Patent Application
20150000949
This disclosure relates generally to a hydraulic or pneumatic tool assembly, and more specifically to a hammer having a surge accumulator having a cover mated to a base with a diaphragm sandwiched therebetween.
Hydraulic hammers are used on work sites to break up large, hard objects before the objects can be moved away. Hydraulic hammers may be mounted to machines including, but not limited to backhoes, excavators, tractors, skid steer loaders or other machines, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Hydraulic hammers may also be hand-held. Typically, the hammer is powered by a hydraulic pressure source although pneumatic pressure sources are known. A typical hydraulic hammer includes a pressurized liquid circuit that is in communication with a reciprocating piston that may engage a tool or bit that engages the work surface. More specifically, during a work or power stroke, high pressure liquid is applied to at least one shoulder of the piston that is disposed within a cylinder. Pressure on the shoulder drives the piston in a downward or forward direction. The piston then strikes the bit, which is driven in the downward or forward direction thereby causing the bit to strike the work surface (e.g., the rock, concrete, asphalt or other hard object to be broken up). During a return stroke, liquid pressure is applied to at least one other shoulder of the piston in order to return or retract the piston and the bit back to their original positions.
In addition to a liquid circuit that drives the hammer as discussed above, hydraulic hammers may also include a gas circuit for absorbing, reducing or minimizing vibrations and noise from the liquid circuit. Hydraulic hammers may also include an accumulator that couples the liquid circuit to the gas circuit. Specifically, the vibration/noise in the liquid circuit may be caused by pressure variations in the liquid circuit. Such pressure variations in the liquid circuit may be caused by pressure pulsations or pulsating flow of the liquid in the liquid circuit. An accumulator for a hydraulic hammer may typically include a base and a cover that form a vessel. The vessel may be divided by a deformable partition member, such as a diaphragm. The diaphragm divides the vessel into a gas chamber that is in communication with the gas circuit and a liquid chamber that is in communication with the liquid circuit. The term diaphragm, as used herein, is intended to encompass any flexible barrier, partition, wall or member that can divide a vessel, such as an accumulator, into two isolated chambers as described above. The gas chamber is typically filled with nitrogen or another gas, which is pressurized. In response to a pressure increase in the liquid circuit, liquid may be discharged from the liquid circuit to the liquid chamber, thereby causing the diaphragm to be biased towards the gas chamber. Conversely, in response to a pressure decrease in the liquid circuit, liquid may be discharged from the liquid chamber to the liquid circuit, thereby causing the diaphragm to be biased towards the liquid chamber. Accumulators are designed to effectively absorb or accommodate the pulsating flow of the liquid in the circuit and consequently reduce or alleviate vibrations and noises caused by the pulsating flow.
However, current accumulators typically include a base that must allow liquid to pass through the base freely, but which also must be rigid. The base must not have large holes or gaps; otherwise the diaphragm could be extruded or damaged by the base if the diaphragm is pressed against the large holes or gaps with significant pressure. Currently, typical accumulator bases have large amounts of small holes or perforations, sometimes in excess of 1000. A base of this type is expensive to manufacture, in part because of the many holes and the need to deburr and clean the holes after they are formed in the base.
Accordingly, accumulator designs with improved base structures are needed that both effectively reduce vibration and noise caused by pulsating flow in a pressurized liquid circuit and which are inexpensive and easy to manufacture.
In one aspect, an accumulator is disclosed that may couple a liquid or hydraulic circuit of a hydraulic hammer to a gas circuit of the hammer. The disclosed accumulator may include an annular base that may include a proximal end and a distal end. The proximal end of the base may define a first central opening. The proximal end of the base and the housing may also define an annular inlet that encircles the first central opening and that is in communication with the first central opening. The accumulator may also include a diaphragm that may have an outer periphery and a cover that may include a proximal end and a distal end. The proximal end of the cover may be coupled to the distal end of the base with the outer periphery of the diaphragm sandwiched therebetween.
In another aspect, a hydraulic circuit is disclosed that may include a housing that, in turn, may include an input passageway and an output passageway. The hydraulic circuit may further include an accumulator that may include an annular base having a proximal end and a distal end. The proximal end of the base may engage the housing so that the proximal end of the base and the housing may define an annular inlet. The annular inlet may provide communication between the input passageway and the first central opening and between the first central opening and the output passageway. The accumulator may also include a diaphragm that may have an outer periphery and the accumulator may also include a cover. The cover may include a proximal end and a distal end. The proximal end of the cover may be coupled to the distal end of the base with the outer periphery of the diaphragm being sandwiched therebetween.
In yet another aspect, a hydraulic hammer is disclosed. The disclosed hydraulic hammer may include a housing that may define at least part of a hydraulic circuit that may include an input passageway and an output passageway. The hydraulic hammer may further include an accumulator. The accumulator may include an annular base that may include a proximal end and a distal end. The proximal end of the base may define a first central opening. The proximal end of the base may be received in a recess disposed in the housing so that the proximal end of the base and the recess in the housing may define an annular inlet. The annular inlet may provide communication between the input passageway and the first central opening and between the first central opening and the output passageway. The accumulator may further include a diaphragm that may include an outer periphery. The accumulator may also include a cover having a proximal end and a distal end. The proximal end of the cover may be coupled to the distal end of the base with the outer periphery of the diaphragm sandwiched therebetween. The cover may also be coupled to the housing with the base sandwiched between the cover and the housing. And, the input and output passageways may be in communication with a piston for extending and retracting the piston.
This disclosure relates to improved surge accumulators for reducing noise and vibration in the hydraulic circuits and hydraulic circuits equipped with surge accumulators that may be part of a hammer. The hammer may be associated with a machine, such as an excavator, backhoe, tractor, skid steer loader or other machine as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The hammer may also be hand-held. The hammer may be powered hydraulically. An exemplary hammer 10 is shown in
The piston 14 may be supported so as to be movable relative to the housing 12 in a reciprocating manner generally in the direction of arrows 17 and 18 in
The reciprocating movement of the piston 14 may be driven, at least in part, by an incompressible liquid, such as pressurized hydraulic liquid (hereinafter “liquid”). To this end, the hammer 10 may include a high pressure inlet 20 which is coupled to or in communication with a high pressure source, such as a hydraulic pump 22, and an outlet 24 which is coupled to or in communication with a low pressure source, such as a reservoir or tank 26. The pump 22 and tank 26 may be provided as part of a machine (i.e., backhoe, tractor, excavator, loader, etc.) to which it is attached.
In order to retract the piston 14 upward in the direction of the arrow 18, the piston 14 may include an upward liquid engagement surface 28 that may be exposed to liquid pressure in a first liquid chamber 30 that is defined in the housing 12. The upward engagement surface 28 may be in the form of an annular shoulder provided in the surface of the piston 14 and may be configured or oriented for moving the piston 14 in the direction of arrow 18 away from the work tool 16. In order to move the piston 14 downward towards the work tool 16 (i.e., in the direction of arrow 17), the piston 14 may further include a downward liquid engagement surface 32 that may be exposed to liquid pressure in a second liquid chamber 34. In this case, the downward liquid engagement surface 32 is arranged above the upward liquid engagement surface 28 on the piston 14 and also is in the form of an annular shoulder in the surface of the piston 14. The downward liquid engagement surface 32 may be configured with a larger effective surface area than the upward liquid engagement surface 28 such that the piston 14 is driven downward in the general direction of arrow 17 when both the first and second liquid chambers 30, 34 are in communication with the high pressure inlet 20. When only the first liquid chamber 30 is in communication with the high pressure inlet 28, high pressure liquid only acts on the upward engagement surface 28 and the piston 14 is driven upward. A control valve assembly (not shown) may be provided that selectively connects the second liquid chamber 34 with either the high pressure inlet 20 or the low pressure outlet 24. The control valve assembly may be configured such that movement of the piston 14 switches the control valve assembly between connecting the second liquid chamber 34 with the high pressure inlet 20 and the low pressure outlet 24. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present disclosure is not limited to any particular pressurized fluid system and that any suitable arrangement capable of driving upward and downward reciprocating movement of the piston may be used.
, a variable volume accumulator 40 may be provided. The accumulator 40 may include a housing 42 that defines an interior space 44 which may be divided by a diaphragm 46 into a gas chamber 48 containing a compressible gas and a liquid chamber 50 that may receive a pressurized and incompressible liquid, such as hydraulic fluid from the pump 22. The accumulator 40 may be arranged and configured such that the gas chamber 48 of the accumulator 40 is in communication with the gas chamber 38. For example, as shown in
To allow the volume of the gas chamber 48 of the accumulator 40 to be selectively varied, the diaphragm 46 dividing the interior space 44 may be movable. For example, the diaphragm 46 may be configured to move in response to changing the amount of pressurized liquid in the liquid chamber 50 of the accumulator 40. As more pressurized liquid is added to the liquid chamber 50, the diaphragm 46 will move towards the gas chamber 48 to accommodate the additional liquid in the liquid chamber 50, thereby shrinking the volume of the gas chamber 48. Likewise, removing pressurized liquid from the liquid chamber 50 will cause the diaphragm 46 to move towards the liquid chamber 50 thereby expanding the volume of the gas chamber 48. The diaphragm 46 may be made of an elastically deformable material, such as a rubber or polymer membrane or the like. Various types of diaphragms 46 can be used to separate the interior space 44 into two chambers 48, 50, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
In
Because the gas chamber 48 of the accumulator 40 is in communication with the interior of the gas chamber 38 of the housing 12, moving the diaphragm 46 towards the gas chamber 48 to reduce the volume of the gas chamber 48 (as shown in
Similarly, moving the diaphragm 46 towards the liquid chamber 50 to increase the size of the gas chamber 48 (such as shown in
Details of the construction of the accumulator 40 are provided in
The proximal end 93 of the base 91 includes a plurality of through holes 101, or perforations. The base 91 as illustrated in
Turning to
As also illustrated in
The variable volume accumulator 40 described herein may be implemented in hydraulic hammers. While the variable volume accumulator assembly 40 is described in connection with an exemplary hammer assembly 10, it also could be implemented in other contexts. In particular, the variable volume accumulator assembly of the present disclosure could be used in any application involving a pressurized fluid system with which it would be desirable to use an accumulator that could absorb a variable volume of pressurized fluid.
It will be appreciated that the foregoing description provides examples of the disclosed system and technique. However, it is contemplated that other implementations of the disclosure may differ in detail from the foregoing examples. All references to the disclosure or examples thereof are intended to reference the particular example being discussed at that point and are not intended to imply any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure more generally. All language of distinction and disparagement with respect to certain features is intended to indicate a lack of preference for those features, but not to exclude such from the scope of the disclosure entirely unless otherwise indicated.
Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.
The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and “at least one” and similar referents in the context of describing the invention (especially in the context of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The use of the term “at least one” followed by a list of one or more items (for example, “at least one of A and B”) is to be construed to mean one item selected from the listed items (A or B) or any combination of two or more of the listed items (A and B), unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context.
Accordingly, this disclosure includes all modifications and equivalents of the subject matter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicable law. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the disclosure unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.
