A CAD environment for the numerical simulation of servo pneumatic actuator systems

In this paper, a CAD environment for the simulation of pneumatic actuator servo-systems is described. The simulation environment is based on a gas-dynamic model that is solved by means of a numerical integration method. The simulation algorithm has been developed through a general-purpose language. This code is linked to a kinetic-dynamic simulator (MSC Visual NASTRAN Desktop), which provides accurate information on the actuator motion (the kinetic and the dynamic). The software environment has been encapsulated in a friendly-user interface by means of Visual Basic. The actuator geometry, control system parameters, as well as boundary conditions, can be defined almost arbitrarily.