Hydraulic Valve Aperture Structures for Precise Flow Tuning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current hydraulic valve assemblies in heavy machinery lack intricate features, limiting the tailoring of their hydraulic performance for desired outputs, as their shapes are defined by conventional machining, resulting in less complex geometries.
Innovation Solution
The use of additive manufacturing to create valve components such as spools, poppet valves, and compensator cups with intricate features like lattice structures, mesh designs, and asymmetrical configurations that define flow apertures, allowing for precise control of fluid flow and improved performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If conventional machining is used to define valve component shapes, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but geometric complexity and performance tailoring are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by transitioning from conventional machining to additive manufacturing processes, enabling continuous geometric parameters (such as flow aperture shapes, lattice structures, and asymmetrical configurations) to be precisely controlled and optimized for desired hydraulic performance without being constrained by traditional manufacturing limitations
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes another dimension by implementing three-dimensional intricate features such as lattice structures, mesh designs, and asymmetrical configurations that cannot be achieved through conventional two-dimensional machining operations, allowing complex geometries to be defined in multiple spatial dimensions simultaneously
2Manufacturing precision
If conventional machining defines valve component shapes, then manufacturing process is simpler, but hydraulic performance tailoring is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent achieves enhanced manufacturing precision by utilizing additive manufacturing parameters that allow precise control over flow aperture geometries, lattice structures, and asymmetrical configurations, enabling exact replication of designed features and precise tailoring of hydraulic performance characteristics
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by creating spatially varying geometries within valve components, such as non-uniform lattice structures and asymmetrical flow apertures, where different regions of the component have optimized local features to achieve specific hydraulic functions at different locations
Data Source
AI summary
A method of manufacturing a hydraulic valve component using additive manufacturing includes laying successive layers to form a flow aperture for a hydraulic valve component, and creating a lattice or mesh structure that at least partially defines the flow aperture of the hydraulic valve component, or a feature that forms an undercut along a direction that is parallel to a flow direction of the flow aperture, or a flow aperture having a size varying along a circumferential direction of the valve component.