Air-to-hydraulic fluid pressure amplifier
OwnerChris Villar, Matthew Warringtoninventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An air-to-hydraulic fluid pressure amplifier comprising an air cylinder having an internal reciprocating air piston; a first hydraulic cylinder having a first valve fitting and a first internal hydraulic ram that is slidably positioned within the first hydraulic cylinder; a second hydraulic cylinder having a second valve fitting and a second internal hydraulic ram that is slidably positioned within the second hydraulic cylinder; a first flow control valve and a second flow control valve; a first plunger-operated pilot valve and a second plunger-operated pilot valve. Each of the first and second plunger-operated pilot valves comprises an inlet port, an outlet port, a plunger, a barrel, and a compression spring.
Claims14
An air-to-hydraulic fluid pressure amplifier comprising:
- (a) an air cylinder having an internal reciprocating air piston;
- (b) a first hydraulic cylinder having a first valve fitting and a first internal hydraulic ram that is slidably positioned within the first hydraulic cylinder;
- (c) a second hydraulic cylinder having a second valve fitting and a second internal hydraulic ram that is slidably positioned within the second hydraulic cylinder;
- (d) a first flow control valve and a second flow control valve;
- and
- (e) a first plunger-operated pilot valve and a second plunger-operated pilot valve;
- wherein a proximal end of the first hydraulic ram is rigidly attached to a first face of the air piston so that a longitudinal axis of the first internal hydraulic ram is collinear with a longitudinal axis of the air piston, and wherein a proximal end of the second internal hydraulic ram is rigidly attached to a second face of the air piston so that a longitudinal axis of the second hydraulic ram is collinear with the longitudinal axis of the air piston;
- wherein when a first port of a directional control valve supplies compressed air to a pilot of the first flow control valve, the first control valve supplies air to a first side of the air cylinder via a first air cylinder port, thereby moving the air piston toward a second side of the air cylinder;
- wherein as the air piston moves to the second side of the air cylinder, air present in the second side of the air cylinder is exhausted through a second air cylinder port and through the second flow control valve to atmosphere;
- wherein movement of the air piston toward the second side of the air cylinder causes the first hydraulic ram to move toward the second side of the air cylinder, thereby pressurizing hydraulic fluid within the first hydraulic cylinder and forcing pressurized hydraulic fluid within the first hydraulic cylinder to exit the first hydraulic cylinder through a first hydraulic check valve and through a first external hydraulic line into external lift cylinders;
- wherein movement of the air piston toward the second side of the air cylinder causes the second hydraulic ram to move toward the second side of the air cylinder, thereby drawing hydraulic fluid into the second hydraulic cylinder from a hydraulic reservoir through a second external hydraulic line and through a second hydraulic check valve;
- wherein the air piston continues to move toward the second side of the air cylinder until it contacts a first plunger-operated pilot valve;
- and
- wherein the first plunger-operated pilot valve is an end-of-stroke sensor for the air piston.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.