Fluid Power Research Group
IFD - Institute of Fluid Power and Motion Control




Location Dresden, Germany
Responsible Leader: Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Siegfried Helduser
Address Technische Universität Dresden
Institute of Fluid Power and Motion Control
Helmholtzstraße 7a
01062 Dresden, Germany
Telephone number +49 (0) 351 463 33559
Fax number +49 (0) 351 463 32136 
Email mailbox@ifd.mw.tu-dresden.de
Internet Site www.tu-dresden.de/mwifd

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




 
Introduction



       
        The TU Dresden has an established tradition of teaching and research in hydraulic and pneumatic
drives and controls, which led to the foundation of the Institute of Fluid Power at the Faculty of Mechanical
Engineering on 1 December 1997. The Institute now unites all of these research and teaching activities under
its roof. Today the Institute of Fluid Power has 16 research fellows and represents the second largest research centre in Germany working on the specific challenges on fluid power systems and components. On the one hand, the Institute’s research projects contribute to current R & D tasks of the industry. These are the improvement of components, mainly pumps and valves, the refinement of the controls for hydraulic systems and even methods of automated machine commissioning as well as the development of measures for improved energy efficiency. On the other hand, the Institute focuses on essential issues of basic research, e. g., methods of noise reduction in hydraulic components or the holistic simulation of mechatronic systems.
The Institute provides scientific instruction and training to students not only in the fundamentals but also in essential applications of hydraulic and pneumatic drive and automatic control engineering. Close co-operation with the industry ensures that teaching and research are in line with the practical needs of the industry. The complex and interdisciplinary features of fluid power engineering and its practical orientation are a constant challenge for students and graduates, for example in term projects, Diploma theses or doctoral dissertations, in which they can work on interesting and up-to-date tasks. Thus students are given a wide-ranging training in the sciences and engineering and have excellent career prospects.




Fig. 1:  The Kutzbach-Bau houses the IFD


Research



The Institute’s current research focuses can be placed under three headings.
1. Computational engineering of components and systems
The increasing requirements on modern fluid power solutions like higher efficiency, better functionality and robustness leads to risen efforts in terms of the product development. The virtual prototyping using methods of computational engineering represents a tool in order to make the development process faster and cheaper. Holistic modelling is performed for components, subsystems or whole machines. Depending on the task, various simulation systems are employed, e. g., system simulators or field simulators (CFD, FEM). In the field of hydraulic and pneumatic valve systems FEM is used to investigate static and dynamic behaviour of proportional solenoids and to develop simplified models with lumped parameters. Recent research projects focus on the online coupling of system and field simulators. For the simulation of entire machine systems like deep drawing presses (Figure 2) coupled simulators are used to consider influences of the forming processes on the machine performance as well as the quality of the product. Thanks to holistic modelling, shorter development times will be possible for products that are optimized for specific applications. Further advancements in the field of hardware and software simulation will make physics principles more transparent and will have a lasting effect on the R & D approaches taken in the industry.





Fig. 2:  Mechanic and hydraulic scheme of a deep drawing press

2. Further Development of components and systems in terms of noise and efficiency
Noise reduction in pumps and valves can be successfully realised only in small steps. However, compared to pumps of the 70s with modern pumps, you will certainly hear the difference and discover improved efficiencies. The latest research projects are focusing on numerical simulations (CFD) of piston and external gear pumps in order to investigate the causes of noise emission. Such analyses can result in effective noise reduction measures. Energy efficiency is an often discussed issue on the background of increasing energy costs. Injection moulding machines and load-sensing systems for mobile machines are examples that are used for the current testing of improved energy utilization. It is crucial that fluid engineering systems do not significantly fall behind electromagnetic drives in terms of energy efficiency. In one of those research activities drive line concepts of off-highway machines like wheel loaders are investigated by simulation models in order to optimize fuel consumption for practical relevant load cycles. This topic will certainly keep on challenging fluid engineers to new innovations.





Fig. 3:  Investigation on several drive line concepts for off-highway machinery


3. Adaptive control techniques and on the methods of automated commissioning of fluid power systems

Owing to the non-linearity in fluid power systems modern control measures are inevitable for the optimal adjustment of drive systems. This issue is discussed on the clamping unit of injection moulding machines. The toggle mechanism lever constitutes a highly nonlinear system connected to the hydrostatic drive. With the use of modern nonlinear control strategies the dynamics can be increased significantly compared to the common open loop control. In high performance pneumatic applications, for example handling or testing machines, highly dynamic pneumatic servo-drives are required. A multitude of system parameters influence the system behaviour and have to be considered in the design process. The flexibility of the drives to be adapted to ever-changing tasks is realized by adaptive control strategies. Numerical optimization algorithms in connection to detailed simulation models are used to improve such complex drives. Only with the help of these techniques fluid power will be able to lead the market of automation.
Fig. 4:  Toggle mechanism lever of an injection moulding machine



Future Prospects



The current research activities will certainly pose new questions which will be the foundation of the future work. In addition to that, fluid power engineering will increasingly focus on the reliability of electronically controlled drives. Stimulated by the new standard EN ISO 13849 new safety solutions for fluid power drives have to be developed and tested. Also the development of new processing technologies like deep drawing of fibrous materials will be attended by the development of appropriate fluid power drive solutions.

Conference: IFK


The 6th International Conference on Fluid Power (6th IFK) will be held in Dresden from March 31st to April 2nd 2008. The IFK is one of the world's most significant scientific conferences on fluid power control technology and systems. It serves as a perfect platform for users, manufacturers and scientists in the fluid power community for the presentation and discussion of trends, innovations and applications as well as the lively exchange of experience. On the first day, a workshop provides a framework for presentations of fundamentals. The two following days of the conference offer a wide variety of application- and technology-oriented reviews about the latest state of the art in fluid power. The relevance of fluid power in the design of machinery is enormous: during recent years, the annual increase of production volume has been more than 10 percent and many new jobs have been created. But growth shall be in line with responsibility. The fluid power community commits itself greatly to the development of joint solutions to improve energy efficiency, energy recovery and environmental acceptance. New branch-specific system solutions are required. This is reflected in the carefully chosen topics under the conference-theme: “Fluid Power in Motion”. Further information is available at www.ifk2008.com.








 

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