Fluid controller, in particular as part of a hydraulic steering unit

Abstract

A fluid controller (1), in particular as part of a hydraulic steering unit, is described, said controller (1) comprising a housing (2) having a supply port arrangement, a sleeve (4) arranged rotatably in a bore of the housing (2), a spool (3) arranged rotatably in the sleeve (4), and a measuring motor, wherein the measuring motor comprises a plurality of working chambers, each working chamber being connected to the bore, wherein the sleeve (4) comprises a commutation geometry (7) having a number of pairs of commutation grooves (12, 13) and controlling together with a housing geometry (5) of the housing (2) a flow of hydraulic fluid into and out of the working chambers and the spool (3) comprises a spool geometry controlling together with a valve geometry of the sleeve (4) a flow of hydraulic fluid between the supply port arrangement and the commutation geometry. Such a fluid controller should have a stable control behaviour. To this end at least one of the commutation grooves (12, 13) comprise a closed bottom and at least one of the commutation grooves (12, 13) comprise a throughgoing opening (10, 11) forming part of the valve geometry.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.