Construction machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11111651-B2
Application number	US-201917054869-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 20, 2019
Priority date	Jun 26, 2018
Publication date	Sep 7, 2021
Grant date	Sep 7, 2021

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a construction machine that has a hydraulic closed-circuit system mounted therein and capable of selectively connecting some of a plurality of hydraulic pumps driven by two engines to any one of a plurality of hydraulic actuators and that can downsize the engines while maintaining high work efficiency. A controller 80 includes an actuator/engine allocation computing section F6 that, at the time of connecting closed-circuit pumps that are not connected to any of the hydraulic actuators 1, 3, 5, and 7 to any one of the hydraulic actuators, allocates closed-circuit pumps driven by a right engine 9b to the one hydraulic actuator in a case in which an estimated maximum load on a left engine 9a is heavier than an estimated maximum load on the right engine, and allocates closed-circuit pumps driven by the left engine to the one hydraulic actuator in a case in which the estimated maximum load on the right engine is heavier than the estimated maximum load on the left engine.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A construction machine comprising:
a first engine;
a second engine;
a plurality of bidirectionally variable displacement first hydraulic pumps driven by the first engine;
a plurality of bidirectionally variable displacement second hydraulic pumps driven by the second engine;
a plurality of hydraulic actuators;
an operation device for instructing operation amounts of the plurality of hydraulic actuators;
a plurality of selector valves selectively connecting the plurality of first hydraulic pumps and the plurality of second hydraulic pumps to any one of the plurality of hydraulic actuators; and
a controller controlling the plurality of first hydraulic pumps, the plurality of second hydraulic pumps, and the plurality of selector valves according to an input from the operation device, wherein
the controller includes
an engine load computing section that computes a total of estimated maximum demanded power of first hydraulic pumps connected to the plurality of hydraulic actuators among the plurality of first hydraulic pumps as an estimated maximum load on the first engine, and that computes a total of estimated maximum demanded power of second hydraulic pumps connected to any of the plurality of hydraulic actuators among the plurality of second hydraulic pumps as an estimated maximum load on the second engine,
an actuator/engine allocation computing section that, at a time of connecting first or second hydraulic pumps that are not connected to any of the plurality of hydraulic actuators among the plurality of first hydraulic pumps and the plurality of second hydraulic pumps to any one of the plurality of hydraulic actuators, allocates second hydraulic pumps that are not connected to any of the plurality of hydraulic actuators among the plurality of second hydraulic pumps to the one hydraulic actuator in a case in which the estimated maximum load on the first engine is heavier than the estimated maximum load on the second engine, and allocates first hydraulic pumps that are not connected to any of the plurality of hydraulic actuators among the plurality of first hydraulic pumps to the one hydraulic actuator in a case in which the estimated maximum load on the second engine is heavier than the estimated maximum load on the first engine, and
a command generation section that generates command signals to the plurality of first hydraulic pumps, the plurality of second hydraulic pumps, and the plurality of selector valves according to a computing result of the actuator/engine allocation computing section.

2. The construction machine according to claim 1 , comprising:
a pressure sensor that detects pressures of the plurality of actuators, wherein
the engine load computing section
computes the estimated maximum demanded power of the first hydraulic pumps by performing multiplication of a rated revolution speed of the first engine, a maximum delivery capacity of the first hydraulic pumps, and a differential pressure between estimated delivery pressures and estimated suction pressures of the first hydraulic pumps computed on a basis of the pressure of the hydraulic actuator to which the first hydraulic pumps are connected, and
computes the estimated maximum demanded power of the second hydraulic pumps by performing multiplication of a rated revolution speed of the second engine, a maximum tilting angle, and the pressure of the hydraulic actuator to which the second hydraulic pumps are connected.

3. The construction machine according to claim 1 , wherein
the actuator/engine allocation computing section
has a first actuator/engine allocation map that makes each of the plurality of hydraulic actuators correspond to the first or second engine, and
allocates the first or second hydraulic pumps driven by the first or second engine made to correspond to the one hydraulic actuator by the first actuator/engine allocation map to the one hydraulic actuator in a case of driving the one hydraulic actuator first.

4. The construction machine according to claim 3 , comprising:
a lower travel structure;
an upper swing structure swingably mounted onto the lower travel structure; and
a boom vertically rotatably attached to a front side of the upper swing structure, wherein
the plurality of hydraulic actuators include a swing motor that drives the upper swing structure and a boom cylinder that drives the boom, and
the first actuator/engine allocation map makes one of the first and second engines correspond to the boom cylinder, and the other of the first and second engines correspond to the swing motor.

5. The construction machine according to claim 3 , wherein
the actuator/engine allocation computing section
further has a second actuator/engine allocation map that makes the hydraulic actuators, having been made to correspond to the first engine by the first actuator/engine allocation map, correspond to the second engine, and that makes the hydraulic actuators, having been made to correspond to the second engine by the first actuator/engine allocation map, correspond to the first engine, and
uses the first actuator/engine allocation map and the second actuator/engine allocation map by changing over between the first actuator/engine allocation map and the second actuator/engine allocation map at predetermined timing.

Assignees

• Hitachi Construction Mach Co

Inventors

• Shimizu Juri
• Hiraku Kenji
• Takahashi Hiromasa
• Saitou Teppei

Classifications

• F02D25/00

  Controlling two or more co-operating engines · CPC title

• F02D29/04

  peculiar to engines driving pumps · CPC title

• E02F9/2296 Primary

  Systems with a variable displacement pump · CPC title

• E02F9/2292

  Systems with two or more pumps · CPC title

• E02F3/32

  working downwardly and towards the machine, e.g. with backhoes · CPC title