A Simulation Model of a Hydraulic Buck Converter Based on a Mixed Time Frequency Domain Iteration

Digital hydraulics is an opportunity to realize simple, robust, cheap and energy efficient hydraulic drives. In such systems digital on/off valves are used instead of proportional valves. Moreover, in hydraulic switching converters the valves are actuated within a few milliseconds, which create sharp pressure changes and, in turn, significant wave propagation effects in the pipe system. For a proper design of digital hydraulic systems a sound understanding of these effects is required to achieve the desired behavior of the switching drive system. In such converters, like the buck-, boost or boost-buck-converter, the inductance is one crucial component. It is realized by a simple pipe mainly for cost reasons. Furthermore, switching converters contain some components with nonlinear characteristics, like valves or accumulators, which prevent a comprehensive analysis in frequency domain. For a convenient analysis a qualified model of a hydraulic buck converter based on a mixed time frequency domain iteration is presented. Main parameters of this model are identified and wave propagation effects in the inductance pipe of the converter are investigated by simulation.