Abstract:In recent hydraulic actuation systems, conventional hydraulic spool valves with pressure compensators are becoming less popular, after the introduction of the independent metering concept for valves. Within this concept, four valves are needed for actuating a single cylinder. Subsequently, this increases the freedom of controlling both chamber pressures of the cylinder, and it then provides for electronically-controlled pressure compensation facilities. Additionally, this has the potential to save valuable energy. The primary focus of this paper is to develop a new generation of hydraulic circuits using the independent metering valve (IMV). This configuration can function well as a conventional IMV circuit while providing better pressure control. We first describe the working principles of five distinct modes of the proposed IMV system. Then, mathematical models for each working mode are presented. Finally, we present numerical simulations that have been carried out to evaluate the system performance, in comparison with that of the conventional IMV configuration. The simulation results demonstrate that the performance of the new IMV configuration is superior to the conventional IMV system in terms of energy savings.

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