U.S. patent number 3,893,375 [Application Number 05/330,414] was granted by the patent office on 1975-07-08 for axial piston hydraulic device with forced lubrication means.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Caterpillar Tractor Co.. Invention is credited to Allyn J. Hein, Gilbert Tribley.
United States Patent |
3,893,375 |
Hein , et al. |
July 8, 1975 |
Axial piston hydraulic device with forced lubrication means
Abstract
A hydraulic pump or motor of the axial displacement piston type
has a housing containing a rotatable barrel having angularly spaced
cylinder bores extending parallel to the axis of rotation and each
having a piston movable longitudinally therein. Protruding ends of
the pistons ride against a slanting cam surface causing each piston
to reciprocate as the barrel rotates. Suitable porting at the
opposite end of the barrel provides inlet, outlet, and distributing
ports whereby a pumping effect or a motor action may be realized.
Heretofore, lubrication of moving elements which are away from the
primary flow path including the cam surface has been provided for
by leakage from the primary flow path towards a drain outlet in the
outer wall of the housing and is sometimes inadequate due to
centrifugal pumping action and other effects. This invention
assures adequate lubrication of all parts by situating the drain
outlet at or near the rotary axis of the system.
Inventors: |
Hein; Allyn J. (Joliet, IL),
Tribley; Gilbert (Joliet, IL) |
Assignee: |
Caterpillar Tractor Co.
(Peoria, IL)
|
Family
ID: |
23289665 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/330,414 |
Filed: |
February 7, 1973 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
91/486 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F01B
3/0044 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
F01B
3/00 (20060101); F01b 013/04 () |
Field of
Search: |
;91/486,499,505-507,489 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Freeh; William L.
Assistant Examiner: Sessions; O. T.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Phillips, Moore, Weissenberger
Lempio & Strabala
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A rotary hydraulic device comprising:
a housing having a chamber therein,
a shaft extending into said housing and being journalled thereto
for rotation about an axis extending therein,
an annular barrel member disposed in said housing in coaxial
relationship to said shaft and being coupled thereto for rotation
about said axis with said shaft, said barrel having a plurality of
angularly spaced cylinder bores extending parallel to said axis,
wherein said barrel member has internal splines engaging external
splines on said shaft to couple said barrel member thereto,
a plurality of pistons each being disposed in an individual one of
said cylinder bores for reciprocation therein and having an end
protruding from said bore,
means disposed within said housing chamber and engaging said
protruding ends of said piston for causing each piston to
reciprocate in the associated one of said cylinder bores as said
barrel rotates,
port means in said housing for admitting fluid to said cylinder
bores when said pistons therein are moving away from said port
means and for releasing fluid from said bores when said pistons
therein are moving towards said port means, and
means defining a fluid drain passage for said housing chamber, said
drain defining means being communicated with said chamber at a
point which is radially inward from the circumferential portions
thereof and which is at least in proximity to said rotary axis
whereby said fluid must move radially inward relative towards said
axis in order to escape from said chamber, and wherein at least a
portion of said drain passage is defined by at least one omitted
one of said splines.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to transducers for interconverting fluid
pressure energy and mechanical motion energy and more particularly
to hydraulic pumps and motors of the axial piston form.
Rotary hydraulic pumps and motors of the axial piston type have a
housing enclosing a rotating barrel in which pistons are provided
for reciprocation in a direction parallel to the rotary axis. The
pistons are reciprocated by interaction with a cam surface or
equivalent linkage. Such axial piston devices are used extensively
for driving a variety of mechanisms such as those employed on
earthmoving vehicles, for example. In a typical usage one such
device may be driven by the vehicle engine to function as a pump
for supplying fluid under pressure to fluid motors which in some
cases may be an essentially similar device.
The particular fluid used in such devices is normally oil which in
addition to serving as a power transmitting medium also serves to
provide lubrication to the device. While certain surfaces of the
mechanism which need lubrication are inherently exposed to the
fluid flow path between the inlet and outlet ports, other surfaces
such as the cam surface for example are isolated from the primary
flow path. Heretofore it has been the practice to provide a drain
outlet in the outer wall of the housing and to rely on leakage past
the barrel, pistons and other elements to lubricate surfaces which
are not exposed to the primary flow path.
Adequate lubrication in devices of this kind is highly important
from the standpoint of reducing wear and overheating and to
forestall the possible seizure of relatively moving parts which can
occur in extreme situations. We have now found that the
conventional practice described above is not always entirely
adequate.
Under certain operating conditions, such as high speed low load
operation, leakage from the primary flow path may not be sufficient
to forestall undesirable effects and that the situation is
aggravated by centrifugal forces which tend to direct leakage flow
directly to the drain outlet and away from moving surfaces located
near or adjacent to the rotary axis. We have further found that
this can have undesirable effects additional to the lack of
lubrication at the certain surfaces. For example, the main shaft of
the device, which connects with an engine or driven load, must pass
through a seal. Under some circumstances the centrifugal pumping
action described above is sufficient to create a partial vacuum
inside the seal sufficient to draw in air with resultant highly
undesirable aeration of the oil.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention is a device of a type discussed above wherein
adequate lubrication at necessary points is more completely
assured. Basically, this is accomplished by eliminating the
conventional drain outlet at the radially outer portion of the
device and providing instead a drain outlet at or near the rotary
axis appropriately placed to force leakage fluid to travel radially
inwardly past radially inward surfaces which require lubrication.
In addition to assuring lubrication of parts which might otherwise
be starved of lubricant this has a further effect of avoiding the
creation of negative pressures which might otherwise cause oil
aeration.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide for more
adequate and assured lubrication of hydraulic devices of the axial
piston form.
The invention together with further objects and advantages thereof
will best be understood by reference to the following description
of preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the accompanying drawings:
FIG. 1 is an angled axial section view of a hydraulic pump
embodying the invention, taken along angled line I--I of FIG.
2;
FIG. 2 is a cross-section view of the apparatus of FIG. 1 taken
along line II--II thereof;
FIG. 3 is an additional cross-section view of the apparatus of FIG.
1 taken along line III--III thereof;
FIG. 4 is an angled axial section view of a hydraulic pump of the
general type shown in FIG. 1 but having modified lubrication means;
and
FIG. 5 is a cross-section view of a portion of the apparatus of
FIG. 4 taken along line V--V thereof.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring now to the drawing and particularly to FIG. 1 thereof a
hydraulic device 11 of the axial piston type may be adapted to
function either as a pump or a motor as is well understood in the
art. To facilitate description the device 11 will be herein
referred to as a pump and described with reference to this mode of
operation, it being apparent that the invention is equally
applicable to motors of the axial piston form.
Pump 11 has a rotary drive shaft 12 which extends through one end
wall 13 of a cylindrical housing 14 to support and drive an annular
barrel member 16. Drive shaft 12, which may be coupled to a driving
engine in any suitable known manner, has a flange 17 abutting a
bearing 18 disposed in a step 19 of a bore 21 through end wall 13.
To prevent leakage of oil out of housing 14 through bore 21 and
prevent the entrance of air into the housing, bore 21 has an
additional step 22 in which an annular seal 23 is disposed and
retained by a snap ring 24.
Drive shaft 12 is disposed along the axis of housing 14 and extends
a short distance into a central well 26 in a circular end plate 27
which closes the end of the housing opposite from end wall 13. Well
26 and the adjacent end portion of drive shaft 12 are stepped to
receive an additional bearing 28 which journals the adjacent end of
the drive shaft within end plate 27.
Considering now the means by which a pumping action is achieved,
barrel 16 is disposed within housing 14 in coaxial relation to
shaft 12 and has splines 29 engaging splines 31 on a portion of
shaft 12 near flange 17 thereof. Accordingly, rotation of the drive
shaft 12 turns barrel 16 relative to housing 14. Referring now to
FIG. 2 in combination with FIG. 1, barrel 16 has a plurality, nine
in this instance, of cylinder bores 32 which extend parallel to the
rotary axis of the barrel and which are equi-angularly spaced
therearound, successive ones of the cylinder bores being designated
by numerals 32A to 32I respectively in the drawings. Each such
cylinder bore 32 receives one of a plurality of cylindrical pistons
33 each having a ball element 34 formed on an end which protrudes
from barrel 16 within housing 14. To force reciprocation of the
pistons 33 as barrel 16 turns, a fixed cam plate 36 is disposed
against the inner surface of housing end wall 13. Cam plate 36 has
a flat surface 37 facing barrel 16 that is angled relative to the
axis of the barrel. The ball element 34 of each piston 33 is
received in a matching cavity 38 of an associated one of a
plurality of slipper pad elements 39 which ride against surface 37
of cam plate 36.
To maintain slipper pads 39 in contact with cam surface 37, an
annular retainer ring 41 is disposed coaxially around shaft 12 and
splined engaged to splines 31 of the shaft and has an outer surface
42 with a curvature corresponding to an annular segment of a
spherical surface. An annular retainer plate 43 has a matching
inner surface 44 in contact with surface 42 and extends outward to
overlap each slipper pad 39 a short distance. A compression spring
46 acts between barrel 16 and ring 42 to urge the ring away from
the barrel and thus holds the slipper pads 39 against cam surface
37. It may be noted that spring 46 serves the further purpose of
urging barrel 16 towards end cover plate 27 to maintain the barrel
in preferred operating position. This action is augmented by an
additional spring 47 disposed coaxially around shaft 12 within
barrel 16 and which acts between a first snap ring 48 engaged in
the shaft and a second snap ring 49 engaged in the barrel, this
advantageous spring disposition being the subject matter of
copending application Ser. No. 330,413 of Paul A. Becksvoort et al
for COMPACT AXIAL PISTON HYDRAULIC DEVICE filed concurrently
herewith and assigned to the assignee of the present
application.
As shaft 12 completes each full revolution each piston 33 is forced
by cam surface 37 to undergo one complete reciprocation within the
associated cylinder bore 32. Considering now the means by which
such reciprocation of pistons 33 effects a pumping action, with
reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a passage 51 extends from each cylinder
bore 32 towards the adjacent end surface of barrel 16. Disposed
between barrel 16 and end plate 27 is a relatively thin annular
port plate 53 having a pair of arcuate slots 54A and 54B lying
along a hypothetical circle centered on the axis of shaft 12 and
having a radius equal to the radial distance of passages 51 from
such axis. Port plate 53 and the slots 54 thereof are positioned
whereby slot 54A communicates with the passages 51 leading to those
pistons which are in the process of retracting from the port plate
at any given time while slot 54B communicates with the passage 51B
leading to those pistons which are in the process of moving towards
the port plate at any given time, any passage 51 associated with a
piston momentarily at an extreme or dead-center position in the
reciprocation thereof being out of communication with either slot
54. Thus the retreating pistons 33 create a suction at slot 54A
tending to draw fluid into the piston bores communicated therewith
while the opposite moving pistons tend to force fluid out of slot
54B. Referring now to FIG. 3 in conjunction with FIG. 2, end plate
27 has a fluid inlet port 56 communicating with an inlet passage 57
leading to slot 54A of FIG. 2 and further has a fluid outlet port
58 communicating with a passage 59 leading to slot 54B of the port
plate. Thus if inlet port 56 is communicated with a suitable fluid
supply, rotation of the drive shaft 12 generates a forced flow from
the input port 56 to output port 58 to provide the desired pumping
action.
Referring now again to FIG. 1 some fluid leakage will occur past
the pistons 33, as well as between barrel 16 and port plate 53 and
between port plate 53 and shaft 12 to cause fluid to enter the
chamber 61 between barrel 16 and end wall 13 of housing 14. This
leakage fluid is relied upon to lubricate the several relatively
moving adjacent surfaces which are within chamber 61 or in
communication therewith, such as the cam surface 37, the surfaces
of slipper pads 39 which ride upon the cam surface, the adjacent
surfaces of slipper pad cavity 38 and piston ball elements 34 and
of retainer ring 42 and retainer plate 44 and bearing 18.
Heretofore it has been the custom to provide a drain outlet in the
outer wall of housing 14 to avoid an excess build-up of such
leakage fluid within chamber 61. This can fail to provide an
optimum amount of lubrication under certain conditions such as high
speed, low load operation in which fluid pressures in the primary
flow path may be relatively low. Moreover a centrifugal pumping
action occurs in chamber 61 causing such leakage to tend to flow
directly to the drain outlet thereby starving the above described
relatively moving surfaces of adequate lubrication.
To assure adequate lubrication and to avoid an undesirable negative
pressure within chamber 61, the present invention provides for
drainage of chamber 61 at or near the rotary axis of the mechanism.
In this embodiment of the invention, a drain passage 62 extends
along the axis of the main shaft 12 itself. Passage 62 communicates
with a transverse passage 63 in drive shaft 12 that in turn
communicates with region 61 at the outer surface of the shaft near
flange 17. Drain passage 62 opens at the opposite end into well 26
of end plate 27. While well 26 may be vented to an external drain,
it is advantageous to return the draining fluid directly to the
primary working fluid flow path, preferably to a relatively low
pressure portion thereof which is normally the inlet side in the
case of a pump although it is the outlet side in a motor. Thus,
referring to FIGS. 1 and 3 in combination, an angled passage 64 in
end plate 27 may connect well 26 with fluid inlet port 56.
Accordingly, when any significant degree of centrifugal pumping
action is present in chamber 61, leakage fluid cannot escape from
chamber 61 except by filling such chamber and thereby assuring
lubrication of the several relatively moving surfaces described
above. Further no appreciable subatmospheric pressure can be
generated within the radially inward region of chamber 61 to cause
air flow past seal 23 and consequent undesirable aeration of
oil.
Modified constructions are possible which achieve the same effect
of forcing leakage fluid drainage at a point near or close to the
rotary axis of the mechanism. FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate a
modification of the pump 11' showing two such alternate means of
providing a centrally located drainage path that may be used
jointly as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 or either of which may be used
separately. In the embodiment of FIGS. 4 and 5 the general
construction of pump 11' is similar to that of FIG. 1 and
accordingly like parts are designated by like reference numerals
with a prime mark attached and the general structure will not be
redescribed except for those portions wherein the modifications are
present.
In the embodiment of FIG. 4, no drain passage is provided along the
axis of drive shaft 12'. To drain fluid from chamber 61' to well
26' of end plate 27', one or more passages 66 are provided in
barrel 16' to communicate the radially inward region of chamber 61'
with the central bore 67 of barrel 16'. Thus, leakage fluid may,
after substantially filling chamber 61', pass between drive shaft
12' and the inner wall of barrel 16' through bearing 28' and into
well 26'. This embodiment of the invention also differs from that
previously described in that the drain passage 64' within end plate
27' does not communicate with the fluid inlet port but instead
extends radially to a drain outlet opening 68 in the
circumferential wall of the end plate, it being apparent that the
drain outlet passage 64' could be communicated with the inlet port
as in the previous instance if desired.
FIGS. 4 and 5 in conjunction illustrate still another means by
which drainage of chamber 61' near the central region thereof may
be accomplished either supplementary to the previously described
means or as an alternate thereto. In particular, one or more of the
splines 29 of barrel 16 or the splines 31 of drive shaft 12 may be
eliminated to provide for drainage flow between the central region
of chamber 61' and barrel bore 67. In this example, one of the
splines 31' of shaft 12 is absent for this purpose.
While the invention has been described with respect to certain
specific embodiments, it will be apparent that many other
modifications are possible and it is not intended to limit the
invention except as defined in the following claims.
* * * * *