Data acquisition and control unit for electro hydraulic applications

The paper describes a systematic approach regarding the development of the electro hydraulic applications. The constantly increased number of sensors used into this type of systems and the need of a control equipment able to implement local regulation loops, contribute to the design of a compact, multifunctional electronic module capable on one way to interface with the electro hydraulic system to measure it's functional parameters and to drive it's electro hydraulic constituent elements, and on the other, to interface with other control systems via a communication protocol implemented on a serial bus. The proposed module offers a high degree of flexibility both at the hardware level as an analogical input can be easily adapted to support voltage signals instead of current signals; and at the software level where it can be implemented various regulation algorithms depending on the electro hydraulic application. The microcontroller present into the module assures the usage of a reduced number of electronic components. This fact increases the robustness of the solution which is needed for the system to properly operate under heavy working environment conditions.