Hydraulic Piston Pumps are the core power components in hydraulic systems and are widely used in engineering machinery, industrial equipment, aerospace, and new energy. With the increasing requirements for energy efficiency, environmental protection, and intelligence, how to achieve energy saving, precise control, and energy recovery while ensuring performance has become an important direction for the development of hydraulic piston pump technology.
The following are the key technologies and implementation methods adopted around these goals:
1. Energy-saving control strategy
The energy consumption of the hydraulic system mainly comes from the mismatch between the output pressure and flow of the pump and the load demand. In order to achieve energy saving, modern hydraulic piston pumps usually adopt the following control methods:
Pressure Compensation Control:
When the system pressure reaches the set value, the pump displacement is automatically reduced to reduce unnecessary power consumption.
Applicable to occasions with large load changes, such as injection molding machines, cranes, etc.
Constant Power Control:
The pump automatically adjusts the output flow according to the load pressure to keep the total power within a preset range.
Prevent engine or motor overload and improve energy utilization.
Load Sensing Control:
The pump only provides the flow and pressure required by the actual load, reducing overflow loss and throttling loss.
It is widely used in mobile equipment such as excavators and loaders, significantly improving system efficiency.
Proportional Flow Control:
The displacement of the pump is precisely adjusted through electrical signals to achieve on-demand oil supply and avoid energy waste.
It is often used in automation equipment that requires fine operation.
2. Precision Control Technology
To achieve high-precision motion control of actuators (such as hydraulic cylinders and motors), hydraulic piston pumps must have good responsiveness and controllability:
Electro-Hydraulic Proportional Control:
Use proportional solenoid valves to control the variable mechanism of the pump to achieve continuous and stepless adjustment.
It can be used in conjunction with PLC or motion controllers to achieve complex position, speed, and force control.
Servo Control:
With high-precision sensors and closed-loop feedback systems, micron-level motion control is achieved.
It is mostly used in high-precision scenarios such as precision machining machinery, test benches, and robot joints.
Digital Displacement Pump:
Working together through multiple independently controlled small plunger units, it can achieve "on-demand opening".
Having higher dynamic response capability and control accuracy, it is one of the development trends of intelligent hydraulic systems in the future.
Integrated Control System:
Integrate the variable control of the pump with the whole machine control system to achieve collaborative operation.
For example, in an excavator, the pump is linked with the boom, dipper, and slewing mechanism to optimize the overall coordination of the movement.
3. Energy recovery technology
In traditional hydraulic systems, a large amount of energy is lost in the form of heat energy, especially during deceleration, descent, braking, etc. By introducing an energy recovery mechanism, the overall system energy efficiency can be effectively improved:
Gravity potential energy recovery:
In equipment such as cranes and lifting platforms, when the load falls, the hydraulic motor is used to reverse drive the pump to operate as a generator, converting potential energy into electrical energy storage or feeding back to the power grid.
This method can greatly reduce energy consumption and is particularly suitable for working conditions with frequent take-offs and landings.
Regenerative Braking:
In a hydraulic travel system, when the vehicle decelerates or goes downhill, the high-pressure energy generated by the hydraulic motor is fed back to the pump through a closed loop to achieve energy reuse.
Similar to the energy recovery braking system of electric vehicles.
Accumulator-assisted energy saving:
In a system that works intermittently, a hydraulic accumulator is used to store excess energy and release it when needed to reduce the peak load of the pump.
Particularly suitable for equipment with obvious periodic movements, such as punching machines, die-casting machines, etc.
Hydraulic Hybrid Systems:
Combining the advantages of electric motors and hydraulic pumps, using the characteristics of high efficiency of electric motors at low speeds and high torque of hydraulic systems at high speeds, comprehensive energy saving is achieved.
Widely used in special vehicles such as urban buses and garbage trucks.
4. Intelligent and digital empowerment
In addition to traditional energy-saving control methods, modern hydraulic piston pumps are increasingly relying on intelligent sensing, data analysis and remote monitoring to improve energy-saving effects and control accuracy:
Condition monitoring and predictive maintenance:
Embedded sensors collect real-time data such as pressure, temperature, vibration, etc. of the pump, combined with AI algorithms for fault warning and health assessment, to avoid energy waste or downtime losses caused by sudden failures.
Remote control and adaptive adjustment:
IoT technology is used to achieve remote monitoring and parameter adjustment, so that the pump can automatically optimize the working state according to environmental and load changes.
Digital twin and simulation verification:
Build a virtual model of the pump to simulate the performance under different working conditions, and provide data support for energy-saving design and control strategy optimization.
In the future, with the deep integration of hydraulic technology with information technology and new energy technology, hydraulic piston pumps will play a more important role in green manufacturing, intelligent manufacturing, new energy equipment and other fields.