Applications of Electro-Hydraulics Actuators

Vukica Jovanovic, IEEE Senior Member Velibor Karanovic

Engineering Technology, Old Dominion University Industrial Engineering, University of Novi Sad
Norfolk, VA, U.S.A. Novi Sad, Serbia
[email protected] [email protected]

Ana Djuric Branislav Stevanov

Engineering Technology, Wayne State University Industrial Engineering, University of Novi Sad
Detroit, MI, U.S.A. Novi Sad, Serbia
[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—Electro-hydraulic systems can be used in robust but also for any other tedious, boring, repetitive, highly
robotics systems that have to carry heavier loads efficiently. precise, or possibly dangerous human tasks. Robotics is being
Electrical drives have proven to be reliable and easy to control, used in hazardous environments (such as space investigation,
but they may have problems when it comes to holding a position cleanup of various hazardous materials, dismantling of
under load for a long period of time. Hence, electro-hydraulic
explosive devices, disaster cleanup, or painting), for menial
systems are gaining more attention in applications that need good
positioning and force feedback. repetitive tasks for humans (assembly, welding, packaging,
material handling operations), in assembly operations that
Keywords—hydraulics, electro-hydraulic actuators (EHA) require very tight tolerances and low assembly tact times
(electronics manufacturing and assembly, surgeries, precision
I. INTRODUCTION machining, quality control), and ergonomically challenging
and tiresome tasks (material handling, material transfer,
Various industrial applications of robotics need affordable machine loading/unloading).
systems with large load carrying properties that are compact
and provide reliable force where needed [1, 2]. For this III. AN OVERVIEW OF ELECTRO-HYDRAULICS
purpose, current research about possible improvements related
to actuators and their servo valves are very important. A new Electrohydraulic actuators have been used for their good
generation of robotic systems has to successfully replace positioning and force feedback abilities in various systems,
human work in many different applications in a human and such as aerospace, machine tools, and industrial robots [1].
environmentally friendly manner [3]. The design and These actuators do not need an external reservoir and a pump.
application of robotics systems in industry include structure They can be self-contained, as the ones shown in Fig.1. These
design and needed mechanisms, dynamic system modeling actuators can be used in applications, such as valve actuators
and analysis, power source, feedback control, actuators, and position controllers, rotary torque arm actuators, coal
sensors, digital system processing, embedded systems and mine diverter shuts, and damper drives [4].
intelligence needed for its manipulation.

II. INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF ROBOTICS

Robots can be divided in two basic categories based on the

mobility of their base: autonomous and fixed. Autonomous
robots typically have propulsion systems attached to the
wheels or tracks, or they can have legs. In addition, they can
be autonomous underwater, marine, or aerial vehicles. They
can be used for military applications, space explorations, and
entertainment purposes. Subsequently, examples of fixed
robots are robotic manipulators, which are widely used in Fig. 1: Self-contained electro-hydraulic actuators [4]
industry. They may be used for their high productivity rates

978-1-5090-2246-5/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE

 They provide accurate force feedback through reliable are built by companies like ATR, Kyoto, and Sarcos [5].
pressure control, based on information provided by pressure These robots have several actuators connected with one, fairly
transducers [1]. However, these actuators work coupled with large, motor pump that is used to power movements for
electrical motors (e.g. direct current motors), a hydraulic several joints [3], as the one in Fig.3.
pump, an accumulator that is compact in size, and a horizontal
electrical motors (e.g. direct current motors), a hydraulic
pump, an accumulator that is compact in size, and a horizontal
or rotational hydraulic actuator [1]. Electrical motors, which
pump fluid into the system, could be controlled by a pulse-
width modulation (PWM) method. Rotation of the electrical
motor is driving the direction of fluid in the actuator. A
pressure drop is avoided with added springs that provide
counterbalance in the system.

Recent developments in the application of humanoid and

biped walking robots include operating a backhoe, assisting in
daily living or service tasks, trash sorting, testing clothes, or
heavy equipment transportation for military applications [5,
6]. Humanoid robots mostly have electric or hydraulic
actuators. Examples of robots that have electric actuators are
Honda Asimo and Toyota Humanoids. A robot controlled with
electrical drives have joints, motor drives, speed reducers,
trajectory generators, position controllers, and feedback
sensors [7], as shown in Fig. 2. Fig.3: Hydraulic Robot Arm – Manipulator [8]

One of the main benefits related to the application of

electrohydraulic systems in robotics is smoother movement
than in the similar electromechanical configurations [3]. On
the contrary, main disadvantages are related to worst case
scenarios and needed flow rates and pressures, all connected
to more bulky designs, since each actuator has to have its own
servo valve, needed tubes, optimal pressure control, and back
drivability decrease [3]. Furthermore, any hydraulic system
needs an external accumulator and a pump, all connected with
a piping system and servo valves for efficient control [1].

Hydrostatic Transmission is a method developed to enable

better control in situations of high torque, nonlinear friction
Fig. 2: Drive system for robot with brushless DC electrical motors [7] properties, and poor backlash related to speed decrease [1]. It
is based on a hydraulic pump and a hydraulic actuator,
Electrical actuators are relatively easy to control with coupled with an analog control system with better force
direct drive systems. These are usually operating at very low regulation and a digital compensator for more accurate
speeds and are far below their peak power output levels [1]. positioning [1]. An example of one hydraulic transmission
However, it is harder to design electromechanical systems for circuit is given in Fig. 4 [9].
them that would maintain a desired level of stiffness needed
for safe use [3]. Some of these problems are leading to design
choices that include larger electrical motors, which add weight
to the overall structure, uses more energy, and leads to a less
energy efficient mechatronic system in the end, since they do
not operate at their optimal level. Another problem related to
the use of electrical actuators is force feedback and accurate
measurements. Force sensors have to be added to
manipulators or legs in order to measure exerted force to the
environment, which leads to higher costs and a greater design
envelope [1]. For this purpose, electrohydraulic systems have
been used in some recently designed humanoid robots, such as
DB and Computational Brain (CB) humanoid robots, which Fig. 4: Hydraulic transmission circuit [9]
 This kind of system has an actuator, a variable piston linearization control was developed to enable dealing with
pump, and another charging pump, which can either be a vane non-linearity of a hydraulic system. Figure 6 shows an
or gear pump, used to maintain the working pressure of the example of the structure of a robotic digger with
hydraulic oil in the closed-loop hydraulic system. Differences electrohydraulic actuator.
in the zero position of the piston pump are compensated with
the solenoid valve [9].

IV. ELECTROHYDRAULIC ACTUATORS

Electrohydraulic actuators (EHA) are self-contained

hydraulic systems that provide high position accuracy speed
reduction, similar to one found in the gear train in mechanical
systems [1]. They are used in applications related to
transportation or industrial robotics, in which smaller size and
weight are necessary, enabling power-by-wire systems to be
more compact and reliable [3, 10]. Other advantages of
electrohydraulic (EH) systems are better size to-power ratio,
speedy reaction times, and capacities of working under larger
loads than non-hydraulic actuators [11, 12]. One example of
electro-hydraulic valve is given in Fig. 5 [13, 14].

Fig. 6: Excavator hardware connections diagram [17]

The quadrupled robot, built in 2005 by Boston Dynamics,

is powered by one cylinder hydraulic engine and legs, which
are basically hydraulic actuators, as shown in Fig. 7. Each leg
has four hydraulic actuators, totaling sixteen hydraulic
actuators. Each one of these actuators has a hydraulic cylinder,
Fig.5. Electro-hydraulic valve actuator [13, 14] valve, position sensor, and a force feedback sensor [22-24].
One of the issues related to the use of electrohydraulic
(EH) systems is the high non-linearity of their dynamics,
which poses a challenge to force control [11]. Various
methods exist today that focus on force control of EH systems.
Some of them are: feedback linearization control, sliding
mode control, and fuzzy control [11, 15-21]. Similarly,
another challenge related to the use of electrohydraulic
actuators is their positioning and force control [12].

V. ELECTRO-HYDRAULIC ACTUATORS APPLICATIONS

The robotic digger is an example of an application of the

electrohydraulic actuator. The problem with the excavation is
the force applied to the bucket has to be inside a given range,
determined by the materials used and the power of the engine Fig. 7: LS3 - Legged squad support systems [22]
[17]. For this purpose, dynamic control of the location of the
bucket, relating to the force, is used to extract the material that
has to be achieved. In order to achieve this, a feedback
 VI. SMART MATERIAL ELECTROHYDRAULIC ACTUATORS

Smart material electrohydraulic actuators rely on hydraulic

fine-tuning and have components from smart materials, such
as magnetostrictives and piezoelectric materials. Such
materials enable fast response (high frequencies) and
management of higher forces. The hydraulic cylinder and
hydraulic pump are coupled so that a more compact design
can be achieved [3]. There are many reasons why smaller
mechatronic systems can be used to handle smaller parts,
especially in the electronics industry [25], such as their size, Fig. 9: Layers and alignment holes of micro-valve [10]
suitability for sensitive components, smaller temperature
changes, and less magnetic interference. To mathematically
VII. CONCLUSION
model such a system, motion has to be modeled for
electromechanical and fluid subsystems, separately [26]. The future application of electro-hydraulic actuators will
Smart material electrohydraulic actuators have to operate in include more applications of smart materials that can deal with
phases: compression and return, as shown in Fig. 8 [10]. high frequencies and higher forces than previously used in
electro-hydraulic systems. In this way, more flexible
mechatronic systems can be designed, with more compact
hydraulic solutions.

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