Hydraulic motor assembly
AssigneeHydro-Gear Limited Partnership
InventorsMichael W. Taylor, Heath F. McCormick, Nathan W. Bonny, Thomas J. Langenfeld
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hydraulic motor assembly capable of precise control having a housing, a hydraulic mounting surface located in the housing, a cylinder block rotatably disposed on the hydraulic mounting surface, a motor shaft engaged to the cylinder block and supported proximate to a first end, a plurality of cooperating gears located in the housing and rotationally engaged to a second end of the motor shaft, an output shaft rotationally engaged to the plurality of cooperating gears, a speed sensor located proximate to one of the plurality of cooperating gears, wherein the speed sensor transmits a signal indicative of the rotational speed of the one of the plurality of cooperating gears.
Claims22
A drive system, comprising:
- a hydraulic pump;
- a hydraulic motor assembly in fluid communication with the hydraulic pump through a hydraulic circuit, the hydraulic motor assembly comprising:
- a housing, an inlet port formed on an exterior of the housing, a discharge port formed on the exterior of the housing, and a hydraulic mounting surface located in the housing and in fluid communication with the inlet port and with the discharge port via fluid passages, wherein a motor cylinder block is rotatably disposed on the hydraulic mounting surface;
- a motor shaft axially engaged to the motor cylinder block and a gear set located in the housing and rotationally engaged to an end of the motor shaft;
- and
- an output shaft rotationally engaged to the gear set;
- and
- an electronic controller in communication with an electronic actuator engaged to the hydraulic pump and a speed sensor engaged to the hydraulic motor assembly, wherein the speed sensor transmits a signal to the electronic controller indicative of a rotational speed of at least one of the one of the gears in the gear set, and the electronic controller regulates the flow of hydraulic fluid from the hydraulic pump via the electronic actuator based, at least in part on feedback from the speed sensor, to control the speed of the output shaft.
A drive system, comprising:
- a hydraulic motor assembly, comprising:
- a common housing assembly having an inlet port and a discharge port formed on an exterior of the common housing assembly to fluidly communicate with a hydraulic pump, the common housing assembly comprising:
- a main housing having a first side and a second side opposite to the first side;
- a motor housing engaged to the first side of the main housing to define a motor chamber;
- and
- a gear housing engaged to the second side of the main housing to define a gear chamber;
- a running surface formed in the main housing and having a first port and a second port;
- a motor cylinder block located in the motor chamber and rotatably disposed on the running surface;
- a motor shaft axially engaged to the motor cylinder block to rotate therewith, wherein the motor shaft has a first end disposed in the motor chamber and a second end disposed in the gear chamber;
- a gear set disposed in the gear chamber and rotatably engaged to the motor shaft;
- an output shaft rotatably engaged to the gear set;
- and
- a speed sensor located in part adjacent to the gear set to measure a rotational speed of one of the gears of the gear set;
- and
- a controller in communication with an electronic actuator engaged to the hydraulic pump and the speed sensor, wherein the actuator regulates the flow of hydraulic fluid from the hydraulic pump based at least in part on feedback from the speed sensor.
A hydraulic motor assembly comprising:
- a housing comprising a main housing having a first side and a second side opposite to the first side, a motor housing engaged to the first side of the main housing to form a motor chamber, and a gear housing engaged to the second side of the main housing to form a gear chamber;
- a motor cylinder block disposed in the motor chamber and rotatably disposed on a running surface located in the housing;
- hydraulic porting for connecting the motor cylinder block to a hydraulic pump located external to the housing, the hydraulic porting comprising:
- a first port and a second port formed on the running surface;
- an inlet port formed on an exterior of the housing, and a discharge port formed on the exterior of the housing;
- a first passage formed in the main housing to connect the first port to the inlet port and;
- a second passage formed in the main housing to connect the second port to the discharge port;
- a motor shaft axially engaged to the motor cylinder block to rotate therewith, wherein the motor shaft has a first end disposed in the motor chamber and a second end disposed in the gear chamber;
- a gear set disposed in the gear chamber and rotatably engaged to the motor shaft;
- and
- an output shaft rotatably engaged to the gear set.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.