Hydraulic Valves

 Pressure, flow, direction are types of valve

 Spool, ball, poppit, piston 4 types
 Check valve like diode. flows into the arrow not ball shape on schematic
 Any square on schematic is a square
 Pump is heart
 Flow control valve adjusts speed, Ie too slow
 Integrated control valves either use cast steel or aluminum
 At least one moving part except in fixed orifice
 Hyd pressure or flow moves valve components in opposite direction
 Spring holding balls to be adjustable witih shims or threaded adjuster
 Shims- thin round pieces of metal placed in spring cavity of vlaves to change spring tension
 Hyd valves have minim 2 ports
 Seal areas critical to integrity
 O ring seals keep oil in
 Spool valves exposed ends use lip seals

Pressure control valve

 Relief
o Direct
o Pilot
 Unloading
 Sequencing
 Pressure reducing
 Brake valves
 Counter balance
 Controls pressure to prevent damage
 Mainly controlled by spring pressure


Pressure relief valves

 Protects hydraulic systems and components

 Main relief valve
o Regulates whole system
o Operates at high flow rates
 Line relief valves protect cylinters from intermittent shock loads
 Pilot operated valve has another line going to it to activate line
 Direct operated
 Line relief pressure is set higher than main relief pressure. This is to prevent shocks to the system
 Valve override is cracking pressure to full open pressure. Quick = low, slow = high
 Pilot valves are good for main pressure relief
 Direct valves are good for circuits
  Direct acting is the simplest
 2 ports
o Oil pressure
o Oil drain to tank
 Opens with high oil pressure
 Remain open until system pressure drops below setting
 Cracking pressure when valve starts to open
 Pressure override – pressure needed to fully open a valve
 Protect system from overloading
 Anti-cavitational valve aka quick drop valve. Allows tank oil into the cylinder to keep it full

Pilot operated relief valve

 2 stage valve using internal pressure or remote pressure to oprate a small section of the valve
 Relieving pressure on back side of unloading valve
 Narrow range of pressure between cracking pressure and fully open pressure
 Adjusted by varying pilot poppet spring pressure
 Heat generated formula BTU / hr = psi x gpm x 1.5
 Normally closed

Unloading valves

 Unloading valves must have a check valve and an accumulator to operate

 Dump one pumps flow to tank
 Allows smaller prime mover
 Sense system pressure and open or closed based on pressure level
 Check valve :
o Prevents primary pump flow from dumping to the tank
o Isolates portion of system containing accumulator from unloading
 Normally closed
 Used in accumulator charging circuits
 Pressure on accumulator side sensed through remotes ensing line
 Symbol is identical to relief valve

Sequencing valve

 Used in parallel circuits

 Ensures correcting operating sequence
 In pressure line on primary going to second in sequence
 Similar to pilot operated relief valve, excepte dumps to another actuator instead of tank
 Normally closed upstream

Pressure reducing valves

 Limit pressure down stream of valves controlling max pressure

 Sense pressure at outlet and use it to close valve
 Limits pressure available to single actuator or to an anetire branch
  Adjusted by changing spring tension with shims or screws
 Normally open
 Senses downstream

Load control valves

 Gotta slow things down

 Controls the descent of load
 Stops a load so it cant run away
 Common app
o Boom lift
o Ariial work platform lift
o Telehandler circuits
o Backhoe Stabilizer circuits
o Travel motor circuits
 Hydraulically locks cylinders in place
 Lock valves


Counter balance valves

 Used in open center directional circutis

 Placed closer to cylinders
 Risk of line fail and rapid uncontrolled load move mitigated by these
 2 ports and counter balance valves are installed at these ports
 Locks fluid in cylinder with movable pistons
 Machined alum or cast steel body with separate piston spring and adjuster
 Smooth controlled rod reaction
 Check valve as bypass valve allow free flow in opposite direction

Pilot operated check valves

 Simpler way to hold actuator rods in place

 2 ports
o 1 cylinder
o 1 directoinal
 Flow through check valve to cylinder
 Ratio to open check valve 3:1

Brake valves

 Limits speed on hyd motors with overrunning load

 Use pressure in puts from both upstream and downstream of hyd motors4
 Adjust position of valves moving mechanism and control oil flow
 Pressure downstream sensed at valve inlet
 Upstream sensed through remote sensing line
 Only valve using 2 different pressures to adjust mechanism
Operating principles of hydraulic flow controls

 Meter in. control flow going into cylinder

 Meter out, control flow going out of cylinder
 Flow control valves control speed
 Is an orifice
 Bleed off, allows fluid flow not needed to drive the actuator to be ble off and dumped
 Placed on only one side… cap end rod end or one side of hydraulic motor
 3 groups
o Non compensated flow controls needle valve
o Pressure compensated flow controls
o Flow dividers
 Non compensated
o Orifice presents higher than normal restriction to pum
o Amount of oil flowing dependant on 3 factors
 Orifice size
 Oil temp
 Pressure drop
o Increased oil flow result from either larger orifice warmer oil or larger pressure drop
o Permits free flow in one direction and restriceted flow in the opposite direction
 Needle valves
o Variable orifice that becomes fixed on adjusting and locking
o Use threaded and tapered device
o Flow through valve depends on
 Valve design
 Size of opening
 Pressure drop
 Pressure compensated flow control valves
o Feature movable internal mechanism attempting to maintain constant flow through
valve regardless of pressure
o Movable mechanism psoesses internal flow orifice to allow certain flow through it
o Spring value and orifice size should balance
o Flow depends on design and valve adjustment
o Pressure compensated flow control valves also have pressure relief valves
 Flow dividers split flow into 2 or more paths
o Divide flow evenly or unevenly, prioritize flow to on circuit
o Size of orifice determines flow to circuit
 Spool type priority flow dividers
o Ensure priority circuit is suppoied flow
o Critical systems first

Pressure compensated proportional spool type flow dividers

o Equalize flow to 2 actuators

 o Makes them run at same speed
o Pressure imbalances automatically positions
 Gear type flow dividers
o 2 mech linked hyd gear motors used
o Driven by flow from system pump
o 2 motors provide equal flows to outlet ports
o Contained in single housing
 Dcv – directional control valves
 Dcv dterminses path taken by flow through the system
 Controls actuator movement speed and direction by directing oil flow
 Receive oil flow from one or more pumps,
 Distribute flow
 Dcv inccorprotpate different types of valve
o Check
o Relief
o Floow
 Controlled manually, hyd, elec, or pneumatic
 Shuttle check valves
o Posess two inlet and one outlet
o Ball seals one port when seated
o Ports connected with two or more shuttle check valves
 In line poppet type check valves
o Have machined housing and two threaded end caps sealed with o rings
o Light springs assist seating poppet
o Stamped pressure and flow rate not to be exceeded
 Other types
o Load check valves, hold load in place until enough pressure
o Anti cavitation valves or quick drop.
o Pilot operated check valves lock cylinders in place to eliminate drift problems

Direct control valve configurations

 Needed to direct pump oil flow to actuators and oil to tank

 Ports to connect
 Externoal ports a and be allow oil transfer
 Classified by
o Construction
o Center flow type
o Flow rating
o Pressure rating
o Number of circuits
o Type of actuation
o Type of pressure protection
 Dcvs supply 2 to 10 circuits
  Types of dcv housing
o Monblock
o Sectional
o Cartridge
 Larger ones are mono block most of the time
 Number of circuits supplied refers to the number of sections
 Cartridge types feature either thread in or slip on
 Simpelest has 2 positions \
 Different config of valves vased on positions
 Neutral present in valves with 3 or more positions
 Variable valve gradual
 3 pos dcv has neutral and 2 pos
 Sliding spool is the most common directional control valve
 Purpose of grooves Is for lubrication
 Another name for float is motor spool
 150 to 180 temp
 Very little clearance between bore and spool
 Oil film lubes spool
 2 main surfaces expeosed to oil
o Lands create seal
o Grooves allow oil flow between ports
 2 or more individual sections stacked make up sectional dcv
 Metering notches
o Provide smooth transitions
o Slots machined into spool land area
 Open center valves used with fixed displacement pump
 Internal passages determine type of hyd sys
 Closed center variable displacement
 Dcvs operated
o Manual
o Hyd
o Elec
o Pneumatically
 Detent hold spool in position
 Pilot oil systems limited to 500 psi

Valve Failures

 Fluid temp 200° damages valves

 Fluid contamination is most common cause of failure
 Other causes
o Seal fail
o Mis alignments causing sticking and jamming
o Improper adjustment
 o Overheating
o Broken or weak springs
o Seat damage causing leak
o Scoring of spools or poppets
o Valve actuator fail
 Inspecting

FLUID FLOW IS SPEED

FLUID PRES IS POWER