Control System For Flushing Contaminated Hydraulic Fluid
AssigneeCNH Industrial America LLC
InventorsMichael W. Freisleben, Jerry L. Brinkley, Joshua M. Guarino
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present inventors have recognized that contaminants in hydraulic fluid in a hydraulic system of an off-highway implement can be efficiently filtered by a filtration system of the source of hydraulic power by conducting an operation which controls existing valves for precisely operating cylinders of the system to return the fluid to the source of hydraulic power through a connector with little or no fluid going through cylinders. Such an operation can be advantageously executed immediately following connection of the source of hydraulic power to the manifold of the implement.
Claims12
An off-highway implement, comprising:
- a frame supported by a plurality of wheels;
- a set of ground engaging tools supported by the frame, the set of ground engaging tools including a hydraulic cylinder arranged with respect to the frame for raising and lowering the set of ground engaging tools, the hydraulic cylinder comprising a base, a base port, a rod and a rod port, wherein the rod is configured to extend from the base when hydraulic fluid is supplied to the base port and returned from the rod port, and wherein the rod is configured to retract toward the base when hydraulic fluid is supplied to the rod port and returned from the base port;
- a connector configured to supply hydraulic fluid in a supply line and return hydraulic fluid in a return line when connected to a hydraulic power source;
- first and second electronically controlled valves, wherein the first valve is configured to supply hydraulic fluid from the supply line to the hydraulic cylinder when activated, and wherein the second valve is configured to return hydraulic fluid from the hydraulic cylinder to the return line when activated;
- and
- a controller in communication with the first and second valves, the controller executing a program stored in a non-transient medium to:
- execute an operation to enable filtering of the hydraulic fluid supplied through the connector by simultaneously activating the first and second valves to return the hydraulic fluid in the supply line through the connector via the return line.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.