Patent ID: 9507350
Filing Date: 2016-11-29
CPC Classification: F15B,G05D

Claim Text:
1. A hydraulic actuator control system for controlling the motion of a master actuator and a slave actuator comprising: an external supervisory computer for sending distributed command signals; a hydraulic control system connected to said master actuator and connected to, but separate from, said supervisory computer, said hydraulic control system including a microprocessor and a master hydraulic control valve for controlling the flow of a pressurized fluid to said master actuator based on said distributed command signals; and at least one slave actuator having at least one slave sensor connected to said microprocessor and having at least one slave control valve for controlling the flow of pressurized fluid to said at least one slave actuator, where said at least one slave control valve and said at least one slave sensor are controlled by said microprocessor; wherein the external supervisory computer sends said distributed control command signals to the hydraulic control system, and said supervisory computer monitors an operational state of said microprocessor, but does not monitor said at least one slave actuator and does not manipulate said at least one slave control valve, and where said microprocessor executes a closed loop control algorithm that generates a slave control command signal in response to said distributed control command signals; wherein said microprocessor is further configured to transmit said slave control valve command signal to said at least one slave control valve, wherein said at least one slave control valve is configured to move in response to receiving said slave control valve command signal so as to allow pressurized fluid to enter said at least one slave actuator to cause said at least one slave actuator to move, thereby causing said at least one slave sensor to transmit a slave control signal indicating a changed position of said at least one slave actuator to said microprocessor, and not to said supervisory computer during operation of said supervisory computer, for use in the closed loop control algorithm executed by said microprocessor.