ABSTRACT
The function of a soft switch is to provide a temporarily flow path of high pressure throttle fluid and store it temporally in a small chamber during valve transition, thus leading to passive vibration isolation. In this article, three different on/off controlled hydraulic systems without and with soft switch have been modeled using bond graph technique and simulated to analyze the performance of the soft switch. Some key parameters of the soft switch are identified and their values are optimized through multiple-run simulation. Thereafter, a relationship has been derived between the soft switch parameters and the overall energy loss of the system using regression analysis. It has been observed that the total energy loss in the system with soft switch is about one-third of that when the system is operated with relief valve only.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
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Anil C. Mahato
Anil C. Mahato is a senior research fellow in Mechanical Engineering Department of IIT (ISM), Dhanbad. He received B.Tech degree in 2009 from Haldia Institute of Technology under the University of WBUT, Kolkata. Thereafter, he received master (M.Tech) degree in CAD/CAM specialization from the NIT Jamshedpur in 2011. Furthermore, he served one industry as a design engineer till the year 2014. His current research interests are system modeling, simulation and control, condition monitoring, nonlinear oscillation and fluid power.
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Sanjoy K. Ghoshal
Sanjoy K. Ghoshal is an Associate Professor and in-charge of dynamics of machinery lab in Mechanical Engineering Department of IIT (ISM), Dhanbad. He received B.E. degree in 1996 from Jadavpur University (JU), Kolkata and then served three different industries as maintenance engineer till the year 2001. Thereafter, he received master degree in machine design specialization from the same University (JU) in 2003 and PhD degree from IIT – Kharagpur in 2007. He has authored many journal articles and one book chapter. His current research interests are system modeling, simulation and control, fault diagnosis, automation, condition monitoring, nonlinear oscillation and fluid power.
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Arun K. Samantaray
Arun K. Samantaray is a full Professor and in-charge of system, dynamics and control lab in Mechanical Engineering Department of IIT – Kharagpur. He received B.Tech degree in 1989 from CET Bhubaneswar, and M.Tech degree in machine dynamics and PhD from IIT – Kharagpur in the years 1991 and 1996, respectively. He worked as a project manager for Hi-Tech consultants from 1996 to 2001 and as a CNRS researcher at University des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, France, from 2001 to 2004. He has authored three books and many journal articles. He is also a consultant to various industries. His research interests are systems and control, fault diagnosis, automation, non-linear mechanics, walking robots, rotor dynamics and vehicle dynamics.