A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T
Keywords: Saving energy is important and necessary for hydraulic excavators. This paper proposed a novel energy re-
Boom system generation boom system. A variable displacement hydraulic motor and flow control valve were used to regulate
Energy regeneration the torque and speed of the generator, and to regulate flow through the hydraulic motor. A control strategy was
Efficiency proposed to calculate the optimal displacement of the hydraulic motor. The hydro-mechanical efficiency map
Hybrid hydraulic excavator
and volumetric efficiency map were used to estimate the speed and torque of the generator instead of using
speed and torque sensor. The resulting energy regeneration efficiency ranged from 33.8% to 57.4%, which
cannot be realized in conventional boom system. Compared with conventional energy regeneration boom
system, the improvement of energy regeneration efficiency with the proposed system was 3.2% to 4.1% for low
and moderate velocities. A control strategy has been proposed to decrease the setup power of generator and
ensure system safety in large load and high velocity mode.
1. Introduction hydraulic boom system to address these problems [14–17]. When the
boom moves down, the pump/motor charges the accumulator. How-
Construction machines play important roles in construction and ever, there are no commercial components available for such systems
agriculture [1–3]. Researches exploring energy saving in construction up to now.
machines are urgently needed to solve the problems of environmental Electric hybrid technology is another method used to decrease the
pollution and excessive fuel consumption [4–7]. A number of hybrid energy consumption when the electrical storage such as batteries or
excavators, which are divided mainly into hydraulic hybrids and elec- super capacitors are equipped. In addition to batteries and super ca-
tric hybrids, have been developed and commercialized to save energy pacitors, flywheel energy storage, flow batteries and hydrogen storage
[8–11]. Hydraulic hybrid excavators use hydraulic accumulators to are newly-developed to store energy. Based on the research by
store energy. The hydraulic accumulator can be connected to the cy- Amirante et al. [18], flywheel energy storage offers fast discharge time
linder, and when the cylinder moves down with a load, the accumulator and high power but can store only small amount of energy. Flow bat-
is charged and saves the potential energy. When the cylinder moves up, teries and hydrogen energy storage are still in the developing phase.
the energy can be reused [12]. Lithium batteries have benefitted from decisive development over the
However, the load dependent pressure of a hydraulic accumulator last few years, resulting in enhanced power rating, increased lifetimes,
affects the system performance, because it represents a variable value improved efficiency, and reduced costs. Shen et al. [19] analyzed an
during the system operation. Proportional flow control valves can be energy storage system in which a super capacitor and battery were used
used to solve this problem. Research addressing how to utilize control for energy storage in an electric vehicle. Super capacitors provide high
valves optimally from a fluid dynamics perspective and studies of spool peak power, receive regenerative braking power, and reduce battery
position control systems have provided methods to control flow accu- size. They also proposed a systematic approach and tools to optimize
rately [13]. Hence, flow though the accumulator could be regulated energy storage system size and estimate battery cycle life, resulting in
using proportional flow control valves and system performance could the extension of battery lifetime by 76%.
be improved to satisfactory levels. However, the pressure drop caused Based on this analysis, the super capacitor and battery strategy has
by the control valves decreases energy regeneration efficiency. Hy- many advantages and are suitable for use in hybrid hydraulic excavator.
draulic pump/motor and hydraulic transformer could be used in the Wang et al. [20] proposed a boom system in which a hydraulic motor
⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: kkahn@ulsan.ac.kr (K.K. Ahn).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2018.12.084
Received 7 June 2018; Accepted 27 December 2018
0196-8904/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Y.-X. Yu, K.K. Ahn Energy Conversion and Management 183 (2019) 26–34
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Y.-X. Yu, K.K. Ahn Energy Conversion and Management 183 (2019) 26–34
10
6
8
G 7 9
4
Load
cylinder
ηm pc D
T=
Fig. 5. Hydraulic circuit of the test bench. 2π (5)
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Y.-X. Yu, K.K. Ahn Energy Conversion and Management 183 (2019) 26–34
ηv qc qreq
n=
D (6) pc Hydro-mechanical T1, T2…T51 Generator
Ștotal1,
efficiency of Ștotal1
Șm1,Șm2...Șm51 Efficiency
where β, n and Dmax are the control value, angular velocity and max- hydraulic motor …
ȕ1=50%, map is Ștotal51 Find out Ștotal_opt
imum displacement of the hydraulic motor respectively, and ηm and ηv ȕ2=51% used to get and
… Șgen and corresponding ȕopt
are the hydro-mechanical efficiency and volumetric efficiency of the ȕ51=100% calculate
hydraulic motor. Hydro-mechanical efficiency losses are caused by Volumetric
qreq n1, n2…n51 total
efficiency of Șv1,Șv2...Șv51
friction, and volumetric efficiency losses are primarily caused by efficiency
pc hydraulic motor
leakage. Finally, the mechanical energy is converted to electric energy
that can be stored in a battery through the generator. In this paper, Fig. 7. Calculation of the optimal displacement of hydraulic motor.
electric energy is defined as regenerated energy, as shown in Eq. (7).
Ereg = ηgen EM (7) Boom
system
where Ereg is the regenerated energy, and ηgen is the generator effi- pc
Calculate the optimal
ciency. When the boom moves down, the joystick signal is measured to qreq displacement of hydraulic
opt Hydraulic
calculate the required flow rate, and the required velocity is as shown in motor
motor
Eqs. (8) and (9).
qreq = αqmax (8)
qreq vreq PI v
vreq = controller Generator
Ac (9)
where qreq and qmax are the required flow rate and maximum flow rate
of the head chamber of the cylinder respectively, and vreq is the re-
quired velocity. Based on Eqs. (4) and (6), the generator speed and pc
displacement of the hydraulic motor must be controlled to ensure that
the flow rate qc meets the required flow rate qreq. Then, the velocity of
the cylinder satisfies the system requirements, based on Eq. (9). Hence, Fig. 8. Control diagram of proposed control strategy.
controlling the speed of the generator and displacement of the hy-
draulic motor are the key points of the control strategy design.
cylinder velocity.
3.2. Control strategy design
Based on the control strategy outlined above, we consider the total
efficiency of the generator and hydraulic motor to identify the optimal
When the required flow rate is calculated using the joystick signal
operating conditions of the generator and hydraulic motor. Calculation
and the displacement of the hydraulic motor is changed, generator
of optimal displacement of the hydraulic motor is shown in Fig. 7. The
speed must be controlled based on Eq. (6). Hence, controlling the dis-
hydro-mechanical efficiency map and volumetric efficiency map of the
placement of the hydraulic motor is the most important aspect of
hydraulic motor are used to estimate the torque and speed of the gen-
control strategy design. In our test bench, displacement of the hydraulic
erator instead of using sensors. The control diagram is shown in Fig. 8,
motor can be changed from 50% to 100% of maximum displacement.
where v is the velocity of the cylinder. The velocity and pressure of the
This produces a range of parameter β of [50%, 100%]. The goal is to
head chamber of the cylinder are used as feedback signals for the
determine the optimal parameter β within this range to obtain max-
controller and to calculate the optimal displacement of the hydraulic
imum regeneration efficiency. The detailed control strategy is as fol-
motor.
lows:
1. A hydro-mechanical efficiency map and volumetric efficiency map 3.3. Control strategy design in special case
of hydraulic motor and efficiency map of generator are prepared.
2. In boom down mode, the required velocity and flow rate are cal- The load of the boom system varies based on the load and postures
culated based on the joystick signal, and the pressure of the head of boom, arm, and bucket. The velocity also varies, based on joystick
chamber of cylinder is measured. signal. This paper set the high efficiency range of the generator and
3. Fifty-one parameters of β are set (β1 = 50%, hydraulic motor to meet requirements for common load and velocity.
β2 = 51% … β51 = 100%). Each β is used to calculate the torque and However, in the special case of large load and high velocity, the output
speed of the generator, according to Eqs. (4)–(6). Therefore, 51 power of the cylinder may exceed the power of the generator. The black
combinations of torque and speed are obtained and used to calculate curve in Fug. 3 shows the maximum torque of the generator, which is
the generator efficiency ηgen1 to ηgen51, based on the efficiency map low when the speed is high. Hence, if high speed and torqued are re-
of the generator. The hydro-mechanical efficiency (ηm1 to ηm51) and quired, the working points of generator will be out of the permitted
volumetric efficiency (ηv1 to ηv51) of the hydraulic motor are also range. Customer may sometimes use overloaded excavators, in which
obtained based on the efficiency map. cases, the flow rate cannot be controlled, and the generator could be
4. The total efficiency ηtotal is calculated based on Eq. (10). Hence, 51 destroyed. If a high-powered generator is used in such system, the high
calculated total efficiencies are obtained (ηtotal1 to ηtotal51). efficiency range of the generator will change and cannot meet re-
ηtotal = ηm ηv ηgen (10) quirements for the common load and velocity conditions. This de-
creases energy regeneration efficiency and increase the cost of the
5. The maximum value of ηtotal_opt among the results (ηtotal1 to ηtotal51) system. To solve this problem, the FCV was installed in the proposed
is chosen as the optimal value. Then the corresponding optimal system. The control strategy of the FCV is as follows:
value βopt is obtained and used to control the displacement of the If the required flow rate and load are so large that the hydraulic
hydraulic motor. motor cannot adjust the working point of the generator to remain
6. The generator is controlled by a PI controller based on the error of within the permitted working range, displacement of the hydraulic
motor should be set to the maximum value to decrease generator speed,
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Y.-X. Yu, K.K. Ahn Energy Conversion and Management 183 (2019) 26–34
Boom
system
=1
Hydraulic
motor Set control system intial paramaters.
vreq ev PID v
controller FCV Boom down mode
speed of the generator at a specific torque as shown in Fig. 3. A PID Boom moves down.
controller is used to control the FCV to lower the generator speed to less
Boom moves down.
than the maximum permitted speed. The control diagram is shown in
Fig. 9. Condition of large load and high velocity is referred to LLHV
mode.
In Fig. 9, the maximum torque diagram is the maximum torque
curve in Fig. 3 and is used to calculate the maximum permitted speed
np. The control command of generator nreq equal to np minus 50. This
means that the target speed of the generator is 50 rpm lower than the Fig. 10. Flow chart of the control strategy.
maximum speed permitted for system safety. The hydro-mechanical
efficiency map of the hydraulic motor is used to estimate the generator
Table 1
torque instead of using torque sensor, so that the cost of the system is
Comparison of measured roughness data.
decreased. The required generator speed, cylinder pressure and hy-
draulic motor displacement are input values used for the hydro-me- Component Value Remark and unit
chanical efficiency map of hydraulic motor to estimate generator
Hydraulic cylinder 0.05 * 0.036 * 0.66 Piston dia. * Rod dia. * Stroke length
torque. (m)
Hydraulic pump 34.3 Displacement (mL/r)
Hydraulic motor 55 Displacement (mL/r)
3.4. Flow chart of the control strategy
Main control valve 50 Maximum flow (L/min)
Flow control valve 45 Maximum flow (L/min)
According to the analysis above, the control strategy can be illu-
strated by the flow chart shown in Fig. 10. The maximum torque dia-
gram is used to assess whether the cylinder power exceeds the gen- -
erator power.
-
4. Experiment and analysis
-
Torque [Nm]
- 0.8
The hydraulic circuit is shown in Fig. 5. The parameters of the key
components are shown in Table 1.
The pressure of the rod chamber of the load cylinder was set to -
100 bar. The bucket cylinder of the test bench is smaller than the boom 0.9
cylinder of a hydraulic excavator. The load is also less than that of the -
real boom system. Therefore, the flow rate and pressure of cylinder
head chamber are lower than those of real boom system. The generator
used is based on that described in [24], and the speed and torque of the
generator were scaled-down to levels that were amenable to analysis in Speed [rpm]
the proposed test bench. The efficiency map of the generator is shown
Fig. 11. Efficiency map of generator.
below.
In Fig. 11, the maximum speed of the generator and torque are
700 rpm and 50 Nm respectively. Negative torque indicates that the
direction of torque is opposite to that of the speed. Even if the gen-
erator, cylinder and load are smaller than those of real excavators. the
function of the test bench is the same as real boom system. Therefore,
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Y.-X. Yu, K.K. Ahn Energy Conversion and Management 183 (2019) 26–34
0.86
0.93
0.88
0.91
Speed [rpm]
Fig. 12. Volumetric efficiency of the hydraulic motor at 45 bar.
the control strategy tested in this test bench can be used in real ex-
cavators.
0.8
Fig. 15. Experimental results of generator at an average speed of 0.08 m/s in
the proposed system.
0.7 Fig. 15(c), the torque is negative, because the direction of torque is
0.55 0.4
different from the speed in Fig. 15(b). This indicates that the servo
motor function is equivalent to that of a generator. The cylinder dis-
placement also shows negative values, because the cylinder is retracted
in boom down mode. Experiments using conventional energy re-
generation system include fixed displacement of the hydraulic motor to
perform comparisons, with results shown in Figs. 16 and 17. The
pressure of the cylinder varies according to the bucket posture during
Speed [rpm] experiments, which was used to emulate varied postures of boom
system and to test system performance under varying loads.
Fig. 13. Hydro-mechanical efficiency of hydraulic motor at 45 bar.
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Y.-X. Yu, K.K. Ahn Energy Conversion and Management 183 (2019) 26–34
-
0.72
0.8
-
Torque [Nm]
-
0.9
-
Speed [rpm]
Fig. 18. Comparison of working point of generator.
The high velocity of cylinder was set to 0.15 m/s to test the system
in LLHV mode. The experimental results of the proposed system and of
the conventional energy regeneration system are shown in Figs. 19–22.
The FCV was operated from 1 s to 1.5 s, because the pressure was
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Y.-X. Yu, K.K. Ahn Energy Conversion and Management 183 (2019) 26–34
Fig. 20. Experimental results of generator at an average speed of 0.15 m/s in Fig. 22. Experimental results of generator at an average speed of 0.15 m/s in
the proposed system. the conventional system.
-
0.72
0.8
Torque [Nm]
- 0.9
Speed [rpm]
Fig. 23. Comparison of working point of generator in LLHV mode.
system, which may increase the cost of system. Working points vary
outside of the permitted range only under the condition of large load
and high velocity. Hence, using larger generator to compensate for
uncommon conditions is not an appropriate choice. The high efficiency
range also changes when the power of generator is larger and then the
energy regeneration efficiency is also affected, especially under the
Fig. 21. Experimental results of cylinder displacement, FCV and HM at an conditions of small load and velocity. The control strategy allowed the
average speed of 0.15 m/s in the conventional system. conditions of the generator to remain within the permitted range in
LLHV mode. Part of the potential energy can be regenerated, and the
high and the LLHV mode was activated only in this region. The gen- generator therefore functions safely.
erator speed of the proposed system was lower than that of the con-
ventional energy regeneration system, as shown in Figs. 20 and 22. The 4.5. Energy regeneration in each condition
generator working points of each system are shown in Fig. 23. All
generator working points for the proposed system were within the An experiment was conducted to test energy regeneration efficiency
permitted range, while some working points of the conventional energy at different velocities. The experimental results are shown in Table 2.
regeneration system were outside of the permitted range. This indicates The energy regeneration efficiency of the proposed system is higher
that the generator in a conventional system cannot provide the torque than that of the conventional energy regeneration system at low and
necessary to balance the load at such conditions. Hence, high power moderate velocities. For a velocity of 0.125 m/s, the energy regenera-
generator should be chosen for the conventional energy regeneration tion efficiency of the proposed system is the same as that of
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Y.-X. Yu, K.K. Ahn Energy Conversion and Management 183 (2019) 26–34
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