FLUID POWER SYSTEMS
Pre-Compensated Valve Platforms Offer New Benefits in Mobile Machine Development Complete, compact pre-compensated valve platforms provide plug-and-play solutions for OEMs, enabling them to select the right hydraulic control valves for a specific machine application. BOSCH REXROTH
Contributed by Wladimir Kamschitzki, Product Management, and Roger Webel, Sales Product Manager, at Bosch Rexroth the advances these modular, multi-application valves offer to better control lifting, lowering, rotating and more.
Solving pre-compensated valve design challenges
The Pre-Compensated Valve Platform from Bosch Rexroth is a complete, compact mobile machine control solution that leverages the efficiency and versatility of proven Rexroth mobile control valves.
I
n the realm of mobile equipment, pre-compensated hydraulic valves with load-sensing technology are often used in applications where compactness, robustness and versatile performance are needed. Equipment such as elevated working platforms and telehandlers, truck-mounted cranes, compact backhoes, excavators and other construction equipment, as well as the latest generation of forestry machines like feller bunchers and harvesters, all feature complex implements that need precise and highly-responsive hydraulic control. Recent developments in pre-compensated valve technology are helping
32
mobile machine builders accomplish these goals. In addition, these advances can help reduce the cost and weight of valve systems, simplify equipment engineering and component integration and aid in improving mobile machine energy efficiency. A new generation of complete, compact pre-compensated valve platforms is replacing prior “mix and match” approaches to valve configuration with solutions that are nearly “plug and play,” enabling mobile machine builders to easily select and right-size hydraulic control valves according to specific functional and performance requirements. Mobile machine operators can apply
OEM Off-Highway | MARCH/APRIL 2022
Modular load-sensing valves remain widely used in mobile machine hydraulics. By incorporating both flow control and pressure control into the same valve, system design is simplified, flexibility is increased, and reliability is enhanced since there are fewer components and reduced hydraulic plumbing. Although widely adopted, the use of load-sensing control valve technology can still present design and engineering challenges, such as right-sizing the valves to match the requirements of different applications within the same implement. This often leads to compromises where larger, more expensive valves are selected to serve the requirements of the actuator with the highest flow or pressure requirements, increasing costs and engineering complexity. Today’s valve manufacturers can supply a range of valves with a broad range of pressure and flow ratings as well as other features, such as pilot valves and valve spool actuation options, including hydraulic, electromechanical and electronic. Selecting the right valve, or group of valves, can follow several approaches, depending on the mobile machine’s requirements. A truck-mounted crane is a good
