Force Control of Hybrid Actuator Using Learning Vector Quantization Neural Network

Hydraulic actuators are important in modern industry due to high power, fast response, and high stiffness. In recent years, hybrid actuation system, which combines electric and hydraulic technology in a compact unit, can be adapted to a wide variety of force, speed and torque requirements. Moreover, the hybrid actuation system has dealt with the energy consumption and noise problem existed in the conventional hydraulic system. Therefore, hybrid actuator has a wide range of application fields such as plastic injection-molding and metal forming technology, where force or pressure control is the most important technology. In this paper, the solution for force control of hybrid system is presented. However, some limitations still exist such as deterioration of the performance of transient response due to the variable environment stiffness. Therefore, intelligent switching control using Learning Vector Quantization Neural Network (LVQNN) is newly proposed in this paper in order to overcome these limitations. Experiments are carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm with large variation of stiffness of external environment. In addition, it is understood that the new system has energy saving effect even though it has almost the same response as that of valve controlled system.