A Low-Cost Miniature Electrohydrostatic Actuator

Abstract

This paper presents a low-cost, small-scale, electrohydrostatic actuator (EHA). This actuator leverages low-cost, mass-produced hydraulic components from the radio-controlled model industry, combined with a novel 3D printed valve. The system is capable of relatively high bandwidth operation, with much higher power-and force-density than comparable electrical actuators. This paper presents a dynamic system model, investigating the range of stability.

Performance Assessment of a Low-Cost Miniature Electrohydrostatic Actuator

“…While these small-scale pieces of machinery use traditional valve-controlled circuit designs, some of their components such as pumps and cylinders may be repurposed for the use in more demanding applications. Wiens and Deibert have introduced a very low cost inverse shuttle valve design that can be used to combine these newly available small-scale pumps and cylinders in an EHA configuration [7,10]. The novel shuttle-valve design is entirely 3D printed from polyethylene terephthalate glycol-modified (PETG) and functions to handle the unbalanced cylinder flows occurring with a typical asymmetric hydraulic cylinder in an EHA circuit.…”

“…Due to equipment and time limitations, the analysis of the EHA system in the motoring modes (Quadrants II and IV) were left outside the scope of this work. While Wiens and Deibert have investigated the steady-state performance [7] and simulated dynamic responses [10] of a prototype miniature EHA system utilizing their 3D printed plastic inverse shuttle valve, a wider range of performance capabilities of an improved system are studied here. The preliminary valve design has been improved with less restrictive flow paths (eliminating the need for a charge pump) and better sealing poppet geometry (to reduce power losses).…”