Simulating hydraulic control systems

Paul Boughton

The Mathworks is releasing Simhydraulics, a new software product that allows developers to efficiently model and simulate hydraulic control systems within the Simulink environment.

Tightly integrated with Mathworks products for physical modelling and model-based design, Simhydraulics enables engineers to develop aerospace, defence, and automotive systems by performing multidomain modelling and simulation.

Using the tools together, engineers can develop a wide range of control applications, including automatic transmissions, flight surface actuation, and heavy equipment positioning.

Simhydraulics allows developers of controlled hydraulic systems to model and simulate controllers and plant models together. This ability is critical when the hydraulic actuation system contributes significantly to the dynamics of the control system. Simhydraulics joins Simpowersystems, Simmechanics and Simdriveline as the latest physical modelling tool, enabling multidomain modelling and simulation by integrating products for control design and simulation.

Simhydraulics provides engineers with hydraulic building blocks to calculate pressure and flow through standard and non-standard components. It includes capabilities to model and simulate the conversion of hydraulic power into driving torques and forces for mechanical motion, the effects of opening and closing valves, and simple mechanical components. Simhydraulics also provides a library of common hydraulic fluids, so that systems can be quickly modelled.

In addition, Simhydraulics allows designers to develop controllers and perform testing of the physical system model. Engineers are then able to achieve continuous testing and verification throughout the design process, finding design flaws in control system development before implementing with hardware.

Simhydraulics expands the Simulink family of products for physical modelling by creating a collaborative environment for modelling and simulating system dynamics for controlled systems says Paul Barnard, marketing director, control design, at The Mathworks. Nowcontrol engineers developing hydraulic actuation systems can benefit from the capabilities that the Simulink environment and model-based design provideincluding executable specificationsautomatic code generationand continuous testing."

Simhydraulics is available immediately for Microsoft WindowsUnix/Linuxand Macintosh platforms.

For more informationvisit www.mathworks.com

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