Control system for automatically controlling actuators of an excavator

In an excavator comprising actuators including a boom cylinder for actuating a boom, a dipper cylinder for actuating a dipper stick, a bucket cylinder for actuating a bucket, a swing motor for swinging an upper frame of the excavator with respect to a lower frame thereof and travelling motors for running said excavator, a control apparatus for automatically controlling the operation of said actuators of the excavator, said control apparatus comprising:

• an electronic controller controlling the operation of said actuators;
• main hydraulic pumps supplying hydraulic fluid to said actuators;
• a plurality of directional control valves each connected to said main hydraulic pumps and said electronic controller for controlling operational direction of said actuators and also a quantity of said hydraulic fluid flow;
• pilot valve blocks adapted to controllably move spools of said directional control valves in accordance with electric control signals outputted from said electronic controller;
• inclination angle control valves disposed between the controller and the main hydraulic pumps for controlling inclination angles of the main hydraulic pumps in order to control said quantity of hydraulic fluid flow outputted therefrom;
• positional sensors provided at respective actuators in order to sense positional displacement values of said actuators;
• control levers/pedals for outputting respective electric signals, corresponding to handling values of said actuators, to the controller;
• a plurality of amplifiers amplifying electric signals outputted from said controller to said pilot valve blocks and said inclination angle control valves;
• a relay electrically connected to said controller to turn on or turn off a control circuit of said control apparatus in accordance with an electrical signal of the controller corresponding to a handling value of the swing motor;
• a solenoid valve electrically, connected to said relay, said solenoid valve turned on or turned off by said relay;
• a mechanical brake disposed at reduction gears of the swing motor and connected to said solenoid vale in order to be selectively driven by said solenoid valve so as to apply, or release, a braking power for the reduction gears;
• and
• an on/off valve for initiating and stopping a swinging operation of the swing motor depending upon an on/off state of said solenoid valve;
• whereby the mechanical brake is controlled to immediately remove the braking power from the reduction gears when initiating the swinging operation of the swing motor and applying braking power for the reduction gears approximately 5 seconds after changing the driving state of the swing motor into a stop state.

In an excavator including a boom cylinder actuator for actuating a boom, a dipper cylinder actuator for actuating a dipper stick, a bucket cylinder actuator for actuating a bucket, a swing motor actuator for swinging an upper frame of the excavator with respect to a lower frame of the excavator and travelling motor actuators for running said excavator, a control process automatically controlling a control apparatus controlling the operation of said actuators, said control apparatus comprising an electronic controller for controlling the operation of said actuators, main hydraulic pumps for supplying hydraulic fluid for said actuators, a sub-hydraulic pump for supplying pilot hydraulic fluid, a plurality of directional control valves each connected to said main hydraulic pumps and said electronic controller for controlling operational direction of said actuators and also a quantity of said hydraulic fluid flow, pilot valve blocks adapted to controllably move spools of said directional control valves in accordance with electric control signals outputted from said electronic controller, inclination angle control valves disposed between the controller and the main hydraulic pumps for controlling inclination angles of the main hydraulic pumps in order to control the quantity of hydraulic fluid flow outputted therefrom, positional sensors provided at respective actuators in order to sense positional displacement values of said respective actuators, control levers/pedals for outputting respective electric signals, corresponding to handling values for said actuators, to the controller, and a plurality of amplifiers for amplifying electric signals outputted from said controller to said pilot valve blocks and said inclination angle control valves, a relay electrically connected to the controller in order to turn on or turn off the control circuit of said control apparatus in accordance with an electrical signal of said controller corresponding to a handling value for said swing motor actuator, a solenoid valve electrically connected to said relay in order to be turned on or turned off by said relay, a mechanical brake disposed at reduction gears of said swing motor actuator and connected to said solenoid valve in order to be selectively driven by the solenoid valve so as to apply or release a braking power for the reduction gears, an on/off valve for initiating and stopping a swinging operation of said swing motor actuator depending upon an on/off state of said solenoid valve, the process comprising the steps of:

• determining whether said handling value for the swing motor actuator is an increasing value, representing that the control levers/pedals for said swing motor actuator were shifted from a neutral position to a swing position, or a decreasing value representing the contrary shift of the control levers/pedals for said swing motor actuator, upon receiving said handling value for said swing motor actuator from the control levers/pedals;
• controlling a mechanical valve to remove the braking power thereof for the reduction gears within 0.1 second after the handling of the control levers/pedals and also turning on the on/off valve for driving the swing motor in case of said increasing value;
• and
• determining whether 5 seconds have been lapsed after the handling of the control levers/pedals in the case of the decreasing value, and upon determining that the 5 seconds have lapsed, driving the mechanical brake in order to apply the braking power for the reduction gears simultaneously with turning off the on/off valve to stop the swinging state of the swing motor.

In an excavator including a boom cylinder actuator for actuating a boom, a dipper cylinder actuator for actuating a dipper stick, a bucket cylinder actuator for actuating a bucket, a swing motor actuator for swinging an upper frame of the excavator with respect to a lower frame thereof and travelling motors for running said excavator, a control process automatically controlling a control apparatus controlling the operation of the actuators comprising an electric controller for controlling the operation of the actuators, main hydraulic pumps for supplying hydraulic fluid for the actuators, a sub-hydraulic pump for supplying pilot hydraulic fluid, a plurality of directional control valves each connected to the main hydraulic pumps and the electronic controller for controlling the operational direction of the actuators and the quantity of hydraulic fluid flow, pilot valve blocks adapted to controllably move spools of the directional control valves in accordance with electric control signals outputted from the electronic controller, inclination angle control valves disposed between the controller and the main hydraulic pumps for controlling inclination angles of the main hydraulic pumps in order to control the quantity of hydraulic fluid flow outputted therefrom, positional sensors provided at respective actuators in order to sense positional displacement values of the actuators, control levers/pedals for outputting respective electric signals, corresponding to handling values for the actuators, to the controller, and a plurality of amplifiers amplifying electric signals outputted from the controller to the pilot valve blocks and the inclination angle control valves, the control process further comprising the steps of:

• upon receiving said electric signals corresponding to said handling values for the swing motor actuator and the boom cylinder actuator from the control levers/pedals, determining whether the handling values are a maximum value and then outputting electric signals to the pilot valve blocks and the inclination angle control valves in order to control the swing motor and the boom cylinder to be actuated at an actuating velocity in accordance with each handling value if one or more of the handling values is not the maximum value;
• outputting electric signals to the pilot valve blocks to control the directional valves of the swing motor actuator and the boom cylinder actuator to be opened to their maximum amount if the handling values are maximum values, thereafter and receiving a setting value for a relative velocity of the boom cylinder actuator with respect to the swing motor actuator from a relative velocity control switch, said switch electrically connected to the controller and adapted for allowing the operator to set the relative velocity;
• upon receiving said setting value, determining which of the swing motor actuator and the boom cylinder actuator is to be actuated prior to the other and calculating the quantity of the hydraulic fluid which is outputted from each main hydraulic pump for driving the swing motor actuator and the boom cylinder actuator according to the result of the determining step;
• and
• outputting electrical signals, corresponding to the quantity of the hydraulic fluid to flow from the main hydraulic pumps, to the inclination angle control valves of the main hydraulic pumps to control inclination angles of the main hydraulic pumps, thereby controlling the quantity of the hydraulic fluid flow of the main hydraulic pumps for the swing motor actuator and the boom cylinder actuator corresponding to the setting value of the relative velocity control switch.

In an excavator including a boom cylinder actuator for actuating a boom cylinder associated with a boom, a dipper cylinder actuator for actuating a dipper stick, a bucket cylinder actuator for actuating a bucket cylinder associated with a bucket, a swing motor actuator for actuating a swing motor swinging an upper frame of the excavator with respect to a lower frame thereof and travelling motor actuators for actuating travelling motors for running the excavator, a process for automatically controlling a control apparatus controlling the operation of the actuators of the excavator, the control apparatus comprising an electronic controller for controlling the operation of the actuators, main hydraulic pumps for supplying hydraulic fluid for the actuators, a sub-hydraulic pump for supplying pilot hydraulic fluid, a plurality of directional control valves each connected to the main hydraulic pumps and the electronic controller for controlling the operational direction of the actuators and the amount of hydraulic fluid flow, pilot valve blocks adapted to controllably move spools of the directional control valves in accordance with electric control signals outputted from the electronic controller, inclination angle control valves disposed between the controller and the main hydraulic pumps for controlling inclination angles of the main hydraulic pumps in order to control the amounts of hydraulic fluid discharged therefrom, positional sensors provided at respective actuators in order to sense positional displacement values of the actuators, control levers/pedals for outputting respective electric signals corresponding to handling values for the actuators to the controller, and a plurality of amplifiers amplifying electric signals outputted from the controller to the pilot valve blocks and the inclination angle control valves, the process comprising the steps of:

• receiving respective manipulation amounts from the control levers/pedals and respective values corresponding to operation positions of the actuators sensed by the positional sensors, operating respective predetermined velocities of the actuators based on the manipulation amounts and respective operation velocities of the actuators based on the operation position values;
• determining whether the operation state of control levers/pedals is acceleration state or reduction state;
• if the operation state of control levers/pedals is the acceleration state, calculating respective optimum acceleration velocities on the basis of a standard acceleration curve and comparing the calculated optimum acceleration velocities with the corresponding predetermined velocities, respectively, so that when each acceleration velocity is lower than the corresponding predetermined velocity, the acceleration velocity is set as an output velocity, while when each acceleration velocity is equal to or greater than the corresponding predetermined velocity, the corresponding predetermined velocity is set as the output velocity;
• if the operation state of control levers/pedals is the reduction state, determining whether each operation velocity is zero, and if the operation velocity is not zero, calculating each optimum reduction velocity on the basis of a reduction curve and comparing the calculated optimum reduction velocity with the corresponding predetermined velocity, so that when the reduction velocity is lower than or equal to the corresponding predetermined velocity, the output velocity is set to the predetermined velocity, while when the reduction velocity is higher than the corresponding predetermined velocity, the output velocity is set to the reduction velocity;
• and
• calculating respective output values corresponding to amounts of hydraulic fluid discharged from the main hydraulic pumps on the basis of the output velocity and sending the output values to the main hydraulic pumps, respectively.

In an excavator including a boom cylinder actuator actuating a boom cylinder for a boom, a dipper cylinder actuator actuating a dipper cylinder of a dipper stick, a bucket cylinder actuator actuating a bucket cylinder of a bucket, a swing motor actuator actuating a swing motor swinging an upper frame of the excavator with respect to a lower frame thereof and travelling motor actuators actuating travelling motors running the excavator, an apparatus for automatically controlling the operation of said actuators, said apparatus comprising:

• an electronic controller for controlling the operation of said actuators;
• main hydraulic pumps for supplying hydraulic fluid to said actuators;
• a sub-hydraulic pump for supplying pilot hydraulic fluid;
• a plurality of directional control valves each connected to said main hydraulic pumps and said electronic controller and controlling the operational direction of said actuators and also the quantity of hydraulic fluid flow;
• pilot valve blocks adapted to controllably move spools of said directional control valves in accordance with electric control signals outputted from said electronic controller;
• inclination angle control valves disposed between said controller and the main hydraulic pumps for controlling inclination angles of the main hydraulic pumps to control the quantity of hydraulic fluid flow outputted therefrom;
• positional sensors provided at respective actuators in order to sense positional displacement values of said actuators;
• control levers/pedals for outputting respective electric signals, corresponding to handling values for said actuators, to said controller;
• a plurality of amplifiers amplifying electric signals outputted from said controller to said pilot valve blocks and said inclination angle control valves;
• means for storing both a specific reduction curve defining respective reduction velocities of said actuators for stopping said actuators without impact and respective reduction ranges of said actuators therein;
• at least one A/D signal converter adapted to convert analog signals from the control levers/pedals and positional sensors into digital signals, said analog signals being indicative of manipulation amounts of the control levers/pedals and current operation positions of said actuators;
• at least one D/A signal converter adapted to convert said digital signals from said at least one A/D signal converter;
• amplifying means for amplifying analog signals output from said D/A signal converter, said amplifying means comprising said amplifiers;
• and
• control means connected to said storing means and for receiving the output signals from said A/D signal converting means, determining on the basis of said received output signals whether said boom cylinder, said dipper cylinder and said bucket cylinder are operated in the corresponding stored reduction ranges, and if said cylinder actuators are operated in their stored reduction ranges, outputting control signals, indicative of respective required discharge flow rates of said main hydraulic pumps and respective required stroke amounts for said spools of directional control valves of said cylinder actuators, to said at least one D/A signal converter, whereby said cylinder actuators operate in accordance with the specific reduction curve to stop said cylinder actuators without impact.

In an excavator including a boom cylinder actuator for actuating a boom cylinder associated with a boom, a dipper cylinder actuator for actuating a dipper cylinder associated with a dipper stick, a bucket cylinder actuator for actuating a bucket cylinder associated with a bucket, a swing motor actuator for actuating a swing motor swinging an upper frame of the excavator with respect to a lower frame thereof, and travelling motor actuators actuating travelling motor for running said excavator, a process for automatically controlling an apparatus controlling the operation of said actuators, said apparatus comprising an electronic controller controlling the operation of said actuators, main hydraulic pumps for supplying hydraulic fluid to said actuators, a sub-hydraulic pump supplying pilot hydraulic fluid, a plurality of directional control valves connected to said main hydraulic pumps and said electronic controller for controlling operation direction of said actuators and also amounts of said hydraulic fluid flow, pilot valve blocks adapted to controllably move spools of said directional control valves in accordance with electric control signals outputted from said electronic controller, inclination angle control valves disposed between the controller and the main pumps for controlling inclination angles of the main hydraulic pumps in order to control the amount of hydraulic fluid discharged, positional sensors associated with respective actuators in order to sense positional displacement values of said respective actuators, control levers/pedals for outputting respective electric signals, corresponding to handling values for said actuators, to the controller, and a plurality of amplifiers amplifying electric signals outputted from said controller to said pilot valve blocks and said inclination angle control valves, the process comprising the steps of:

• receiving respective manipulation amounts from the control levers/pedals and respective values corresponding to positions of the actuators sensed by the positional sensors;
• operating respective predetermined velocities of said actuators based on said manipulation amounts and respective operation velocities of said actuators based on said position values;
• determining whether piston rods of said actuators are positioned at an end of their respective cylinders;
• if each piston rod is not positioned at the end of their respective cylinder, determining whether each of said actuators is reduced in its operation velocity;
• if each of said actuators is reduced in its operation velocity, operating a reduction velocity and determining whether the reduction velocity is higher than said corresponding predetermined velocity;
• if the reduction velocity is higher than the predetermined velocity, said predetermined velocity is set as an output velocity;
• if the reduction velocity is lower than or equal to the corresponding predetermined velocity, the reduction velocity is set as the output velocity;
• and
• calculating respective output values corresponding to amounts of hydraulic fluid discharged from the main hydraulic pumps on the basis of the output velocity and sending the output values to the main hydraulic pumps, respectively, thereby enabling the actuators to be controlled without being subjected to impact.

In an excavator including a boom cylinder actuator actuating a boom cylinder actuating a boom, a dipper cylinder actuator actuating a dipper cylinder associated with a dipper stick, a bucket cylinder actuator actuating a bucket cylinder associated with a bucket, a swing motor actuator actuating a swing motor for swinging an upper frame of the excavator with respect to a lower frame thereof and travelling motor actuators associated with travelling motors for running the excavator, an apparatus for automatically controlling the operation of said actuators, the apparatus comprising:

• an electronic controller for controlling the operation of said actuators;
• main hydraulic pumps for supplying hydraulic fluid to said actuators;
• a plurality of directional control valves each connected to said main hydraulic pumps and said electronic controller for controlling an operational direction of said actuators and also quantity of flow of said hydraulic fluid;
• pilot valve blocks adapted to controllably move spools of said directional control valves in accordance with electric control signals outputted from said electronic controller;
• inclination angle control valves disposed between the controller and the main pumps for controlling inclination angles of the main hydraulic pumps in order to control the quantity of hydraulic fluid output therefrom;
• positional sensors provided at respective actuators in order to sense positional displacement values of said actuators;
• control levers/pedals for outputting respective electric signals corresponding to handling values for said actuators to the controller;
• a plurality of amplifiers amplifying electric signals output from said controller to said pilot valve blocks and said inclination angle control valves;
• means for sensing a weight of a material which is to be lifted by the excavator, said weight sensing means electrically connected to an input port of the controller so as to output an electric signal corresponding to the sensed weight to the controller;
• means for sensing a tipping angle of the car frame of the excavator, said means electrically connected to the input port of the controller so as to output an electric signal corresponding to the sensed tipping angle of the car frame to the controller;
• an alarm driving circuit electrically connected to an output port of the controller so as to drive a buzzer and an alarm lamp each electrically connected thereto;
• said alarm driving circuit driving both said buzzer and said alarm lamp in response to an electric alarm signal of the controller indicative of an overweight load and exceeding the tipping state of said excavator, said alarm signal being generated by the controller and for alarming the operator in case of sensing that the lifting weight of the load is over a first level;
• and
• means for stopping a lifting operation of the excavator irrespective of handling of the lifting actuators by the operator if the load is sensed as being over a second level which is capable of tipping the excavator, whereby the operator cannot control the excavator to lift a load having a weight over said second level.

In an excavator including:

• a boom cylinder actuator actuating a boom cylinder for actuating a boom;
• a dipper cylinder actuator actuating a dipper cylinder for actuating a dipper stick;
• a bucket cylinder actuator actuating a bucket cylinder for actuating a bucket;
• a swing motor actuator actuating a swing motor for swinging an upper frame of the excavator with respect to a lower frame and travelling motor actuators for actuating travel motors for running said excavator;
• a control process for automatically controlling a control apparatus for controlling the operation of said actuators, said apparatus comprising an electronic controller for controlling the operation of said actuator;
• main hydraulic pumps for supplying hydraulic fluid for said actuators;
• a subhydraulic pump for supplying pilot hydraulic fluid;
• a plurality of directional control valves each connected to said main hydraulic pumps and said electronic controller for controlling the operational direction of said actuators and also a quantity of said hydraulic fluid flow through said valves;
• pilot valve blocks adapted to controllably move spools of said directional control valves in accordance with electric control signals outputted from said controller;
• inclination angle control valves disposed between the controller and the main hydraulic pumps for controlling inclination angles of the main hydraulic pumps in order to control said quantity of hydraulic fluid flow outputted therefrom;
• positional sensors provided at respective actuators in order to sense positional displacement values of said actuators;
• control levers/pedals for outputting respective electric signals corresponding to handling values for said actuators to the controller, a plurality of amplifiers amplifying electric signals outputted from said controller to said pilot valve blocks and said inclination;
• angle control valves;
• means for sensing a weight of a material which is to be lifted by the excavator;
• said weight sensing means electrically connected to an input port of the controller so as to output an electric signal, corresponding to the sensed weight, to the controller;
• means for sensing a tipping angle of the car frame of the excavator, said means electrically connected to the input port of the controller so as to output an electric signal corresponding to the sensed tipping angle of the car frame to the controller;
• an alarm driving circuit electrically connected to an output port of the controller so as to drive a buzzer and an alarm lamp each electrically connected thereto, said alarm driving circuit driving both said buzzer and said alarm lamp in response to an electric alarm signal of the controller indicative of an overweight load and exceeding the tipping state of said excavator, said alarm signal being generated by said controller by operation of the signals of both said weight sensing means and said tipping angle sensing means, the control process further comprising the steps of:
• calculating an allowable maximum lifting capability of the excavator upon receiving electric signals each corresponding to the weight of the material to be lifted from said means for sensing the lifting weight, respective operational positions of the actuators from the positional sensors, and a tipping angle of the car frame of the excavator from said means for sensing the tipping angle;
• determining whether the lifting weight is over a predetermined rate of the calculated allowable maximum lifting capability of the excavator in order to control the lifting operation of the excavator to be continued in accordance with the handling of the operator in case of determining that the lifting weight is equal to or lower than said predetermined rate of the calculated allowable maximum lifting capability, and determining whether the lifting weight is over a higher predetermined rate of the calculated allowable maximum lifting capability of the excavator in case of determining that the lifting weight is over the predetermined rate of the calculated allowable maximum lifting capability;
• and
• driving the alarm driving circuit for allowing the buzzer and the alarm lamp to be driven in order to alarm the operator to the overweight and controlling the lifting operation of the excavator to be continued in accordance with the handling of the operator if the lifting weight is determined to be equal to or less than said higher predetermined rate of the calculated allowable maximum lifting capability;
• outputting electric signals to the pilot valve blocks to make the directional control valves of the actuators stop the lifting operation of the excavator irrespective of the handling of the operator if the lifting weight is determined to be over the higher predetermined rate of the allowable maximum lifting capability of the excavator.