Crane Update

With the help of my graduate mentor, I recently replaced the over center valves on the crane.  The new valves have two important features.  The first is that they have twice the pilot ratio of the old valves (and the valves that are typically in use in the field).  This basically means that the new valves are lot more efficient, but possibly more unstable.  The second advantage of the new valves is that we can adjust the pressure that is required to open them.  Lowering the pressure means less energy is needed, but again may lead to instabilities.  My graduate mentor is developing a pressure feedback controller as part of his thesis so we can make the valves much more energy efficient while making sure the system stays stable.  We have not operated the crane since the valve replacement, so we're hoping everything goes well once we turn the pump on...

Based on the theoretical performance of the new valves, I was able to calculate that we could achieve upwards of 40% energy savings over the old valves.  This depends heavily on the load that is on the crane and what cycle the crane is put through, but we are still very happy with the energy savings that could be realized if the controller can be developed to keep the crane stable.

This is our last week of the program here at Purdue, so now a lot of my time is spent finishing up presentations and paper.  The REU program this summer was a great experience and I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did!