INTRODUCTION

1.1 Electrohydraulic Control System Overview

Hydraulicand pneumatic systems deal with generation, transmission, control and
use of power using a fluid. The system is referred to as pneumatic, if the fluid is air. Oil is
used in majority of the hydraulic systemsfor their good heat-dissipation and lubrication
characteristics and seal-material compatibility. Synthetic fluids like water glycol and
water-in-oil emulsions are normally used where fire can be a hazard. High water content
fluids (HWCF), containing more than 90% water and multiple additives for property
improvement, are emerging recently as an alternative.In comparison to water-based
fluids, oil has a higher working range of temperature. Driven by an electric motor or
engine, a pump generates hydraulic power that is transmitted by the liquid through the
system comprising pipelines, valves and actuators. An active control system is a
combination of hardware and software, in which the software executes a control
algorithm to calculate the electrical input to the controller hardware so as to meet the
output demand by the actuator with minimum error. Electrohydraulic valves are
comprised of solenoids or force motors and hydraulic valves.
Figure 1.1 is a schematic representation of an electrohydraulic control system.
The most critical part of the system depicted is a proportional valve that has a spool valve
SV operated by controlled currentinput to the coil of the solenoid valve S. A proportional
valve is a class of valve providing discharge from the pump to the hydraulic actuator
varying linearly with the current input.

Fx
Gear Pump
ma y, v= y

ks

P2a r PR s PS r PR
coil coil
P1a 1x PRV
S2 c2 SV c1 S1
Cylinder
Q Reserv
LVDT

Q Amplifier oir

Controller
CommandSignal

Figure 1.1: Schematic of a Simple Electrohydraulic Control System

 Major components of theclosed loop electrohydraulic system of Figure 1.1 are
 a gear pump, where fluid power is generated by converting mechanical power of a
moving component
 an electrohydraulic valve, where the supply from the pump to the actuator is
monitored by the current to the coil of the valve solenoid
 a hydraulic cylinder that is a class of hydraulic actuator with linear motion output
obtained as a result of the flow of pressurized oil from the pump
 a controller that could also be integrated or embedded to the valve for monitoring the
current to the valve solenoid on the basis of the output requirement at the hydraulic
actuator end
 accessories like lines or connectors, reservoir, filter, heat exchanger, accumulator and
intensifier for the hydraulic system and amplifiers and electrical connectors for the
electronic items.
A closed loop system involves additional sensors. Figure 1.1 involves an LVDT
(linear variable differential transformer) that measures the displacement of the hydraulic
piston. In the arrangement shown, there are two transformer coil one moving relative to
the other. The primary coil has its external power source and the current in the secondary
coil depends on the linked voltage by virtue of the relative position.
Pneumatic systems are often preferred in small systems, say in a mechanical
hammer in a forging shop, where air is taken from and finally released to the atmosphere.
However, in a larger system, hydraulic systems are preferred for their superior
controllability on account of incompressibility.
Notable advantages of a fluid power system over other power transmission
systems, say a gear transmission system, are as follows. The former system provides
precision control through elimination of mechanical backlash and an option of conveying
power between a distant pump and actuator without much loss in power.
Some applications of electrohydraulic systems are as follows.
 Control of liquid level in a chemical process plant or in a tundish of a rolling mill
 Control surface movement of submerged vehicles for its maneuvering
 Motion of a metal cutting tool
 Pressure in a combustion chamber controlled by actuating an air-admission
throttle valve as well as the fuel supply system to the burner
 Speed of rotation of a turbine shaft controlled by actuating a throttle valve
through a governor and thereby monitoring the mass flow rate to the turbine in a
power plant in response to the external load variation
 Coolant temperature and, in turn fuel rod temperature in a nuclear plant,
controlled by monitoring the flow rate of coolant
Symbols of some fluid-power components have been shown in Figure 1.2 – (a)
and (b) respectively denoting a pump and a compressor, (c) a motor or alternatively an IC
engine that is meant to provide torque to the shaft of the fluid-power generating unit, (d)
and (e) the actuators, (f) to (i) the control valves and (j) to (p) the accessories. In Figures
1.2(a), (b), (e), (f) and (g) filled and unfilled triangles have been used to represent
hydraulic and pneumatic equipment respectively. Many of these symbols have been used
in Figure 1.3 representing simple fluid-power control systems. In the system drawing, if
there is any fluid-identifying triangle in a valve symbol, it could be omitted
conventionally.
 M

(e) Rotary Actuator or

(a) Compressor (b) Pump (c) Motor (d) Linear Actuator Hydraulic Motor
or Cylinder

(f) (g) (h) Non

4-Port 3-Way Direction Control Valves (i) Pressure
Return Valve
(f) Manual, 3-Position Relief Valve
or Check Valve
(g) Automatic, Infinite Position

(n) Air (p) Non-

(j) Sump or (k) Air (l) (m)
Preparation (o) Branched intersecting
Reservoir Tank Filter Cooler Pipes
Unit Pipes
Figure 1.2: Symbols for Basic Hydraulic and Pneumatic Components

M
M
(a) (b)

Figure 1.3: Fluid-power Systems – (a) Pneumatic, Manual,

Open-Circuit (b) Hydraulic, Automatic, Closed-Circuit
In Figure 1.3, the pump and the compressor have been shown as coupled with
motor. While the compressor in Figure 1.3 (a) draws air from the ambient to charge an air
tank, the pump in Figure 1.3 (b) raises the oil from a reservoir. The pneumatic circuit
shown in the figure is an open one. At the compressor inlet, air enters from the ambient
and the unfilled triangles at the exit ports of the direction-control and pressure-relief
valves indicate the air discharge to the ambient. However, the hydraulic circuit is always
a closed type. As shown in Figure 1.2 (b), the pump receives oil from the reservoir and
the valves allow the oil to flow back to the same reservoir, though drawn at different
locations for convenience.
 In any control system, mechanical, fluid-power or electrical, the control is either
passive or active. A device is called active or passive depending on whether it receives
any external command or not. The external command could be manual or electrical. In an
automatic control system, the electrical excitation comes from a data acquisition and
control system, called DAQCS in short. Figures 1.2(f) and (g) represent two active
direction-control valves and Figures 1.2 (h) and (i) represent two passive valves, namely
a non-return valve and a pressure relief valve. The manual control to the valve in Figure
1.2 (f) is provided by a hand lever, whereas the control input to the valve in Figure 1.2 (g)
is set by a bi-directional solenoid in response to the electrical excitation from DAQCS.
The internal features of the non-return valve, a poppet type pressure relied valve
and a linear force motor (LFM) spool-type proportional valve are shown in Figures 1.4
(a), (b) and (c) respectively. As apparent in Figures 1.2 (f) and 1.4 (a), the non-return
valve has a ball, whose position depends on the balance of the pressure force and the
spring force acting on it from opposite sides. It could either sit on its seat blocking the
flow or could float off the seat, thereby allowing the flow through the valve. While the
non-return valve is meant for allowing the flow only in one direction, the pressure-relief
valve does not allow the system pressure to rise beyond a limit.
Within a pressure-relief valve, there is a spring with a setscrew at one end and a
ball, poppet or spool on the other end that could be lifted off its seat in case the fluid
pressure at the outlet of the pump or compressor reaches a set limit. Figure 1.4 (b) shows
a ball-type relief valve. By turning the knob of the setscrew, the pre-compression of the
spring and hence the pressure at which the flow cracks open could be varied.
Figure 1.4(c) depicts an infinite-position, 4-port, 3-way, direction-control valve
excited by electrical command signal. In the figure, the markings s, c1, c2 and r stand
respectively for the supply port receiving high-pressure fluid from the pump, two
communication ports between the valve and an actuator and a return port for passing the
low-pressure fluid to a reservoir. Three possible ways of setting the ports are open in two
alternate directions and blocked, or neutral. These could be achieved by moving a spool
(1) within a bush (2) that has all the port connections laid within its body. While the spool
together with the bush are referred as the spool valve, all the other parts of the valve that
provide the spool driving force is called the force motor. Of course, the excitation signal
set by the controller to the coil (3) of the force motor causes both the direction and the
magnitude of the driving force to vary.

2 r s r
5
x 1 3 8 4
c2 c1

(a) (b) Q 9
6 7 (c)

Figure 1.4: Schematics of (a) Non-Return Valve (NRV), (b) Pressure-

Relief Valve (PRV) and (c) Proportional Valve with LFM
 The spool in Fig. 1.4(c) has a rod with three discs, called the lands. At the valve
neutral, the lands completely block Ports s and r, thereby stopping the main flow through
the valve. Displacement of the spool in either direction from the neutral creates orifice-
like openings at one side of the land at s and one side of one of the lands for r. Hence,
flow between the valve and the actuator takes place either through Ports c1 and c2 either
along the path s c1c2r or along the path s c2c1r. Since a port is called
as metered or unmetered depending on whether its opening depends or does not depend
on the excitation signal, in Figure 1.4(c) Ports s and r are metered and Ports c1 and c2 are
unmetered. Depending on whether the widths of the metered ports are smaller, equal or
greater than the widths of the corresponding lands, a valve is termed as overlapped,
critically lapped or underlapped respectively.
The force motor in Figure 1.4 (c) has a coil (4), an armature (5), two permanent
magnets (6 and 7), a central pole piece (8), two end pole pieces (9 and 10) and two cone
drives (11 and 12), each coupled with the armature by a spring (13 or 14). A number of
axial spokes on either end of an annular cylinder constitutes the armature. The other ends
of the spokes are extended to the respective end spring of conical diaphragm type. A
coupler, coaxial with the spring, is meant for connecting the spool. The figure shows
typical magnetic flux lines emanating axially outward from a magnet (6 or 7) to go
through the respective end pole-piece (9 or 10) that guides the path axially inward to
cross an axial air gap and enter the armature (5) within which it becomes inward radial to
cross a fixed radial air gap to enter the central pole piece (8) and eventually turns axially
outward to enter the originating magnet.
The spool driving force is expected to be zero in absence of any current in the coil
(4) and the axial air gaps on its either side of the armature (5) equal. For non-zero coil
current, electro-magnetic flux paths are induced through the coil that turns in both the end
pole pieces from axially outward to axially inward direction, in between crossing one
axial air gap, the armature and the other axial air gap in succession. The magnetic and
electro-magnetic fluxes in the figure are additive in the left air gaps and opposing in the
right air gaps. As a result, a net force towards left acts on the armature that eventually
displaces the spool towards left. The steady state displacement of the spool maintained by
the balance of the electromagnetic, spring and flow forces depends on the magnitude of
the coil current. In case the direction of the coil current is revered, the spool displacement
also gets reversed. Thus, the openings of the metered ports could be varied infinitesimally
in a controlled manner.
The active control for reversing either the linear or rotary motion of the actuator
has been shown as manual in Figure 1.3 (a) and as automatic in Figure 1.3 (b). While the
rotary actuator in Figure 1.3 (e) is unidirectional and hydraulic, the actuator shown in
Figure 1.3 (a) is bi-directional and pneumatic. Figure 1.3 shows the flow path through the
direction-control valve in three blocks. At the neutral position of the valve, four ports are
explicitly shown, each in the form of a T. These remain disconnected from each other at
the neutral position. A port is meant to supply the fluid from the pump or the compressor,
a port takes the discharge to either the reservoir or the ambient and the other two ports are
meant to supply and receive the flow to and from the actuator. Thus, at the neutral, the
flow communication with the actuator remains cut-off.
The manual operation of the valves allows the spool to acquire any of three
possible positions shown by the three blocks – blocked at the neutral, and open at the
other two positions depicted by the right and left-side connection. A continuous variation
of the electrical excitation to the solenoid in an automatic valve allows a continuous
variation of the port openings up to a maximum on either side. Of course, the excitation
signal is calculated in real time by a controller hardware following a control law. Figure
1.5 depicts an electrohydraulic control system with automatic feedback of the piston
displacement acquired by an LVDT. The input module IM of a real-time controller
gathers this feedback signal. There are a real-time processor RTP and an output module
OM in the controller. The RTP also receives the digital input of the demand that is
appropriately converted and compared with the feedback signal. A control algorithm
needs to be developed and loaded on the RTP so as to calculate the output that would be
minimizing the difference between the demand and the feedback. Of course, the output is
communicated through the OM and amplified suitably in an amplifier prior to directing
the amplified signal to the coil of the force motor of the 4/3 infinite-position DCV, where
a 4-port 3-way direction control valve is referred as 4/3 DCV in short.
Fast actuation response is a desirable feature of any automatic control system.
Therefore, the moving element and its total movement within the control valve are made
quite small, and so is the radial clearance between it and the corresponding stationary
part. This calls for using filters to avoid clogging of the clearance passages. In fact, the
maximum opening in the main flow path in the variable-area ports of the valves are
mostly in the sub-millimeter range. Thus, a large pressure loss occurs in such a port,
leading to substantial temperature rise of the fluid. Therefore, coolers are necessary for
containing the rise of fluid temperature. It is customary to use an air preparation unit for a
pneumatic system. Such a unit comprises an additional filter, a pressure reducing valve
and a pressure indicator. The purpose of integrating the valve in the unit is to reduce the
pressure loss in the system. This would be clear at a later stage, when the working of a
pressure-reducing valve will be discussed in detail.

Amplifier
Electronic

Command OM
IM
Signal
Host PC M
RTP
Real-time
Controller

Figure 1.4: Schematics of an electrohydraulic feedback control system

1.2 Overall Description of a Control System
One classification of control systems is
 Open-loop control system
 Closed-loop control system, where the input is adjusted through a
feedback error signal in response to output demand in spite of external disturbance to the
system. Systems of this type can further be classified as regulatory or tracking depending
on whether the desired state remains constant or varies with time respectively A typical
close-loop control system in the form of a block diagram is presented next.
Figure 1.5 is a block-diagram representation of a typical closed-loop control
system. Each block in the above diagram represents separate units. Each unit has its
individual input and output represented by incoming and outgoing arrows respectively. If
the dynamics of each block can be represented by a linear differential equation, the ratio
of input to output is called the transfer function and the corresponding block is said to
represent a linear system. The steady-state component of this ratio is called the gain of
the block. A control system analysis is usually carried out on a linear framework.
.The block in thick outline is, in general, a system or a process, which has an
output, called the system output. In particular, this block can be an electrohydraulic
system, different components of which have been mentioned in the previous section.
Flow dynamics of a hydraulic system essentially comprises of nonlinear pressure-
discharge relationship of the flow network. The corresponding control system analysis
demands linearisation of the flow relationship at different operating points.
A control system is actuated by a command signal, known as the system input,
corresponding to a desired steady-state system output. In a feedback control system, this
output is sensed by a sensor and fed back to the summing point. Under steady state, the
system input and the feedback signal at the summing point are equal and there difference,
which forms the input to the controller, is zero. A zero error implies that the system
delivers the desired output. Under transient state, error signal has a non-zero value.

Summing Point
Disturbance

Control
Input Controller Power System Or Output
System
+ = Amplifier Process
Actuator
−

Feedback
Sensor

Figure 1.5: Closed-Loop Control System

 The controller holds the control law. This processes the error to produce the
controller output, which is amplified by a power amplifier to generate the amplified input
signal capable of driving the fluid power system through the control actuator. The basis
of the control law formulation is to optimize certain performance index of the fluid power
system. This index is composed of some function of the system output over a definite
time period. For instance, an objective of the control law design could be a short transient
response time without excessive oscillation and severe overshoot of the final level value.
This becomes important for power systems of very high stiffness and consequent low
damping ratio.

1.3 Open-Loop and Closed-loop Control Systems

In an open loop control system, there is no sensor and, hence, no summing point
or comparator. The controller, in this case, receives the command signal directly. The
command signal of an open loop control system is always calibrated for the desired
system output. Success of an open loop control system performance depends on the
accuracy of the calibration of gain between the system output to input. This gain is also
referred to as forward path gain. An open loop system is much simpler in comparison to a
feedback control system.
Due to a sensor in the system, on the other hand, a feedback control system
demands additional input power from the control actuator. The advantage of this
purposeful additional system loading and thus achieving a desired value of system output
in a feedback control system must be appreciated against uncertainties in the calibration
of forward path gain of an open loop system. However, a higher forward path gain
enables a lower value of error to produce a fixed system output. As the error approaches
zero, the operational requirements of the control blocks, which are common to both the
open loop and close loop control systems, tend to become identical. Thus, a high forward
path gain signifies a lower system loading on account of the sensor.
The feedback control system provides a means of obtaining an accurate system
output, even in presence of system disturbance and parameter variation. For instance, in
the speed control system of a turbine shaft, the system disturbance can be a variation in
the alternator load connected to the turbine.
An example of parameter variation is wearing of components with fine tolerances
and eventual degradation of performance with time. In power plants, parameters can vary
between 20% and 100% on account of alternator load variation. The linear control
analysis of a nonlinear fluid power system at different operating points is another
example of parameter variation. In case of moving a control surface of an airplane, the
force requirement depends both on the vehicle speed and air density. An airplane passes
through two distinct regimes of these parameter variations: one during take-off and
landing, and the other during high-altitude level flight condition.
Capability of handling disturbances and parameter variations are the strongest
motivation behind incorporating feedback in sophisticated control systems, like the
servo-actuation systems of air borne vehicles and power plants. Electrohydraulic systems
are preferred over electrical systems for the higher power density and better fault
tolerance character of the former, whereas the latter class is easier to control for their
inherent linear characteristics.