This paper proposes a simple and intuitive model-free torque-tracking control for rotary electro-hydraulic actuators. The undesirable natural-velocity-feedback effect is discussed by introducing mechanical impedance into the electro-hydraulic actuation system. The proposed model-free torque control comprises inner- and outer-loop control to achieve two control objectives. Inner-loop control reduces the mechanical impedance passively and optimally. To improve the tracking accuracy, a certain form of proportional-integral-derivative control is applied to the outer loop. The robustness of the proposed closed-loop system against external disturbances is demonstrated by transforming the two-loop control structure into a disturbance observer form. The proposed method is validated on a single joint electro-hydraulic actuator.

An electro-hydraulic actuator (EHA) is widely used in industrial motion systems and the increasing bandwidth of EHA position control is important issue. The model-inverse feedforward controller is known to extend the bandwidth of system. When the system has non-minimum phase (NMP) zeros, direct model inversion makes system unstable. To overcome this problem, an approximate model-inverse method is used. A representative approximate model inversion method is zero phase error tracking control (ZPETC). However, if zeros locate right half plane of z-plane, the approximate inverse model amplifies the high-frequency response. In this paper, to solve the problem of ZPETC, an adaptive model-inverse control is proposed. The adaptive algorithm updates feedforward term in real-time. The effectiveness of the proposed adaptive model-inverse position control strategy is verified by comparison with typical proportional-integral (PI) control and feedforward control by experiments. As a result, the proposed adaptive controller extends the bandwidth of EHA position control.