Abstract: An energy characteristic state model for hydraulic system conceptual design is presented. The energy characteristics of hydraulic systems are represented by qualitative vectors, and integral hydraulic systems are visualized as several single-action subsystems for design. Basic transformation units are defined as new design building blocks from general hydraulic components, and the qualitative matrix representations for these design building blocks are established according to the function analysis. A conceptual design model of single-action system is developed, in which the conceptual design of single-action subsystems are transformed into the decomposition of system-level matrices and the matching of candidate matrices of basic transformation units. A design example is also given to show the feasibility and effectiveness of the approach.

Key words: CAD, Conceptual design, Energy characteristic state, Hydraulic system