Development of a small three-way valve using particle excitation for the driving of fluidic actuator

Abstract

Hydraulic actuators are expected to be applied to robots because they have a small volume, large power, and low damage. However, the hydraulic control systems for multiple degrees of freedom mechanisms have a large volume because such system has many control components. The purpose of this research is to develop a small hydraulic flow control valve. In our previous research, we have applied a small flow control valve using particle excitation by a piezoelectric vibrator to a hydraulic system. In this paper, we have developed a three-way valve using two piezoelectric vibrators. This three-way valve can switch inlet and outlet vibrators by applying different driving frequencies because two vibrators have different natural frequencies. In addition, we have applied this three-way valve to drive a fluidic actuator, and evaluated driving characteristics of the actuator.