This invention relates generally to control systems and, more specifically, relates to controllers and systems using electronically controlled valves, electronically controlled valves, and portions thereof.
Control systems for electronically controlled valves control many different types of fluids for many different purposes. While control systems, their controllers, and the associated electronically controlled valves have many benefits, these control systems, controllers, electronically controlled valves and portions thereof may still be improved.
For instance, certain electronically controlled valves have a spool that is disposed within a valve body of the valves. The spool is configured to valve fluid between the inlet and outlet of the valves. With many of these valves, there is a “stiction” that occurs when the valve is placed in a single position for some time period. Such stiction can cause, for instance, a lack of response initially to an increase in control signals applied to an electronic actuator of the valve. In other words, the spool becomes “stuck” and lacks initial responsiveness. Increasing the value of the control signal will cause the spool to become unstuck, but a lack of fine control results. To reduce stiction, mechanical dither is used, where the spool itself is made to vibrate. The vibration reduces or eliminates stiction. However, systems for creating mechanical dither could be improved.
In an exemplary embodiment of this invention, a method is disclosed that includes allowing both frequency and amplitude of a periodic waveform to be adjusted. The method also includes creating the periodic waveform having the frequency and the amplitude. The periodic waveform is coupled to at least one control signal. The at least one control signal is provided to an output suitable for coupling to an actuator of an electronically controlled device.
In a further exemplary embodiment, an apparatus is disclosed that includes electronic dither circuitry configured to create a periodic waveform having a frequency and amplitude. The electronic dither circuitry is further configured to allow both the frequency and the amplitude to be adjusted. The apparatus also includes coupling circuitry configured to couple the periodic waveform to at least one control signal, and includes an output suitable for coupling the at least one control signal to an actuator of an electronically controlled device.
In another exemplary embodiment of this invention, a computer program product comprising program instructions embodied on a tangible computer-readable medium is disclosed. The instructions include allowing both frequency and amplitude of a periodic waveform to be adjusted. The instructions also include creating the periodic waveform having the frequency and the amplitude. The periodic waveform is coupled to at least one control signal. The at least one control signal is provided to an output suitable for coupling to an actuator of an electronically controlled device.
The attached Drawing Figures include the following:
Referring now to
The electronically controlled valve 120 controls fluid (e.g., air, gas, water, oil) 141 flow through the electronically controlled valve 120 by operating the spool 130. The spool actuator 125 controls movement of the spool 130 based on one or more control signals 116 from the spool position controller 115. The spool position controller 115 modifies the one or more control signals 116 based on the control input signal 105 and the one or more feedback signals 151. The feedback sensor module 150 can monitor the spool actuator 120 (e.g., current through the spool actuator) through a sensor signal 152-1, a sensor indicating the position of the spool 130 (through a sensor signal 152-2), or sensors indicating any number of other valve attributes (e.g., pressure or flow rate of the fluid 141) through other sensor signals 152 such as sensor signal 152-3.
Turning to
In this example, a top surface 211 of the motor housing 210 contacts a bottom surface 208 of motor housing retainer 207. The motor housing 210 is therefore held in place by the motor housing retainer 207, and the motor housing retainer 207 is a printed circuit board. The motor housing retainer 207 serves multiple purposes, as is disclosed in more detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/903,132 filed on Sep. 19, 2007 and assigned to the assignee of the present application.
The spool 230 includes in this example a passage 265. The passage 265 has a number of purposes, including equalizing pressure between the upper cavity 215 and the lower cavity 216, as described in more detail below. The passage 230 is included in an exemplary embodiment herein, but the spool 230 may also be manufactured without passage 265 (see, e.g.,
As also described below, the electronics cover 205 includes a connector 206 used to couple a spool position controller 115 to the voice coil 221 on voice coil portion 222. The electronics cover 205 is one example of a cover used herein. The top section 206-1 of connector 206 would be connected to the control signal(s) 116, in this example using coaxial cable (not shown) and appropriate connectors. The bottom section 206-2 of connector 206 is suitable for coupling to the motor housing retainer 207, which is then coupled to voice coil 221 as described below in reference to
A description of exemplary operation of the valve 200 is included in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,831, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,831 describes, for instance, airflow through the external ports 270, 271, 280, 281, and 283 and the circumferentially spaced internal ports 270a, 271a, 280a, 281a, and 283a. It is noted that the springs 240, 245 along with the coil header assembly 220, motor housing 210, and spool 230, are configured such that the spool 230 blocks the ports 281A when no power is applied to the voice coil 221. Other portions of pneumatic valve 200 are also described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,831.
Turning to
Minimization of leakage may also be accomplished by minimizing the mechanical clearance between the lands 320, 325, and 300 of the spool 230 and the inner surface 310 of the sleeve 260. The upper bound for minimizing clearance is mechanical friction and manufacturability, and minimizing clearance causes increased manufacturing costs.
There will always be a desire to increase the spool land width (and therefore increase the dead band) to decrease leakage or to maintain leakage as the spool/sleeve fit is more loose (and therefore, easier and less costly to manufacture). However, as described above, increasing the land width also increases the dead band, leading to less effective control over the fluid and more inaccuracies. On the other hand, minimizing clearance increases manufacturing costs and can increase friction (and therefore, increase stiction). Therefore, both of these techniques have problems.
The motor housing retainer 207 is coupled to the voice coil 221 using the cable 1720. The FPC connector 910 is used to couple the cable 1720 to the motor housing retainer 207. The J1 connection 920 (pads in this example but could also be a connector similar to connector 910) may be used to couple the motor housing retainer 207, and therefore the connector 910, to the bottom section 206-2 of the connector 206. Alternatively pin header 920 may be used to couple the motor housing retainer 207 to the bottom section 206-2 of the connector 206.
The voice coil driven pneumatic valve 200 of
A common approach to conquering stiction in mechanical systems is to incorporate electronic dither of the command signal such as control signal(s) 116. This electronic dither serves the purpose of keeping the valve element (e.g., spools 230 and 380 of
The stiction problem is addressed in an exemplary embodiment herein by using a conventional solution in an unconventional way.
The plots in
In the example given below, zeta is equal to 0.4. As frequency of mechanical dither increases above the peak amplitude, it is clear that the amplitude of the oscillations will decrease. The peak amplitude occurs at approximately 1 rad/s. For lower frequencies of mechanical dither, the amplitude will be relatively constant, but will respond based on the dynamics of the particular system being excited.
Using this technique, one can change the amplitude of oscillation while changing the frequency of oscillation, which can provide additional benefit beyond that attainable from variable amplitude mechanical dither alone. For instance, if the particular valve being controlled has a frequency-dependant stiction component that is minimized at a particular frequency, then modification of the frequency in conjunction with modification of the amplitude of the control signal provides benefits not found by simple modification of only the amplitude. Additionally, the system in which the valve is being used may also be sensitive to a particular frequency. Therefore, this adaptation (i.e., modification of frequency in addition to amplitude of the control signal) would allow users to excite the valve (e.g., excite a voice coil of the valve) with a slightly different frequency while retaining the advantages of mechanical dither. As shown in
Since the control signal (and electronic dither placed thereon) will ultimately excite the valve voice coil, a change in the control signal will change the mechanical motion of the spool. However, a mechanical element, including the spool, is more sensitive to certain frequency ranges and signal shapes, so excitation with components of a high enough frequency can resolve as nearly sinusoidal motion. Nonetheless, non-sinusoidal motion in a signal shape is possible if the exciting frequency component is low enough.
It is noted that reference 1210 on
Variable amplitude dither is rather straight-forward; as the dither signal amplitude is changed, the mechanical oscillations (e.g., of the spool 230/380) change, and the change is directly related to the change in amplitude. What is beneficial herein is the combination of variable amplitude and variable frequency (where a variation in frequency causes a corresponding variation in amplitude) dither in a single valve management circuit to allow optimization of the dither.
Referring to
Block 1020 (e.g., dither module 170 of
The rheostat RP7 controls the frequency at which electronic dither occurs, because the capacitor C14, resistor R18, and the rheostat RP7 at least partially control a period of oscillation of the output 551 of the operational amplifier 560. The output 551 has thereon a periodic waveform having a frequency defined in part using C14, R18, and the rheostat RP7. The waveform is approximately a square-wave waveform. The output 551 is fed into the amplitude modification circuitry 560, which is used to modify the amplitude of the waveform. As noted above, modifying the frequency at which dither occurs also modifies the amplitude of the valve (e.g., spool 230/380) motion (e.g., mechanical dither).
The rheostat RP6 controls the amplitude of the electronic dither signal. The wiper of the rheostat RP6 is coupled to the non-inverting input of the operational amplifier 550. An exemplary dead band modification circuitry is shown in block 1010 of
The control input signal 105 is the “CE 0-5” signal. In this example, the control input signal 105 is modified by the dead band modification circuitry 1010 and the modified signal 1011 is an input to the amplitude modification circuit 570. The control signal input 105 is coupled to the “Dith” signal.
In
The dither functions may also be implemented digitally, e.g., by a processor and associated memory. Such a digital implementation of dither is performed by the PIC16F818 of
In terms of
It is noted that there are a large number of techniques to accomplish adjustable variable frequency and variable amplitude dither. The block 1020 shown in
Turning now to
Method 700 is in this example divided into two “stages”. Blocks 705-755 correspond to a testing stage, where suitable frequency and amplitude of electronic dither are selected. Additionally, a periodic waveform (e.g., sinusoidal, square, or triangular waveforms) may also be selected. Although the testing stage is not necessary, testing will help select appropriate criteria for a particular mechanical system such as system 100 of
Blocks 760-770 are an operational stage, where the selected frequency, amplitude, and periodic waveform of electronic dither are used to cause mechanical dither of a moveable element in a valve. The operational stage typically does not involve user interaction with the system 100.
Method 700 begins in block 705, where an initial amplitude and frequency of electronic dither are selected, typically by a user. Usually, a minimum frequency and amplitude would be selected in block 705, although it is also possible to perform other selections. For example, maximum frequency and amplitude could be selected. In another example, a frequency and amplitude near a previously used frequency and amplitude for a similar system might be selected. It is noted that a periodic waveform (usually, a sinusoidal waveform) would also be selected.
Selection of amplitude and frequency could include setting values for these parameters using a system as shown in
In block 710, the output of the system is examined in order to determine one or more characteristics of the system. For instance, output could be determined using the feedback sensor module 150, which can monitor any number of items associated with system output, including the spool actuator 120 (e.g., current through the spool actuator), the position of the spool 130, or any number of other valve attributes (e.g., pressure or flow rate of the fluid 141), as non-limiting examples. The output could be monitored to determine if too much mechanical dither (a characteristic) occurs, such as might occur if the frequency of the mechanical dither were to approach 1 radian/second as shown in
In block 715, the frequency of electronic dither is adjusted. In block 720, the output of the system is again examined in order to determine the one or more characteristics of the system. In block 725, it is determined if a final frequency has been reached. For instance, if a rheostat has been moved from its minimum resistance to its maximum resistance (or vice versa) or if a maximum value of frequency has been reached. If not (block 725=NO), the method 700 continues in block 715. Thus, blocks 715-725 allow a range of frequencies to be used.
If the final frequency has been reached (block 730=YES), a frequency that provides beneficial characteristic(s) is chosen in block 730. It is noted that in certain situations that an “optimal” frequency might be chosen. If, for example, a certain frequency causes a fastest response to a step change in control input 105, then this frequency could be chosen. However, it may typically be the case that there is some range of frequencies in which characteristics of the system do not change that much. Some frequency within this range could be chosen in block 730.
As noted above with respect to
In block 735, the amplitude is adjusted to a different value from an initial value. The output of the system is examined again in block 740 in order to determine one or more characteristics of the system. Typically, the same characteristics as determined in blocks 710 and 720 would be determined in block 740, but perhaps different characteristics could be determined in block 740, if desired and suitable for the implementation. In block 745, it is determined if the final amplitude has been reached, such as determining whether a rheostat has reached its final resistance or the value of amplitude has reached a maximum programmed value. If the final amplitude has not been reached (block 745=NO), the method 700 continues in block 735.
If the final amplitude has been reached (block 745=YES), the method continues in block 750, where the amplitude is selected that provides a beneficial output. Block 750 may entail selecting an “optimal” amplitude, if such an amplitude exists. However, it could be that a range of amplitudes of electronic dither will provide similar characteristics and therefore any amplitude in the range could be selected in block 750.
The “optimal” amplitude and frequency will depend on the needs of the electro-mechanical device. In some situations, a properly tuned dither frequency will exhibit the lowest attainable resolution for the given system. Additionally, the amplitude could be set to a minimum value while still ensuring stiction is not observed. Using this minimum setting will provide power efficiency and noise control, but a setting higher than this minimum may also be acceptable.
It is noted that blocks 735-750 could be performed prior to blocks 715-730. Method 700 is merely an example. Furthermore, after block 750, blocks 715-730 may be performed again, using a more narrow range of frequencies, in order to provide fine tuning of the frequency and amplitude. Determining amplitude using blocks 735-750 and frequency using blocks 715-730 could be performed multiple times, if desired.
Block 755 allows for multiple waveforms to be compared. In general, sinusoidal waveforms are easy to generate and are typically used. However, square, triangular, or other waveforms may also be used. Block 755 entails performing blocks 705-750 a number of times, each time using a selected waveform of a plurality of waveforms. A suitable waveform, based on the characteristics, is then selected. It may be that characteristics do not change appreciably between multiple waveforms. In that case, any of the waveforms having suitable characteristics can be selected.
It is also noted that it might be possible to provide automatic selection of amplitude, frequency, and waveform. For instance, a suitable system 100 might be controlled to perform blocks 705-750 (and 755, if desired) in order to determine suitable amplitude, frequency, and waveform. However, a circuit as shown in
In block 760, a selected waveform is created having the selected frequency and amplitude. In block 765, the waveform is coupled to the control signal(s). A result of block 765 is that the control signal(s) are modified by the waveform. Such coupling includes modulation (as shown in
Turning now to
The integrated circuits include one or more processors 815, one or more memories 820, and input/output (I/O) modules 830, each interconnected through one or more buses 835. The one or more memories include the valve controller 160, which includes a spool position controller 115 and a feedback sensor module 150. The spool position controller 115 includes dither module 825 (e.g., dither module 170 of
Embodiments of the disclosed invention may be implemented as a computer program product including program instructions embodied on a tangible computer-readable medium, execution of the program instructions resulting in operations described herein. The computer-readable medium can be, e.g., the memory(ies) 820, a digital versatile disk (DVD) 890, a compact disk (CD), a memory stick, or other long or short term memory.
Certain embodiments of the disclosed invention may be implemented by hardware (e.g., one or more processors, discrete devices, programmable logic devices, large scale integrated circuits, or some combination of these), software (e.g., firmware, a program of executable instructions, microcode, or some combination of these), or some combination thereof. As shown above, aspects of the disclosed invention may also be implemented on one or more integrated circuits, comprising hardware and perhaps software residing in one or more memories.
The foregoing description has provided by way of exemplary and non-limiting examples a full and informative description of the best techniques presently contemplated by the inventors for carrying out embodiments of the invention. However, various modifications and adaptations may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. All such and similar modifications of the teachings of this invention will still fall within the scope of this invention.
Furthermore, some of the features of exemplary embodiments of this invention could be used to advantage without the corresponding use of other features. As such, the foregoing description should be considered as merely illustrative of the principles of embodiments of the present invention, and not in limitation thereof.
The present application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/854,562, filed on 25 Oct. 2006, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
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