The damping contribution from the inlet and outlet orifice in directional valves is studied. Design rules are developed and verified by experiments.
A novel system architecture is proposed where flow control, load sensing and open-centre are merged into a generalized system description. The proposed system is configurable and the operator can realize the characteristics of any of the standard systems without compromising energy efficiency. This can be done non-discretely on-the-fly. Experiments show that it is possible to avoid unnecessary energy losses while improving system response and increasing stability margins compared to load sensing. Static and dynamic differences between different control modes are also demonstrated experimentally.