PILOT OPERATED CONTROL VALVE UNIT

Abstract: A pilot-operated valve device having a plurality of valves for controlling the operation of a hydraulic device such as a hydraulic cylinder, wherein the whole device is compactly formed such that a plurality of valves are mounted in small mounting space without causing them to be interfered be each other. The valve device can further be easily modified to meet a plurality of hydraulic devices. The valve device comprises a cuboidal valve housing (10), first and second pump ports (11, 12) extending in parallel and horizontally in upper portions near the opposite sides in the valve housing and communicating with the hydraulic pump, a tank port (13) formed in the lower central portion of the valve housing, a pilot tank port (25) formed in the central portion of the valve housing and communicating with the drain tank, first and second ports (14, 15) formed in different positions of the upper surface of the valve housing and extending vertically downward in the housing to communicate with pressure chambers of the hydraulic device, a plurality of valves (19, 20, 23, 24) inserted in a plurality of valve holes formed in the valve housing to open or close these ports, and pilot valves (31, 35) for controlling the supply of pressurized oil for pilot pressure to these valves.

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a control valve unit for supplying a pressure oil to hydraulic equipments such as hydraulic cylinders, hydraulic motors and the like to control these hydraulic equipments in operation, and more particularly to a pilot operated control valve unit for conducting directional controls of a plurality of valves of the system by means of pilot pressure oil. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Hitherto, it is known that, for example as shown in Fig. 1, in a control valve unit of this kind: a pressure oil discharged from a hydraulic pump 1 is supplied to a first chamber 3₁ and a second chamber 3₂ of a hydraulic equipment 3 through a first meter-in valve 2₁ and a second meter-in valve 2₂, respectively, the meter-in valves 2₁, 2₂ being two-way valves; the pressure oil having entered the first chamber 3₁ and the second chamber 3₂ is discharged into a tank 5 through a first meter-out valve 4₁ and a second meter-out valve 4₂, respectively, the meter-out valves 4₁, 4₂ being two-way valves; in case that both of the first meter-in valve 2₁ and the second meter-out valve 4₂ are opened, the pressure oil is supplied to the first chamber 3₁ of the hydraulic equipment 3, while the pressure oil having entered the second chamber 3₂ of the equipment 3 is discharged from the second chamber 3₂ of the equipment 3 into the tank 5; and, in case that both of the second meter-in valve 2₂ and the first meter-out valve 4₁ are opened, the pressure oil is supplied to the second chamber 3₂ of the hydraulic equipment 3, while the pressure oil having entered the first chamber 3₁ of the hydraulic equipment 3 is discharged therefrom into the tank 5. In addition, a pilot operated control valve unit is known, in which: each of the valves described above is constructed of a pilot operated valve; and further comprised are a first and a second pilot valve, which first pilot valve conducts directional controls of the first meter-in valve 2₁ and the second meter-out valve 4₂, and which second pilot valve conducts directional controls of the second meter-out valve 2₂ and the first meter-out valve 4₁. On the other hand, in a power shovel, there are employed at least six hydraulic equipments comprising: a boom derricking cylinder, an arm hydraulic cylinder, a bucket hydraulic cylinder, a swing hydraulic motor, a left-hand traveling hydraulic motor and a right-hand traveling hydraulic motor, to which hydraulic equipments the pressure oil is supplied through four valves. As a result, the power shovel requires at least 24 valves and 12 pilot valves in operation. In the conventional pilot operated control valve unit described above, it is required for a valve housing 6 of the control valve system: to have in the interior thereof four valves comprising the first meter-in valve 2₁, the second meter-in valve 2₂, the first meter-out valve 4₁ and the second meter-out valve 4₂; and to form therein two pump ports 7₁, 7₂, two tank ports 8₁, 8₂, four additional ports 9₁, 9₂, 9₃, 9₄, the first and the second pilot valve, and pilot passages communicating with these pilot valves. Consequently, in case that the above pilot operated control valve unit is employed in the power shovel, it is required for the valve housing 6 of the control valve unit of the power shovel to have: 24 valves, 12 pilot valves, a plurality of the pump port passages, a plurality of the tank port passages, a plurality of the additional port passages and the pilot passages, which causes the valve housing 6 to be a large sized one. In addition, in the valve housing 6 of the pilot operated control valve unit, it is very cumbersome to form each of the above port passages. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of such circumstances described above, the present invention was made. Consequently, it is an object of the present invention to provide a small-sized pilot operated control valve unit requiring a minimum mounting space thereof, in which unit: a plurality of valves are employed to control a hydraulic equipment, for example such as a hydraulic cylinder; a required number of each of the above valves is reduced; and there is no fear that the plurality of the valves interfere with each other in operation. According to a first embodiment of the present invention, the above objects of the present invention are accomplished by a pilot operated control valve unit with the features of the preamble part of claim 1 comprising the characterizing features of claim 1. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the above objects of the present invention are accomplished by providing: a control system comprising a plurality of pilot operated control valve units for controlling a plurality of hydraulic equipments, the plurality of the control valve units being connected with each other in the lateral width direction of the valve housing of the control valve system. The pilot operated control valve unit and control system of the present invention having the following advantages: In the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention, each of the first meter-in valve, the first meter-out valve, the first pilot valve, the second meter-in valve, the second meter-out valve and the second pilot valve is so formed in the valve housing of the pilot operated control valve unit: as to horizontally extend in the longitudinal width direction of the valve housing to open into one of the opposite side surfaces of the valve housing perpendicular to the longitudinal width direction thereof; and as not to be aligned with each other in the height direction and the lateral width direction of the valve housing. As a result, it is possible for the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention to mount each of the valves in the valve housing with a minimum mounting space thereof without any interference of the valves with each other. Consequently, even when a plurality of valves are mounted in the valve housing of the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention, it is possible for the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention to realize a small-sized valve housing which leads to a small-sized pilot operated control valve unit, because each of the plurality of the valves only requires a minimum mounting space thereof. In addition, in the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention, since each of the first and the second pump port passage, tank port passage and the pilot tank port passage is so formed in the valve housing of the control valve unit as not to be aligned with each other in both of the height direction and the longitudinal width direction of the valve housing and as to horizontally extend in the lateral width direction of the valve housing, it is possible to sequentially mount each of the first and the second meter-in valve, first and the second meter-out valve, and the first and the second pilot valve in the valve housing so as to be spaced apart from each other in the lateral width direction of the valve housing. As a result, it is not required for the valve housing of the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention to additionally form any of the first and the second pump port passage, tank port passage and pilot tank port passage therein. In other words, it is required for the valve housing of the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention to form only the required number of each of the first and the second port passage in the valve housing, which reduces machining steps of the valve housing in manufacturing. The above objects, additional objects, additional embodiments and advantages of the present invention will be clarified to those skilled in the art hereinbelow with reference to the following description and accompanying drawings illustrating preferred embodiments of the present invention according to principles of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a schematic circuit diagram illustrating an example of a conventional control valve unit; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a valve housing of a pilot operated control valve unit of an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the valve housing of the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention, taken along the line 111-111 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the valve housing of the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention, taken along the line 1V-1V of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the valve housing of the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention, taken along the line V-V of Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the valve housing of the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention, taken along the line V1-V1 of Fig. 5; Figs. 7 and 8 are cross-sectional views of the valve housing of the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention, illustrating the meter-in valves, meter-out valves and the pilot valves in construction; Figs. 9 and 10 are cross-sectional views of the valve housing of the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention, illustrating the meter-in valves, meter-out valves and the pilot valves in construction for separately controlling the second meter-in valve and the second meter-out valve; and Figs. 11 and 12 are cross-sectional views of the valve housing of the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention, illustrating the meter-in valves, meter-out valves and the pilot valves in construction for separately controlling a pair of the first meter-in valve and the first meter-out valve and a pair of the second meter-in valve and the second meter-out valve. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinbelow, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings (Figs. 2 to 12). As shown in Figs. 2 to 6, a valve housing 10 of a pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention has a predetermined lateral width, a predetermined longitudinal width and a predetermined height, and assumes a rectangular parallelepiped form. In an upper portion of the valve housing 10 of the control valve unit are formed a first pump port passage 11 and a second pump port passage 12 which communicate with a hydraulic pump (not shown), are parallel to each other and horizontally extend in the lateral width direction of the valve housing 10 to open into an end surface 10a of the valve housing 10, which end surface 10a is perpendicular to the lateral width direction of the valve housing 10. In addition, a tank port passage 13 is so formed in the valve housing 10 as to be disposed in a lower portion of the valve housing 10, as to be disposed in a central position of the longitudinal width of the valve housing 10, as to horizontally extend in the lateral width direction of the valve housing 10 and as to communicate with a drain tank (not shown) to open into the end surface 10a of the valve housing 10. Further, a first port passage 14 and a second port passage 15 are so formed in the valve housing 10 as not to be aligned with each other in both of the lateral width direction and the longitudinal width direction of the valve housing 10, as to extend vertically to open into an upper surface 10b of the valve housing 10 and as to communicate with a first pressure chamber 16₁ and a second pressure chamber 16₂ of a hydraulic equipment 16, respectively. In addition, the first port passage 14 and the second port passage 15 are so formed in the valve housing 10 as not to interfere with any of the first pump port passage 11, second pump port passage 12 and the tank port passage 13. Further, in the valve housing 10, a first meter-in valve receiving bore 17 and a first meter-out valve receiving bore 18 are so formed as to open into a side surface 10c of the valve housing 10 perpendicular to the longitudinal width direction of the valve housing 10, as not to be aligned with each other in the height direction and the lateral width direction of the valve housing 10, as to horizontally extend in the longitudinal width direction of the valve housing 10. The first meter-in valve receiving bore 17 is so disposed in the upper portion of the valve housing 10 as to penetrate the first pump port passage 11, as to communicate with the first port passage 14 and as to receive a first meter-in valve 19 therein to selectively shut off the first pump port passage 11 from the first port passage 14. On the other hand, the first meter-out valve receiving bore 18 is so disposed in the lower portion of the valve housing 10 as to open into the tank port passage 13, as to communicate with the second port passage 15 and as to receive a first meter-out valve 20 therein to selectively shut off the tank port passage 13 from the second port passage 15. Furthermore, in the valve housing 10, a second meter-in valve receiving bore 21 and a second meter-out valve receiving bore 22 are so formed as to open into the other side surface 10d of the valve housing 10 perpendicular to the longitudinal width direction of the valve housing 10, as not to be aligned with each other in the height direction and the lateral width direction of the valve housing 10, as to horizontally extend in the longitudinal width direction of the valve housing 10. The second meter-in valve receiving bore 21 is so disposed in the upper portion of the valve housing 10 as to be aligned with the first meter-out valve receiving bore 18 in the lateral width direction of the valve housing 10, as to penetrate the second pump port passage 12, as to communicate with the second port passage 15 and as to receive a second meter-in valve 23 therein to selectively shut off the second pump port passage 12 from the second port passage 15. On the other hand, the second meter-out valve receiving bore 22 is so disposed in the lower portion of the valve housing 10 as to be aligned with the first meter-in valve receiving bore 17 in the lateral width direction of the valve housing 10, as to open into the tank port passage 13, as to communicate with the first port passage 14 and as to receive a second meter-out valve 24 therein to selectively shut off the tank port passage 13 from the first port passage 14. Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 2, in central positions of both of the height and the longitudinal width of the valve housing 10 is disposed a pilot tank port passage 25 which extends horizontally in the lateral width direction of the valve housing 10 to open into the end surface 10a of the valve housing 10. Namely, the pilot tank port passage 25 is disposed in a position above the tank port passage 13 and extends parallel thereto. In the valve housing 10 is further formed a first pilot valve receiving bore 26 which is so arranged: as to be disposed in a position under the first meter-in valve receiving bore 17; as to be similar to the pilot tank port passage 25 in height and to open into a side surface 10c of the valve housing 10, the side surface 10c being perpendicular to the longitudinal width direction of the valve housing 10; as to horizontally extend in the longitudinal width direction of the valve housing 10; and as not to be aligned with both of the first pilot valve receiving bore 26 and the second port passage 15 in the lateral width direction of the valve housing 10. In addition, a second pilot valve receiving bore 27 is so formed in the valve housing 10: as to be disposed in a lower portion of the valve housing 10; as to be similar to the pilot tank port passage 25 in height; as to open into the other side surface 10d of the valve housing 10; as to horizontally extend in the longitudinal width direction of the valve housing 10; and as not to be aligned with both of the second pilot valve receiving bore 27 and the first port passage 14 in the lateral width direction of the valve housing 10. As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the first pilot valve receiving bore 26 communicates with the pilot tank port passage 25 and further communicates with the first meter-in valve receiving bore 17, first meter-out valve receiving bore 18 and the first pump port passage 11 through a first oil hole 28, a second oil hole 29 and a third oil hole 30. A first pilot valve is inserted into the first pilot valve receiving bore 26 of the valve housing 10 as shown in Fig. 2. On the other hand, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the second pilot valve receiving bore 27 communicates with the pilot tank port passage 25 and further communicates with the second meter-in valve receiving bore 21, second meter-out valve receiving bore 22 and the second pump port passage 12 through a first oil hole 32, a second oil hole 33 and a third oil hole 34. A second pilot valve 35 is inserted into the second pilot valve receiving bore 27 of the valve housing 10. As shown in Figs. 7 and 8, each of the first meter-in valve 19 and the second meter-in valve 21 is so constructed that: an inlet port 41 is formed in a sleeve-like element 40; a spool 42 is inserted into the sleeve-like element 40 to selectively shut off and open the inlet port 41, the spool being so positioned as to normally shut off the inlet port 41 under the influence of a resilient force exerted by a spring 43 and as to open the inlet port 41 when subjected to a predetermined pilot pressure developed in a pressure chamber 44. As shown in Figs. 7 and 8, each of the first meter-out valve 20 and the second meter-out valve 24 is so constructed that: an inlet port 51 is formed in a sleeve-like element 50; a poppet 52 for selectively shut off the inlet port 51 from the tank port passage 13 is inserted into the sleeve-like element 50; the inlet port 51 communicates with a back-pressure chamber 57 through a variable aperture 56 which is constructed of a slit groove 53 and a spool 55 having been inserted into an axial bore 54 of the sleeve-like element 50, to develop a pressure difference across the variable aperture 56; and a spring 58 is interposed between the spool 55 and a bottom portion of the axial bore 54 to normally bring the poppet 52 to its shut-off condition. As shown in Figs. 7 and 8, in each of sleeve-like elements 60 of the first pilot valve 31 and the second pilot valve 35 are formed: an inlet port 61, an outlet port 62 and a drain port 63. A spool 64 for selectively shutting off the inlet port 61 from the outlet port 62 is integrally formed with a poppet 65 for selectively shutting off the drain port 63 from the pilot tank port passage 25, while inserted into the sleeve-like element 60. Each of the spool 64 and the poppet 65 is operated by means of a solenoid 66. The inlet port 61 communicates with the first pump port passage 11 and the second pump port passage 12 through the third oil hole 30 and 34, respectively. On the other hand, the outlet port 62 communicates with the pressure chamber 44 of each of the first meter-in valve 19 and the second meter-in valve 21 through the first oil holes 28 and 32, while the drain port 63 communicates with the back-pressure chamber 57 of each of the first meter-out valve 20 and the second meter-out valve 24 through the second oil holes 29 and 33. Namely, the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention has the above construction so that, when the inlet port 61 communicates with the outlet port 62 by displacing the spool 64 and the poppet 65 by means of a solenoid 66 of each of the first pilot valve 31 and the second pilot valve 35 while the drain port 63 communicates with the pilot tank port passage 25, a pressure oil discharged from the tank port passage 13 is supplied to the pressure chamber 44 of the first meter-in valve 19 or the second meter-in valve 21 to move the spool 42 to its communication position. At the same time, since the back-pressure chamber 57 of the first meter-out valve 20 of the second meter-out valve 24 communicates with the pilot tank port passage 25 to bring the poppet 52 to its communication position, the pressure oil discharged from first pump port passage 11 or the second pump port passage 12 is supplied to the first port passage 14 or the second port passage 15 from which the pressure oil is further supplied to the tank port passage 13. Since the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention has the above construction, in order to separately control the second meter-in valve 23 and the second meter-out valve 24, it is required that: as shown in Fig. 9, an auxiliary valve housing 71 is mounted on the valve housing 10 in a position under the second meter-out valve 24 provided in a lower portion of the valve housing 10 adjacent to the other side surface thereof perpendicular to the longitudinal width direction of the valve housing 10. The auxiliary valve housing 71 is provided with an auxiliary second pilot valve 70 which is similar to the second pilot valve 35 in shape. The drain port 63 of the auxiliary second pilot valve 70 communicates with the back-pressure chamber 57 of the second meter-out valve 24 through oil holes 72, 73. An pressure chamber 57a adjacent to an out-let side portion of the poppet 65 communicates with the pilot tank port passage 25 through oil holes 74, 75. As shown in Fig. 10, the second pilot valve 35 may have a construction provided with the spool 64 only, which spool 64 selectively shuts off the inlet port 61 from the outlet port 62. In the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention having the above construction, it is possible to control the second meter-in valve 21 by means of the second pilot valve 35 and to control the second meter-out valve 24 by means of the auxiliary second pilot valve 70. Incidentally, the same modification as described above is applied to the pilot operated control valve unit of the present invention to separately control the first meter-in valve 19 and the first meter-out valve 20. In addition, in order to separately control the first meter-in valve 19, first meter-out valve 20, second meter-in valve 23 and the second meter-out valve 24: as shown in Figs. 11 and 12, a first auxiliary pilot valve 70' having the same construction as that of the second auxiliary pilot valve 70 is mounted in the valve housing 10 in a position under the first meter-out valve 20 mounted in the valve housing 10 to control the first meter-out valve 20 by means of the first auxiliary pilot valve 70'; and the first pilot valve 31 has a construction provided with a spool 64 only, which spool 64 selectively shuts off the inlet port 61 from the outlet port 62 to control the first meter-in valve 19 only.

Claims: A pilot operated control valve unit comprising a valve housing (10); a first and second pump port passage (11,12) so formed in said valve housing (10) as to communicate with a hydraulic pump; a tank port passage (13) so formed in said valve housing (10) as to communicate with a drain tank; a first and a second port passage (14,15) so formed in said valve housing as to communicate with a hydraulic equipment (16); a first and a second meter-in valve (19,23) so inserted into the valve housing (10) as to selectively shut-off said pump port passage from said first and said second port passage in operation; a first and a second meter-out valve (20,24) so inserted into the valve housing (10) as to selectively shut-off said tank port passage from said first and said second port passage in operation, and a first and a second pilot valve system (31,35;31,70';35,70) as to supply pilot pressure oil to said first meter-in valve, said first meter-out valve, the second meter-in valve and the second meter-out valve, characterized in that said valve housing (10) is provided with the predetermined lateral width, a predetermined longitudinal width and a predetermined height, and assumes a substantially rectangular parallelepiped form; said first and said second pump port passage (11,12) has the same height and are parallely spaced apart from each other in said longitudinal width direction of said valve housing and horizontally extend in said lateral width direction of said valve housing; said tank port passage (13) is disposed in a lower portion of said valve housing (10), as to be disposed in a central position of said longitudinal width of said valve housing and as to horizontally extend in said lateral width direction of said valve housing; the pilot tank port passage (25) is so formed in said valve housing (10) as to be disposed in central position of both of said height direction and said longitudinal width direction of said valve housing and as to horizontally extend in said lateral width direction of said valve housing; said first and said second port passage (14,15) are so formed in said valve housing (10) as not to be aligned with each other in both of said lateral width direction and said longitudinal width direction of said valve housing, as to extend vertically to open into an upper surface (10b) of said valve housing; said first meter-in valve (19) is so inserted into a first meter-in valve receiving bore (17) as to selectively shut-off said first pump port passage (11) from said first port passage (14) in operation, said first meter-in valve receiving bore (17) being formed in an upper portion of said valve housing (10) so as to open into a side surface (10c) of said valve housing perpendicular to said longitudinal width direction thereof, as to horitonally extend in said longitudinal width direction to penetrate said first pump port passage (11) and as to communicate with said first port passage (14); said first meter-out valve (20) is so inserted into a first meter-out valve receiving bore (18) as to selectively shut-off said tank support passage (13) from said second port passage (15), said first meter-out valve receiving bore (18) being formed in a lower portion of said valve housing (10) so as to open into said side surface (10c) of said valve housing perpendicular to said longitudinal width direction thereof, as to horizontally extend in said longitudinal width direction to sequentially communicate with said second port passage (15) and said tank port passage (13); said second meter-in valve (23) is so inserted into a second meter-in valve receiving bore (21) as to selectively shut-off said second pump port passage (12) from said second port passage (15) in operation, said second meter-in valve receiving bore (21) being formed in said upper portion of said valve housing (10) so as to open into the other side surface (10d) of said valve housing perpendicular to said longitudinal width direction thereof, as to horizontally extend in said longitudinal width direction to penetrate said second pump port passage (12) as to communicate with said second port passage (15); said second meter-out valve (24) is so inserted into a second meter-out valve receiving bore (22) as to selectively shut-off said tank port passage (15) from said first port passage (14), said second meter-out valve receiving bore (22) being formed in said lower portion of said valve housing (10) so as to open into the other side surface (10d) of said valve housing perpendicular to said longitudinal width direction thereof, as to horizontally extend in said longitudinal width direction to sequentially communicate with said first port passage (14) and said tank port passage (13); said pilot valve system comprises at least a first pilot valve (31) inserted into the first pilot valve receiving bore (26), said first pilot valve receiving bore (26) being so formed in a central portion of said valve housing (10) in height as to horizontally extend in said longitudinal width direction of said valve housing to open into said side surface (10c) of said valve housing and as to communicate with said pilot tank port passage (25), and said second pilot valve system comprises at least a second pilot valve (35) inserted into a second pilot valve receiving bore (27) of said valve housing (10), said second pilot valve receiving bore (27) being so formed in a central position of said height of said valve housing (10) as to open into the other side surface (10d) of said valve housing perpendicular to said longitudinal width direction of said valve housing, as to horizontally extend in said longitudinal width direction of said valve housing and as to communicate with said pilot tank port passage (25). The pilot operated control valve unit as set forth in claim 1, wherein in order to separately control said first meter-in valve (19) and said first meter-out valve (20) from each other, said first pilot valve system comprises said first pilot valve (31) and the first auxiliary pilot valve (70') whereby said first pilot valve (31) is dedicated to said first meter-in valve (19) in operation and said first auxiliary pilot valve (70') is dedicated to said first meter-out valve (20) in operation. The pilot operated control valve unit as set forth in claim 1, wherein in order to separately control said second meter-in valve (23) and said second meter-out valve (24) from each other, said second pilot valve system comprises said second pilot valve (35) and a second auxiliary pilot valve (70), whereby said second pilot valve (35) is dedicated to said second meter-in valve (23) and said second auxiliary pilot valve (70) is dedicated to said second meter-out valve (24). A control system comprising a plurality of pilot operated control valve units as set forth in claim 1, for controlling a plurality of hydraulic equipment (16), whereby said plurality of said control valve units are connected with each other with abutting end faces (10a) in said lateral width direction of said valve housing (10) so that the respective passages (11,12,13,25) are in line.

Inventors: ISHIZAKI, NAOKI, KARAKAMA, TADAO, ODA, YOSUKE
Applicants: KABUSHIKI KAISHA KOMATSU SEISAKUSHO
Application year: 1989
Main classification: F15B13
IPC codes: F15B13, F15B11