Steering Valve Orifice Maintenance via Segmented Filter
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional transporter vehicles face issues with clogging in the stationary orifice of the steering valve due to foreign objects, leading to increased orifice diameter to prevent clogging, which complicates maintaining the steering valve in a warm state and requires larger accumulator capacity, resulting in energy inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A removable orifice member is mounted externally to the steering valve, with a filter upstream to prevent foreign objects from entering, allowing for easy maintenance and minimizing the orifice diameter, thus maintaining the steering valve in a warm state with a smaller accumulator capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the orifice diameter is made large to prevent clogging by foreign objects, then the reliability is improved, but the steering valve cannot be kept in a warm state and energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The orifice is separated from the steering valve housing and placed in a detachable filter element. This segmentation allows the orifice to be cleaned or replaced independently without affecting the steering valve, enabling the use of a smaller orifice diameter that maintains temperature while preventing clogging through easy maintenance.
Solution Approach 2:
A filter element is introduced as an intermediary component between the hydraulic oil and the orifice. This filter captures foreign objects before they reach the orifice, protecting it from clogging while allowing the orifice to maintain its small diameter for proper thermal conditions.
2Ease of operation
If the orifice diameter is made large to prevent clogging, then the ease of operation is improved, but the accumulator capacity must be increased resulting in energy inefficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The filter element containing the orifice is segmented as a separate, detachable component. This allows maintenance personnel to easily remove and clean the filter element without disassembling the steering valve, improving ease of maintenance operation while keeping the orifice small to maintain energy efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service maintenance through the detachable filter element design. Operators can independently clean or replace the filter element without requiring specialized tools or extensive disassembly, making maintenance simple while preserving the energy-efficient small orifice design.
3Device complexity
If a stationary orifice is provided in the steering valve housing, then the device complexity is reduced, but the ease of repair deteriorates due to deep cleaning requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The orifice is segmented from the steering valve housing and placed in a separate, detachable filter element. This segmentation increases structural complexity slightly but dramatically improves ease of repair, as the filter element can be removed and cleaned externally without requiring disassembly of the steering valve housing.
Solution Approach 2:
The orifice is extracted from the steering valve housing and placed in a separate filter element. This extraction allows the orifice to be accessed, cleaned, and maintained from the outside of the housing, eliminating the need for deep cleaning operations inside the housing while maintaining a relatively simple overall device structure.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution prevents clogging, reduces the need for large accumulator capacity, and enhances energy efficiency by maintaining the steering valve in a warm state while allowing for efficient maintenance operations.
Implementation Method 1
This stationary orifice applies a throttling function to the oil liquid circulating in the steering valve when the steering valve is in the neutral position to generate a frictional heat for keeping the steering valve to be always in a warm state
Implementation Method 2
a filter positioned upstream of the orifice portion to purify the oil liquid
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 3
AI summary
There is provided a circulation line (39) for circulating pressurized oil from an accumulator (11) into a housing (15) of a steering valve (14) . An orifice joint (41) is provided along the path of the circulation line (39). The orifice joint (41) is removably mounted on the housing (15) of the steering valve (14) from outside. An orifice portion (42) of the orifice joint (41) applies a throttling function to the circulating oil liquid whereby a frictional heat is generated therein. The oil liquid in a warm state flows through a communication passage (21), passages in a spool valve (16), and a low pressure side passage (18B), thus enabling the steering valve (14) to be always in a warm state.