Application of Simulation and Knowledge Processing in Contamination Control

Hydraulic power control systems are universally used in automotive, aerospace, machine tools, earthmoving and other areas of engineering due to their advantages over other systems in providing flexible and accurate control of motion and forces. These advantages are, however, always accompanied by the disadvantage of having to control contamination in hydraulic power systems. The paper discusses current progress in the application of knowledge-based techniques, in combination with dynamic modelling and simulation, to the design of contamination control in hydraulic systems. Examples of knowledge based filtration design software and a contamination control system which uses fuzzy knowledge-based techniques are discussed in some detail.