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An electrohydraulic or a hydromechanical system used in a mobile or industrial application is comprised of many different elements such as controllers, sensors, solenoids, pumps, valves, actuators etc. Often the characteristics of these components are non-linear and the interaction complex when subjected to various kinds of inputs and load situations. In order to design a stable and responsive hydraulic system application that would continue to perform reliably, it is essential to have a simulation model of the system at the early stage of the inception of the design. The simulation would predict the expected performance of each of the components of the system and be useful if the actual hardware deviates from the desired performance. To make the simulation effort expedient and worthwhile a faster computer and an easy to use software is necessary.

This paper describes a microcomputer-controlled hydraulic actuator designed with controllability, flexibility and ease-of-use as the fundamental goals. To achieve this, the electronics, valving, sensors and hydraulic cylinder are contained in a single, pre-engineered package. The embedded electronics provide complete closed-loop control of the actuator, including self-diagnostic capability and nonvolatile storage of application specific motion programs. Multiple actuators can be controlled via a serial communications bus to execute coordinated motions, or individual actuators can operate as stand-alone devices with simple on-off inputs to control their motion. This self-contained motion control package is well suited for the new generation of increasingly automated mobile machinery.