Abstract:
A wireless remote-control hydraulic pump mechanism comprising a hydraulic pump assembly, a remote-control device and a wireless transmitter is suitable for being installed on a dump truck to provide for the user to control the dumping by wireless remote-control operations, wherein the remote-control device in addition to wireless remote-control functions may further have optional wired manual remote-control functions and/or power voltage detection functions so that the user may select depending on actual situations to increase dumping safety of dump trucks.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention1 Technical Field 
         [0002]    The invention relates to a wireless remote-control hydraulic pump mechanism, and more particularly, to a wireless remote-control hydraulic pump mechanism for dump trucks. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]      FIG. 1  shows a conventional dump truck  10  comprising an elevating body  11  for transporting loose material (such as sand or gravel), and the bottom of the elevating body  11  is hinged at the rear by a hinge  12  to the rear of a frame  13  of the dump truck  10  to achieve the purpose of dumping the material; a hydraulic cylinder  14  is configured at the front section of the frame  13 , and the top of a piston rod  15  of the hydraulic cylinder  14  is connected to the bottom of the elevating body  11  by hinges (not shown in  FIG. 1 ). When the piston rod  15  of the hydraulic cylinder  14  is extended, the elevating body  11  is elevated to a dumping position and the loose material is automatically dumped; when the piston rod  15  of the hydraulic cylinder  14  is retracted, the elevating body  11  is returned to a transporting position. 
         [0005]    As shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , the dump truck  10  is configured with a hydraulic pump assembly  30  and an automotive battery  80  to control the hydraulic cylinder  14  to extend or retract the piston rod  15 ; a manual controller  16  is configured between the hydraulic pump assembly  30  and the automotive battery  80 , and a first pipeline  34  and a second pipeline  35  are configured between the hydraulic pump assembly  40  and the hydraulic cylinder  14 , wherein one end of the first pipeline  34  is connected to a first chamber  14   a  of the hydraulic cylinder  14  and one end of the second pipeline  35  is connected to a second chamber  14   b  of the hydraulic cylinder  14 . 
         [0006]    The hydraulic pump assembly  30  at least comprises an oil reservoir  31 , a hydraulic pump  32 , and a solenoid valve  33 , wherein the hydraulic pump  32  applies pressure on oil in the oil reservoir  31  and forces the oil to flow to the first pipeline  34  or the second pipeline  35 ; the solenoid valve  33  is a direction-controlling valve that controls the flow direction of the oil, and a 4/2-way valve as in  FIG. 2  or a 4/3-way valve may be selected. By switching between ports of the solenoid valve  33 , the oil pressurized by the hydraulic pump  32  may be selectively directed into the first pipeline  34  or the second pipeline  35  so that the piston rod  15  of the hydraulic cylinder  14  is extended or retracted, and the elevating body  11  is subsequently elevated to the dumping position or returned to the transporting position. 
         [0007]    The electric power to activate the hydraulic pump  22  or the electric power to switch between ports of the solenoid valve  23  are both controlled by the manual controller  16  to be provided from the automotive battery  80 . Therefore, conventional dump trucks  10  use manual controllers  15  to control the elevating of the elevating body  11  to the dumping position or the returning of the elevating body  11  to the transporting position. 
         [0008]    However, since the manual controller  16  does not have a radio frequency (RF) receiver, only wired manual remote-control functions are provided and not wireless remote-control functions. 
       SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
       [0009]    In view of the above, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide a wireless remote-control hydraulic pump mechanism for dump trucks comprising: a hydraulic pump assembly, comprising an oil reservoir, a hydraulic pump, and a solenoid valve, wherein the hydraulic pump applies pressure on oil in the oil reservoir and forces the oil to flow out a port of the solenoid valve after being activated; a remote-control device, configured with a power input cable as a power supply and a power output cable to provide electric power to the hydraulic pump and the solenoid valve, wherein the remote-control device controls transmission of electric power to the power output cable; and a wireless transmitter, wherein the remote-control device has wireless remote-control functions and further comprises: a microcontroller unit, which is an integrated circuit (IC) independently executing specific control functions, outputting a control signal according to an input signal; a radio frequency (RF) receiver, receiving a RF signal from the wireless transmitter and transmitting the received RF signal to the microcontroller unit; a relay actuated circuit, controlling electric power of the power output cable to activate the hydraulic pump, wherein the microcontroller unit controls the relay actuated circuit to provide electric power according to the input signal; and a solenoid valve actuated circuit, controlling electric power of the power output cable to switch between ports of the solenoid valve, wherein the microcontroller unit controls the solenoid valve actuated circuit to provide electric power according to the input signal. 
         [0010]    The remote-control device further comprises a manual-control circuit and has both wireless remote-control functions and wired manual remote-control functions in a preferred embodiment. 
         [0011]    The remote-control device further comprises a voltage detection circuit to detect a voltage of the power input cable in a preferred embodiment. 
         [0012]    The remote-control device further comprises a display to display the detected voltage of the power input cable. 
         [0013]    The invented wireless remote-control hydraulic pump mechanism may have the following advantages:
       (1) It is suitable for installing on a dump truck and implementing automatic dumping operations;   (2) It possesses wireless remote-control functions, when installed on dump trucks, the user may implement dumping operations by wireless remote control with convenience; and   (3) In addition to the wireless remote-control functions, it has multi-purpose applicability by optionally possessing wired manual remote-control functions and/or power voltage detection functions, when installed on dump trucks, the user may select depending on actual situations to increase dumping safety for dump trucks.       
 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0017]      FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional diagram of a conventional dump truck; 
           [0018]      FIG. 2  is a schematic of a hydraulic cylinder and a hydraulic pump assembly used on the dump truck in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0019]      FIG. 3  is a schematic of a wireless remote-control hydraulic pump mechanism according to an embodiment of the invention; 
           [0020]      FIG. 4  is a circuit block diagram of the wireless remote-control hydraulic pump mechanism in  FIG. 3  having wireless remote-control functions and wired manual remote-control functions; 
           [0021]      FIG. 5  is a schematic of a wireless remote-control hydraulic pump mechanism according to another embodiment of the invention; 
           [0022]      FIG. 6  is a circuit block diagram of the wireless remote-control hydraulic pump mechanism in  FIG. 5  having only wireless remote-control functions; 
           [0023]      FIG. 7  is a circuit block diagram of the wireless remote-control hydraulic pump mechanism having additional power voltage detection functions; and 
           [0024]      FIG. 8  is a schematic of the wireless remote-control hydraulic pump mechanism comprising a display to display a detected voltage. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0025]      FIG. 3  shows an embodiment of a wireless remote-control hydraulic pump mechanism  20  installed on the dump truck  10  in  FIG. 1  and mainly providing for the user to control the elevating of the elevating body  11  of the dump truck  10  to a dumping position or the returning of the elevating body  11  of the dump truck  10  to a transporting position by wireless remote-control operations. 
         [0026]    As shown in  FIG. 2  to  FIG. 4 , the wireless remote-control hydraulic pump mechanism  20  of the present invention comprises a hydraulic pump assembly  30 , a remote-control device  40  and a wireless transmitter  50 , wherein the hydraulic pump assembly  30  at least comprises an oil reservoir  31 , a hydraulic pump  32 , and a solenoid valve  33 . For brevity, the specific structures of the components, the connection relationships between the components, and the functions of the hydraulic pump assembly  30  are described in above-mentioned related art and will not be repeated here. 
         [0027]    The remote-control device  40  may have the function of providing power by wireless remote control and is configured with a power input cable  61  and a power output cable  62 . During usage, the power input cable  61  is electrically connected to a 12V direct current (DC) power supply, and the power output cable  62  provides electric power to the hydraulic pump assembly  30 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , the power input cable  61  may be connected to the automotive battery  80  which may act as the 12V DC power supply; the remote-control device  40  controls the transmission of the 12V DC power from the power input cable  61  to the power output cable  62 . 
         [0028]    When the solenoid valve  33  of the hydraulic pump assembly  30  is selected to be a 4/2-way valve, the power output cable  62  at least comprises two power lines, wherein the first power line  63  is electrically connected to the hydraulic pump  32  of the hydraulic pump assembly  30  and the second power line  64  is electrically connected to the solenoid valve  33  of the hydraulic pump assembly  30 . When the solenoid valve  33  of the hydraulic pump assembly  30  is selected to be a 4/3-way valve, the power output cable  62  at least comprises three power lines, wherein the first power line  63  is electrically connected to the hydraulic pump  32  of the hydraulic pump assembly  30  and the second power line  64  and the third power line  65  are electrically connected to the solenoid valve  33  of the hydraulic pump assembly  30 , respectively. 
         [0029]      FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4  show the remote-control device  40  according to an embodiment of the invention, wherein the remote-control device  40  has both wireless remote-control functions and wired manual remote-control functions and at least comprises a radio frequency (RF) receiver  41 , a microcontroller unit (MCU)  42 , a manual-control circuit  43 , a relay actuated circuit  44 , and a solenoid valve actuated circuit  45 . The manual-control circuit  43  may comprise a pump activation switch SW 1 , an extension switch SW 2  and a retraction switch SW 3 . 
         [0030]    The remote-control device  40  further comprises a transformer  48 , and when the power input cable  61  is connected to the automotive battery  80 , the transformer  48  may provide 5˜8.5V power to the RF receiver  41 , the MCU  42  and the manual-control circuit  43 . 
         [0031]    The MCU  42  of the remote-control device  40  is an integrated circuit (IC) independently executing specific control functions which integrates the related circuits of central processing unit (CPU), read-only memory (ROM) or electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), random access memory (RAM), input/output (I/O) control circuit, clock time counter (CTC), etc. into a single chip, wherein the ROM or EEPROM of the MCU  42  is already saved with the control information inputted by the corresponding the RF receiver  41  and the manual-control circuit  43 . 
         [0032]    The RF receiver  41  receives an identification code and a RF signal transmitted from the wireless transmitter  50 , and transmits the received identification code and RF signal to an input port of the MCU  42 ; after confirmation by the MCU  42 , the inputted RF signal is then decoded into a corresponding control signal that is transmitted. 
         [0033]    The manual-control circuit  43  receives switch control signals of the pump activation switch SW 1 , the extension switch SW 2 , and/or the retraction switch SW 3  which are manually switched, and transmits the received switch control signals to the input port of the MCU  42 ; after confirmation by the MCU  42 , the corresponding control signal is transmitted. 
         [0034]    Therefore, the MCU  42  immediately transmits corresponding control signals to control the conduction status of the relay actuated circuit  44  and/or the solenoid valve actuated circuit  45  according to the information inputted by the RF receiver  41  and the manual-control circuit  43 . 
         [0035]    The relay actuated circuit  44  controls the access of the first power line  63  of the power output cable  62  to the 12V DC power. When the RF receiver  41  receives the signal of the pump activation switch SW 1  transmitted by the remote wireless transmitter  50  or the manual-control circuit  43  receives the signal of the pump activation switch SW 1  being manually switched, the MCU  42  controls the relay actuated circuit  44  corresponding to the inputted signal to conduct so that the first power line  63  is provided with the 12V DC power inputted from the power input cable  61  and activates the hydraulic pump  32  of the hydraulic pump assembly  30 ; the oil in the oil reservoir  31  is pressurized by the hydraulic pump  32  and directed into the first pipeline  34  or the second pipeline  35  via ports of the solenoid valve  33  to reach the hydraulic cylinder  14  in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0036]    The solenoid valve actuated circuit  45  controls the access of the second power line  64  or the third power line  65  of the power output cable  62  to the 12V DC power. When the RF receiver  41  receives the signals of the extension switch SW 2  or the retraction switch SW 3  transmitted by the remote wireless transmitter  50  or the manual-control circuit  43  receives the signals of the extension switch SW 2  or the retraction switch SW 3  being manually switched, the MCU  42  controls the solenoid valve actuated circuit  45  corresponding to the inputted signal to conduct so that the second power line  64  or the third power line  65  is provided with the 12V DC power inputted from the power input cable  61  and switches between ports of the solenoid valve  33  of the hydraulic pump assembly  30 ; the pressurized oil originally flowing in the first pipeline  34  may be directed into the second pipeline  35  to reach the hydraulic cylinder  14  in  FIG. 1  and vice versa. 
         [0037]      FIG. 5  and  FIG. 6  show the remote-control device  40  according to a second embodiment of the invention, wherein the remote-control device  40  only has wireless remote-control functions and at least comprises a radio frequency (RF) receiver  41 , a microcontroller unit (MCU)  42 , a relay actuated circuit  44  and a solenoid valve actuated circuit  45  without a manual-control circuit  43 . The wireless remote-control operations of the remote-control device  40  are described in above and will not be repeated here for brevity. 
         [0038]      FIG. 7  shows the remote-control device  40  according to a third embodiment of the invention, wherein the remote-control device  40  may be selected to have both wireless remote-control functions and wired manual remote-control functions or only wireless remote-control functions while further having power voltage detection functions. The remote-control device  40  at least comprises a radio frequency (RF) receiver  41 , a microcontroller unit (MCU)  42 , a relay actuated circuit  44 , a solenoid valve actuated circuit  45  and a voltage detection circuit  46 . 
         [0039]    The voltage detection circuit  46  of the remote-control device  40  detects a voltage of the power input cable  61  and the MCU  42  of the remote-control device  40  suspends or prohibits the activation of the hydraulic pump assembly  30  if the detected voltage is not within a normal operation range (e.g., when the detected voltage is lower than 12V). 
         [0040]    As shown in  FIG. 8 , the remote-control device  40  further comprises a display  47  of which the displayed messages are controlled by the MCU  42 , and displays the detected voltage of the power input cable  61  so that the user may understand the voltage status of the power supply. Therefore, by installing the wireless remote-control hydraulic pump mechanism  20  on the dump truck  10  in  FIG. 1 , dumping safety of the dump truck  10  may be enhanced in addition to having wireless remote-control functions.