Construction machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11319693-B2
Application number	US-202017276734-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 18, 2020
Priority date	Mar 6, 2019
Publication date	May 3, 2022
Grant date	May 3, 2022

Abstract

To make it possible to prevent a decrease in work speed due to a decrease in the speed of a given actuator when an operator unintentionally performs a fine operation of the control lever of the other actuator in a state in which the given actuator is driven by the hydraulic fluid delivered from a plurality of pumps, a controller (41) sets, as a composite dead zone line serving as a boundary of a composite dead zone, a composite dead zone line such that as an operation amount in one direction of a control lever (12L) or (13L) of a control lever device (12) or (13) is increased, the width of the composite dead zone corresponding to an operation amount in the other direction of the control lever is widened, and corrects the operation amount in the other direction such that the demanded flow rate of an actuator increases from zero, when the control lever is operated in the other direction in a state in which the operation amount in the one direction of the control lever remains within a range of the composite dead zone, and the operation amount in the other direction exceeds the composite dead zone line.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A construction machine comprising:
a plurality of closed circuit pumps;
a plurality of regulators that adjusts displacements of the plurality of closed circuit pumps;
a plurality of actuators connected in closed circuits to the plurality of closed circuit pumps;
a plurality of selector valves that are respectively arranged between the plurality of closed circuit pumps and the plurality of actuators, and switches interruption and communication of the respective closed circuits between the plurality of closed circuit pumps and the plurality of actuators;
a plurality of operation devices that generate instructions for operation of the plurality of actuators; and
a controller that receives operation signals from the plurality of operation devices, calculates demanded flow rates of the plurality of actuators on a basis of respective operation amounts of the plurality of operation devices calculated from the operation signals and a plurality of demanded flow rate characteristics set in advance, and controls the plurality of selector valves and the plurality of regulators according to the demanded flow rates,
wherein
the plurality of operation devices include a control lever device that enables generation of instructions for operation of two actuators by one control lever,
the control lever device is configured to generate an instruction for operation of one of the two actuators when the control lever is operated in a first direction, and generate an instruction for operation of other one of the two actuators when the control lever is operated in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, and
the controller is configured to,
in case where an operation component in the other direction is contained when the control lever is operated in one of the first and second directions,
generate a composite dead zone in which the one actuator is operated by the operation of the control lever in the one direction and an operation of the other actuator is disabled by the operation of the control lever in the other direction, on a basis of the demanded flow rate characteristics corresponding to the two actuators among the plurality of demanded flow rate characteristics, and
when the control lever is operated in the first and second directions beyond the composite dead zone,
generate a composite operation region in which the two actuators are operated on the basis of the demanded flow rate characteristics corresponding to the two actuators, and
wherein
the controller is further configured to
set a composite dead zone line as a boundary between the composite dead zone and the composite operation region such that a width of the composite dead zone corresponding to an operation amount in the other direction of the control lever of the control lever device is widened as an operation amount in the one direction of the control lever is increased, and
correct the operation amount in the other direction such that the demanded flow rate of the actuator driven by the operation in the other direction increases from zero, when the control lever is operated in the other direction in a state in which the operation amount in the one direction of the control lever remains within a range of the composite dead zone, and the operation amount in the other direction exceeds the composite dead zone line.

2. The construction machine according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is configured to,
when the control lever is operated in the other direction to a given position within the composite operation region beyond the composite dead zone line,
generate a correction equation that makes a ratio of an operation amount at the given position within a change range of the operation amount in the other direction in the composite operation region equal to a ratio of an operation amount at the given position within a change range of the operation amount in the other direction in the composite operation region in case where a composite dead zone line that makes the width of the composite dead zone constant is set, and
correct the operation amount in the other direction by using the correction equation.

3. The construction machine according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is configured to,
when the control lever is operated in the other direction in a state in which the operation amount in the one direction of the control lever remains within the range of the composite dead zone, and the operation amount in the other direction reaches the composite dead zone line,
correct the operation amount in the other direction such that the demanded flow rate of the actuator driven by the operation in the other direction is zero and the demanded flow rate of the actuator driven by the operation in the other direction increases along the demanded flow rate characteristic corresponding to said actuator as the operation amount increases beyond the composite dead zone line.

4. The construction machine according to claim 1 , wherein
the plurality of control lever devices are left and right control lever devices installed in left and right front portions of a cab seat of the construction machine, and
the controller is configured to set, in four operation quadrants generated by the left and right control levers, at least one of the composite dead zone lines different for the left and right control levers and the composite dead zone lines different for the four operation quadrants.

5. The construction machine according to claim 1 , wherein
the controller is configured to set the composite dead zone line by using a characteristic line expressed by a function having an order of 3 to 5 and having a coefficient in a range of 0.03 to 0.07.

Assignees

• Hitachi Construction Mach Co

Inventors

• Takahashi Hiromasa
• Hiraku Kenji
• SAITOH Teppei
• SUGIKI Syouhei

Classifications

• F15B2211/6652

  Control of the pressure source, e.g. control of the swash plate angle · CPC title

• E02F9/2004

  Control mechanisms, e.g. control levers (control levers per se G05G) · CPC title

• E02F9/2242

  including an electronic controller · CPC title

• F15B2211/20546

  variable capacity · CPC title

• F15B11/17 Primary

  using two or more pumps · CPC title