Design, analysis and simulation of magnetostrictive actuator and its application to high dynamic servo valve

Flapper-nozzle type Electro Hydraulic Servo Valve (EHSV) operated by conventional torque motor actuators has been used in wide range of industrial applications. As their bandwidths are limited, they are not suitable for high-speed applications. The work presented in this paper deals with the mechatronic approach for the design of a magnetostrictive actuator with flexure amplifier and a magnetically biased magnetostrictive actuator for application in high frequency flapper-nozzle servo valve. A magnetostricrive actuator has been designed, built and integrated into an existing flapper-nozzle servo valve by replacing the torque motor. Incorporating the dynamics of the magnetostrictive actuator, the dynamics of the valve was simulated. Necessary parameters for the actuator have been arrived by finite element model. No load flow characteristics are analyzed and compared with experimental values. Step response has been compared with conventional valve. The results show that the valve has satisfactory static and dynamic characteristics for applications in high-speed actuation systems (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved