Measuring system for development of stroke-sensing cylinder for automatic excavator

In order to develop a stroke-sensing cylinder for automatic excavators equipped with Hall sensors of GaAs type, a measuring test facility is set up and used in investigating the design parameters. The measuring system itself is a kind of XZ table with two moving axes in X and Z directions, respectively, on which sensing parts, including Hall sensors, are installed. Furthermore, to attain a high precision of movement of the measuring system, a new sliding mode control is introduced, which diminishes chattering in the control loop by setting two dead zones along the switching line. The unknown parameters for sliding mode control are estimated by a signal compression method. The output signal from a Hall sensor was analyzed by using a measuring instrument. In particular, the detected signal according to the Hall sensor's movement on the piston rod, which has a magnetic scale, was investigated and the vertical distance between the Hall sensor and the piston rod, which gives direct effects on the detected signal, was obtained. Based on these results, the stroke-sensing cylinder was designed and fabricated.