Pump-controlled hydraulic cylinder drives may offer improved energy efficiency, compactness, and plug-and-play installation compared to conventional valve-controlled hydraulic systems and thus have the potential of replacing conventional hydraulic systems as well as electro-mechanical alternatives. Since the late 1980s, research into how to configure the hydraulic circuit of pump-controlled cylinder drives has been ongoing, especially in terms of compensating the uneven flow requirements required by a differential cylinder. Recently, research has also focused on other aspects such as replacing a vented oil tank with a small-volume pressurized accumulator including the consequences of this in terms of thermal behavior. Numerous references describe the advantages and shortcomings of pump-controlled cylinder drives compared to conventional hydraulic systems or electro-mechanical drives. This paper presents a throughout literature review starting from the earliest concepts based on variable-displacement hydraulic pumps and vented reservoirs to newer concepts based on variable-speed electric drives and sealed reservoirs. By classifying these drives into several proposed classes it is found that the architectures considered in the literature reduce to a few basic layouts. Finally, the paper compares the advantages and shortcomings of each drive class and seek to predict future research tasks related to pump-controlled cylinder drives. IntroductionWith an increased industrial focus on energy efficiency, plug-and-play installation, and compactness, conventional valve-controlled hydraulic cylinder drives are increasingly being replaced by electro-mechanical alternatives, such as roller or ball screws [1], especially for small power classes. This happens despite the well-known advantages of hydraulic linear actuation such as large force/power densities, reliability, and robustness. Hydraulic actuation is, however, still the preferred solution for many applications such as industrial presses, large mobile machinery, crane manipulators, primary aircraft control etc. [2][3][4]. Among other reasons this is due to certain limitations for the electro-mechanical alternatives, such as limited reliability (e.g., shock loads damage), the difficulties of implementing overload/failure protection and/or limited force capabilities [5][6][7]. To strengthen the position regarding these applications and to make hydraulic cylinder drives competitive with electro-mechanical drives for low power applications, there is a need to enhance both the energy efficiency and the overall flexibility of hydraulic cylinder drives.The flexibility of a hydraulic system may be related to how power is being distributed between the prime mover and the actuator(s). As illustrated in Figure 1, at least three different power distribution topologies exist: hydraulic, mechanical, and electrical distribution.

Self-contained electro-hydraulic cylinders have the potential to replace both conventional hydraulic systems and the electro-mechanical counterparts enhancing energy efficiency, plug-and-play installation, and reduced maintenance. Current commercial solutions of this technology are limited and typically tailor-made, whereas the research emphasis is primarily on cost efficiency and power applications below five [kW]. Therefore, there is the need of developing more flexible systems adaptable to multiple applications. This research paper offers a contribution in this regard. It presents an electro-hydraulic self-contained single-rod cylinder with passive load-holding capability, sealed tank, capable of recovering energy, and scalable up to about eighty [kW]. The system implementation on a single-boom crane confirms its feasibility: The position tracking error remains well within ±2 [mm], oscillations are limited, and the overall energy efficiency is about 60 [%] during actuation. Concerning the passive load-holding devices, it is shown that both vented and non-vented pilot-operated check valves achieve the desired functioning and can hold the actuator position without consuming energy. Additional observations about the size and the arrangement of the load-holding valves are also provided. In conclusion, this paper demonstrates that the proposed self-contained cylinder can be successfully extended to several practical applications, especially to those characterized by overrunning external loads and the need of securing the actuator position.

Pump controlled and self-contained electro-hydraulic cylinder drives may improve energy efficiency and reduce installation space compared to conventional valve solutions, while being in line with the trend of electrification. The topic has gained increasing interest in industry as well as in academia in recent years. However, this technology has failed to break through in industry on a broad scale, with the reason assumed to be lack of meeting industry requirements. These requirements include high drive stiffness enabling a large application range, and the ability to maintain cooling and filtration in required ranges, enabling proper reliability and durability. Furthermore, at this point the cost of realization of such drives is comparable only to high end valve drive solutions, while not providing dynamics on a similar level. An initiative to improve this technology in terms of a class of drives evolving around a hydraulic cylinder locking mechanism is proposed. The resulting class of drives generally rely on separate cylinder forward and return flow paths, allowing for fluid cooling and filtration as well as control of the drive stiffness. The proposed class of drives is analyzed regarding energy loss and recovery potential, a basic model based control design is realized, and the industrial feasibility of the drive class is considered. It is found that the proposed class of drives may be realized with standard components maintained in their design ranges at competitive costs compared to conventional valve solutions. Furthermore, it is found that pressure levels may be controlled in a proper way, allowing to produce either highly efficient operation or a high drive stiffness.

This paper is considering the application of a novel pump controlled cylinder drive, the so-called Speedvariable Switched Differential Pump (SvSDP), for knuckle boom crane actuation. Especially the control system for the SvSDP drive is considered, and aiming on improving energy efficiency a refinement of the existing control structure is proposed. An energy efficient sizing algorithm for the SvSDP drive is developed, and fundamental differences between the achievable operating range for the SvSDP drive compared to a conventional valve-cylinder drive are discussed. A case study is conducted with knuckle boom crane actuation, and compared to a conventional valve actuation. Simulation results show that the motion tracking performance is on a similar level compared to the valve actuation approach, while the energy consumption is drastically decreased. For the given test trajectory the valve actuation system consumes 0.79 kWh of electrical energy, while the SvSDP drive consume 0.06 kWh, if ideal energy recovery and storage is assumed.

This paper presents a self-contained pump-controlled hydraulic linear drive including an innovative load holding sub-circuit. For safety critical applications such as crane manipulators, locking valves or load holding valves are enforced by legislation, but the load holding functionality may also be used actively to decrease the energy consumption for applications where the load is kept stationary for longer periods of time. The system proposed in this paper is based on a simple hydraulic architecture using two variablespeed electric motors each connected to a fixed-displacement pump. This architecture is well-known in academic literature, but in this paper a novel load holding sub-circuit has been included. To control this load holding functionality, the low chamber pressure needs to be controlled accurately, while still being able to control the motion of the cylinder piston as well. Due to strong cross-couplings between cylinder piston motion and chamber pressures this task is non-trivial. The control for opening the locking valves is indirect in the sense that it is controlled via the chamber pressures, which are actively controlled. The fundamental control strategy presented in this paper is based on transforming the highly coupled physical states to virtual states, significantly reducing cross-couplings. As a case study, a two link medium sized knuckle boom crane is selected as an application example. Simulation results confirm the applicability of the proposed system. Appropriate position tracking performance has been achieved for the considered motion trajectory, while the low chamber pressure is controlled in a satisfying manner. A smooth transition from motion operating mode to load holding mode is achieved, with the system not requiring any input energy to keep the load stationary when the hydraulic cylinder lock is engaged.

The introduction of low cost electric motor and drive solutions provides the possibility to design cost competitive compact speed-variable drives as potentially feasible alternatives to conventional valve-controlled solutions. A main drawback in existing self-contained drive technology is the power consumption in stationary load carrying situations. However, the recent introduction of compact self-locking drive topologies with separate forward and return flow lines allow to significantly minimize the power consumption, but introduces another problem. Dependent on the control of the flow device, a continuous, but lower power consumption compared to non-self-locking drive topologies may be present. Furthermore, the piston motion may exhibit a time delay due to an outlet pressure build-up phase in the flow unit prior to actuation of the cylinder, limiting the application range of such a drive concept. The purpose of the study presented, is to analyze these properties through model-based methods, and to establish control functionalities allowing to minimize these unfortunate features. The resulting flow device control structure allows for a significant reduction in the actuation time delay as well as in the power consumption in stationary load carrying situations. Numerical results demonstrate the properties announced by the theoretical analysis and control design phase, hence broadening the application range of the self-locking drive topology in question.

Due to an increased focus on improving the energy efficiency and compactness of hydraulic linear actuators, the electro-hydraulic compact drive (ECD) has received increased attention lately. In this study the ECD consists of variable-speed electric motors and fixed-displacement pumps, which are directly connected to the cylinder, thus controlling the linear motion in a throttleless manner. Furthermore, ECDs are self-contained systems, i.e. based on a fully enclosed oil circuit, in order to avoid external contamination and air to enter the system and to increase system compactness. Conventionally a low-pressure gas-loaded accumulator is used as an oil reservoir to compensate for the flow imbalance occurring whenever utilizing single-rod cylinders in closed systems. The accumulator pressure is to be kept relatively low to stay within the required limits governed by the permitted pump housing’s pressure. Generally, this pressure is not allowed to exceed 1–3 bar. To avoid violating this limitation, the gas volume must be significantly larger than the actual oil volume, which needs to be stored in the accumulator. This requirement decreases the obtainable compactness of the ECD, especially for systems with a large cylinder stroke. Furthermore, the accumulator represents a potential of gas leakage, which ultimately could result in the ECD being non-functional. This paper presents a gasless reservoir solution, improving the system compactness and avoiding the risk of gas leakage. The proposed solution is based on a bootstrap reservoir which is charged by the lowest cylinder chamber pressure. This strategy is feasible for the class of ECDs that is capable of controlling the lowest cylinder chamber pressure alongside the cylinder motion. An ECD consisting of two electric prime movers is considered as a case study. It is shown how the gasless reservoir may be integrated into the system, and an analysis of how this affects the operating range and the dynamic couplings of the system is presented. This leads to the derivation of a control strategy for the Multi-Input-Multi-Output (MIMO) system based on state decoupling, by defining virtual inputs to control virtual outputs. A numerical study suggests that the reservoir volume may be reduced by approximately 50% for the given system dimensions. The proposed control strategy shows good position tracking performance while also being able to control the reservoir pressure within the pre-defined limits of 1 to 3 bar.

The ongoing tendency toward the electrification of hydraulic systems, mainly in the form of self-contained solutions, poses design challenges in high-power applications. An electric motor drives positive-displacement machines used to control the motion of the hydraulic actuator (nonhybrid systems encompassing one or two pumps exist in the technical literature). All the power managed by the actuator passes through the electric motor, which leads to often oversized arrangements. These detrimental characteristics are especially pronounced when the power level increases approximately above 35–40 kW. Therefore, this research paper presents and studies a self-contained, electro-hydraulic, hybrid architecture intended to downsize the electric motor while maintaining the high-power output of the nonhybrid counterpart. After introducing the sizing process for the energy storage device and developing a suitable control strategy for the hybrid subsystem, the proposed concept is validated via high-fidelity dynamic models. The rated power of the electric prime mover can be cut by 70% in the considered application (a mid-size, knuckle-boom crane with an installed power of about 46 kW) without altering the performance in terms of motion control. The additional mass (about 310 kg) of the hybrid system is not expected to affect the load-carrying capacity significantly. As a result, the hybridization of self-sufficient systems is technically feasible for high-power applications. Drawbacks related to the system cost-effectiveness might, however, be experienced. An application-driven cost analysis should be conducted before implementing such a solution.