Minimization of Energy Consumption in a Hydraulic Press System with Volumetric Control

Electro-hydraulic volumetric control is increasingly used in industry due to its decreasing implementation costs and higher energy efficiency compared to throttling-based systems. However, the use of inappropriate control systems significantly reduces their efficiency relative to theoretical limits. The vast majority of existing solutions focus primarily on actuator positioning accuracy and control speed, whereas energy consumption is not considered in many cases. The proposed solution utilizes a multi-layer adaptive control architecture with real-time model identification using the RLS method, adaptive FF and MPC algorithms, and a multi-criteria optimization system based on SPSA in a hydraulic press system. The conducted tests demonstrated, among other things, good model parameter identification, significant improvement in trajectory tracking quality, and a noticeable increase in the drive system’s energy efficiency. The ratio of useful hydrostatic energy to net electrical energy input reaches 94.7% under optimal conditions. Using a classic PID controller, achieved system efficiency is 82.4%, and after implementing a multi-layer architecture with optimization, the efficiency increased to 87.9%. The obtained results clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and it is possible to implement the described method on PLCs in industrial machines.