ABSTRACT
An electro-hydraulic control system is designed to control the demining depth of a
mine plough machine equipped with plough blade of “V" type. A Linear Variable
Differential Transformer (LVDT) is used to account for blade position and an
ultrasonic distance sensor is used to provide precise, non-contact, level distance
measurements through dusty environment. The proposed control system is
implemented to the operating hydraulic system of a scaled model of a plough
mechanism. The operating hydraulic actuators used to control the plough
mechanism are controlled through a microcontroller and system relays to maintain
plough blade depth constant. Results show that significant match between operating
surface topology and clearing depth is validated by the proposed control system.