Method for generating an electro-hydraulic model for control design

A method of designing a control system for an electro-hydraulic physical plant having a hydraulic fluid pressure output that varies in response to an excitation signal input, said method comprising the steps of:

• generating a plant dynamics model of the electro-hydraulic physical plant over a plurality of operating points using one of (i) predetermined specification data;
• and (ii) test data;
• establishing performance criteria for the control system;
• and
• generating operating parameters for the control system using the plant dynamics model and the predetermined performance criteria, wherein said step of generating the plant dynamics model includes the substeps of:
• determining, for each operating point, a respective command pressure, said command pressure defining a relationship between a desired, commanded output pressure and the corresponding excitation signal input;
• determining, for each operating point, respective overshoot and rise time parameters in accordance with the corresponding command pressure;
• determining, for each operating point, a respective damping coefficient parameter in accordance with the corresponding overshoot parameter;
• determining, for each operating point, a respective natural frequency parameter in accordance with the corresponding rise time and damping coefficient parameters;
• determining, for each operating point, a respective gain parameter in accordance with the corresponding command pressure and steady state output pressure data;
• and
• generating, for each operating point, a respective transfer function in accordance with the corresponding damping coefficient, natural frequency and gain parameters wherein the plurality of transfer functions collectively characterize and define the plant dynamics model of the electro-hydraulic physical plant.