|
LASHIP - Laboratory of Hydraulic and Pneumatic Systems
Mechanical Engineering Department
Federal University of Santa Catarina
Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil
|
|
| Location |
Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil |
| Responsible Leader: |
Prof. Victor Juliano De Negri (Coordinator)
|
| Address |
Federal University of Santa Catarina
Mechanical Engineering Department
LASHIP, Campus Universitário, Trindade, Florianópolis, SC, 88040-900,
Brazil
|
| Telephone number |
+55 (48) 3721 9396
|
| Fax number |
+44 (48) 3721 7615
|
| Email |
laship@emc.ufsc.br
|
| Internet Site |
www.laship.ufsc.br
|
From Editor
International Journal of Fluid Power would like to introduce the fluid
power research and education centres with their expertise and
particular interests in this column. Jumping from continent to
continent we like to offer every research centre the opportunity to
present itself.
FLUID POWER RESEARCH CENTRES WORLD-WIDE
1 Introduction
LASHIP – The Laboratory of Hydraulic and Pneumatic
Systems of the Mechanical Engineering Department
at the Federal University of Santa Catarina performs
activities related to teaching, research and consultancy.
It has been working in undergraduate and
postgraduate education and carrying out research on
hydraulic and pneumatic components and systems since
1984. The research activities are funded through government
projects and partnerships with industries totalling
around US$ 280,000 per year. The LASHIP team
is composed of 3 academics, 15 researchers, and 12
undergraduate students.
LASHIP is a member of NFPA - National Fluid
Power Association and since 1999 LASHIP has been
the Brazilian node for FPNI - Fluid Power Net International.
It is also included in the Brazilian Research
Groups Directory (www.cnpq.br) and it is the only
research group in Brazil, among the higher education
institutes, that works in a wide spectrum of hydraulics
and pneumatics.
Mechanical Engineering Department
Throughout its 42 years of existence, the Mechanical
Engineering Department has been recognized as a
centre of excellence providing highly qualified professionals,
and it has consistently been awarded the maximum
evaluation level by the Ministry of Education for
its undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
Its activities are integrated with several industrial
sectors, such as: metallurgical, electro-electronics,
semi-conductor, textile, and automotive industries,
along with institutions from several countries, bringing
together modernity and tradition in an academic environment
with technological infrastructure and highly
qualified human resources.
The Mechanical Engineering Department occupies
an area of 15,000 m2 where its 26 research groups are
distributed. With 69 academic staff, its postgraduate program (POSMEC) has graduated 772 Master’s and
220 Doctors since 1967.
Federal University of Santa Catarina
The Federal University of Santa Catarina was created
in 1960 and is located in Florianópolis, on Santa
Catarina Island, in Brazil. Today, it has 48 departments,
offering 62 undergraduate courses in several fields of
knowledge and 48 postgraduate programs, totalling
more than 32,000 students.
Fig. 1: The LASHIP staff at the main building of the Mechanical
Engineering Department
2 Objectives of LASHIP
LASHIP, through its academic staff and research,
has the following main objectives, related to hydraulics
and pneumatics and their insertion in the automation
and control scenario:
- Qualification of human resources specialized in
hydraulics and pneumatics, to attend industrial and
academic demand;
- Industrial consultancy including:
-
- Testing and evaluation of hydraulic and
- pneumatic components;
- Development of expert systems;
- Analysis and design of hydraulic and pneumatic
- components and systems
- Development of didactic equipment for hydraulic and pneumatic teaching;
- Improving technical capacity and solving problems of technical-scientific relevance through industrial partnerships.
3 Facilities
LASHIP occupies a total area of 440 m2 that includes
hydraulics and pneumatics laboratories, a specialized
library and offices for academics, researchers,
and students. Its research facilities include:
- Components for pneumatic automation and control: PLC's,
servo-valves and proportional valves, cylinders, directional valves,
sensors, etc.
- Proportional hydraulics and servo-hydraulics: proportional valves and servo-valves, cylinders, motors, etc.
- Hydraulic power and conditioning unit designed for experimental research on hydraulic systems and components.
- Data acquisition systems: VXI System, dSPACE, LABVIEW, AQX System.
- Measurement systems including around 50 transducers for pressure, force, displacement, torque and flow measurement.
- Test rig for servo-valve and proportional valve testing according to ISO 10770 and for hydraulic position control systems.
- Around 30 computers and peripherals for data processing, automation and control.
- Software for dynamic analysis and simulation, computer aided design (CAD), and computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
4 Research Areas
LASHIP focuses on teaching and research, the
study of hydraulic and pneumatic components, circuits,
continuous application, optimisation of theories and
technologies that improve the analysis, design and
construction of these systems.
In essence, the hydraulic and pneumatic systems are
applied to the automation and control of mechanical
actions. Therefore, not only the intrinsic aspects of
these domains need to be studied, but also those based
on the discrete event systems theory and continuous
control theory. Systems design and software development
theories, artificial intelligence, and mathematical
and diagrammatical modelling, are some of the subjects
that may be developed and applied to the analysis and
design of systems that involve hydraulic and pneumatic
components.
This multidisciplinary focus is manifested through
the research areas currently established at LASHIP, as
presented below.
1. Analysis and Design of Hydraulic and Pneumatic
Systems and Components
Prof. Victor Juliano De Negri (victor@emc.ufsc.br)
The objective is to extend the knowledge of the behaviour
of hydraulic and pneumatic components and
circuits in order to improve their integration with automation
and control systems of machines and processes.
Emphasis is given to the construction of mathematical
models, the parameters of which can be extracted from
product catalogues, aiming at the effective use of these
models.
According to the fluid mechanics and dynamics of
mechanical systems, the physical principles are modelled
and then described by transfer functions, block
diagrams, state variables and bond graphs. These models,
normally non-linear, are fundamental to the design
of control systems using classical and non-linear control
techniques.
Sub-areas:
- Servo-hydraulics and proportional hydraulic systems;
- Servo-pneumatics and proportional pneumatic systems;
- Development of hydraulic and pneumatic components.
Fig. 2: Prototype of Inertial Rotary Valve: New conception
of a proportional valve
2. Integration of Hydraulics and Pneumatics
with software and electronics: Mechatronic Solutions
Prof. Victor Juliano De Negri (victor@emc.ufsc.br)
This research area is related to the integration of
hydraulic and pneumatic components with electroelectronic
components and software for automation and
control systems development. State of the art techniques
are applied such as Channel Instance Petri Net,
Object-oriented methods, Sequential Function Chart
(SFC) and Supervisory Control Theory. A mechatronic
point of view is applied, seeking to increase the flexibility
and maintainability of the systems.
The continued development of an automatic systems
design methodology is focused upon, ranging
from the system specification to the detailed design and
observing the proper representation of each applicable
technology.
In the fault detection and reliability analysis fields,
standard testing procedures and the monitoring of system
variables are studied. These aspects are also considered
in the design methodology.
Sub-areas:
- Design methodology for automatic systems and its application to hydraulics and pneumatics;
- Mechatronic design of hydraulic and pneumatic components;
- Design and construction of control and automation systems.
3. Computational systems to support the design
of hydraulic systems and components
Prof. Jonny Carlos da Silva (jonny@emc.ufsc.br)
This topic involves the application of Artificial Intelligence
techniques to develop software aiming at the
design of hydraulic and pneumatic systems, with an
integrated perspective in terms of product life-cycle,
including maintenance and other aspects. This research
area also includes dynamic modelling using the multiport
approach based on the AMESim system.
Sub-areas:
- Dynamic simulation of hydraulic systems and components;
- Software to support maintenance of hydraulic systems;
- Expert Systems to aid component selection.
4. Control of Hydraulic and Pneumatic Systems
with application in Robotic Systems
Prof. Raul Guenther (guenther@emc.ufsc.br)
This research area addresses the control of hydraulic
and pneumatic systems aiming to obtain an improvement
in the performance of positioning and tracking
systems that are hydraulically and pneumatically
actuated. Particular attention is directed towards applications
in robotic systems. To this end, linear and
nonlinear control techniques are designed and developed
in association with the other research lines described
above.
The main goal is to overcome the hydraulic and
pneumatic inherent performance limitations using advanced
control techniques. Great effort is spent on
developing control techniques that allow the obtention
of good performances employing low cost hydraulic
and pneumatic components.
Sub-areas:
- Control of hydraulic systems;
- Control of hydraulic robot systems;
- Control of pneumatic systems.
5 Research and Consultancy
&The integration of LASHIP with the industrial sector
occurs through research activities and technological
services that have been carried out over many years.
LASHIP carries out research activities directly with
companies or through projects co-funded by governmental
agencies. Additionally, consultancy is provided
to deal with more immediate problems.
The following companies have collaborated in recent
projects and/or hired our consultancy services:
- Reivax Automação e Controle – Manufacturer of equipment for electric power generation.
- Medal – Matalúrgica Dalla Lana – Hydraulic pump manufacturer.
- Keohps – Modelling and simulation and expert systems.
- Hydrus Tecnologia Hidráulica – Electro-hydraulic valves and systems.
- Bosch Rexroth – Hydraulic components.
- Petrobras – Production and distribution of petroleum derivatives.
- Camozzi do Brasil – Pneumatic components.
- BMP Proar – Pneumatic components.
- Eletrobrás – Generation and distribution of electric energy.
- TBG (Transportadora Brasileira Gasoduto Bolívia- Brasil) – Gas transportation.
- IMAGINE – Dynamic simulation software,
- RWR Equipamentos Hospitalares – Health equipment.
6 Some Ongoing Projects
Development of a Pneutronic Speed Governor for
Small Hydroelectric Power Generators
The main objective is the development of a speed
governor for small hydroelectric power generators
using an electro-pneumatic positioning control system
based on DSP (Digital Signal Processor) technology. A
theoretical-experimental investigation for the selection
and adaptation of advanced control techniques is being
carried out regarding this specific application field, as
well as the static and dynamic sizing of the pneumatic
components. This project aims at the implementation of
the controller in an industrial DSP, obtaining a final
prototype for the speed governor. Therefore, along with
fully developing an innovative solution for hydropower
generation, this project allows the continuous study of
non-linear control techniques and modelling of pneumatic
components.
Fig. 3: Electro-pneumatic system under load conditions
corresponding to a 400 kVA turbine
Platform to support submarine operations with robots
on minimally structured environment
The main objective is the development of support
tools for the planning and execution of robot operation
in submarine environments. For the effective use of
these tools, it is necessary to test them on a hydraulic
robot with force control. Therefore, force control techniques
are being developed and verified on a robot
prototype constructed previously at LASHIP.
Dynamic modelling via AMESim of hydropower
turbine speed governor systems
The objective is to create and validate dynamic
models of a turbine speed governor system using a
power flow approach in AMESim to demonstrate the
integration of the different system parts (i.e. hydraulic
circuit, distributor ring and control system) in the same
environment. The aim is to compare the power flow
and signal flow methodologies identifying their advantages
in the design of the whole system. This research
involves the technical collaboration of the companies
REIVAX and KEOHPS, and also the partnership between
IMAGINE and LASHIP-UFSC, which has existed
since 2001.
Fig. 4: Two degrees-of-freedom hydraulic robot controlled
by dSPACE
Performance analysis of hydraulic components for
mobile application
This project is guided toward the theoreticalexperimental
study of a load-sensing hydraulic system
destined for mobile applications, which use a gear
pump with pressure balance or a pressure and flow
compensated variable displacement piston pump. The
hydraulic circuit also includes command valves with
pressure compensation and a motor and cylinders that
emulate real operational conditions. Using the AMESim
software, the mathematic model is developed allowing
the analysis of the energetic efficiency and the
actuators performance under the operation with individual
loads along with simultaneous loads. The model
is experimentally validated through a specific test rig
using an AQX data acquisition system.
Fig. 5: Test rig and AMESim circuit of a load sensing
system
Development of a Proportional Solenoid with Integrated
Position Feedback
This project aims at the development of a proportional
solenoid with integrated position feedback, designed
to drive proportional directional valves. It combines
a electromagnetic actuator, a position sensor based
on the Hall effect and a DSP controller. The use of conventional
materials and magnetic composites is evaluated
in order to establish the best cost/static-dynamic performance
ratio. The mechanical integration between the
solenoid and Hall sensor is also analysed, along with the
integrated operation with the controller based on DSP.
Fig. 6: Exploded view of the solenoid – Hall sensor set and
the magnetic field under study
SEGRED – Expert System to Support Management
of a Natural Gas Transportation Network
Objectives: The SEGRED project involves the development
of a computational environment to support
the operation and maintenance of a natural gas transportation
pipeline. The project includes the integration
of an expert system with dynamic simulation for the
diagnosis of problems related to equipment such as
delivery stations and shutdown valves, as well as the
prognosis of the network dynamic behaviour. Complex
aspects such as bottlenecks, gas packing, and leakage
detection are modelled.
Fig. 7: Expert system interface of the natural gas pipeline
Development of Hydraulic Equipment for Hydroelectric
Turbines
This project is focused on the development of three
hydraulic products applied in hydroelectric power generators,
which are: (1) Gear pump for the pressurization
of the guide bearing of a hydraulic generator of 350
MVA; (2) Continuous control directional valve for a
speed governor of a 350 MVA turbine; and (3) Hydraulic
speed sensor for hydraulic turbines. The development
of modular products is required aiming to extend
their further use on different generators. For these developments,
the components are being mathematically
modelled and analyzed through CFD and stress analysis.
Laboratory testing is carried out to verify their
performance and reliability.
Fig. 8: LASHIP team at the Tucuruí Hydroelectric Plant
and the components under development
BACK
©2007 Fluid
Power Net All rights reserved. Disclaimer