Sensor-Informed Motion-Continuity Control of Shared-Return Electro-Hydraulic Actuator Networks Under...

Area of Science:

• Control Systems Engineering
• Hydraulic Systems
• Robotics

Background:

• Shared-return electro-hydraulic actuator networks face challenges with motion continuity due to return-line pressure transients.
• Neighboring-branch disturbances significantly impact local actuator velocity and system stability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a sensor-informed control method for enhancing motion continuity in shared-return electro-hydraulic actuator networks.
• To mitigate local velocity fluctuations caused by return-line pressure transients while respecting system constraints.

Main Methods:

• Established a control-oriented shared-return disturbance model to analyze system dynamics.
• Utilized sensor data (motion, pressure) and prior information for constrained predictive controller objective reconstruction.
• Employed Soft Actor-Critic for objective-weight inference and receding-horizon optimization for valve command generation.

Main Results:

• The proposed framework demonstrated improved motion continuity and reduced pressure-difference excursions.
• Smoother valve execution and successful online updates within the sampling period were achieved.
• Effectiveness was validated through co-simulation, ablation studies, and experimental tests.

Conclusions:

• The sensor-driven objective reconstruction method is feasible for shared-return disturbance scenarios.
• The developed control strategy enhances performance and stability in complex hydraulic systems.
• This work contributes to more robust and precise control of electro-hydraulic actuators.