High Tracking Control for a New Independent Metering Valve System Using Velocity-Load Feedforward and Position Feedback Methods

The new configuration of independent metering valve (NIMV) system uses three proportional valves that gave been effectively proven to be energy saving compared with a conventional independent metering valve system in the fixed load condition. However, the variable load condition completely affects the accuracy and energy consumption during the operation of excavators. To improve the motion tracking precision and reduce the energy consumption of the NIMV system, a novel control method based on the coordinated control of the pump and the valve is proposed. In detail, the valve is controlled by considering velocity, load force, and position feedback of the cylinder. Meanwhile, velocity feedforward and position feedback methods are used to control the speed of the pump. In addition, a switching mode for the NIMV system is designed to flexibly select the metering modes based on the load and velocity conditions. To confirm the effectiveness of the proposed control method, the co-simulation model is built by using the AMESim and MATLAB software. From the results, the proposed method not only has high trajectory tracking precision with the displacement error of the cylinder at around 3.6% but also achieves up to 6.4% energy saving.