Measurement and modelling of a linear electromagnetic actuator driven camless valve train for spark ignition IC engines under full load condition

Camless engine valve train for gasoline engines particularly port injection engines offer major improvements over traditional system with fixed valve timing and lift, in terms of efficiency, maximum torque and power, and emissions. Electromagnetic driven valve actuators are very promising in this context, but there are significant control problems. The use of displacement sensor could add extra cost to the camless engine. In this work, a moving coil actuator driven valve train was designed and prototyped and a 1D single-cylinder internal combustion engine model was built to investigate the benefit of without throttle by adopting such camless valve train using Ricardo WAVE under full load operating conditions. A novel low-cost sensor named linear actuator position sensor (LAPS) based on flux linkage change on search coil was constructed in LabVIEW by using current, voltage and proximity sensors to detect the valve lift. The measurement of valve lift and current was reported to prove the feasibility of the camless valve train. The valve lift was used for the single-cylinder engine model and the simulation shows that the peak overall engine efficiency using camless valve train reaches 38.2% and the peak torque increases by 5 Nm compared conventional throttled engine under full load operating conditions. The LAPS model was validated by the experimental valve lift and the high accuracy indicates that the LAPS can be adopted for future development of camless valve train for spark ignition IC engines.     

Improvement of valve seating performance of engine’s electromagnetic valvetrain

The camless valvetrain is considered to be a promising solution to improve the engine performance. Most of the camless valvetrains suffer the problem of high impacts at valve seating, which restricts its mass production. This paper focuses on the valve seating performance of an electromagnetic valvetrain (EMVT) with moving coil linear actuator. The EMVT has inherent advantages to achieve low valve seating velocity. The seating performance of EMVT is evaluated by two indicators: seating velocity and holding force. To limit the seating velocity, the valve is controlled to track a desired trajectory based on inverse system method at seating process. The holding force is also properly controlled base on PID current control to ensure the cylinder sealed. The valve seating performance is validated on an experimental setup. The results show that excellent valve seating performance has been achieved.     

A piezoelectric driven ratchet actuator mechanism with application to automotive engine valves

Increasing demands on the performance of internal combustion engines, specifically automobile engines, require the production of more mechanical energy for a given amount of chemical fuel with reduced tailpipe emissions. Of particular interest in the development of high performance/low emission engines is the control and timing of individual engine valves. This paper investigates the design of an innovative piezoelectric ceramic (PZT) based actuator mechanism with a novel stepping motion amplifier to deliver force and displacement at higher magnitudes and operating frequencies. The target application is an engine valve train which traditionally uses cam-based lifter driven rocker arms to regulate the cylinders’ intake and exhaust valve motion. The proposed PZT-based actuator mechanism introduces a high frequency, lightweight, precise position solution for cylinder-by-cylinder variable valve timing. Numerical results are provided to demonstrate the feasibility of a PZT-based/camless valve train. The new valve train demonstrates similar cam-based performance characteristics while enabling computer controlled individual valve timing opportunities.     

Theoretical and experimental investigations of vibration waveforms excited by an electro-hydraulic type exciter for fatigue with a two-dimensional rotary valve

Conventional electro-hydraulic excitation is usually controlled by a servo valve employing a sliding spool type construction. However, the comparatively slow response of the servo valve will greatly limit the system's high-frequency performance. Therefore, a rotary valve with the rotary motion of the spool as a new excitation mechanism is proposed to obtain the desired excitation, especially a high-frequency excitation wave for fatigue. An electro-hydraulic exciter using a combination of a three-way two-dimensional rotary valve (2D rotary valve) and an unequal area piston is taken as an example. Analysis of the vibration output to a typical wave input yields an analytic solution of the vibration waveform excited by this electro-hydraulic system. The mathematical formulation of the harmonics is also derived. Additionally, an electro-hydraulic excitation test-bed is built to acquire an experimental excitation wave. Consequently, the analysis of the excitation waveform in an approximate analytical and experimental method is used to verify access to high-frequency excitation, even resonance excitation.     

Nonlinear modeling and validation of solenoid-controlledpilot-operated servovalves

Solenoid-controlled pilot-operated servovalves are flow control devices widely used to drive high-flow hydraulic actuators in heavy-duty off-highway machinery. In these applications, a spool-operated pilot stage is required to account for large flow force in the main hydraulic valve. Design optimization, performance improvement, and fault diagnosis of such complex two-stage servovalves often require sophisticated analytical models with accurate physical parameters. The paper presents a step-by-step methodology for nonlinear modeling, parameter determination, model validation, and performance evaluation of solenoid-controlled pilot-operated spool valves. The proposed model takes into account such nonlinearities as pilot spool dead band, spool friction, flow coefficient variability, and leakage. This new model is complete in the sense that all nonlinear interactions between various electromechanical elements have been incorporated in a compact yet comprehensive model. The simulation model accepts a command voltage to the solenoids as input and gives the second stage spool displacement as output. To obtain the physical parameters used in the valve model, a systematic approach is proposed based on state measurement and curve-fitting techniques. The identified parameters of an example valve were used in simulations both to validate the nonlinear valve model and also to assess the valve's performance when certain valve parameters change     

Valve timing and valve lift control mechanism for engines

A new type engine valve control system has been presented, in which both the valve lift and valve timing are controlled directly by electric motors. A mechanism of the valve timing control system is made of planetary gears. The outer gear is the timing pulley which has a timing belt driven by the crankshaft of an engine. Two planetary gears are inside of the pulley. The gears engage with the inner gear of the pulley. The center of the disc, which has centers of the planetary gear, is connected to the camshaft. Then, the crank rotation is transmitted to the camshaft, and rotations of sun gear are added to the rotations of camshaft. This means that when rotation angle of the sun gear is controlled, the phase between the inlet valve and the exhaust valve can be controlled. The lift control system is made of linear slider and ball screw. The cam shape of this system is three-dimensional. The height of the cam varies along the axis of the shaft. When the ball screw rotates, the camshaft slides in the axial direction, so that the lift of the cam varies. The control method is presented for the mechanism, in which valve phase and the lift are controlled continuously. Experimental tests have been carried out for the system.     

Performance and power consumption optimization of a hydraulic variable valve actuation system

A Hydraulic Variable Valve Actuation (HVVA) system is studied in this work, it can continuously adjust engine valve timing and lift at any engine speeds by using a hydraulic actuation system. A detailed co-simulation model is built to reveal relationship between hydraulic pressure, engine valve lift and power consumption, it has taken flow rate, fluid property and pressure drop into consideration. Precision and accuracy of the simulation model are verified by a set of bench test. Coefficient of variation (COV) of engine lift shows that the experiment is repeatable and system robustness is verified through simulation. A modified simulated annealing optimization is conducted to search optimum operation parameters to reduce the HVVA system's power consumption and improve engine's volumetric efficiency (VE) as well as control engine valve seating speed. A pre-selecting criterion and a database retrieve process are added in the algorithm to improve the optimization's efficiency. Optimization shows that optimum pump speed and relief pressure vary from 440 rpm, 32 bar to 2200 rpm, 60 bar when engine speed increases from 500 to 3600 rpm. Corresponding system power consumption rises from 0.07 kW to 0.49 kW, valve lift has a relatively high time-area value (TAV) and an acceptable engine valve seating speed.     

Putting electronics to work in the 1991 car models

Global innovations in automotive electronics are described, highlighting electronically controlled transmissions, suspensions, and variable-valve timing and lift. Among the developments in transmission systems is Ford's AXOD-E, engineered for optimum fuel economy and performance with consistent shift quality. General Motors' version of an electronically controlled four-speed automatic transmission, the 4T60-E, features one-way clutches on all forward speeds for smooth gear changes under all operating conditions These clutches automatically release one gear as the next one is applied. A General Motor's suspension system called Computer Command Ride uses a computer to automatically vary the damping rates of the suspension struts that control the up-and-down movement of the wheels. The system makes the damping softer or firmer, depending on vehicle speed and other driving conditions. Nissan Motors is offering a fully active suspension that uses an oil pump to produce hydraulic pressure that continuously negates the external forces-bounce (up-down), pitch (front-back), and roll (left-right)-that work to move the vehicle. Adjusting engine design to allow for low-end torque and high-end power is a trade-off that has been eliminated by a variable valve timing and lift electronic control system designed by engineers from American Honda     

Control of an overlap-type proportional directional control valve using input shaping filter

In a hydraulic control system (herein, termed a major control loop), a proportional directional control (PDC) valve with spool position feedback may work in a minor (or inner) control loop. In this study the authors propose control designs to improve the performance of the PDC valve control loop (a minor control loop). At first, the mathematical model for the PDC valve is developed through an experimental identification process. Then, a dead-zone compensator that facilitates jumping of the overlap zone in spool/sleeve combination is devised and applied. A reference input following controller (including PI-D and feed-forward controller) that enables robust control of the PDC valve under disturbances is devised using the pole placement method and the zero placement method. Subsequently, an input shaping filter is incorporated into the devised control system to improve the reference following characteristic in high frequency range. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed control design is verified experimentally.     

Automated onboard modeling of cartridge valve flow mapping

Proportional poppet-type cartridge valves are the key elements of the energy-saving programmable valves, which have been shown to be able to achieve good motion control performance while significantly saving energy usage in our previous studies. Unlike costly conventional four-way valves, the cartridge valve has a simple structure and is easy to manufacture, but the complicated mathematical model of its flow mapping makes the controller design and implementation rather difficult. Although off-line individually calibrated or manufacturer supplied flow mappings of the cartridge valves can be used, neither method is ideal for wide industrial applications. The former method is time-consuming and needs additional flow sensors while the latter may lead to significantly degraded control performance due to the inaccuracy of the manufacturer supplied flow mappings. Furthermore, due to inevitable system worn out and/or changing working conditions, actual cartridge valve flow mapping may change significantly over the life span of the system and need to be updated periodically in order to maintain the same level of control performance. Sometime, it may be even impractical to do off-line calibrations once the valve leaves the manufacturing plant. To solve this practically significant problem, this paper focuses on the automated onboard modeling of the cartridge valve flow mappings without using any extra sensors and removing the valves from the system. The estimation of flow mappings is based on the pressure dynamics of the hydraulic cylinder with the consideration of effects of some unknown system parameters such as the effective bulk modulus of the working fluid. Localized orthogonal basis functions are proposed to bypass the lack of persistent exciting identification data over the entire domain of the flow mapping during onboard experiments. Experimental results are obtained to illustrate the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed novel automated modeling method.     

Design and experimental implementation of an electromagnetic engine valve drive

In conventional internal combustion engines, engine valve displacements are fixed relative to crankshaft position. If these valves were actuated as a variable function of crankshaft angle, significant improvements in fuel economy could be achieved. To this end, a new type of electromagnetic valve drive system (EMVD) for internal combustion engines was more recently proposed. This EMVD incorporates a disk cam with a very desirable nonlinear profile which that functions as a nonlinear mechanical transformer. Modeling and simulation results showed significant advantages of this EMVD over previously designed electromagnetic engine valve drives. In this articles, we describe an experimental implementation of the proposed EMVD, which was developed to confirm these benefits. The EMVD apparatus was designed, constructed, and integrated into a computer-controlled experimental test stand. The experimental results confirm the benefits of using a nonlinear mechanical transformer in a motordriven engine-valve spring system, as seen in the small average power consumption and low valve seating velocity. In addition, a valve transition time sufficient for 6000-rpm engine operation was achieved. The results also suggest ways to improve the EMVD apparatus in the future.     

压电执行器及其在液压阀中的应用

以压电执行器为核心的高速开关阀及伺服阀等压电式液压阀具有频响高,微动性能好,结构紧凑等优点,是新型阀控类型之一,受到国内外研究者的持续关注。首先,该文介绍了阀用压电执行器的分类和特点,根据工作原理分为直推式和步进式2类4种形式;其次,对先导型、直动型、喷嘴挡板型和开关型4种典型压电阀的研究进展进行了梳理,分析了各自的代表性结构、性能特点。结果表明,随着未来对液压阀精密化、智能化需求的提升,压电液压阀的应用前景更广。因此,除高性能介电材料开发外,如微位移放大、迟滞补偿控制等关键压电驱动与控制技术仍有待深入研究。     

Structural Modeling and Performance Analysis of Rotary Circuit in Directional Drilling Rig Based on Load Sensing Technology

Aim at improving the energy saving and transmission efficiency of directional drilling rig, the load sensing technology and constant-pressure variable technique are adopted to enable the system to provide the required pressure and flow rate according to the load variation. In order to research the dynamic characteristics of hydraulic control systems, the background and working principle of the load sensing technology were introduced. The dynamic mathematical model of load sensing system is established based on the hydraulic principle. The directional drilling rig mainly consists of two basic circuits: rotary circuit and feed circuit. The dynamic characteristics of rotary circuit are mainly studied. In addition, the hydraulic system of kilometres directional rig is simulated with the software of AMESim. The simulation results show that the load sensing pump could output its required flow and outlet pressure adapted to the load pressure in real time, thus effectively improving the efficiency of the hydraulic system. Furthermore, to verify the validity of the mathematical model and the simulation analysis, an experimental platform of the load sensing hydraulic system was built. The dynamic performance test of load sensing hydraulic system was performed by using the platform. The experimental results demonstrated that the load sensing hydraulic system could output its required flow and pressure when the working condition changed. Finally, they also illustrate the validity of the proposed approach.     

An advanced engine thermal management system: nonlinear control and test

Internal combustion engine thermal management system functionality can be enhanced through the introduction of smart thermostat valves and variable speed electric pumps and fans. The traditional automotive cooling system components include a wax based thermostat valve and crankshaft driven water pump. However, servo-motor driven valves, pumps, and fans can better regulate the engine's coolant fluid flow to realize fuel economy gains and tailpipe emission reductions. To study these cooling system actuators, with accompanying nonlinear control strategy, a scale experimental system has been fabricated which features a smart valve, electric coolant pump, radiator with electric fan, and immersion heater. In this paper, mathematical models will be presented to describe the system's behavior. A nonlinear controller will then be designed for transient temperature tracking. Representative experimental results are presented and discussed to demonstrate the smart valve's operation in maintaining the temperature within a neighborhood of the target value for various scenarios including highway mode, full power with load disturbance, and quick heat.     

High-gain observer-based pump/valve combined control for heavy vehicle electro-hydraulic servo steering system

Electro-hydraulic servo steering system (EHSSS) has been widely used in multi-axle heavy vehicles. Noteworthy, the traditional EHSSS controlled only by servo solenoid valve has amounts of energy loss in throttling orifice. Although the steering control accuracy is ensured, it leads to low energy efficiency. In this paper, a novel pump/valve combined control (PVCC) EHSSS is proposed to increase the energy efficiency, which only uses one servo motor pump and one servo solenoid valve to drive the steering trapezoid mechanism. Based on the control objectives of low pressure difference in valve orifice and high steering tracking performance, a dual-input-dual-output control strategy is proposed. To guarantee the high steering tracking performance of PVCC steering system, a high-gain observer based sliding mode controller (HGO-SMC) is designed for controlling the spool displacement of servo solenoid valve. During the steering process, the servo motor pump is controlled by a simple speed feedforward and PID controller, so that the pressure difference in throttling orifice is kept at a low value to reduce the energy wasted. The experimental comparison results show that the proposed method can achieve the same tracking performance as valve control EHSSS with less energy consumption.     

Dynamic behavior of an electrohydraulic valve: Typology of characteristic curves

The majority of off-road vehicles employed in agriculture are equipped with a hydraulic steering. An efficient way of automating the steering mechanism of these vehicles is by controlling the electrohydraulic valve that operates the steering cylinder. Electronically-controlled hydraulic valves often behave nonlinearly and, consequently, they introduce certain complexities in the analysis of the hydraulic system. Therefore, it is necessary to understand their behavior before designing a control system that is able to auto-steer an agricultural machine safely and efficiently. The objective of this work was to characterize the performance of an electrohydraulic valve with the aid of a set of experiments conducted on a hardware-in-the-loop electrohydraulic simulator. The operation of the valve was classified in four types (I, II, III, and IV) according to the valve characteristic curves and the properties of the input signal. The phenomena of deadband, hysteresis, and saturation helped to discriminate between types. The input signal, especially its frequency, was crucial in studying the functioning of the valve. The hardware-in-the-loop simulator was fed with signals that imitated the auto-steering action. The outcomes obtained from this research provide some critically supporting information for designing high performance steering controllers for agricultural vehicles.     

机械转向器冲击试验台建模与仿真

EPS用机械转向器是实现汽车转向的主要部件之一,为保证车辆的安全性,需要了解其耐冲击性能。机械转向器冲击试验台主要用于对机械转向器的冲击试验。文中针对试验台的阀控非对称缸电液力控制系统进行了研究。通过对控制系统的各个环节的分析,建立各环节的数学模型。进而得到以力为控制量的电液伺服系统数学模型,并利用Simulink仿真平台对系统进行频域和时域分析。分析结果表明,试验台液压系统闭环稳定,满足性能要求。     

Displacement control of a mobile crane using a digital hydraulic power management system

The Digital Hydraulic Power Management System (DHPMS) is an innovation that is claimed to significantly improve the energy efficiency of hydraulic systems. It is based on digital pump-motor technology but has multiple independent outlets; hence, the transformer function can be realized as well. A new idea is to connect the outlets of the DHPMS directly into the cylinder chambers without any throttling valves in order to minimize hydraulic losses and to enable energy recovery. This article introduces the first experimental results of using this direct connection approach. Firstly, the system under study is presented and then a method for the displacement control is proposed. Open-loop position tracking responses with different loadings are presented, as is an analysis of the accuracy of steady-state velocity tracking. In addition, energy losses in the system are studied. The results show that the technique is valid. Moreover, the open-loop positioning error is under one percent in the measured trajectories, even though the DHPMS used has only six pistons. However, more pistons will be needed to improve the control of low velocities and to reduce the pressure ripple. On/off valve technology is a challenge, and compact, fast and leak-free valves with high flow capacity are required.     

A continuously variable hydraulic pressure converter based on high-speed on–off valves

A continuously variable hydraulic pressure converter utilizing high-speed on–off valves is studied in this paper. The hydraulic pressure converter is analogous to a switchmode buck converter in power electronics. Substituting the electronic components in the buck converter with their hydraulic counterparts, a hydraulic pressure converter is built. The steady state and fluctuation characteristics of the hydraulic pressure converter are studied in both the theoretical analysis and the simulation. The hydraulic pressure converter was built and tested. Experimental results show that the system output pressure can be continuously adjusted by changing the duty ratio of the PWM signal supplied to the high-speed on–off valve. Although there is fluctuation on the output pressure, the system output pressure has a quasi-linear relationship with the PWM signal duty ratio. Results also show that the output pressure fluctuation is greatly influenced by the PWM signal frequency and the flywheel inertia. The hydraulic pressure converter based on high-speed on–off valves brings a new way to transform system pressure continuously.     

Alternating pressure control system for hydraulic robots

Hydraulics is a promising technology for robots. However, traditional hydraulic infrastructures are often large and power-inefficient, with large power sources that hinder mobility. In contrast, electro-hydrostatic actuators are relatively power efficient, but their cost and weight can be excessive in systems with a higher number of degrees of freedom. In this paper, we propose a new alternating pressure control system for hydraulic systems with a higher number of degrees of freedom based on an alternating pressure source system. In this system, the valves open and close in synchronization with a pump with sensor feedback, allowing either pressure or position in each actuator to be controlled independently. With the proposed system, a centralized pump can be used with simplified tubing and simple on–off valves. Moreover, we developed a dynamic duty ratio system that improves performance and reduces pump utilization time. The experimental results confirmed that both the position and pressure of each actuator can be controlled in parallel on a multi-degree-of-freedom system.