Numerical analysis and experimental verification of a novel water hydraulic rotary proportional valve for an environment-friendly manipulator

Abstract

Water hydraulic technology is a potential application to deep-sea manipulators and their proportional valves. In the ocean, water is a better choice as the working medium than mineral oil because of its environmentally friendly advantages. However, no water hydraulic proportional valve for deep sea exists yet. In this study, a novel water hydraulic rotary proportional valve with a four-way, three-position principle and a plane sealing method for the environment-friendly manipulator is invented. The static and dynamic performance of the proportional valve is studied using a mathematical model and experiments. A valve-control swing cylinder system, which simulates the working state of the manipulator, is also facilitated in a deep-sea simulation device for simulating a depth of 6500 m in the ocean. Results show that the numerical and experimental data match well. The proportional valve can achieve zero leakage, and the dead zone is approximately 10%. The bandwidths are 30 and 6 Hz when the input signal amplitude is 5% and 100% of the valve’s full stroke, respectively. The proportional valve can accurately control the swing cylinder on the manipulator’s elbow joint with a rotation angle error of ±0.1°. The rotary proportional valve has excellent application to deep-sea manipulators.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

deep-sea manipulator / water hydraulic rotary proportional valve / plane sealing method / static and dynamic performance / valve-control swing cylinder system

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52122502) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2022YFC2805705 and 2022YFC2805501).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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2025 Higher Education Press