Method for Estimating Hydraulic Hose Sag

Project number: 
21041
Sponsor: 
Caterpillar Inc.
Academic year: 
2020-2021
Project Goal: Design a program that estimates a hose sag depending on the hose characteristics, and create a test center to prove the program’s accuracy.

Caterpillar wanted a program to estimate the sagging that a hydraulic hose produces when under certain environments. This can help the company better plan construction of its machine designs. The test center will provide data from the program and be available for further experiments.

The team designed a digital program that mathematically predicts sag by using a modified catenary equation to analyze hose characteristics such as identification type, diameter and span length.

In the testing center, six hoses of three different hose types and varying diameters are suspended across two points of a galvanized steel structure, and hydraulic fluid is pumped through them to simulate their environment. Optical sensors and Arduino computing determine the sag. The test structure can be extended and shortened to accommodate hoses of differing lengths. The structure can be broken down so that an average person could carry it, and its steel construction combats long-term effects like rust.

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