IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i3p671-d316482.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Novel Servovalve Pilot Stage Actuated by a Piezo-electric Ring Bender: A Numerical and Experimental Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Paolo Tamburrano

    (Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management (DMMM), Polytechnic University of Bari, 70125 Bari, Italy)

  • Andrew R. Plummer

    (Centre for Power Transmission and Motion control (PTMC), University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK)

  • Pietro De Palma

    (Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management (DMMM), Polytechnic University of Bari, 70125 Bari, Italy)

  • Elia Distaso

    (Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management (DMMM), Polytechnic University of Bari, 70125 Bari, Italy)

  • Riccardo Amirante

    (Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management (DMMM), Polytechnic University of Bari, 70125 Bari, Italy)

Abstract

Electrohydraulic servovalves are widely used for precise motion control in aerospace and other industries due to their high accuracy and speed of response. However, commercial two-stage servovalves have several undesirable characteristics, such as the power consumption caused by the quiescent flow (internal leakage) in the pilot stage, and the complexity and high number of parts of the torque motor assembly, which affect the cost and the speed of manufacture. The solution to these problems can help to reduce costs, weight and power consumption, and enhance the reliability and reproducibility as well as the performance of these valves. For these reasons, this paper proposes a novel configuration for the pilot stage: it is composed of two normally closed two-way two-position (2/2) valves actuated by two piezo-electric ring benders; the opening and closing of the two piezo-valves can generate a differential pressure to be used to control the displacement of the main spool. In this way, there is negligible quiescent flow when the main stage is at rest; in addition, the torque motor and all its components are removed. To assess the performance of this novel pilot stage concept, a prototype of the piezo-valve has been constructed and tested. The experimental results indicate that the response speed of the new piezo-valve is very high. Furthermore, a numerical model is employed to show that, by adjusting specific parameters, the performance of the piezo-valve can be further improved, so that the valve can be fully opened or closed in less than 5 ms.

Suggested Citation

  • Paolo Tamburrano & Andrew R. Plummer & Pietro De Palma & Elia Distaso & Riccardo Amirante, 2020. "A Novel Servovalve Pilot Stage Actuated by a Piezo-electric Ring Bender: A Numerical and Experimental Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-24, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:3:p:671-:d:316482
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/3/671/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/3/671/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paolo Tamburrano & Andrew R. Plummer & Pietro De Palma & Elia Distaso & Riccardo Amirante, 2020. "A Novel Servovalve Pilot Stage Actuated by a Piezo-Electric Ring Bender (Part II): Design Model and Full Simulation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-24, May.
    2. Jinghui Peng & Yayun Zhang & Songjing Li & Wen Bao & Yutaka Tanaka, 2023. "Identification Algorithm and Improvement of Modal Damping Ratios for Armature Assembly in a Hydraulic Servo-Valve with Magnetic Fluid," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-13, April.
    3. Grzegorz Filo & Edward Lisowski & Janusz Rajda, 2020. "Pressure Loss Reduction in an Innovative Directional Poppet Control Valve," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-13, June.
    4. Paolo Tamburrano & Francesco Sciatti & Andrew R. Plummer & Elia Distaso & Pietro De Palma & Riccardo Amirante, 2021. "A Review of Novel Architectures of Servovalves Driven by Piezoelectric Actuators," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-23, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:3:p:671-:d:316482. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.