Power Analysis of an ePump Applied to the Linear Functions of an Agricultural Planter
摘要
Like many other industries, the agricultural industry has recently experienced pressure to reduce vehicle emissions while improving productivity. Electric actuation is perceived as a viable solution to replace or augment hydraulic and mechanical actuation. However, electrification presents challenges with regards to linear functions, where hydraulic actuators have advantages in terms of compactness, tolerance to contamination, and resistance to shocks. A combined electro-hydraulic actuation architecture can leverage the benefits of both electric and hydraulic actuation while reducing the drawbacks of both approaches. This work investigates the potential of a centralized electric-driven pump (ePump) system powering the pressure-controlled linear functions of an agricultural planter, with the goal of improving the operating point of the main supply pump. In this application, the rotary functions are hydraulically actuated, although such a solution could be applied also to electric rotary actuation. This is accomplished by setting the ePump to boost the pressure supplied by the tractor to the level required by the linear functions. An accumulator is used to stabilize the flow requirements of the linear functions and control the pressure supplied to the actuators. Two control schemes are proposed for the regulation of the accumulator pressure, one favoring an efficient operating point for the ePump, the other favoring stable steady state operation. A simulation model of the baseline system and the proposed system is developed and validated using experimental data from a full-scale machine. Using the validated simulation, both control architectures are then evaluated for improvement in system power consumption and dynamic requirements on the ePump to assess their effectiveness. Both systems demonstrate significant improvement in power consumption over the baseline system, with the best solution improving efficiency by 56%.