Patent ID: 11959342
Assignee: CATERPILLAR GLOBAL MINING EQUIPMENT LLC
Field: Civil engineering (Other fields)
Classification: CPC E | IPC E

Claim 15:
16. A method of tensioning a wire rope feed system of a drill rig including a drilling system, the method comprising:
supplying hydraulic fluid under pressure from a hydraulic reservoir to:
a wire rope feed actuator operatively connected with a rotary head of the drilling system via a hoist wire rope and a pulldown wire rope; and
a hydraulic control valve operatively associated with a hydraulic tensioning circuit including a hoist tensioning actuator and a pulldown tensioning actuator;

commencing a pulldown operation by directing hydraulic fluid under pressure to an upper chamber of the wire rope feed actuator thereby moving the rotary head toward a work surface via the hoist wire rope and the pulldown wire rope; and
configuring the hydraulic control valve of the hydraulic tensioning circuit to:
communicate hydraulic fluid under pressure to a rod end chamber of the hoist tensioning actuator to maintain tension and reduce slack on a hoist rope during the pulldown operation; and
communicate hydraulic fluid from a piston end chamber of the hoist tensioning actuator to a lower chamber of the wire rope feed actuator.