Rotational Hydro-Mechanical Converter

(To be removed) Interface between hydraulic and mechanical rotational domains

The Hydraulic library will be removed in a future release. Use the Isothermal Liquid library instead. (since R2020a)

For more information on updating your models, see Upgrading Hydraulic Models to Use Isothermal Liquid Blocks.

Library

Hydraulic Elements

Description

The Rotational Hydro-Mechanical Converter block models an ideal transducer that converts hydraulic energy into mechanical energy, in the form of rotational motion of the converter shaft, and vice versa. Physically, the converter represents the main component of a single-acting rotary vane actuator. The compressibility option makes the converter account for dynamic variations of the fluid density.

Using this block as a basic element, you can build a large variety of rotary actuators by adding application-specific effects, such as leakage, friction, hard stops, and so on.

The converter is simulated according to the following equations:

$q = \frac{d (\frac{ρ}{ρ_{l}^{0}} V)}{d t} = \frac{d (\frac{ρ}{ρ_{l}^{0}})}{d t} V + \frac{ρ}{ρ_{l}^{0}} \cdot ε \cdot (ω_{S} - ω_{C}) \cdot D$

$T = ε \cdot p \cdot D$

$ρ = {\begin{array}{l} \frac{(\frac{α}{1 - α}) ρ_{g}^{0} + ρ_{l}^{0}}{(\frac{α}{1 - α}) {(\frac{p_{0}}{p + p_{0}})}^{\frac{1}{γ}} + e^{- \frac{p}{β_{l}}}} & if compressibility is on \\ ρ_{l}^{0} & if compressibility is off \end{array}$

where

q	Flow rate to the converter chamber
D	Converter displacement, or fluid volume needed to rotate the shaft per angle unit
ω_S	Converter shaft angular velocity
ω_C	Converter case angular velocity
T	Torque on the shaft
p	Gauge pressure of fluid in the converter chamber
V	Piston volume
α	Relative amount of trapped air
ρ_l⁰	Fluid density at atmospheric conditions
ρ_g⁰	Gas density at atmospheric conditions
p₀	Atmospheric pressure
γ	Specific heat ratio
β_l	Bulk modulus at atmospheric conditions and no gas
ε	Mechanical orientation of the converter (`1` if increase in fluid pressure causes positive rotation of R relative to C, `-1` if increase in fluid pressure causes negative rotation of R relative to C)

The piston volume is computed according to

$\begin{array}{l} V = V_{d e a d} + D \cdot (θ_{0} + θ) \\ \frac{d θ}{d t} = ε \cdot (ω_{S} - ω_{C}) \end{array}$

where

V_dead	Chamber dead volume
θ₀	Shaft initial angle
θ	Shaft rotation from initial position

Port A is a hydraulic conserving port associated with the converter inlet. Ports S and C are mechanical rotational conserving ports associated with the shaft and the case of the converter, respectively. Pressure at port A generates torque in the direction specified by the Converter orientation parameter.

The block dialog box does not have a Source code link. To view the underlying component source, open the following files in the MATLAB^® editor:

For incompressible converter implementation — rotational_converter_incompressible.ssc
For compressible converter implementation — rotational_converter_compressible.ssc

Basic Assumptions and Limitations

The block simulates an ideal converter, with an option to account for fluid compressibility. Other effects, such as hard stops, inertia, or leakage, are modeled outside of the converter.

Parameters

Displacement

Effective converter displacement. The default value is 1.2e-4 m^3/rad.

Converter orientation

Specifies converter orientation with respect to the globally assigned positive direction. The converter can be installed in two different ways, depending upon whether it generates torque in the positive or in the negative direction when pressure is applied at its inlet:

Pressure at A causes positive displacement of R relative to C — Increase in the fluid pressure results in a positive rotation of port R relative to port C. This is the default.
Pressure at A causes negative displacement of R relative to C — Increase in the fluid pressure results in a negative rotation of port R relative to port C.

Compressibility

Specifies whether fluid density is taken as constant or varying with pressure. The default value is Off, in which case the block models an ideal transducer. If you select On, the block dialog box displays additional parameters that let you model dynamic variations of the fluid density without adding any extra blocks.

Shaft rotation

Select method to determine rotation of port R relative to port C:

Calculate from velocity of port R relative to port C — Calculate rotation from relative port velocities, based on the block equations. This is the default method.
Provide input signal from Multibody joint — Enable the input physical signal port q to pass the rotation information from a Multibody joint. Use this method only when you connect the converter to a Multibody joint by using a Rotational Multibody Interface block. For more information, see How to Pass Position Information.

This parameter is enabled when Compressibility is On.

Initial shaft angle

Initial offset of the piston from the cylinder cap. This parameter is enabled when Compressibility is On and Shaft rotation is Calculate from velocity of port R relative to port C. The default value is 0.

Dead volume

Volume of fluid in the chamber at zero piston position. This parameter is enabled when Compressibility is On. The default value is 1e-4 m^3.

Specific heat ratio

Gas-specific heat ratio. This parameter is enabled when Compressibility is On. The default value is 1.4.

Initial pressure

Initial pressure in the chamber. This parameter specifies the initial condition for use in computing the block's initial state at the beginning of a simulation run. It is enabled when Compressibility is On. The default value is 0.

Ports

The block has the following ports:

A: Hydraulic conserving port associated with the converter inlet.
S: Mechanical rotational conserving port associated with the shaft of the converter.
C: Mechanical rotational conserving port associated with the case of the converter.
P: Physical signal input port that passes the position information from a Simscape™ Multibody™ joint. Connect this port to the position sensing port q of the joint. For more information, see Connecting Simscape Networks to Simscape Multibody Joints. To enable this port, set the Interface rotation parameter to Provide input signal from Multibody joint.

Extended Capabilities

C/C++ Code Generation
Generate C and C++ code using Simulink® Coder™.

Version History

Introduced in R2007a

collapse all

R2023a: To be removed

The Hydraulic library will be removed in a future release. Use the Isothermal Liquid library instead. Blocks in the Isothermal Liquid library provide increased accuracy, usability, and numerical performance.

For more information on updating your models, see Upgrading Hydraulic Models to Use Isothermal Liquid Blocks.

Rotational Hydro-Mechanical Converter

Library

Description

Basic Assumptions and Limitations

Parameters

Ports

Extended Capabilities

C/C++ Code Generation
Generate C and C++ code using Simulink® Coder™.

Version History

R2023a: To be removed

See Also

Topics

Rotational Hydro-Mechanical Converter

Library

Description

Basic Assumptions and Limitations

Parameters

Ports

Extended Capabilities

C/C++ Code Generation Generate C and C++ code using Simulink® Coder™.

Version History

R2023a: To be removed

See Also

Topics

C/C++ Code Generation
Generate C and C++ code using Simulink® Coder™.