141-23 Closed-Loop electohydraulics upgrades beating tester
hydraulics: sat ca
pneumatics
Closed-loop electrohydraulics upgrades bearing tester
‘Alan Hitcheox
Tue, 2013-08-13 15:32
‘Napoleon Engineering Services specializes in bearing inspection, testing, and custom bearing
manufacturing. Headquartered in Olean, N.Y., officials at NES were looking for a way to improve
operation and performance of a bearing test machine, so they sought design assistance from.
Motion Control, Darien Center, N. Y. Together with Callahan, Napoleon developed a new bearing test
rig with greater productivity and better quality control by incorporating electrohydraulie proportional
control using higher-response pressure- and flow-control valves and a four-axis motion controller.
(Callahan's Gary Cotton explained, “This particular test rig has
ja double-shaft electric motor that provides enough power to
test up to eight bearings at a time. Aside from the electrie
motor, which provides rotational power for testing, the rest of
‘the test system relies on hydraulics. The bearing test rig
consists of 10 proportional valves to control hydraulic fluid to
two axial loading cylinders, two radial loading cylinders, and
lubricant flow to the bearings undergoing load tests.”
Closed-loop force control
Cotton continued, “The machine’s main force control system consists of a variable-displacement, axial-
piston pump with pressure compensation feeding four Atos DLHZO-TE-040-V11 servoproportional
valves for controlling the cylinders that apply loads to the bearings undergoing testing. These valves
have LVDT spool position feedback and on-board electronics. The valves can flow up to 1.3 gpm each at
4.435 psi AP and are extremely quick, with response of less than 10 msec. The PLC and load cells
originally used were much slower, thus creating an unacceptable overshoot when applying loads.”
To overcome these problems, an RMC 150E H2-DI/o four-
axis motion controller, from Delta Computer Systems,
Battle ground, Wash., was specified to elose the control loop
onall force control axes. Cotton offered, “The motion
controller has a pressure (force) control feature to process the
feedback signals from load cells on the cylinders. The forces
applied to the bearings are now typically held to less than
0.5%. One individual test was set at 33,000 Ib of radial load
and stayed within a 45 Ib range throughout the test cycle.
“An unforeseen snag in the retrofit was that even with a pressure compensated pump, the force control
system began overheating when operated at pressures greater than 2500 psi. A kidney loop (offline
cooling and filtration cireuit) was subsequently added to fix this problem.”
Cotton added, “The test stand has two additional power units run by low-pressure gear pumps. These
circuits feed six Atos QVHZO-AE-06/12/PE pressure-compensated proportional flow control valves
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with controlled-temperature lubricant to the bearing specimens. These valves can be set individually to
supply from 1.5 in.3/min to 3 gpm to the various bearing lube ports.” Flow meters in these lines
generate feedback signals to the controller for continuous monitoring.
A touch-screen display on the control panel allows the operator to individually monitor, set, and adjust
the bearings’ rotational speed, all four force settings, and all six lubricant flow rates. The operator can
also monitor other functions, such as fluid temperature, vibration, bearing torque, power consumption,
ete. The system is able to download performance data to a PC for system analysis.
Upgrades make a difference
“Overall, this system makes it much quicker and easier for initial parameter setup on the touch sereen
display and allows the operator to continuously monitor all critical functions in real time,” explained
Cotton. “Previous designs required manual adjustment of all flow- and pressure-control valves. Prior to
the new closed-loop system, values changed from day to day and even during the course of the day from
viscosity changes of the fluid. Because of the rapid response and extremely fast characteristics of the
chosen valves and axis controller, this new system has much higher repeatability and stability than
previous test rigs.”
For more information on this application, call Callahan Motion Control at (585) 547-9931, or visit
www.callahanme.com. For information on Napoleon Engineering Services, visit
www.nesbearings.com,
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upgrades-bearing-tester
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