Energy Characteristic State Model for Automated Conceptual Design of Hydraulic System

A new approach for automated conceptual design of hydraulic system is developed in this paper based on the energy characteristic state model. The energy characteristics of hydraulic systems are firstly represented by qualitative vectors, and the integral hydraulic systems are visualized as a set of subsystems with single-action for synthesis. Then, two categories of basic transformation units are defined from general hydraulic components, and the qualitative matrix representations for these basic transformation units are also established according to the function analysis. Finally, the conceptual design model for hydraulic system is established, in which the design processes of single-action subsystems are transformed into the decomposition of system-level matrices and the matching of component-level matrices. A design example is also given to illustrate the proposed approach.© 2008 ASME