The ever-tightening government-enforced regulations for more energy efficient and less polluting machines and the simultaneous fast development of electric drives have caused hydraulic systems to lose ground to electric drives. One promising solution to improve the status of hydraulics in this competition are the Direct Driven Hydraulic (DDH) systems, aka electro-hydraulic actuators (EHAs), which are characterized by a closed circuit type and a servo motor driven speed-controlled pump controlling the actuator. Due to this topology, they offer a possibility of reaching higher energy efficiencies compared to traditional open circuit type valve-controlled systems and simultaneously they offer the high accuracy and dynamics of these. Typical applications where DDHs have been used are, in the area of mobile equipment, modern commercial and military aircrafts and some lift trucks, and in the area of stationary applications, mostly presses. In all of these, the actuators produce relatively slow motions. In this experimental study, a DDH system is applied to a stationary industrial vertical position control application where a very rapid movement of a heavy load is required. This brings out some unwanted fluctuation phenomena not encountered with slower motion velocities. Here we are striving for avoiding these phenomena by adding damping to the system. In addition, it is studied whether the good energy efficiency of DDH systems could be enhanced with load-compensation. The presented measurement results include the system behavior regarding the smoothness of positioning, the fluctuations of pressures, forces, and power, and finally the energy consumption with three different system configurations: basic DDH, load-compensated DDH, and load-compensated and damped DDH. The measured energy consumptions are compared against results gained in simulating a conventional valve-controlled system driving the same application. The measurement results manifest that energy consumption wise significant benefits are achievable with DDH, especially in combination with hydraulic load compensation. However, without added damping the motion involved marked vibrations in the end of the upward and downward strokes. Added damping eliminated these vibrations, but at the cost of reduced energy efficiency. Due to this, the solution for the fluctuation and vibration problem should be sought by developing a control strategy that produces a smoother but as fast motion.

Direct Driven Hydraulic (DDH) systems, which are characterized by a closed circuit type and a speed-controlled pump, offer a possibility of reaching higher energy efficiencies compared to the traditional open circuit type valve-controlled systems, and simultaneously offering high accuracy and dynamics. This study presents experimental results gained with a DDH system applied to an industrial position control application. The results include the system behavior regarding the accuracy of position control, pressures, power, and energy consumption with three different system structures: basic DDH, loadcompensated DDH and load-compensated and damped DDH. It was found that compared to valve-controlled hydraulics, DDH system offered potential for significant energy savings, especially if combined with hydraulic load compensation. However, without damping, the motion involved marked vibrations in the end of the stroke. Vibrations were avoided by introducing damping, but at the cost of reduced energy efficiency.

In this experimental study, a Direct Driven Hydraulics (DDH) system of the closed circuit type was utilized for cyclic vertical actuation in heavy load material handling. The actuator was controlled by a speed-controlled fixed displacement pump. The high energy saving potential of this system has been demonstrated in previous studies by the authors, but the dynamic characteristics of the ramped and P-controlled base system were considered unsatisfactory. Therefore, the system was implemented with an open-loop S-curve control that utilized a pre-calculated RPM (revolutions per minute) profile for the electric motor in order to realize a smooth actuator and load transition as a function of time. The results indicate that S-curve control is exceptionally well suited for producing a controlled lifting–lowering rapid motion with a heavy load, while still keeping the actuator chamber pressures within acceptable limits. In comparison, the motion produced by P-control was characterized by large unwanted pressure peaks together with velocity fluctuations and vibrations at the end of the stroke. Using a combination of S-curve control and hydraulic load compensation, a mass of 1325 kg could be moved 0.26 m in less than 0.5 s. The load compensation reduced the energy consumption by 64%, which would allow downsizing the electric motor and enable cost-efficient DDH implementation.

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