Performance Assessment of a Low-Cost Miniature Electrohydrostatic Actuator

Abstract

Low-cost small-scale (<100 W) electrohydrostatic actuators (EHAs) are not available on the market, largely due to a lack of suitable components. Utilizing plastic 3D printing, a novel inverse shuttle valve has been produced which, when assembled with emerging small-scale hydraulic pumps and cylinders from the radio-controlled hobby industry, forms a low-cost and high-performance miniature EHA. This paper presents experimental test results that characterize such a system and highlight its steady, dynamic, and thermal performance capabilities. The results indicate that the constructed EHA has good hydraulic efficiency downstream of the pump and good dynamic response but is limited by the efficiency of the pump and the associated heat generated from the pump’s losses. The findings presented in this paper validate the use of a 3D printed plastic inverse shuttle valve in the construction of a low-cost miniature EHA system.

Safe Energy using Hydraulic System Analysis at a Hydropower Plant

“…The characteristic curves of the gear pump are shown in Figure 3 using catalogue data. The H90 gear pump was chosen for this project because it can deliver oil at pressures up to 10.3 MPa [32]. 3, which depicts how input power increases with flow, allows one to compare theoretical and actual power for pressurization at 4 MPa, which is close to the operational pressure for the speed governor specified in the catalogue.…”