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AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Commerce
InventorsAlexander H. Slocum, James P. Peris
Estimating the term…
A hydraulic system has a rotary valve which controls multiple hydraulic dces such as double-acting piston type actuators and which prevents deactivated devices from creeping. The valve has an outer housing and a rotatable inner member which form high pressure inlet, low pressure outlet, and control stages. The control stages utilize partial commutators (part circumferential grooves) and ports on the valve member selectively to couple control ports of the housing respectively to the inlet stage or the outlet stage by rotating the inner valve member (the control ports being connected to the hydraulic devices). At the inlet and outlet stages, the valve member has full annular commutators which communicate continuously with a high pressure inlet port and a low pressure vent port of the housing as the valve member is rotated. The valve member also has internal passageways which connect each control stage partial commutator and fluid port to either the inlet commutator or the outlet commutator. The control stages are arranged such that control ports not selected for coupling to the inlet stage will be coupled to the outlet stage and therefore vented to low pressure. This prevents any high pressure fluid leakage within the valve from flowing to non-selected devices, which therefore cannot creep. Thrust loads on the rotatable valve member are prevented by porting the inner end of the valve member to the outlet commutator in order to vent fluid from the closed inner end of the housing.
A hydraulic system comprising a plurality of hydraulically operated devices, each device having an activation chamber for receiving hydraulic fluid under pressure to operate that device in a first operating direction, and a rotary hydraulic valve including a housing and a valve member rotatably received within said housing and having a radially outer surface proximate an inner wall of said housing, said housing having high pressure fluid inlet means, low pressure fluid outlet means, and a plurality of control ports disposed substantially at a plane transverse to a rotation axis of said valve member and each having a corresponding activation chamber connected thereto by fluid delivery means, said valve member having high pressure fluid distribution means which includes fluid port means formed in said radially outer surfaces of said valve member in communication with said high pressure fluid inlet means of said housing by way of first internal passageway means within said valve member for distributing high pressure fluid to said control ports, said valve member further having low pressure fluid vent means which includes partial fluid commutator means formed in said radially outer surface of said valve member and which is in communication with said low pressure fluid outlet means of said housing by way of second fluid passageway means within said valve member for venting said control ports to said low pressure fluid outlet means of said housing, said fluid port means and said partial fluid commutator means being disposed in circumferentially spaced relationship on said valve member and substantially at said plane such that said fluid port means may be positioned by rotation of said valve member on said rotation axis to align with said control ports selectively, with said partial fluid commutator means simultaneously being in alignment with non-selected control ports, whereby said valve is operable to distribute high pressure fluid selectively to the activation chambers of said devices and simultaneously to vent the activation chambers of non-selected devices to low pressure.
Rotary hydraulic valve apparatus comprising a housing and a valve member supported in said housing for rotation on an axis and having a radially outer surface proximate an inner wall of said housing, said housing having fluid inlet means, fluid outlet means, and a plurality of peripheral spaced control ports disposed substantially at a plane transverse to said rotation axis of said valve member, said valve member including partial fluid commutator means formed in said radially outer surfaces of said valve member and extending substantially about the circumference of said valve member, fluid port means disposed on said radially outer surface of said valve member and spaced circumferentially of said surface from said partial fluid commutator means for communication with said control ports, first internal fluid passageway means disposed within said valve member in communication with said partial fluid commutator means and one of said fluid inlet means and said fluid outlet means, and second internal fluid passageway means disposed within said valve member in communication with said fluid port means and the other of said fluid inlet means and said fluid outlet means, said partial fluid commutator means and said fluid port means being arranged substantially at said plane such that said fluid port means may be positioned by rotation of said valve member on said rotation axis to align with said control ports selectively, with said partial fluid commutator means simultaneously being in alignment with non-selected control ports.
A hydraulic system comprising a plurality of hydraulically operated devices, each device having an activation chamber for receiving hydraulic fluid under pressure to operate that device in a first operating direction and a second chamber for receiving hydraulic fluid under pressure to operate that device in a second operating direction opposite said first operating direction, and a rotary hydraulic valve including a housing and a valve member rotatably received within said housing and having an outer surface proximate an inner wall of said housing, said housing having high pressure fluid inlet means, low pressure fluid outlet means, an a plurality of control ports each having a corresponding activation chamber connected thereto by fluid delivery means, said valve member having high pressure fluid distribution means in communication with said high pressure fluid inlet means of said housing for distributing high pressure fluid to said control ports and having low pressure fluid vent means in communication with said low pressure fluid outlet means of said housing for venting said control ports to said low pressure fluid outlet means of said housing, said distribution means and said vent means being arranged such that said distribution means may be positioned by rotation of said valve member to communicate with said control ports selectively, with said vent means simultaneously communicating non-selected control ports, whereby said valve is operable to distribute high pressure fluid selectively to the activation chambers of said devices and simultaneously to vent the activation chambers of non-selected devices to low pressure, and said fluid delivery means having means for continuously supplying high pressure fluid to said second chamber of each hydraulically operated device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.