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Proportional/Servo Valve Automatic Test Bench

 
 
 

Hangzhou ReboTech Co.,Ltd.

2010-04-16
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Proportional/Servo Valve Automatic Test Bench

Ⅰ.Features of Test Bench
The machinery is an automatic test bench for type test and factory inspection of proportional and servo valves and
amplifiers, and also for the checking, maintenance and adjustment. This test bench is developed in accordance with
British Standard ISO 10770-1:1998 and ISO 10770-2:1998. Below are the main features:
● Wide range of servo- and proportional valves is supported. Testing flow is up to 145L/min, and the needed testing
flow can also be achieved by reserve external provided hydraulic fluid port P1 and T1. The working pressure is
up to 350 bar.
● Suitable for the Rexroth, such as VT2000, VT3000, VT5000, VT-SPA1, VT-SPA2, VT-VRPA2 and built-in
proportional amplifiers. Two universal amplifier Test Bits are reserved. The number of Test Bit and the amplifier
test function can be adjusted in accordance with customer requirement.
 Compact, high efficient and low noise 55kW hydraulic pump station is already inside. Low noise and voltage
motor of ABB company and low noise hydraulic pump of Rexroth are applied. With motor and hydraulic pump in
the hydraulic cylinder, combine shock pad and shock ring structurally, and the noise is greatly reduced. The
sound power level test at 1m is not beyond 65db. Whether configuring the hydraulic pump station or not is in
accordance with the customer requirement.
 Compact valve station; the most of hydraulic components are mounted on one steel manifold. The only top
quality components are used.
 One amplifier card holder: amplifier only needs to be inserted to the corresponding Test Bit. If amplifier test
function in not needed, only two universal amplifier screens are reserved.
 Different hydraulic liquids can be used.
 Temperature control system stabilizes the oil temperature in a specified range with tolerance ±1℃.
 The integrated 3μ filtration system achieves a cleanliness level 5 of NAS1638 (level 14111 of ISO4406) or better.
 An additional, the “last chance” 10μ filter protects the valve from contamination.
 The system supports manual and automatic modes, and the test function is available both online and offline.
 Intel Core2 Duo E6600 processor is applied in the computer subsystem; 1GB of RAM, and 16 bits high-speed
data acquisition card NI PCI-6229.
 The computer interface is intuitively clear and simple. Special education and knowledge are not required.
 The measurement data includes the most of static and dynamical characteristics. Up to 15 different graphs can
be obtained during one automatic test.
 Computer test requires about 10 minutes. Computer shows the results during the testing process.
 Math processing of the test data, differencing, summation, etc. The test data is saved in MS Excel. All Excel
functions including curve-drawing, computing and printing and etc. can be compatibly used.
 High-precision transducer and various sensors can be separately calibrated.
 Software/hardware indication of fault alarm; the operator only need to trouble shoot in accordance with the fault
signal.
 The precision of the test bench comes up to B level of JB/T7033

Ⅱ.Overview of Test Bench

1. Applications
The machinery is an automatic test bench for type test and factory inspection of proportional and servo valves and
amplifiers, and also for the checking, maintenance and adjustment. The maximal test flow is 145L/min, the maximal
test pressure 350bar. If external oil is applied, the test flow reaches its maximum.

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2. Control signals
A proportional/servo valve under testing can be controlled by voltage or current command signal. There are 8
ranges for control signal: 0~10V, ±10V, ±10mA, 0~20mA, ±20mA, ± 50mA, ±100mA and 4~20mA, respectively. For
the proportional/servo valve with external amplifier, the test bench configures a corresponding amplifier (the un-test
amplifier), and the control signal is 0~10V, ±10V, 0~20mA, ±20mA and 4~20mA in general.

3. Spool position signalS (Feedback)

Proportional/servo valve with position feedback is equipped by displacement transducer. The test bench allows
various feedback signals, 0~10V, ±10V, ±10mA, ±20mA and 4~20mA, respectively.

4. Power supply of proportional/servo valve with built-in amplifier

The power supply voltage of proportional/servo valve with built-in amplifier is 24V or ±10V. Such power suppliers
are built in the test stand.

5. Working medium
The integrated filtration system achieves a cleanliness level 5 of NAS1638 (level 14111 of ISO4406) or better.
The effective tank volume is about 100L.

6. Hydraulic pump station

Whether compact, high efficient and low noise 55kW hydraulic pump station is configured inside depends on the
customer requirement. The maximal flow is 145L/min, the maximal pressure 350bar.Three-phase asynchronous motor
(380V,160A) and cooling system is also configured, the temperature control accuracy is within ±1℃.

Ⅲ.Hardware

1. Hydraulic subsystem
The hydraulic diagram of the test bench is illustrated below (Figure 1). Most hydraulic components are mounted
on the valve station. Different transition blocks will be chosen when different valves are tested (the transition blocks
are installed between valve station and the awaiting valve). Magnetic exchange valve 350 are configured for different
tests, details will be expounded in the following section.

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Figure 1 Hydraulic diagram

Low noise and voltage motor of ABB company and low noise hydraulic pump of Rexroth are applied. With motor
and hydraulic pump in the hydraulic cylinder, combine shock pad and shock ring structurally, and the noise is greatly
reduced. The sound power level test at 1m is not beyond 65db.
Apply proportional reducing valve 100 to accomplish closed-loop control of the pump station pressure; the control
accuracy reaches ±0.5%, the maximal pressure 280bar. The hydraulic pump outputs corresponding flow (within the
maximal flow 145L/min) according to the test requirement. Integrated valve station reserves external provided
hydraulic fluid port P1 and T1, and hydraulic oil can be supplied externally. The maximal output power can attain
55kW.
The pump station integrates temperature control and filtration system, comprising low-noise internal gear
pump160, oil/water heat exchanger 180, water valve 190, filter 200 and etc. the temperature control accuracy
achieves ±1℃,filtration accuracy level 5 of NAS 1638 (level 14/11 of ISO4406).
The valve station integrates all hydraulic components excluding the pump station involved components. The
awaiting valve connects to the valve station via transition block. Different transition blocks will be chosen when
different valves are tested.
The valve station reserves external provided hydraulic fluid port P1 and T1, whether configure the pump station or

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not depend on customer requirement.

2. Electrical subsystem
The electrical diagram of the test bench is illustrated below (Figure 2). All electrical components are integrated in
one mainboard. Each type of amplifier has its test point on the mainboard. Different types of amplifiers are brought into
test via the electrical relay on the main board. Two universal amplifier test points are reserved (32pin or 48pin). If the
awaiting test valve possessing a built-in amplifier, different control signal interfaces can be chosen via the electrical
relay on to bring into the awaiting test valve.
If the function of amplifier test is not required, only two universal amplifier screens are needed to install. The
mainboard is also integrated with fault alarm hardware instruction, the operator can debug in line with the instruction,
avoiding unnecessary harm. Below are one fault alarm possibility (Figure 3). The software fault alarm will be
expounded in the subsequent section.

Figure 2 Electrical diagram

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Figure 3 Hardware alarm

3. Computer subsystem
Intel Core2 Duo E6600 processor is applied in the computer subsystem; 1GB RAM, and 16 bit high-speed data
acquisition card NI PCI-6229. The hardware includes 17-inch-touch-screen plate industrial computer(aluminum alloy
panel), touch-mouse stainless steel keyboard; software includes Windows XP operating system, driver, Microsoft
Office and Valve&Amplifier test program and etc.

4. Data acquisition system

The heart of the data acquisition system is M-series NI PCI-6229 data acquisition card, which is especially
designed for PCI Bus, high-speed and multifunction. The main features are as follows:
Bus type: PCI
Analog input
Number of channels: 16
Resolution: 16 bits
Maximal sample rate: 1.25MHz
Analog output
Number of channels: 4
Resolution: 16 bits
Maximal sample rate: 2.86MHz
Digital I/O
Number of channels: 48

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Logical level: TTL

Counter/Timers
Number of counter/timers: 2
Resolution: 32 bits
Maximal source frequency: 80MHz
Minimal input pulse width: 12ns

5. Connector
Corresponding transition block (ISO 10372-06-05-0-92 Standard) should be chosen before the test of the valve.
Coil and displacement transducer are connected with the corresponding interface; when valve with built-in amplifier is
tested, the valve plug should be inserted in the socket; when dynamic response cylinder of valve should be tested, an
additional dynamic response cylinder should be adopted if there is no built-in displacement transducer.

Ⅳ.Software

1. Virtual laboratory ValveExpert

The test equipment ValveExpert has intuitively clear software. Operator works with a powerful virtual hydraulic
laboratory on a touch-screen monitor. The system supports manual and automatic modes. The hydraulic diagram on
the touch screen is corresponding to its real hydraulic diagram. Click the awaiting test curve, and comes out one
diagram (a total of 5 diagrams) and the corresponding proportional/servo valve amplifier is accessed to the system.
Click the button “Run”, the testing process will be automatically accomplished in ten minutes. When manual mode is
applied, the pump must be started firstly, and then different control signals must be manually given, and also comes
out the test curve. The testing interface is shown on Figure 4. The functions of the modular are expounded as below:

Figure 4 Manual mode of virtual hydraulic laboratory ValveExpert

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2. Hydraulic Power Supply

Pressure, flow, oil level and oil temperature and other associated parameters of pump station all adopt analog or
digital meter display. All fault alarms are shown via the following icons.

System is ready to work.

ValveExpert is switched off.

3μ filter is polluted.

10μ filter is polluted.

Power failure

Thermometer failure

Beyond temperature upper limit

Pressure transducer failure

Beyond Supply pressure upper limit

Under oil level lower limit

Beyond flow transducer upper limit

3. Universal amplifier
Universal amplifier module is shown on Figure 5. Universal amplifier supports 4 modes, namely manual mode,

degaussing mode, generator mode and feedback mode. Manual mode applies button “Control”, generator mode

“Generator”. The generator mode supports standard signal wave forms ( sawtooth wave, triangular

wave, sine wave, square wave); the frequency belongsto the interval 0.001~1000Hz. Degaussing

signal switch “Degaussing” is used for eliminating initial magnetic field. Feedback mode is applied to locate the zero

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drift of the spool.

Figure 5 Universal amplifier module

4. Master module
The master module is shown on Figure 6. The buttons are used to load or save settings, start or stop automatic
testing process, exit the program and so on. The operator can use the touch screen monitor or touch pad on the
keyboard to access the buttons

Figure 6 Master module

5. Hydraulic configurations
Five disparate hydraulic configurations are available, which is obtained through the coordination of different
solenoid valves 350.1~350.10. Different hydraulic configurations are used for testing flow, leakage, differential
pressure, spool position, step response, phase-frequency characteristics and amplitude-frequency characteristics and
etc. the hydraulic configurations are shown on Figure7~11.

Figure 7 Flow between A and B Figure 8 Frequency response test

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Figure 9 Flow between A and R Figure 10 Leakage & differential

pressure test

Figure 11 Flow between B and R

6. Measuring apparatus module

All measuring apparatus are software adjustable. The calibration is available to the operators. And the units and
limit values are also alterable. The measuring apparatus are shown on Figure 12~17.

Figure 12 Pressure gauge of control port A Figure 13 Supply pressure gauge

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Figure 14 Gauge of control port B Figure 15 System flow-meter

Figure 16 Gauge for differential pressure Figure 17 Multi-meters show signal from
between control ports A and B the spool position transducer and the
control signal

7. Automatic test module

The automatic test module sets the parameters in the course of testing. Click the button “Run” after setting the
parameters. The whole test requires about ten minutes. The parameter setting interfaces are shown on Figure 18~30.

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Figure 18 General settings for the automatic test Figure 19 Flow test parameter
settings (between A and R)

Figure 20 Differential pressure/leakage Figure 21 Flow test parameters settings

test parameters settings (between A and R)

Figure 22 Flow test parameters settings Figure 23 Frequency response test

parameters settings

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Figure 24 Step response test Figure 25 Template file output setting

parameters setting

Figure 26 Universal amplifier parameters Figure 27 Parameters for “Warming-up”

setting process

Figure 28 Zero offset via differential pressure Figure 29 Zero offset via flow

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Figure 30 Table of points which specifies the overlay polylines

8. Zero offset calibration

With zero offset calibration functions, Valve&AmplifierExpert test procedure is designed especially for servo
valves and provides two calibration methods, one is through differential pressure test and the other through flow test.
For the zero lap valve, zero differential pressure is in line with the zero position of the valve; the zero offset is adjusted
through differential pressure test. While for the overlapped valve, flow test must be applied to adjust the zero offset.
See on Figure 31~32 below.

Figure 31 Zero offset calibration via Figure 32 Zero offset calibration via flow

differential pressure

9. Automatic test
Choose the awaiting test curve and set the corresponding parameters, then click the button “Run”, the whole test
will be accomplished in 10 or 12 minutes, and also comes out the corresponding test curve. Any or all test curves can
be observed during the testing. Also the automatic test can be ceased. And the test data has both dynamic and static
characteristics. 15 test curves can be obtained during a single test. Part of the test curves are shown on Figure 33~41.
Figure 33 is one of the automatic tests.

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Figure 33 Automatic test

10. Preliminary Analysis

The system makes preliminary Pass/Fail evaluation of the tests right away when the automatic test is finished.
The red shows its failure to pass the test, green the opposite. The grey shows the absence of the test. The data can be
adjusted or saved in accordance with the customer.

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Figure 34 Preliminary Pass/Fail evaluation

11. Output file of the test outcomes

Valve&AmplifierExpert test procedure possesses powerful test report generator. This generator puts the
measured data to a Microsoft Excel file. Template file can be adopted for convenient observation of the test data for
template file includes all files, such as text, data, formulas, pictures, conditional formatting for pass/fail evaluation and
so on. Attention should be paid to the different template files due to different parameter configurations (see more
details in MS Excel procedure manual). Figure 35~41 are output examples of test outcomes.

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Differential pressure
test
General information
Operator: ReboTech
Valve model: D633-356A
Serial number: D224
Date: 2009-12-03
Time: 16：45

Test conditions
Supply pressure: 140bar
Maximal control signal: 2.0V
Compensation: 0.0V

Test outcomes
Pressure gain: 277bar/V
Zero offset: 0.08V
Hysteresis: 0.39%

Figure 35 Differential pressure test

Leakage test
General information
Operator: ReboTech
Valve model: D633-356A
Serial number: D224
Date: 2009-12-03
Time: 16：45

Test conditions
Supply pressure: 140bar
Maximal control signal: 2.0V
Compensation: 0.0V

Test outcomes
Maximal Leakage: 1.84L/min

Figure 36 Leakage test

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Spool position test

General information
Operator: ReboTech
Valve model: D633-356A
Serial number: D224
Date: 2009-12-03
Time: 16：45

Test conditions
Supply pressure: 140bar
Maximal control signal: 2.0V
Compensation: 0.0V
Spool signal: 4~20mA

Test outcomes
Gain: 0.79mA/V
Zero point: 11.81mA
Hysteresis: 0.09%

Figure 37 Spool position test

Flow test
General information
Operator: ReboTech
Valve model: D633-356A
Serial number: D224
Date: 2009-12-03
Time: 16：45

Test conditions
Supply pressure: 140bar
Maximal control signal: 2.0V
Compensation: 0.0V

Test outcomes
Maximal flow: 11.6L/min
Minimal flow: -13.2L/min
Hysteresis: 0.77%
Gain: 2.66L/min/V
Zero offset: 0.37V
Nonlinearity: 3.82%
Nonsymmetry: 3.14%

Figure 38 Flow test

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Amplitude-frequency
test
General information
Operator: ReboTech
Valve model: D633-356A
Serial number: D224
Date: 2009-12-03
Time: 16：45

Test conditions
Supply pressure: 70bar
Maximal control signal: 4.0V
Test signal: spool position
Start frequency: 5Hz
End frequency: 100Hz
Number of points: 30
Scale: logarithmic

Test outcomes
Natural frequency: 75.9Hz
Natural amplitude: -7.1dB
Maximal amplitude: 0.1dB

Figure 39 Amplitude-frequency test

Phase-frequency
test
General information
Operator: ReboTech
Valve model: D633-356A
Serial number: D224
Date: 2009-12-03
Time: 16：45

Test conditions
Supply pressure: 70bar
Maximal control signal: 4.0V
Test signal: spool position
Start frequency: 5Hz
End frequency: 100Hz
Number of points: 30
Scale: logarithmic

Test outcomes
Natural frequency: 75.9Hz

Figure 40 Phase-frequency test

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Step response test

General information
Operator: ReboTech
Valve model: D633-356A
Serial number: D224
Date: 2009-12-03
Time: 16：45

Test conditions
Supply pressure: 70bar
Maximal control signal: 4.0V
Compensation: 0.0V
Spool signal: 4~20mA

Test outcomes

Figure 41 Step response test

12. Transducer calibration

Each test bench is assembled with precise measuring transducer. The transducer is factory precalibrated, but is
also can be adjusted on spot via Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX). This National Instruments (NI) software
can use different formulas for calibration and can choose any physical units for pressure, flow, temperature and so on.
For more details about the scales please read the MAX manual.

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