PC-based control and simulation of an electro-hydraulic system

This article addresses the development of a control system design methodology to make control courses easier to understand. The methodology can be handled in four stages: Modeling, controller design and tuning of the controller gains, simulation, and experimental studies. A PC-based control system environment is chosen to help students/researchers understand the control system both theoretically and experimentally. An electro-hydraulic system is used for training. Such fluid power systems are widely used in the industrial area and combine different engineering system properties. First, a system is defined by a mathematical model and simulated using the MATLAB/Simulink environment. An easy to use toolbox, Simscape/Simhydraulics, is used to facilitate the modeling phase in simulation of the hydraulic system. Next, the design of the feedback controller is proposed. Basic controllers in control education, such as proportional+derivative+integral (PID) and a Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC), are utilized, and the gains of the controllers are tuned with a simplified method according to the given design criteria. The proposed tuning method can also be useful for overdamped or first-order systems. Time and frequency responses of the system are obtained and evaluated. The experimental studies are conducted on a hydraulic control system at the Automatic Control Laboratory of the Mechanical Engineering Department of Uluda University. This work aims to train engineering students/researchers both theoretically and practically regarding PC-based control system design and fluid power systems.