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The hybridization (1) of fluid power and microelectronics control technologies has created a dilemma for practitioners of both arts. On the one hand, we have tecnologists who have long treated fluid power applications on a “brute force” basis and are unaccustomed to the apparent finesse associated with microelectronics which are revolutionizing control in their domain. And on the other hand, we have microelectronics technologists who know almost nothing about the power transmission capabilities of fluid power-many of whom do not even care about its role as a basic productivity technology. The fundamental interfacing problem is getting these two groups to communicate, because microelectronic control of fluid power systems appears to be the wave of the future. It is likely that standard hydraulic or pneumatic energy trandsucing (2) components, in the classic sense of the term, will be “tailored” to specific applications by microelectronic controls superimposed on the power devices.

This paper is intended to bridge the gap between theoretical treatments of noise generation in hydraulic systems and pragmatic techniques for noise reduction, isolation and abatement in actual hydraulic applications (1)* The contents represent a summary of proven noise reduction techniques and emperical (2) data gleaned from extensive field experience.

The intent of this paper is to provide hydraulic and electronic technologists an overview of the load-control-power loop intrinsic to hybrid microcomputer-hydraulic systems. This paper shows the relationships between machine loads, load variables,-interfacing loads with control systems by means of sensors/transducers; how to achieve sensor compatibility with the microcomputer; how signals are passed to and from the control computer; interfacing analog and digital signals with fluid power control components; fluid power actuator-load interaction.

As the hybridization of hydraulic systems and electronics continues, the “fluitronics(R)” techniques evolving are increasing, being applied not only to systems control situations, but also to monitoring the operating conditions of the physical system. Catastrophic failure prevention, MTBF prediction, and other statistically derived techniques for minimizing machine downtime, which are the basis for preventive maintenance programs, may be drastically modified or even eliminated by rapid growth of conditioning monitoring. CM utilizes sensors and analytical techniques to determine the actual operating condition of a hydraulic or other machine system to accurately predict when incipient failure approaches and vulnerable components should be replaced in the system before failure occurs.