Not Applicable
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manual control device, such as joystick, which operate a valve to control the flow of hydraulic fluid to an actuator on a machine; and in particular to such control devices that provide electrical signals which are used to operate solenoid valves.
2. Description of the Related Art
Construction and agricultural equipment have working members which are driven by hydraulic actuators, such as cylinder and piston assemblies, for example. Each cylinder is divided into two internal chambers by the piston and selective application of hydraulic fluid under pressure to one or the other chamber produces movement of the piston in corresponding opposite directions.
Application of hydraulic fluid to and from the cylinder chambers often is controlled by a spool valve, such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,642. This type of hydraulic valve has an internal spool controls the fluid flow in response to being moved by a mechanical connection to an operator lever. Movement of the spool into various positions controls flow of fluid through two separate paths in the valve. The direction and amount of spool movement determines the direction and speed that the associated hydraulic actuator moves.
To reduce the number of valve control levers that a machine operator must manipulate, joysticks have been provided. A typical joystick can be pivoted about two orthogonal axes to designate operation of two separate hydraulic actuators of the machine. For example, movement about one axis may swing an excavator boom left and right, while movement about the other axis raises and lowers the boom. The original joysticks incorporated small valves, two valves associated with each axis. The joystick was normally biased into a centered position at which the output ports of all the valves opened to the tank line of the hydraulic system and actuator movement did not occur. Pivoting the joystick handle along one axis caused one valve in the associated pair to connect a hydraulic supply line to its outlet port, while the other valve of that pair remained opened to the tank line. That pair of joystick valves pilot-operated a main spool valve that metered fluid to and from the hydraulic actuator being controlled. Another pair of valves responded in an identical manner to pivoting the joystick about the other axis and pilot operated a different spool valve for another hydraulic actuator.
The load on the hydraulic actuator to being driven exerted a corresponding amount of fluid pressure back onto the main spool valve. Because the main spool valve was pilot-operated by the joystick valve, a dampened indication of the spool valve pressure was fedback to the joystick valve which exerted force on the joystick handle. Therefore, the machine operator received some feedback indicating the response of the hydraulic actuator to being driven by the fluid.
There is a present trend toward electrical control systems that use solenoid operated valves. This type of control simplifies the hydraulic plumbing as the main valves do not have to be located near an operator station, but can be located adjacent the actuator being controlled. This technological change also facilitates computerized control of the machine functions. For electrical control, the joystick that incorporated hydraulic valves is replaced with an electrical joystick which produces electrical signals indicating the amount of handle motion along each axis. For example, a separate potentiometer is driven by motion along each joystick axis. Those electrical signals are used to derive electric currents for driving solenoids that operated the main valves to control the fluid flow to the hydraulic actuators.
Machine operators objected to the different feel of the electrical joystick which did not provide the dampened feedback to which the operators were accustomed. In addition, electrical joysticks did not hold up well in the harsh operating conditions encountered by construction and other types of machinery. The electrical joysticks had a relatively short life, as compared with their hydraulic counterparts.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a joystick that produces electrical control signals, but has the feel and reliability of a hydraulic joystick.
A joystick for a hydraulic system includes a body with a first chamber, a supply passage that receives the pressurized fluid from a source, a tank passage that is connected to the fluid reservoir of the hydraulic system. A handle is pivotally mounted on the body. A first valve in the body is operable by the handle to connect the first chamber selectively to the supply passage and the tank passage. A first pressure sensor produces an electrical signal indicating a level of pressure in the first chamber.
In the preferred embodiment, the handle pivots about two orthogonal axes with respect to the body. In this case, the first valve and a second valve respond to motion of the handle about one axis, and a third valve and a fourth valve respond to motion of the handle about the other axis. Each of the first, second, third, and fourth valves selectively connect first, second, third, and fourth chambers in the body to the supply passage and the tank passage depending on a direction of movement of the handle about the two orthogonal axes. First, second, third, and fourth pressure sensors produce electrical signals indicating pressure levels in the first, second, third, and fourth chambers, respectively, thereby providing a set of four electrical signals indicating the direction and degree of handle movement.
An aspect of the present invention is that for each valve there is a valve bore in the body and connected to one of the chambers and into which the supply passage and the tank passage open. Every valve also includes valve element that slides within the respective valve bore in response to the handle pivoting. Each valve element has a first position in which the tank passage is connected to the associated chamber and a second position in which the supply passage is connected to the associated chamber.
With initial reference to
With additional reference to
The first valve element 38 selectively controls the flow of fluid between a first chamber 44 and either a supply passage 40 or a tank passage 42 in the body 11. Thus the first chamber 44 forms an outlet of the first valve 21 and opens only into the first valve bore 30. The supply passage 40 is connected to a source of pressurized fluid, such as the outlet of a pump 45 of a machine to which the joystick 10 is mounted (see
The second valve 22 has an identical construction to that just described with respect to the first valve 21 and is located within the valve assembly 12 along the same first axis 15 on the opposite side of the handle 14. It should be understood that although the first and second valves 21 and 22 are located along the first axis 15, they respond to the handle 14 being pivoted about the second axis 17 that extends into and out of the plane of the drawing. Likewise the third and fourth valves 23 and 24, located along the second axis 17, respond to the handle 14 being pivoted about the first axis 15.
When the machine operator pivots the handle 14 to the left about the second axis 17 in
Therefore, pivoting the handle 14 leftward applies a greater pressure from the supply passage 40 to the first chamber 44. As a consequence, the pressure in the first chamber 44 increases while the pressure in the second chamber 58 remains at a low level. As will be described, the pressures in each of these chambers 44 and 58 are measured by separate first and second pressure sensors 61 and 62, respectively. The first and second pressure sensors 61 and 62 are mounted on a plate 66 that extends across the bottom surface of the valve assembly 12 through which the first and second chambers 44 and 58 open. The combination of that plate 66 and the pressure sensors 61 and 62 close off the first and second chambers 44 and 58 and annular seals prevent fluid leakage there between. Therefore the only openings into the first and second chambers 44 and 58 are through the respective first and second valves 21 and 22. The plate 66 is held in place by the attachment of the electronics module 13 onto the valve assembly 12.
Should the machine operator pivot the handle 14 to the right in
Pivoting the handle 14 into or out of the plane of the
With reference to
The joystick communication circuit 76 sends control signals to the multiplexer 78 which responds by sequentially applying each of the four conditioned pressure signals to the input of the communications circuit. Each of those pressure signals is digitized by the communication circuit 76 and transmitted serially over the communication network 80. As illustrated in
Because the handle 14 of the joystick 10 operates a set of hydraulic valves 21-24 that control the application of pressurized fluid, the joystick provides dampened feedback to the operator in a manner similar to previous hydraulic joysticks. Therefore, the present joystick has a feel to the operator that corresponds closely to conventional hydraulic controls to which machine operators are accustomed.
With reference to
With reference to
Referring to that schematic diagram, the hybrid joystick 100 has been incorporated into an exemplary hydraulic system 110. The first and second ports 102 and 104, for the first and second joystick valves 21 and 22, are connected to the pilot control inputs at opposite ends of a first control valve 112. The first control valve 112 is a conventional three-position, four-way spool type valve, in which movement of the spool in one direction from a center closed position selectively applies pressurized fluid from the pump 45 to one chamber of a first hydraulic cylinder 114 and drains fluid from the other cylinder chamber to the tank 47. This causes a piston to move in one direction within the first hydraulic cylinder 114. Movement of the spool in the opposite direction reverses the connection of the two cylinder chambers to the pump and tank, thereby reversing the motion of the piston in the first hydraulic cylinder 114.
Thus pivoting the hybrid joystick 100 about a first axis opens either the first valve 21 or the second valve 22 depending upon the direction of the pivoting. Whichever valve 21 or 22 opens applies pressurized fluid to one end or the other end of the first control valve 112, thereby moving the spool in one of two directions. That spool motion determines which chamber of cylinder 114 receives pressurized fluid from the pump 45 and thus the direction that the piston moves.
Similarly, the third and fourth ports 106 and 108 for the third and fourth joystick valves 23 and 24 are connected to the first and second pilot control inputs at opposite ends of a second control valve 116. The second control valve 116 is identical to the first control valve 112 described above and selectively applies pressurized fluid to one chamber of a second hydraulic cylinder 118 and drains fluid from the other chamber. Thus pivoting the hybrid joystick 100 about a second axis applies pressurized fluid to one or the other end of the second control valve 116 moving its spool in either direction, which in turn controls the direction that a piston moves in the second hydraulic cylinder 118.
The four pressure sensors 61-64 are connected to inputs of a set of sensor signal conditioners 74. In particular, a separate signal conditioning circuit amplifies and converts each sensor output signal into a signal that is compatible with a communication circuit 76 within the joystick 10. The resultant four conditioned sensor signals are applied to a four-to-one multiplexer 78 which selectively applies one of those signals to an input of the communication circuit 76. The communication circuit 76 interfaces the joystick 10 with a communication network 80 for the machine. The four joystick signals can be received and used by the main computer (not shown), that controls the hydraulic system 110, to derive flow levels of the fluid passing through the control valves 112 and 116.
The hybrid joystick 100 can have the first and second ports 102 and 104 of the first and second joystick valves 21 and 22 connected to a control valve, such as the first control valve 112, and the pressure signals from the third and fourth sensors used by the main computer to operate electrically another valve or two valves. In this case the third and fourth ports 106 and 108 are plugged. As a further alternative use, all four ports 102, 104, 106, and 108 of the hybrid joystick 100 can be plugged so that the joystick can be used as the joystick 10 in
The foregoing description was primarily directed to a preferred embodiment of the invention. Although some attention was given to various alternatives within the scope of the invention, it is anticipated that one skilled in the art will likely realize additional alternatives that are now apparent from disclosure of embodiments of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined from the following claims and not limited by the above disclosure.
This application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/737,193 filed Apr. 19, 2007.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11737193 | Apr 2007 | US |
Child | 12129148 | US |