Research on an axial-mounted dual magnetostrictive material rods-based electro-hydrostatic actuator

Abstract

In this paper, an electro-hydrostatic actuator driven by dual axial-mounted magnetostrictive material rods-based pumps (MMPs) with a new type of active rectification valve is designed in the current study. Based on flow distribution of the active rectification valve and driving energy provided by two MMPs, the actuator can output continuous and bidirectional displacement. By establishing a mathematical model of the actuating system, using simulation techniques, the change rule of hydraulic cylinder’s motion state caused by different driving signals are studied and analyzed. Test equipment platform is constructed in the laboratory to test the output characteristics and confirm the feasibility of the new concept. The experimental results indicate that the maximum flow rate can reach approximately 2.7 L·min−1, while the operating frequency is 180 Hz.

Development of a dual-mode electro-hydrostatic actuator with serial-parallel hybrid configured piezoelectric pumps

“…The peak flow is achieved as 2.6 l min −1 under no-load conditions, and the estimated maximum load can reach 55 kg. Zhu et al [35] proposed an EHA driven by dual axial-mounted magnetostrictive material rods-based pumps with the double pump parallel configuration and the experimental results indicate that the maximum flow rate can reach approximately 2.7 l min −1 , while the operating frequency is 180 Hz. Unfortunately, the multi-pump serial structure can increase the carrying capacity of the EHA exponentially, but the flow increase is limited.…”

“…Therefore, there is always a trade-off between large flow and large carrying capacity in the single-mode structure, i.e. either in the multi-pump serial structure alone or in [27] single pump in resonant PM film 230 Hz N/A 1.68 l min −1 Air Wang et al [28] single pump in resonant PM film 265 Hz 56.7 kPa 0.19 l min −1 Air Dong et al [33] triple pump in series PM film 220 Hz 4.08 kPa 1.5 l min −1 Air Wang et al [34] dual pump in parallel MM stack 150 Hz 0.6 MPa 2.6 l min −1 Oil Pan et al [29] single pump in resonant PM film 50 Hz N/A 0.44 l min −1 Water Pan et al [30] single pump in resonant PM stack 395 Hz 4.73 MPa 65.7 ml min −1 Air Zhu et al [35] dual pump in parallel MM stack 180 Hz 0.6 MPa 2.7 l min −1 Oil the multi-pump parallel structure alone. The properties of the smart material-based pumps mentioned above are summarized in table 1.…”