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Exploring the use of two servo-valves for servo-pneumatic control

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Abstract

Pneumatic actuators find widespread use in industry when motion between two end-points is required, given their high power to weight ratio and low maintenance requirements. However, classical PID control of pneumatic actuators may present several undesired features, such as large steady-state errors. In this work, a two servo-valve architecture was developed for the position control of a servo-pneumatic system. With this architecture, the two servo-valves are independently controlled—the one connected to the charging chamber is controlled so as to maintain an approximately constant pressure in the discharging chamber, while the other handles motion control. The use of this control architecture is justified through analysis of the system model. By using this architecture with linear PID-family controllers, the aim is to enhance motion smoothness and improve the steady-state errors usually obtained with PID controllers in classical architectures, where the control actions are applied symmetrically to each servo-valve. Both simulation and experimental results show that the newly developed architecture compares very favorably to the classical one in terms of motion smoothness, steady-state positioning errors, and robustness to load variations.

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Abbreviations

A A, B :

Piston area in chamber A,B (m2)

A r :

Cross-sectional area of the rod (m2)

A q :

Heat-transfer area of the actuator chamber (m2)

C i :

Sonic conductance of orifice i (m3 Pa− 1 s− 1)

c p :

Specific heat for constant pressure (J kg− 1 K− 1)

c v :

Specific heat for constant volume (J kg− 1 K− 1)

ε :

Error

ε p :

Pressure error (Pa)

ε s s :

Steady-state positioning error (m)

ε x :

Positioning error (m)

F :

Force (N)

F e x t :

External force (N)

F f r :

Friction force (N)

K d :

Proportional acceleration gain (V m− 1 s− 2)

K v e l :

Proportional velocity gain (V m− 1 s)

K e p :

Proportional εpdch gain (V Pa− 1)

K p :

Proportional pressure gain (Discharging Chamber) (V Pa− 1)

K p o s :

Proportional positioning gain (V m− 1)

K p r :

Proportional pressure gain (Charging Chamber) (V Pa− 1)

K v :

Reference velocity feed-forward gain (V m− 1 s)

λ 0 :

Equilibrium heat transfer coefficient (W m− 2 K− 1)

\(\dot {m}\) :

Mass flow rate (kg s− 1)

\(\dot {m}_{A,B}\) :

Mass flow rate entering/exiting chambers A,B (kg s− 1)

\(\dot {m}_{A1,A2,B1,B2}\) :

Mass flow rate through restriction 1,2 of servo-valve A,B (kg s− 1)

m :

Payload Mass (kg)

n :

Polytropic index

ρ :

Density (kg m− 3)

p A, B :

Pressure in chamber A,B (Pa)

p u i, d i :

Upstream/downstream pressure in orifice i (Pa)

p a t m :

Atmospheric pressure (1 bar)

p d c h :

Pressure in the discharging chamber (Pa)

p r e f :

Pressure reference in the discharging chamber (Pa)

p s :

Source pressure (7 bar)

R :

Specific gas constant for air (ideal gas) (J kg− 1 K− 1)

r :

Critical pressure ratio

R 1,2 :

Restriction 1,2 of a servo-valve

T A, B :

Temperature in chamber A,B (K)

T a m b :

Ambient air temperature (K)

T a :

Anti-windup parameter (reset time) (s)

T a C l :

Anti-windup parameter (reset time) in classical PID (s)

T i p :

Integrator time in the pressure controller (s)

T i C l :

Integrator time in the classical PID controller (s)

T s :

Supply air temperature (K)

u A, B :

Control action applied to servo-valve A,B (V)

x :

Position (m)

x r e f :

Position reference (m)

\(\dot {x}\) :

Velocity (m s− 1)

\(\dot {x}_{ref}\) :

Velocity reference (m s− 1)

\(\dot {x}_{est}\) :

Estimated velocity (m s− 1)

\(\ddot {x}\) :

Acceleration (m s− 2)

\(\ddot {x}_{est}\) :

Estimated acceleration (m s− 2)

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Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding of Project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000022 - SciTech - Science and Technology for Competitive and Sustainable Industries, co-financed by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (NORTE2020), through Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INEGI, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    Paul Dólleman

  2. INEGI, Faculdade de Engenharia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    João Falcão Carneiro & Fernando Gomes de Almeida

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  1. Paul Dólleman
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  2. João Falcão Carneiro
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  3. Fernando Gomes de Almeida
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Correspondence to João Falcão Carneiro.

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Dólleman, P., Carneiro, J.F. & Gomes de Almeida, F. Exploring the use of two servo-valves for servo-pneumatic control. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 97, 3963–3980 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-018-2230-4

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