Derivation of Design Requirements for Optimization of a High Performance Hydrostatic Actuation System

The competitive global market dictates greater quality of product models produced at lower cost and in shorter duration. During the past two decades, the efficiency of production processes and the quality of products have been differentiating factors in establishing competitive advantage in mature industries such as fluid power. The survival of such industries is increasingly dependent on their ability of optimizing their component characteristics as well as integrating these in complex subsystems. Reduction of cost of poor quality is thus critical. This cost often originates from inadequate or sub-optimal design requirements. Mature industries involved in the design and production of complex systems, have recognized the importance of design requirements definition in reducing cost and increasing profitability. This paper considers linking of system requirements to design parameters for a high performance actuation system referred to as the Electro Hydraulic Actuator (EHA). EHA is based on the hydrostatic actuation concept. It has been prototyped and has demonstrated a very high level of performance. The mathematical model of EHA is reviewed and used for linking its performance to its design parameters through a set of mathematical functions. The actual and expected performances of the prototype are compared in order to validate the proposed mathematical functions and an improved design is proposed.