Servohydraulic systems are widely used for actuation where high force and fast response are needed, and the servovalve is the type of control valve which provides the highest performance for such systems. In aerospace, servovalves are used for many safety critical systems, such as flight control, steering and braking. However, during the last fifty years the conventional two stage servovalve design for aerospace applications has hardly changed. Due to the desire for increased energy efficiency, there is a need to make valves more efficient and lighter. A new type of servovalve for aerospace applications is therefore investigated. Increased efficiency implies that leakage should be small, and other key requirements are reliability, robustness and low manufacturing cost. The aim of this research is to provide background knowledge so that in the future an improved two stage servovalve can be manufactured. The prototype valve in this research will not be lightweight, but will provide knowledge for a future researcher or manufacturer to create a light weight servovalve. A two stage servovalve was designed with a multi-layer piezoelectric ring bender actuating a low leakage small spool as a first stage to control a second stage spool with electrical position feedback. The valve body was manufactured through Additive Manufacturing. A dynamic model of the complete valve was developed and correlated with experimental data. The model included the drive amplifier for the piezoelectric ring bender, the ring bender with hysteresis, first stage spool with overlap and the second stage spool. This showed that hysteresis and overlap had a significant effect on valve behaviour. A second stage spool position controller was developed to counteract the non-linear behaviour due to the piezoelectric hysteresis and the dead-band due to the first stage overlap. The controller also includes a feed forward path to increase the bandwidth of the valve. This controller outperforms a conventional Proportional-Integral controller and is also less sensitive to amplitude change. Mounting a ring bender sufficiently stiffly so that it can generate a high blocking force, but also in such a way that the deformation and hence the free displacement of the ring bender is not constrained, is a significant challenge. An analytical model to optimize the ring bender mount has been developed. This model can be used to find the optimum mount overlap at the outer edge of the ring bender, and the optimum thickness of the mount. An extensive investigation of the durability of the ring bender in Hyjet has been completed. Hyjet is a tradename for a fire-resistant phosphate-ester hydraulic fluid commonly used in civil aerospace. The ring bender will quickly start to break down if the Hyjet reaches the electrical connections. The Hyjet will penetrate the ceramic and create an electrical circuit between the electrical connection, the Hyjet and the outermost internal electrode. The breakdown of the ring bender can probably be eliminated by protecting the ceramic with an impermeable layer of material. In this research a metallic foil applied to the surface of the ring bender was investigated.

The objective of this project was to design and implement an experimental hydraulic system that simulates joint flexibility of a single rigid link flexible joint robot manipulator, with the ability of changing the joint flexibilitys parameters. Such a system could facilitate future control studies of robot manipulators by reducing investigation time and implementation cost of research. It could also be used to test the performance of different strategies to control the movement of flexible joint manipulators.<p>A hydraulic rotary servo motor was used to simulate the action of a flexible joint robot manipulator. It was a challenging task, since the control of angular acceleration was required. <p>A single-rigid-link, elastic-joint robot manipulator was mathematically modeled and implemented using Matlab. Joint flexibility parameters such as stiffness and damping, could be easily changed. This simulation was considered as a function generator to drive the hydraulic flexible joint robot. In this study the desired angular acceleration of the manipulator was used as the input to the hydraulic rotary motor and the objective was to make the hydraulic system follow the desired acceleration in the frequency range specified. The hydraulic system consisted of a servovalve and rotary motor. <p>A hydraulic actuator robot was built and tested. The results indicated that if the input signal had a frequency in the range of 5 to 15 Hz and damping ratio of 0.1, the experimental setup was able to reproduce the input signal with acceptable accuracy. Because of the inherent noise associated with the measurement of acceleration and some severe non-linearities in the rotary motor, control of the experimental test system using classical methods was not as successful as had been anticipated. This was a first stage in a series of studies and the results provide insight for the future application of more sophisticated control schemes.<p>

The objective of this project was to design and implement an experimental hydraulic system that simulates joint flexibility of a single rigid link flexible joint robot manipulator, with the ability of changing the joint flexibilitys parameters. Such a system could facilitate future control studies of robot manipulators by reducing investigation time and implementation cost of research. It could also be used to test the performance of different strategies to control the movement of flexible joint manipulators.<p>A hydraulic rotary servo motor was used to simulate the action of a flexible joint robot manipulator. It was a challenging task, since the control of angular acceleration was required. <p>A single-rigid-link, elastic-joint robot manipulator was mathematically modeled and implemented using Matlab. Joint flexibility parameters such as stiffness and damping, could be easily changed. This simulation was considered as a function generator to drive the hydraulic flexible joint robot. In this study the desired angular acceleration of the manipulator was used as the input to the hydraulic rotary motor and the objective was to make the hydraulic system follow the desired acceleration in the frequency range specified. The hydraulic system consisted of a servovalve and rotary motor. <p>A hydraulic actuator robot was built and tested. The results indicated that if the input signal had a frequency in the range of 5 to 15 Hz and damping ratio of 0.1, the experimental setup was able to reproduce the input signal with acceptable accuracy. Because of the inherent noise associated with the measurement of acceleration and some severe non-linearities in the rotary motor, control of the experimental test system using classical methods was not as successful as had been anticipated. This was a first stage in a series of studies and the results provide insight for the future application of more sophisticated control schemes.<p>

Dans ce travail de thèse, un outil logiciel d'aide à la conception des robots hexapodes a été réalisé en développant un modèle électro-hydraulique non linéaire d'un vérin. Ce vérin à haute vitesse (5m/s) et d'une forte capacité de charge (10 tonnes en statique et 1 tonne en dynamique) est piloté par deux servovalves trois étages montées en parallèles. Le modèle a été développé à partir des données constructeurs et de paramètres non mesurables qui ont été estimés. Les tests expérimentaux réalisés sur banc d'essai ont permis de valider le modèle élaboré. Celui-ci est représentatif du comportement de l'ensemble indissociable, servovalve-vérin hydraulique, sur tout son domaine de fonctionnement. Une étude en simulation de l'asservissement du vérin a été menée en prenant en compte son comportement non linéaire. Un régulateur proportionnel permet d'obtenir une loi de commande rapide en assurant, pour tous les points de fonctionnement, un bon compromis entre stabilité et précision grâce à l'effet intégral du système. Par ailleurs, afin d'introduire les robots hexapodes en milieu marin hyperbar, des solutions technologiques aux problèmes liés à l'alimentation en huile du vérin et la gestion des fuites ont été proposées. Une étude préliminaire sur la jambe des robots hexapodes suggère qu'une nouvelle structure utilisant une tige en S pourrait être envisagée pour augmenter l'espace de travail de l'hexapode nécessitant néanmoins une augmentation de la taille de la rotule.

In 2016 it is 70 years since the first patent for a two-stage servovalve was filed, and 60 years since the double nozzle-flapper two-stage valve patent was granted. This paper reviews the many alternative servovalve designs that were investigated at that time, focusing on two-stage valves. The development of single-stage valves – otherwise known as direct drive or proportional valves – for industrial rather than aerospace application is also briefly reviewed. Ongoing research into alternative valve technology is then discussed, particularly focussing on piezoelectric actuation and the opportunities afforded by additive manufacturing.

In 2016 it is 70 years since the first patent for a two-stage servovalve was filed, and 60 years since the double nozzle-flapper two-stage valve patent was granted. This paper reviews the many alternative servovalve designs that were investigated at that time, focusing on two-stage valves. The development of single-stage valves – otherwise known as direct drive or proportional valves – for industrial rather than aerospace application is also briefly reviewed. Ongoing research into alternative valve technology is then discussed, particularly focussing on piezoelectric actuation and the opportunities afforded by additive manufacturing.

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.

Orientador: Gilberto Pechoto de Melo / Banca: Luiz de Paula do Nascimento / Banca: Silmara Cassola / Resumo: O presente trabalho apresenta a metodologia dos observadores de estado para a detecção e localização de falhas em sistemas contendo elementos finitos de placas de Kirchoff. Tal metodologia consiste na montagem de um banco de observadores de estado, o qual é capaz de detectar falhas presentes no sistema, além de localizar o componente danificado e a porcentagem de falha. As matrizes de ganho dos observadores de estado foram determinadas por dois métodos distintos: o método Regulador Quadrático Linear e das Desigualdades Matriciais Lineares. Nesse trabalho, foi utilizada uma placa plana fina montada sobre um sistema de suspensão similar ao de uma plataforma veicular, representando um veiculo simplificadamente. A modelagem da plataforma utilizada foi realizada mediante a utilização do método dos elementos finitos, considerando-se diferentes números de elemento no modelo. O tipo do elemento finito utilizado foi o elemento de placa de Kirchoff. Adicionalmente foi analisada a influência de elementos de controle junto à suspensão da plataforma no movimento da mesma. O modelo considerado, juntamente com os programas computacionais desenvolvidos, foram utilizados para a simulação do movimento da plataforma. Na literatura, normalmente são apresentadas simulações para o movimento de apenas ¼ do veículo, neste trabalho, no entanto, os programas desenvolvidos podem simular o movimento do veiculo inteiro. Foram realizadas simulações computacionais para o movimento da plataforma com a finalidade de se detectar e localizar falhas introduzidas nos elementos da suspensão e também foram realizados testes experimentais, com os mesmos fins. Mediante tais testes (teóricos e experimentais) verificou-se a eficácia da metodologia desenvolvida e a sua principal limitação: o número de elementos finitos considerado no modelo relacionado com o número de medidas efetuadas e a observabilidade do sistema. / Abstract: This work presents the state observers methodology for the detection and location of faults in systems containing finite elements of plate of Kirchoff. This methodology consists in the assembly of a bank of state observers, which is capable of detecting faults in the system, and also to locate the damaged component and the percentage of failure. The gain matrices of the state observers were determined by two different methods, these are the method Linear Quadratic Regulator and the Linear Matrix Inequalities. In this work was considered a thin plate mounted on a suspension system that is similar to a vehicle platform, representing a vehicle in a simplified way. The modeling of the platform used was performed by using the finite element method, considering different numbers of element in the model. The finite element used was the Kirchoff's plate element. It was also studied the influence of elements of control, together with the suspension of the platform, into its movement. The model considered, together with the developed computational programs, were used to simulate the movement of the platform. In the literature, usually are presented simulations for the movement of only ¼ of the vehicle, in this work, the developed programs can simulate the movement of the entire vehicle. It was realized computational simulations for the movement of the platform in order to detect and locate faults introduced in the elements of the suspension and experimental tests were also conducted with the same purpose. Through such tests (theoretical and experimental) it was verified the effectiveness of the developed methodology and its major limitation: the number of finite elements considered in the model related with the number of outputs and the observability of the system. / Mestre

Este trabalho apresenta o controle de posição e orientação de um modelo não linear de Plataforma de Stewart com seis graus de liberdade construído no ambiente de sistemas multicorpos ADAMS® desenvolvido pela Mechanical Dynamics, Inc. O modelo não linear é exportado para o ambiente SIMULINK® desenvolvido pela MathWorks, Inc., onde o controle de posição e orientação é realizado a partir da linearização do modelo e a aplicação de um sistema seguidor com realimentação de estados. Utililiza-se, também o SIMULINK® para implementar a dinâmica de um sistema servoválvula e cilindro hidráulico com um servocontrole de pressão e assim simular o comportamento dinâmico de um simulador de vôo com acionamento hidráulico. A utilização destes pacotes comerciais visa obter uma economia de tempo e esforço na modelagem de sistemas mecânicos complexos e na programação para obtenção da resposta do sistema no tempo, além de facilitar a análise de várias configurações de Plataformas de Stewart / This work shows the position and orientation control of a non-linear model of a Stewart platform with six degree of freedom developed in the multibody systems environment ADAMS® (Mechanical Dynamics, Inc.). The non-linear model is exported to SIMULINK® (MathWorks, Inc.), where the position and orientation control is accomplished using the linear model and applied as a tracking-system with state-feedback. The SIMULINK® is also used to implement the dinamics of the servovalve and hydraulic cylinder with pressure-control servo and so simulate the dynamic behavior of the flight simulator with hydraulic drive. These commercial packages are used seeking to save time and effort in the modeling of complex mechanical systems and in the programming to get the time response of the system, facilitating the analysis of several Stewart Platforms configurations.