Patent ID: 6850828

Claim:
A control apparatus for a forklift having a lift lever; a hydraulic motor; a hydraulic pump; an oil tank; and a lift cylinder, wherein, at a time of a lift-up operation based on an operation of the lift lever, the hydraulic motor drives the hydraulic pump to supply oil from the oil tank to the lift cylinder by the hydraulic pump thereby to extend the lift cylinder, whilst at a time of a lift-down operation based on an operation of the lift lever, the oil is collected to the oil tank from the lift cylinder due to a shrinking operation of the lift cylinder, the control apparatus comprising: an inverter controller for controlling an output of the hydraulic motor; a flow rate control valve, coupled to the oil tank, for limiting a flow rate of the oil collected to the oil tank; a change-over member for selectively coupling the lift cylinder to the flow rate control valve or to the hydraulic pump; an operation amount detector for detecting an operation amount of the lift lever; a target acceleration obtaining means for obtaining a target acceleration of the hydraulic motor based on the operation amount detected by the operation amount detector; a torque command value obtaining means for obtaining a torque command value of the hydraulic motor based on the target acceleration; a determining means for determining as a non-regeneration state or as a regeneration state, based on the torque command value; and a change-over control means for changing over the change-over member so as to couple the lift cylinder to the flow rate control valve when determined as the non-regeneration state, and for changing over the change-over member so as to couple the lift cylinder to the hydraulic pump and making the inverter controller control the hydraulic motor in accordance with the torque command value when determined as the regeneration state.