A systematic management and control methodology for high energy saving in applications equipped with hydraulic servo-axes

A systematic methodology for the real-time improvement of the overall efficiency of applications using hydraulic servo-axes is presented. The proposed methodology introduces three modules: a hydraulic actuator load estimator, a hydraulic energy optimizer and a controlled hydraulic power supply; these are discussed at the theoretical and application level. The proposed approach reduces the power losses across the main elements of the hydraulic circuit, leading to high energy savings and introducing a new guideline on managing and controlling the servo hydraulic actuator. The methodology is applicable to any application using hydraulic servo-axis systems, and therefore it is not tailored to a particular field. Its performances have been evaluated in different industrial case studies (a blanking press, a drawing press and a die-casting plant) through numerical simulations. Conspicuous energy savings, ranging between 59% and 88%, have been obtained in simulation, suggesting that a significant carbon footprint reduction for energy-intensive hydraulic machinery is achievable in a wide range of applications.