Improved Electrohydraulic Linear Actuators

Abstract

A product line of improved electrohydraulic linear actuators has been developed. These actuators are designed especially for use in actuating valves in rocket-engine test facilities. They are also adaptable to similar industrial uses. The advantageous features of the improved electrohydraulic linear actuators are best described with respect to shortcomings of prior electrohydraulic linear actuators that the improved ones are intended to supplant. The shortcomings are the following: They perform unreliably and inconsistently as positioning devices. Their capabilities for end-of-stroke buffering (that is, deceleration to gentle stops at designated stopping positions) range from unsatisfactory to nonexistent, with consequent potential for inducing catastrophic failures. It takes long times to modify standard actuators to meet specifications, and the costs of such modifications are high. In the cases of actuators equipped with fail-safe shutdown systems, the stroking times of these systems cannot be adjusted in the field.