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

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PROBLEM STATEMENT: Fluid power is essential for the operation of critical systems in many fields, like aircraft flight control actuators, teleoperated manipulators for underwater exploration or nuclear services, offshore wind turbines and off-highway vehicles. In its present form, however, fluid power technology is not advancing fast enough to meet the growing reliability, performance and efficiency demands of these applications. For example, safety-critical aircraft demand that hydraulic flight actuators be equipped with on-line fault monitoring tools and be able to maintain good performance in the presence of faults. Presently, these requirements are fulfilled through hardware redundancy, pilot intervention and frequent maintenance. Hydraulic manipulators are now required to cooperatively work together and with operators to perform synchronized tasks that involve interacting with unstructured environments. There is an urgent need for new energy efficient hydraulic systems capable of energy regeneration while maintaining the high performance demanded by machine operators of mobile hydraulic equipment. RESEARCH PROGRAM: My research program strives to improve the dynamics and control of fluid power systems and develop solutions for enhanced reliability, high performance, advanced operator interfaces, and efficient use of energy in both current and future applications. Over the next 5-year cycle, I propose to: (i) develop easy to implement fault tolerant control and fault diagnosis schemes capable of locating and alleviating the effects of various faults that degrade the performance of hydraulic systems, (ii) synthesize advanced control techniques that allow operator-controlled hydraulic/pneumatic manipulators to effectively interact, individually or cooperatively, with unstructured environments and (iii), design new hydraulic layouts and power management schemes for efficient energy use in mobile machines. SIGNIFICANCE: The proposed research will lead to enhanced condition monitoring of fluid power systems and lower overall risk of downtime in many industrial sectors including aviation, automotive and field machinery. My research on controller design for hydraulic manipulators will enable a new generation of teleoperated multiple-arm hydraulic manipulators that are useful for remote tasks as in underwater/rescue operations. My research on energy efficient mobile hydraulics will allow my lab to play an active role at the international level, and develop modernized off-highway machinery with smaller engines and reduced emissions. During the course of this research many students will be trained in all aspects of fluid power system research using my unique, state-of-the-art laboratory. These trainees will become the next generation of fluid power experts who will contribute their distinctive expertise to Canadian industry in many practical ways.