados do GMV, controlando o sistema hidráulico de dois graus de liberdade para seguir três trajetórias de referência no plano horizontal XZ , são mostrados e comentados com base nas especificações de desempenho que o sistema deve obedecer.

The high price of batteries in working machines with electric drives offer a potential for investment in energy-saving hydraulic systems. The decentralized power network opens up new approaches for hydraulic- and hybrid circuits. In addition, the regeneration of energy can be used at any point of the machine. For the example of an excavator arm drive with a double cylinder two compact hydraulic circuits are presented, which relieve a central hydraulic system.

Heavy load equipment, such as tractors, shovels, cranes, airplanes, etc, often employ fluid power (i.e. hydraulic) systems to control their loads by way of valve adjustment in a pump-valve control configuration. Most of these systems have low energy efficiency as a consequence of pressure losses across throttle valves. Much of the energy is converted into heat energy which can have determinantal effects on component life and the surrounding environment. From an energy efficiency point of view, an ideal hydraulic system is one that does not include any throttling valve. One such circuit is made of a variable pump and motor load (pump/motor configuration). The velocity of the load is controlled by manipulating the pump displacement or by changing the rotary speed of the pump shaft. In such a system, the transient response of the load is often unsatisfactory because it is difficult to quickly and accurately manipulate the pump displacement or change shaft speed. Thus circuit design must be a compromise between the energy efficiency of the pump/motor system and the controllability of a pump/valve/motor combination. One possible compromise is to use a pump-valve configuration which reduces energy losses across the valve. One way to achieve this is by controlling the pressure drop across the valve and limiting it to a small value, independent of load pressure. Based on this idea, a type of hydraulic control system, usually called load-sensing (LS), has recently been used in the flow power area. This type of system, however, is complex and under certain operating conditions exhibits instability problems. Methods for compensating these instabilities are usually based on a trial-and-error approach. Although some research has resulted in the definition of some instability criterion, a comprehensive and verifiable approach is still lacking. This research concentrates on identifying the relationship between system parameters and instability in one particular type of LS system. Due to the high degree of non-linearity in LS systems, the instabilities are dependent on the steady state operating point. The study therefore concentrates first on identifying all of the steady state operating points and then classifying them into three steady state operating regions. A dynamic model for each operating region is developed to predict the presence of instabilities. Each model is then validated experimentally. This procedure, used in the study of the LS system, is also applied to a pressure compensated (PC) valve. A PC valve is one in which the flow rate is independent in variations to load pressure. A system which combines a LS pump and a PC valve (for the controlling orifice) is called a load sensing pressure compensated (LSPC) system. This research, then, examines the dynamic performance of the LSPC system using the operating points and steady state operating regions identified in the first part of the research. The original contributions of this research include: (a) establishment of three steady state operating conditions defined as Condition I, II & III, which are based on the solution of steady state non-linear equations; (b) the provision of an empirical model of the orifice discharge coefficient suitable for laminar and turbulent flow, and the transition region between them; (c) and the development of an analytical expression for orifice flow which makes it possible to accurately model and simulate a hydraulic system with pilot stage valve or pump/motor compensator. These contributions result in a practical and reliable method to determine the stability of a LS or LSPC system at any operating point and to optimize the design of the LS or LSPC system.

Heavy load equipment, such as tractors, shovels, cranes, airplanes, etc, often employ fluid power (i.e. hydraulic) systems to control their loads by way of valve adjustment in a pump-valve control configuration. Most of these systems have low energy efficiency as a consequence of pressure losses across throttle valves. Much of the energy is converted into heat energy which can have determinantal effects on component life and the surrounding environment. From an energy efficiency point of view, an ideal hydraulic system is one that does not include any throttling valve. One such circuit is made of a variable pump and motor load (pump/motor configuration). The velocity of the load is controlled by manipulating the pump displacement or by changing the rotary speed of the pump shaft. In such a system, the transient response of the load is often unsatisfactory because it is difficult to quickly and accurately manipulate the pump displacement or change shaft speed. Thus circuit design must be a compromise between the energy efficiency of the pump/motor system and the controllability of a pump/valve/motor combination. One possible compromise is to use a pump-valve configuration which reduces energy losses across the valve. One way to achieve this is by controlling the pressure drop across the valve and limiting it to a small value, independent of load pressure. Based on this idea, a type of hydraulic control system, usually called load-sensing (LS), has recently been used in the flow power area. This type of system, however, is complex and under certain operating conditions exhibits instability problems. Methods for compensating these instabilities are usually based on a trial-and-error approach. Although some research has resulted in the definition of some instability criterion, a comprehensive and verifiable approach is still lacking. This research concentrates on identifying the relationship between system parameters and instability in one particular type of LS system. Due to the high degree of non-linearity in LS systems, the instabilities are dependent on the steady state operating point. The study therefore concentrates first on identifying all of the steady state operating points and then classifying them into three steady state operating regions. A dynamic model for each operating region is developed to predict the presence of instabilities. Each model is then validated experimentally. This procedure, used in the study of the LS system, is also applied to a pressure compensated (PC) valve. A PC valve is one in which the flow rate is independent in variations to load pressure. A system which combines a LS pump and a PC valve (for the controlling orifice) is called a load sensing pressure compensated (LSPC) system. This research, then, examines the dynamic performance of the LSPC system using the operating points and steady state operating regions identified in the first part of the research. The original contributions of this research include: (a) establishment of three steady state operating conditions defined as Condition I, II & III, which are based on the solution of steady state non-linear equations; (b) the provision of an empirical model of the orifice discharge coefficient suitable for laminar and turbulent flow, and the transition region between them; (c) and the development of an analytical expression for orifice flow which makes it possible to accurately model and simulate a hydraulic system with pilot stage valve or pump/motor compensator. These contributions result in a practical and reliable method to determine the stability of a LS or LSPC system at any operating point and to optimize the design of the LS or LSPC system.

This thesis studies the design of an electro-hydraulic landing gear and brakes control system of a trainer aeroplane. In the first part there is a basic draft of the landing gear kinematics and its loads during gear retraction, flight and landing. Braking conditions are also analysed. The thesis then focuses on the design of hydraulic circuits and their control. Simulations for studying the dynamic characteristics of the braking proportional valve and the course of plane braking were created in Simulink. There is also a brief section about reliability of the proposed system.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to create a hydraulic system for water turbine control. The basic dimensioning of the hydraulic elements is included in order to build a functional hydraulic diagram.

With increasing digitization, models are more important than ever. Especially their use as soft sensors during operation offers opportunities in cost saving, easy data acquisition and therefore additional functionality of systems. In soft sensor networks there is redundant data acquisition and consequently the occurrence of inconsistent values from different soft sensors is encouraged. The resolution of these data-induced conflicts allows for the detection of changing components characteristics. Hence soft sensor networks can be used to detect wear in system components. In this paper this approach is validated on a test rig. It is found, that the soft sensor network is capable to determine wear and its extent in eccentric screw pumps and valves via data induced conflicts with relatively simple models.

One of the largest energy losses in an excavator is the compensation loss. In a hydraulic load sensing system where one pump supplies multiple actuators, these compensation losses are inevitable. To minimize the compensation losses the use of a multi chamber cylinder can be used, which can control the load pressure by activate its chambers in different combinations and in turn minimize the compensation losses.  For this proposed architecture, the control of the multi chamber cylinder systems is not trivial. The possible states of the system, due to the number of combinations, makes conventional control, like a rule based strategy, unfeasible. Therefore, is the reinforcement learning a promising approach to find an optimal control.  A hydraulic system was modeled and validated against a physical one, as a base for the reinforcement learning to learn in simulation environment. A satisfactory model was achieved, accurately modeled the static behavior of the system but lacks some dynamics.  A Deep Q-Network agent was used which successfully managed to select optimal combinations for given loads when implemented in the physical test rig, even though the simulation model was not perfect.