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Title:
SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING THE OPERATION OF AN HYDRAULIC MOTOR
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO/2010/137048
Kind Code:
A1
Abstract:
A control system (1) is described, particularly for trailers, comprising at least one hydraulic motor (3) and at least detection means (5) of a rotation speed of the motor (3), the detection means (5) cooperating with control and management means (7), the control and management means (7) operatively cooperating with one control electronic unit (15) of a vehicle engine and the motor (3) being actuated by an operation of at least one hydraulic distributor (17).

Inventors:
ARNULFO ELIO (IT)
Application Number:
PCT/IT2010/000185
Publication Date:
December 02, 2010
Filing Date:
April 27, 2010
Export Citation:
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Assignee:
ROLFO SPA (IT)
ARNULFO ELIO (IT)
International Classes:
F15B7/06; B60W10/04; F16H61/46
Domestic Patent References:
WO2008081856A12008-07-10
WO2008081856A12008-07-10
Foreign References:
EP1749434A12007-02-07
US20090238696A12009-09-24
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
GARAVELLI, Paolo (Via Servais 27, Torino, IT)
Download PDF:
Claims:
CLAIMS

1. Control system (1) for trucks for transporting motor vehicles and trailers, comprising at least one hydraulic motor (3) and at least detection means (5) of a rotation speed of said motor (3) , said detection means (5) cooperating with control and management means (7), said control and management means (7) operatively cooperating with one control electronic unit (15) of a vehicle engine and said hydraulic motor (3) being actuated by an operation of at least one hydraulic distributor (17), characterised in that, when operating said distributor (17), an hydraulic fluid is deviated from one hydraulic feeding circuit (18) of said distributor (17) to said motor (3) by means of ducts (19, 20), in that it comprises at least one pressure sensor (21) connected to said hydraulic feeding circuit (18) and cooperating with said control and management means (7) adapted to send at least one signal to said control and management means (7) when a pressure of said hydraulic fluid inside said hydraulic feeding circuit (18) overcomes a preset value, and in that, when said control and management means (7) do not detect that said preset pressure value is exceeded for a set time range, they are adapted to send to said control electronic unit (15) a command for switching off said vehicle engine. 2. Control system (1) according to claim 1, characterised in that said hydraulic motor (3) is of an orbital-type.

3. Control system (1) according to claim 1, characterised in that said detection means (5) are composed of at least one phonic wheel (9) operatively connected to said motor (3) and rotated by said motor (3) during its operation, and of a respective proximity sensor (11) communicating with said control and management means (7 ) .

4. Control system (1) according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that, when said distributor (17) actuates said motor (3) and said detection means (5) detect a rotation movement of said motor (3) , said control and management means (7) send to said control electronic unit (15) a command for increasing the rpm speed of said vehicle engine.

5. Control system (1) according to any one of the previous claims, characterised in that, when said distributor (17) actuates said motor (3) and said detection means (5) detect a rotation movement of said motor (3) , said control and management means (7) wait for one time range before sending to said control electronic unit

(15) a command for increasing the rpm speed of said vehicle engine.

Description:
SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING THE OPERATION OF AN HYDRAULIC MOTOR

The present invention refers to a system for controlling the operation of an hydraulic motor, in particular for trucks for transporting motor vehicles and trailers.

As known, hydraulic systems of trucks for transporting motor vehicles and trailers are traditionally composed (apart from those solely equipped with an electro-hydraulic assembly fed by vehicle batteries) of a pump, of the gear or piston type, with fixed displacement and actuated by the truck engine itself, through the gearbox and a suitable power takeoff: in this case, obviously, the pump flow-rate is variable and proportionally depends on the rotation rpm of the truck engine. It is also true that the pump displacement is a compromise chosen in order to balance different and opposed needs: on one hand, guaranteeing a sufficiently high flow-rate to provide the operator with an adequate hydraulic actuator speed, on the other hand not exceeding certain flow-rate values that would generate such load losses as to overheat the plant and the hydraulic fluid over acceptable limits. On trailers usually actuators are used with different types and sizes, like usually hydraulic cylinders and orbital motors. The speed needs of the different actuators can agree with difficulty with a fixed flow-rate, since if the speed is acceptable for cylinders, it is insufficient for orbital motors; vice versa, if it is acceptable for orbital motors, it is surely too high for cylinders, especially those with a reduced bore.

Moreover, the engine rpm at which one operates is normally around its minimum, namely 550 - 650 revolutions/min: such rpm can be increased through a manual accelerator or through the engine control unit. It goes without saying that, by increasing the engine rpm, there is a proportional increase in the pump flow-rate, but it is possible to exploit this principle to obtain a flow-rate increase only when orbital motors are used, and not instead when other hydraulic actuators are used.

Among others, during the normal trailer use, there are many dead times between an hydraulic actuation and another, generated by the fact that the operator, after having suitably configured the tooling, must find the vehicle to be loaded, guide it onto the tooling, secure it and go down from the tooling, with similar reverse manoeuvres to unload it. During these times, the trailer engine normally remains running, consuming fuel and emitting polluting gases. To avoid this inconvenience, some trailers are equipped, upon request, with a remote engine start-stop device, that allows stopping the engine and starting it again from a suitable command on the trailer or alternatively a remote control. Unfortunately, the use of the system remains 1 at the operator's discretion, that not always has sufficient sensitivity for such problems.

WO-A-2008/081856 and US-A-2009/238696 disclose a control system according to the preamble of Claim 1. Therefore, object of the present invention is solving the above prior art problems, by providing a system for controlling the operation of an hydraulic motor, in particular for trucks for transporting motor vehicles and trailers, that provides an easily variable flow-rate without the help of costly pumps with variable displacement.

Another object of the present invention is providing a system for controlling the operation of an hydraulic motor, in particular for trucks for transporting motor vehicles and trailers, that automatically stops the engine of such truck in caso of engine inactivity.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will result from the following description, are obtained with a system for controlling the operation of an hydraulic motor as described in Claim 1. Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims. It will be immediately obvious that numerous variations and modifications (for example related to shape, sizes, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) can be made to what is described, without departing from the scope of the invention, as claimed in the dependent claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided as a non-limiting example, with reference to the single enclosed drawing, in which FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the control system for the operation of an hydraulic motor according to the present invention.

With reference to FIG. 1, it is possible to note that the control system 1 according to the present invention, in particular for trucks for transporting motor vehicles and trailers, comprises at least one hydraulic motor 3, preferably of an orbital type, and at least detection means 5 of a rotation speed of such motor 3, such detection means 5 cooperating with control and management means 7, preferably made as at least one electronic unit, to detect the rotation speed of the motor 3, such control and management means 7 operatively cooperating with the control unit 15 of the engine of such truck, and such motor 3 being actuated by the operation of at least one hydraulic distributor 17.

Preferably, the detection means 5 are composed of at least one phonic wheel 9, operatively connected to the motor 3 and rotated by this latter one during its operation, and of a respective proximity sensor 11 communicating with such control and management means 7.

When an operator actuates the hydraulic distributor 17 that drives the rotation of the orbital motor 3, an hydraulic fluid feeds the distributor 17 through a suitable hydraulic feeding circuit 18: by actuating the distributor 17, the hydraulic fluid is deviated from the hydraulic feeding circuit 18 to the orbital motor 3 through ducts, respectively 19 and 20, that is consequently actuated.

The detection means 5, in particular through the proximity sensor 11 and the respective phonic wheel 9, then detect the rotary movement of .the orbital motor 3. The control and management means 7 then suitably process the signal received from the detection means 5, and in particular from the proximity sensor 11, and send a command for increasing the rotation rpm to the control unit 15 of the truck engine.

Preferably, the control and management means 7 wait for a certain time range (delay time) before sending to the control unit 15 the command for increasing the rotation rpm of the truck engine, in order to allow the operator to perform possible approaching and finely regulating manoeuvres with the orbital motor 3. When the operator releases the command for actuating the distributor 17, the motor 3 stops since it is not fed any more through the ducts 19, 20 from the hydraulic feeding circuit 18 of the distributor 17: consequently, the detection means 5, in particular through the proximity sensor 11 and the respective phonic wheel 9, do not detect any more movements of the motor 3 and the control and management means 7 send to the control unit 15 a command to take back the rotation rpm of the tuck engine .to its minimum provided value. Obviously, the delay time length and the amount of increase of the rotation rpm of the truck engine are parameters tha can be set when installing the truck.

Possibly, the control system 1 according to the present invention can comprise at least one pressure sensor 21 connected to the hydraulic feeding circuit 18 and cooperating with the control and management means 7, adapted to send at least one signal to the control and management means 7 if the hydraulic fluid pressure inside the hydraulic feeding circuit 18 exceeds a preset value: such preset pressure value can be chosen so that it is slightly greater than the value that is found in the hydraulic feeding circuit 18 with no load, when there are no actuations of the distributor 17 and the hydraulic fluid circulates in the closed loop, only determining the load losses of the circuit 18 itself.

Advantageously, it is possible to provide that the control and management means 7, when they do not detect that the preset pressure value is exceeded for a certain time range, can send to the control unit 15 a command for turning the truck engine off: restarting of such engine can occur through a remote command on the trailer or through a remote control, as taught by the art. Even the length of the above time range is a parameter that can be set when installing the truck.

As described above, it is clear that the system 1 for controlling the operation of the hydraulic motor 3, in particular for trucks for transporting motor vehicles and trailers, has its relevance in reducing the fuel costs and in defending the environment, since it optimises the increases of rpm of a truck engine.