Hydraulic servo system with mechanically adjustable compliance

This paper deals with a hydraulic servo system with compliance control for the operation in an environment with frequent machine-human interaction. The compliance is mechanically adjusted in the present hydraulic system by changing the neutral position of the bridge valves between the full, opening and the full closing states. The mathematical model of the system is first derived, and the static and the dynamic behavior of the system are investigated through numerical simulation. Since the present system exhibits a strong nonlinear characteristic in the operating condition of large compliance, a nonlinear controller is designed with the feedback linearization technique. In the operating condition of small compliance, on the other hand, a conventional linear control is applicable as usual hydraulic control systems. The performance of the present control system is investigated through both numerical simulation and experiment, justifying that the present hydraulic servo system continuously adapts its performance between a rigid positioning against disturbances and a compliant positioning to prevent damage to obstacles on the path.