High Performance, Reliable and Efficient Fluid Power: Challenges in Controls, Diagnosis and Layouts

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Problem Statement: Aircraft flight control actuators, underwater hydraulic manipulators and off-highway machines are a few application examples that need hydraulic fluid power to operate. However, fluid power technology is not advancing fast enough to meet the high level of reliability, performance and energy efficiency required in today's applications. For example, aircraft industry places a high priority on safety and performance, while attempting to limit hardware redundancy and reduce weight. Teleoperated hydraulic manipulators, as in underwater exploration, are not used to their full potential due to poor user interfaces. Mobile hydraulic equipment such as excavators, are energy inefficient due to throttling losses in control valves. There is a need for more functional, energy efficient and reliable fluid power systems. Research Program: My research program aims at creating new tools that allow fluid power to not only perform the best in current practices, but also offer viable solutions for future applications. I propose to: (i) develop monitoring and control schemes aimed at locating and alleviating the effects of faults that degrade the performance of hydraulic systems, (ii) develop advanced techniques that allow operator-controlled hydraulic manipulators to interact effectively with dynamic environments, and (iii), design new hydraulic layouts and power management schemes for efficient utilization of energy supply in mobile hydraulics. Significance: The research on fault diagnosis and fault tolerant control design, will have an impact on enhanced control and fault monitoring of fluid power actuation used in a host of industrial sectors including aviation and automotive. The research on teleoperated control of hydraulic manipulators will have an impact on high performance manipulators suitable in field robotics. The research on energy efficient fluid power will contribute to the design of new off-highway machinery with smaller engines and reduced emissions.