Patent ID: 9611946
Date: 2017-04-04
CPC Classifications: F15B,F16K

Claim:
1. A rotary valve comprising: a sleeve having a plurality of sleeve openings, wherein the plurality of sleeve openings include at least: a first opening configured to communicate fluid to and from a high pressure fluid source, a second opening configured to communicate fluid to and from a low pressure fluid reservoir, a third opening configured to communicate fluid to and from a first chamber of a hydraulic actuator, a fourth opening configured to communicate fluid to and from a second chamber of the hydraulic actuator, and a fifth opening configured to communicate fluid to and from a third chamber of the hydraulic actuator; a spool rotatable within the sleeve, wherein the spool includes a plurality of spool openings respectively corresponding to the plurality of sleeve openings, wherein the spool has two high pressure internal channels in fluid communication with the high pressure fluid source and two low pressure internal channels in fluid communication with the low pressure fluid reservoir, and wherein the two high pressure internal channels are 1×1 interleaved with the two low pressure internal channels; and a rotary actuator coupled to the spool and configured to rotate the spool within the sleeve in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions, wherein rotating the spool causes the spool to assume one rotary position of at least eight rotary positions, wherein, at each rotary position, a subset of the plurality of spool openings is at least partially aligned with a subset of the plurality of sleeve openings, to connect (i) the first chamber to either the high pressure fluid source or the low pressure fluid reservoir, (ii) the second chamber to either the high pressure fluid source or the low pressure fluid reservoir, and (iii) the third chamber to either the high pressure fluid source or the low pressure fluid reservoir.