Articles

Novel cylinder positioning system realised by using solenoid valves

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Abstract

This paper presents a novel control design, developed to realise fast and accurate positioncontrol of a pneumatic actuator using inexpensive on/off solenoid valves. In contrast to conventional controlmethods, the proposed control method operates chatter free, based on air compression. The controlprinciple was developed by investigating the dynamics of a pneumatic actuator with an identifiedmathematical model. This new approach is applied to a pneumatic double acting cylinder, controlled by apair of 5/3 way directional single solenoid valves. The described closed-loop circuit copes with thediscontinuities associated with the valve’s switching dynamics, and relatively long response time. Theexperimental apparatus uses an analogue displacement encoder for metering the piston’s position andvelocity, and doesn’t incorporate pressure sensors thus ensuring a low cost system design. The results ofexperiments with various step responses show that the proposed control method performs well. Themeasured steady-state position errors are equal to the used potentiometer’s travel resolution, which is 0,01mm. Therefore this novel control and the related pneumatic system design could be a cost effectivealternative to the servo-pneumatic positioning systems.

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How to Cite: Földi, L. , Béres, Z. & Sárközi, E. (2011) “Novel cylinder positioning system realised by using solenoid valves”, International Journal of Sustainable Construction and Design. 2(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/scad.v2i1.20492