• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.45-54
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• 2020

The IMV is a combination of four two-way valve systems which replace a conventional four-way spool valve to improve efficiency mostly in excavator hydraulics. As the environmental regulations for construction equipment have tightened, some overseas advanced companies have released commercial excavators in which the MCV is implemented with the IMVs. Development of the IMV type MCV relies on the control algorithm as well as the robust performance of proportional flow control valves. In this study, the IMV controller was designed and verified with experiments for the excavator working unit, which determines the IMV mode of operation and the extent of the valve opening in consideration of the load conditions on hydraulic actuators. First, the open-loop controller was designed with a joystick command vs. a PSV reference current map comprising several control parameters in to compensate for the different flow characteristics and non-linearities of two-way flow control valves. Second, the closed-loop controller was designed with the PI control fed by the actuator displacement and outputs actuator percent effort equivalent to the operator's joystick command. Finally, the performance of the IMV type MCV was verified with the trajectory control of position references derived from the energy consumption test standard. Experimental results showed the control performance of the IMV developed in this study, and suggest that future studies to be conducted to advance technical progress.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.372-378
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• 1994

Background: Pressure support ventilation(PSV) is a new form of mechanical ventilatory support that assists spontaneous inspiraory effort of an intubated patient with a clinician-selected amount of positive airway pressure. Low level pressure support during inspiration can overcome the resistive component of inspiratory work imposed by an endotracheal tube. However the clinical efficacy of PSV as a weaning method has not been established yet. Object: The aim of study was to evaluate the efficacy of PSV when it is added to intermittent mandatory ventilation(IMV) in facilitating weaning precess compaired to IMV mode alone. Method: When the subject patients became clinically stable with their arterial blood gas analysis in acceptable range, they underwent weaning process either by IMV alone or by IMV plus PSV. The level of pressure support was held constant throught the weaning period. For the patients who required mechanical ventilation for less than 72 hr, 2h weaning trial was performed with IMV rate starting from 6/min. For the patients who required mechanical ventilation more than 72 hr, 7 hr weaning trial was performed with IMV rate starting from 8/min. For the patients who failed three consecutive trials of weaning, retrial of weaning was attempted over 3 days with IMV rate starting from 8/min. Clinical characteristics, APACHE II score and nutritional status were compared. For all patients, heart rate, mean blood pressure and respiratory rate were mornitored for 48 hrs after weaning trial started. Results: The total number of weaning trial was 37 in 23 patients(18 by IMV, 19 by IMV+PSV). Total ventilation time, APACHE II score and nutritional status were not statistically different between the two groups. The weaning success rate were not statistically different(38.3% by IMV, 42.1% by IMV+PSV) and the changes of mean blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate during first 48 hours were not different between the two groups. Conclusion: Low level PSV when added to IMV for weaning trial does not seem to improve the success rate of weaning from mechanical ventilation. PSV at 10cm $H_2O$ did not induce significant physiologic changes during weaning process.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.1-7
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• 2017

Energy consumption of conventional hydraulic excavators controlled by MCV is considerable when negative load is applied because the meter orifice and meter-out orifice are machined in one spool. Therefore, IMV is introduced to save energy use of hydraulic excavators, but existing hydraulic excavators have various advantages so it is difficult to make a clear comparison. In this study, we compare the use of an existing MCV excavator that has many advantages such as negative control, and IMV for boom up and down operation, and if IMV is used to save energy, we will examine the cause. If possible, for comparability under the same conditions, both systems use pressure balance valves to minimize power consumption when not using power in the actuator. The orifice area at each notch of each valve is calculated, and energy saving is verified by comparing the two systems through simulation.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.31-44
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• 2016

In recent hydraulic actuation systems, conventional hydraulic spool valves with pressure compensators are becoming less popular, after the introduction of the independent metering concept for valves. Within this concept, four valves are needed for actuating a single cylinder. Subsequently, this increases the freedom of controlling both chamber pressures of the cylinder, and it then provides for electronically-controlled pressure compensation facilities. Additionally, this has the potential to save valuable energy. The primary focus of this paper is to develop a new generation of hydraulic circuits using the independent metering valve (IMV). This configuration can function well as a conventional IMV circuit while providing better pressure control. We first describe the working principles of five distinct modes of the proposed IMV system. Then, mathematical models for each working mode are presented. Finally, we present numerical simulations that have been carried out to evaluate the system performance, in comparison with that of the conventional IMV configuration. The simulation results demonstrate that the performance of the new IMV configuration is superior to the conventional IMV system in terms of energy savings.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.55-62
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• 2020

There are two types of IMV for MCV, the spool type and the poppet type. The spool type is used in the existing excavator MCV and easily meets large-capacity flow conditions, but has a flow force problem which affects the spool control. The poppet type stably blocks the flow and has excellent rapid response. However, the larger the capacity, the larger the diameter of the poppet needed, requiring a strong spring to withstand the oil pressure. In this study, a bi-directional three-stage IMV for MCV that can be used in medium and large hydraulic excavators was proposed. This is a poppet type, enabling bi-directional flow control and resolves the problem of proportional solenoid suction force limitation. To investigate the validity of the proposed valve, the system was mathematically modeled and the static and dynamic characteristics were investigated through the simulation using commercial software. It has been concluded that the reverse flow is possible in a regeneration circuit and that the proposed IMV can be used to perform various excavation modes.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.56-64
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• 2019

Recently, as the environmental regulation for earth moving equipment has been tightened, advanced systems using electronic control have been introduced for energy savings. An IMV(Independent Metering Valve), which consists of four 2-way valves, is one of the electro-hydraulic control systems that provides more flexible controllability and potential for energy savings in excavators, when compared to the conventional 4-way spool valve system. To fully realize an IMV, a two-stage bi-directional flow control valve which can regulate the large amount of flow in both directions, should be developed in advance. A simple design that allows proportional flow control to apply the pilot pressure from the current-controlled solenoid to the spring loaded flow control spool and thus valve displacement, is proportional to the solenoid current. However, this open-loop type valve is vulnerable to flow force which directly affects the valve displacement. Force feedback servo of which the position loop is closed by the feedback spring which interconnects the solenoid valve and flow control spool, could compensate for the flow force. In this study, linearity for the solenoid current input and robustness against load pressure disturbance is investigated by linear analysis of the static nonlinear equations for the IMV proportional flow control valve with feedback spring. Gains of the linear system confirm the performance improvement with the feedback spring design.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.39-47
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• 2018

Recently, as environmental regulations for earth-moving equipment have been tightening, advanced systems such as electronic control, have been introduced for energy savings. An IMV (Independent Metering Valve) consisting of four 2-way valves, is an electro-hydraulic control systems that provides more flexible controllability, and potential for energy savings in excavators, when compared to the conventional 4-way spool valve system. To fully maximize use of an IMV, the bi-directional flow control valve that can regulate a large amount of flow in both directions, should be adopted. The hydraulic circuit of an IMV applied to an excavator from an overseas construction equipment company, reveals the flow control valve with the compound of proportional solenoid valve for first stage, and 2-way spool valve for the second stage. Moreover, the two spools are interconnected by a feedback spring, presumed to compensate for flow force acting on the second stage spool. This paper addresses the static analysis of flow control valve in an IMV to investigate the improvement of robustness, against flow force by the feedback spring. From the steady-state analysis of flow control valve model, it can be concluded that the feedback spring facilitates maintaining linearity of spool displacement for control input, and relatively constant flow for load disturbance.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.49-56
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• 2018

Construction machinery is used to improve productivity in civil engineering work and construction work, and it is a lengthy operation, and consumes considerable fuel to cope with large loads. As a result, productivity and fuel consumption of the construction machine become the main deciding factors. In the hydraulic system of the excavator, the main control valve is the most critical position for control. The flow distribution for control performance is achieved by the metering orifice, that causes critical energy loss. To improve this, we propose a combination of a three port proportional pressure reducing valve and a poppet type flow control valve as an IMV to replace the existing spool type MCV. To validate the proposal, we analyze static characteristics by modeling mathematically, and analyze dynamic characteristics. Simulation using the AMESim software on the regeneration circuit of the boom cylinder up-down operation, verifies the energy-saving effect compared to the existing MCV when IMV is used.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.139-147
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• 2018

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.125-130
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• 2018