• 드라이브 ㆍ 컨트롤
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.56-64
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• 2019

Recently, as the environmental regulation for earth moving equipment has been tightened, advanced systems using electronic control have been introduced for energy savings. An IMV(Independent Metering Valve), which consists of four 2-way valves, is one of the electro-hydraulic control systems that provides more flexible controllability and potential for energy savings in excavators, when compared to the conventional 4-way spool valve system. To fully realize an IMV, a two-stage bi-directional flow control valve which can regulate the large amount of flow in both directions, should be developed in advance. A simple design that allows proportional flow control to apply the pilot pressure from the current-controlled solenoid to the spring loaded flow control spool and thus valve displacement, is proportional to the solenoid current. However, this open-loop type valve is vulnerable to flow force which directly affects the valve displacement. Force feedback servo of which the position loop is closed by the feedback spring which interconnects the solenoid valve and flow control spool, could compensate for the flow force. In this study, linearity for the solenoid current input and robustness against load pressure disturbance is investigated by linear analysis of the static nonlinear equations for the IMV proportional flow control valve with feedback spring. Gains of the linear system confirm the performance improvement with the feedback spring design.

• 드라이브 ㆍ 컨트롤
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.39-47
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• 2018

Recently, as environmental regulations for earth-moving equipment have been tightening, advanced systems such as electronic control, have been introduced for energy savings. An IMV (Independent Metering Valve) consisting of four 2-way valves, is an electro-hydraulic control systems that provides more flexible controllability, and potential for energy savings in excavators, when compared to the conventional 4-way spool valve system. To fully maximize use of an IMV, the bi-directional flow control valve that can regulate a large amount of flow in both directions, should be adopted. The hydraulic circuit of an IMV applied to an excavator from an overseas construction equipment company, reveals the flow control valve with the compound of proportional solenoid valve for first stage, and 2-way spool valve for the second stage. Moreover, the two spools are interconnected by a feedback spring, presumed to compensate for flow force acting on the second stage spool. This paper addresses the static analysis of flow control valve in an IMV to investigate the improvement of robustness, against flow force by the feedback spring. From the steady-state analysis of flow control valve model, it can be concluded that the feedback spring facilitates maintaining linearity of spool displacement for control input, and relatively constant flow for load disturbance.

• 드라이브 ㆍ 컨트롤
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.45-54
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• 2020

The IMV is a combination of four two-way valve systems which replace a conventional four-way spool valve to improve efficiency mostly in excavator hydraulics. As the environmental regulations for construction equipment have tightened, some overseas advanced companies have released commercial excavators in which the MCV is implemented with the IMVs. Development of the IMV type MCV relies on the control algorithm as well as the robust performance of proportional flow control valves. In this study, the IMV controller was designed and verified with experiments for the excavator working unit, which determines the IMV mode of operation and the extent of the valve opening in consideration of the load conditions on hydraulic actuators. First, the open-loop controller was designed with a joystick command vs. a PSV reference current map comprising several control parameters in to compensate for the different flow characteristics and non-linearities of two-way flow control valves. Second, the closed-loop controller was designed with the PI control fed by the actuator displacement and outputs actuator percent effort equivalent to the operator's joystick command. Finally, the performance of the IMV type MCV was verified with the trajectory control of position references derived from the energy consumption test standard. Experimental results showed the control performance of the IMV developed in this study, and suggest that future studies to be conducted to advance technical progress.

• 드라이브 ㆍ 컨트롤
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.55-62
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• 2020

There are two types of IMV for MCV, the spool type and the poppet type. The spool type is used in the existing excavator MCV and easily meets large-capacity flow conditions, but has a flow force problem which affects the spool control. The poppet type stably blocks the flow and has excellent rapid response. However, the larger the capacity, the larger the diameter of the poppet needed, requiring a strong spring to withstand the oil pressure. In this study, a bi-directional three-stage IMV for MCV that can be used in medium and large hydraulic excavators was proposed. This is a poppet type, enabling bi-directional flow control and resolves the problem of proportional solenoid suction force limitation. To investigate the validity of the proposed valve, the system was mathematically modeled and the static and dynamic characteristics were investigated through the simulation using commercial software. It has been concluded that the reverse flow is possible in a regeneration circuit and that the proposed IMV can be used to perform various excavation modes.