Review on Inlet/Outlet Oil Coordinated Control for Electro-Hydraulic Power Mechanism under Sustained Negative Load

Speed control and smooth regulation in an electro-hydraulic motion control system under negative load (over-running load) are crucial to mobile machineries, vehicles, and motion simulation equipment. Problems, such as bad natural stability, bad dynamic performance for small adjusting signal, serious coupling, and difficulty to coordinate between speed smoothness and speed regulation, exist in traditional valve-controlled and pump-controlled electro-hydraulic power mechanism. The coordinated motion control scheme, which is based on independent regulation of inlet/outlet oil for electro-hydraulic power mechanism has attracted the attention of many scholars. In the last two decades, many progresses had been made in coordinated control technology, employing in inlet/outlet independent metering and pump/valves independent regulation. Moreover, the technology has been widely used in the electro-hydraulic operating system in hydraulic excavator and the speed smoothness control system in heavy transport vehicles. In this study, recent advancements and upcoming trends in coordinated control and inlet/outlet independent metering for electro-hydraulic power mechanism under sustained negative load are reviewed. Firstly, related research advancements are summarized, including flow rate regulation mechanism based on inlet/outlet coordinated control, coordinated control strategy and nonlinear control method of electro-hydraulic control system. Then, nonlinear modeling of inlet/outlet independent metering and pump/valves independent regulation in electro-hydraulic control system is presented. In addition, the electro-hydraulic speed smoothness control and energy recovery for heavy engineering vehicles under long down-slope is discussed and reviewed. Finally, existing problems and future trends of inlet/outlet coordinated control for an electro-hydraulic power mechanism under sustained negative load are presented.