JP2000213690A - Grease feeding device for construction machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately supply grease by an exact amount by finding a grease supply amount to a grease supplying position on the basis of a signal from a detection means detecting an operation amount of an actuator and outputting a grease supply command to a grease supplying means. SOLUTION: When a main power source switch in a hydraulic shovel is operated to be turned on, a control unit 14 sets a timer time T1 in a grease supply interval timer, while a previous cumulative operation amount stored in an EEPROM is set as a cumulative operation amount. In automatic grease supply control, measurement of a cumulative operation amount is carried out first of all. That is, if pressures detected by means of pressure sensors 15-17 for a boom, an arm, and a bucket respectively are a set pressure or more,, it is determined that respective cylinders 6-8 are operated, and a cumulative operation amount measurement timer is actuated for finding a cumulative operation amount. After a lapse of the timer time T1 of the grease supply interval timer, a grease supply amount is found from the measured cumulative operation amount, and then, a grease supplying pump 12 is driven for feeding grease to a grease supplying position 9.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention belongs to the technical field of a greasing device for a construction machine used for various construction works, civil works and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a construction machine such as a hydraulic shovel is provided with a front attachment including a boom, an arm, a bucket, and the like.
A shaft support for swingably supporting the body and boom, a boom and arm, and an arm and bucket, and a shaft support for swingably supporting the boom cylinder, the arm cylinder, and the rod and head sides of the bucket cylinder, respectively. In addition, there are provided a number of lubrication sites that require replenishment of lubricating oil. Therefore, conventionally, there has been known an automatic lubricating apparatus that automatically lubricates a predetermined amount of lubricating oil to the lubricating portion at regular intervals while a construction machine is operating.

[0003]

As described above, the conventional automatic greasing device supplies a predetermined amount of oil at regular intervals as described above.
Lubricating oil may be oversupplied or insufficient. For this reason, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-237897, when the load applied to the actuator of the construction machine exceeds a predetermined load at which the greasing is required at the greasing portion, the greasing is performed. A composed one has been proposed. However, since this is a configuration in which lubrication is not performed until the load exceeds a predetermined load, the lubricating oil tends to be insufficient immediately before the load exceeds the predetermined load. The lubricating oil may be left for a long time in a state of lack. In such a case, there is a problem that the lubricating oil may be insufficient when the actuator is operated next time, and there is a problem, and there is a problem to be solved by the present invention.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, the present invention has been made with the object of solving these problems. An object of the present invention is to provide an actuator and a lubricating oil with the operation of the actuator. In a construction machine comprising a greasing portion requiring supply and a greasing unit for supplying lubricating oil to the greasing portion based on a greasing command from a control portion, the control portion includes an actuator A grease supply amount to a greasing portion is determined based on a signal from a detection unit for detecting an operation amount of the grease, and a greasing command is output to the grease supply unit to supply the grease supply amount. It is. By doing so, it is possible to accurately prevent an excess or deficiency in the amount of lubrication. In this case, by supplying a greasing command from the control unit to the greasing unit at every preset greasing interval, excess or deficiency of the greasing amount can always be prevented. In this case, the detecting means for detecting the operation amount of the actuator can be configured using pressure detecting means for detecting the hydraulic pressure for operating the actuator.

[0005]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, reference numeral 1 denotes a front attachment mounted on a hydraulic excavator. The front attachment 1 has a boom 3 whose base end is swingably supported by a body 2 and swings at a tip end of the boom 3. An arm 4 that is freely pivotally supported, a bucket 5 that is pivotally supported at the tip of the arm 4, a boom cylinder 6 for swinging the boom 3, the arm 4, and the bucket 5. It is composed of member devices such as a cylinder 7, a bucket cylinder 8, and the like.

[0006] A shaft support for pivotally supporting the body 2 and the boom 3, the boom 3 and the arm 4, the arm 4 and the bucket 5, and a head of a boom cylinder 6, an arm cylinder 7, and a bucket cylinder 8. The shaft supporting portion that pivotally supports the side and the rod side respectively consumes grease with the operation of the boom cylinder 6, the arm cylinder 7, and the bucket cylinder 8, and replenishes the consumed grease. In the present embodiment, the present invention is applied to the greasing of the required greasing parts 9.

[0007] Numeral 10 is a greasing unit for greasing the greasing portion 9. The greasing unit 10 supplies a grease tank 11 mounted on the machine body 2 and grease contained in the grease tank 11. It is configured using a greasing pump 12 that sucks in and discharges, and a greasing pipe 13 such as a pipe or a hose from the greasing pump 12 to each greasing part 9. here,
The greasing pump 12 is driven and stopped based on a command from a control unit 14 described later. By adjusting the driving time of the greasing pump 12, the greasing section 9 is controlled.
The amount of grease to be supplied to the oil supply, that is, the amount of grease can be controlled.

Reference numerals 15, 16, and 17 denote pressure sensors for the boom, the arm, and the bucket. These pressure sensors 15, 16, and 17 are cylinders 6 for the boom, the arm, and the bucket, respectively. Hydraulic circuits for supplying and discharging hydraulic oil are provided at 7, 8 respectively. The detection signals of these pressure sensors 15, 16 and 17 are transmitted to the control unit 14
To be entered.

The control unit 14 includes a central processing unit (C)
PU), Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access
A memory (RAM), an input / output device, a greasing interval timer, a cumulative operation amount measurement timer, and the like are provided.
7 and outputs a command to the greasing pump 12 based on the detection signal.
Reference numeral 4 denotes a memory that retains stored contents even when power supply is cut off, for example, an Electorically Erasable PROM (EEP)
ROM). Further, the power supply of the control unit 14 is connected to a delay circuit that is supplied with power for a certain period of time even after the main power switch (key switch) of the hydraulic excavator is turned off.
Writing to the PROM can be executed.

Next, the greasing control procedure of the control unit 14 will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. When the main power switch of the excavator is turned on and the system starts, FIG. In the main routine of the control unit 14 shown, first, a timer time T1 set in advance is set in a greasing interval timer as an initial setting, and the “previous cumulative operation amount” stored in the EEPROM is replaced with the “cumulative operation amount”. ". afterwards,
"Automatic greasing control" and "EEPROM writing control" to be described later are repeatedly executed in a loop.

In the "automatic greasing control", first, the "cumulative operation amount" is measured, and the measurement is input from the boom, arm, and bucket pressure sensors 15, 16, and 17. This is performed based on the detection signal. That is, when the pressure detected by each of the pressure sensors 15, 16, and 17 is equal to or higher than a preset pressure, the control unit 14 controls the cylinders 6, 7, and 8 for the boom, the arm, and the bucket. The operation time of each of the cylinders 6, 7, and 8, that is, the time during which each of the pressure sensors 15, 16, and 17 is equal to or higher than the set pressure, is counted by the timer for measuring the cumulative operation amount. Then, the operation time of each of the cylinders 6, 7, 8 is accumulated, and this is set as "accumulated operation amount". Subsequently, the control unit 14 determines whether or not the greasing interval timer has elapsed the timer time T1. If it is determined that the timer time T1 has not elapsed, the process returns to the main routine. On the other hand, when it is determined that the timer time T1 has elapsed, the control unit 14 obtains a “greasing amount” from the measured “accumulated operation amount”. In this case, the relationship between the “accumulated operation amount” and the “greasing amount”, that is, the appropriate greasing amount to the greasing portion 9 corresponding to the operation time of each of the cylinders 6, 7, 8 is previously notified to the control unit 14. Set it. Further, the control unit 14 outputs a control command to the greasing pump 12 to greasing the determined “greasing amount”. As a result, the greasing pump 12 is driven to perform greasing to the greasing portion 9. In this case, as described above, by adjusting the driving time of the greasing pump 12, the greasing is performed. You can control the amount. After the completion of the greasing, the "cumulative operation amount" and the greasing interval timer are cleared to zero, and then the process returns to the main routine. That is, in the "automatic greasing control", the cumulative operation amounts of the boom, arm, and bucket cylinders 6, 7, 8 are obtained, and the amount of grease corresponding to the cumulative operation amounts is supplied at intervals of the timer time T1. In this case, the timer time T1 is set to a value even if the operation amounts of the boom, arm, and bucket cylinders 6, 7, 8 within the timer time T1 are maximum. The time is set so that the grease in the portion 9 does not run short.

In the "EEPROM write control",
When the main power switch is turned off, the “accumulated amount of operation” measured by “automatic greasing control” at the time of the operation of turning off the main power switch is referred to as “previous accumulated amount of operation” in the EEPROM.
And returns to the main routine. Then, when the main power switch is turned on next time, as described above, the timer time T1 is set in the greasing interval timer as an initial setting, and the "last accumulated operating amount" stored in the EEPROM is set to " It is set as "cumulative operation amount". That is, when the main power switch is turned on next time, the initial setting of the timer time T1 is performed in the first determination of whether the greasing interval timer has elapsed the timer time T1.
Is determined to have elapsed since the grease is set, and the greasing portion 9 is set.
Is performed, and the greasing amount at this time is determined in accordance with the “last cumulative operating amount” that was measured when the main power switch was turned OFF last time, Thereby, in connection with turning on the main power, an appropriate amount of grease without excess or shortage is immediately supplied.

In the apparatus constructed as described above, the operation of the boom, arm, and bucket cylinders 6, 7, 8 consumes grease in the greasing portion 9 and necessitates greasing. In this case, The amount of greasing is determined in accordance with the amount of operation of the cylinders 6, 7, and 8, and the amount of greasing is supplied at intervals of a preset timer time T1. As a result, the amount of greasing required by the greasing portion 9 is reduced by the timer time T1.
Since the oil is supplied every time, it is possible to accurately prevent an excess or deficiency in the amount of lubrication. Moreover, this is a constant timer time T1
Because the grease is supplied at intervals of, for example, even if the cylinders 6, 7, 8 are not operated for a long time after most of the grease is consumed, the grease is left in a state where the grease is insufficient for a long time. The amount of lubrication can be always prevented from being excessive or insufficient.

The present invention is, of course, not limited to the above-described embodiment, and as in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the accumulated operation amount has reached a preset accumulated operation amount. In this case, even if the timer time T1 has not elapsed,
It can be configured to perform greasing. In such a case, insufficient lubrication can be avoided more reliably. Further, in the above embodiment, the greasing to each greasing part 9 is performed simultaneously. However, the operation amount of each actuator is individually measured, and the distribution valve or the like is connected to the greasing pipe. By disposing a grease supply portion corresponding to the operation of each actuator (for example, as a grease supply portion corresponding to the boom cylinder, the base end portion and the tip end of the boom cylinder support portion, the boom cylinder head side And a shaft support on the rod side) may be supplied with an amount of lubricating oil corresponding to the cumulative operation amount of the actuator. In such a case, an appropriate amount of lubricating oil without excess or shortage is supplied to each greasing portion.

Further, the present invention is not limited to a hydraulic excavator, and can be applied to a hydraulic excavator equipped with another front attachment or a construction machine other than the hydraulic excavator. In addition, as the pressure sensor for detecting the operation amount of the actuator, a sensor for detecting a pilot pressure for switching a control valve for controlling the pressure oil supply of the actuator, not for detecting the operation pressure of the actuator, should be used. Can also.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a piping and wiring diagram showing a greasing device.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a main routine.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating automatic lubrication control.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating automatic lubrication control according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 6 Cylinder for boom 7 Cylinder for arm 8 Cylinder for bucket 9 Greasing part 10 Greasing means 14 Control unit 15 Pressure sensor 16 Pressure sensor 17 Pressure sensor

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An actuator, a lubrication part that requires lubricating oil to be supplied with the operation of the actuator, and a lubricating oil for supplying lubricating oil to the lubricating part based on a lubrication command from a control unit. A construction machine comprising a greasing unit, wherein the control unit obtains a greasing amount to a greasing portion based on a signal from a detecting unit for detecting an operation amount of the actuator, and supplies the greasing amount. A greasing device for a construction machine, wherein the greasing device outputs a greasing command to the greasing unit in order to achieve the desired result. 2. A greasing apparatus for a construction machine according to claim 1, wherein a greasing command from the controller to the greasing means is output at predetermined greasing intervals. 3. The lubrication device for a construction machine according to claim 1, wherein the detecting means for detecting the operation amount of the actuator includes a pressure detecting means for detecting an oil pressure for operating the actuator.