Hydraulic movement measuring system

A system for measuring the distance of a hydraulic movement, the system comprising:

• a vehicle powered by an engine;
• a hydraulic cylinder moveable between an extended position and a retracted position;
• a pump coupled to the hydraulic cylinder for providing hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic cylinder;
• a power take off coupled to the engine and supplying power from the engine to the pump;
• a measuring device for counting revolutions of the engine;
• and
• a computational device for factoring the revolutions to determine a distance of extension of the hydraulic cylinder.

A method of measuring hydraulic movement comprising the steps of:

• providing an engine supplying power;
• providing a hydraulic cylinder for supplying hydraulic movement;
• providing a pump coupled to the hydraulic cylinder for providing hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic cylinder;
• driving the pump with the engine;
• actuating hydraulic movement from the hydraulic cylinder;
• and
• measuring the amount of fluid provide to the hydraulic cylinder to determine the distance of the movement, by counting the revolutions of the engine.

A method of operating a mechanized refuse collection vehicle comprising:

• providing a refuse collection vehicle including an engine supplying power, an extendable arm moveable between an extended position and a retracted position by a hydraulic cylinder, the hydraulic cylinder providing an extension movement of the extendable arm toward the extended position and a retraction movement of the extendable arm toward the retracted position, a gripping mechanism coupled to the extendable arm and movable between an open configuration and a gripping configuration, and a pump coupled to the hydraulic cylinder for providing hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic cylinder and driven by the engine;
• providing a control system including a computational device for measuring the amount of fluid provide to the hydraulic cylinder by counting revolutions of the engine and a first control and a second control;
• actuating the first control to accomplish a discharge cycle including extending the extendable arm in an extension movement, ending the extension movement of the extendable arm and ending counting by the computational device, the computational device factoring the total count to determine the distance of the movement, gripping a container, retracting the extendable arm to the retracted position and moving the gripping mechanism into a dumping orientation over the vehicle;
• and
• actuating the second control to accomplish a return cycle including lowering the extendable arm, recreating the extension movement by actuating the hydraulic cylinder and counting the engine revolutions, comparing the count to the stored count, and ending the movement when the counts match.