CONTROLS

DELTA^Q

DELTA^Q

DELTA^Q

DELTA^Q

DELTA^Q

DELTA^Q

DELTA^Q

AXIAL PISTON PUMPS

Plant Location and Mailing Address
DELTA^Q 10827 Tower Oaks Blvd
Houston, TX 77070

Website: www.deltaq.com
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (281) 807-1840 or (800) 650-3110
DELTA^Q Fax: (281) 807-4457 12-2008
DELTA^Q 10-210-0
We will briefly look at two types of pressure compen-
sated controls - The standard pressure compensated
control and the load sensitive control. PRESSURE COMPENSATED
CONTROL

LOAD SENSITIVE FLOW ON

DEMAND CONTROL

First the standard control. This control mounts direct-

ly on the pump cover. The three ports in the bottom
of the control mate with the three openings in the
pump cover. O'rings seal the connections.

One port communicates with the pump case. The

middle port is connected to the control sleeve, and
the third port is connected to system pressure...in this
instance simply the discharge pressure of the pump
itself.

A spring with adjustable compression is used to gov-

ern the pressure at which the spool is moved far
enough by system pressure to expose the control
sleeve port. When that pressure is reached, the spool
moves.

CONTROLS PISTON PUMPS Page 1

DELTA^Q 10-210-0
the system pressure travels to the control sleeve
and destrokes the pump.

With less displacement, pressure begins to drop, the

spring overpowers the dropping system pressure
and the spool moves back, partially covering the con-
trol sleeve port until a balance between demand and
supply is met.

If a control valve with closed center neutral is used,

moving the valve to neutral quickly raises pressure
at the discharge port because the entire pump output
is blocked.

This instantly destrokes the pump. The control

sleeve must also have a path for the discharge of oil
as the pump is coming back on stroke.

CONTROLS PISTON PUMPS Page 2

DELTA^Q 10-210-0
The port to the pump case allows oil from the control
sleeve to move out of the sleeve to the pump case
and then back to the reservoir by way of the case
drain line, thus allowing the pump to come on stroke.
The case drain, by the way, should go directly to the
reservoir - with a line of its own. Do not simply “T”
into an exhaust from a valve or some other compo-
nent - If you do “T” into another exhaust line, resultant
surges in case pressure may cause serious damage
to the pump.

To adjust the standard pressure compensated con-

trol, loosen the jam nut and back off the adjustment
nut until there is no spring pressure against the spool.

Now with the system running and the closed center

control valve in neutral, the pump will be fully
destroked. A pressure gage can be used to measure
the system pressure as the adjustment nut is slowly
turned into the valve body. When the desired pres-
sure is reached, tighten the jam nut. This procedure
will not work if there is a system relief valve in the sys-
tem and its relief setting is below the desired system
pressure. Make certain that the setting of the relief
valve is high enough.

DELTA^Q has another valve. This valve will automat-

ically control the flow of the pump.

There are applications that control of flow is critical.

CONTROLS PISTON PUMPS Page 3

DELTA^Q 10-210-0

One application is an electric generator. It is critical

to keep the generator turning at a constant speed. If
the speed of the generator varies the voltage and
cycles will vary potentially causing damage.

Let's look at this application.

Adiesel engine drives the pump. The pump is

plumbed to a hydraulic motor which is directly cou-
pled to the henerator.

As the load on the generator is increased by turning

on lights...the diesel engine slows..flow from the
pump drops...unless there is some way to increase
the pump displacement.

The DELTA^Q flow pressure compensator valve

was designed to do just that.

Let's look at how this valve works.

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DELTA^Q 10-210-0
One way of sensing flow is to sense pressure across
a flow restrictor.

First, lets look at the theory of how a restrictor works.

If we put two gages in a pipe but do not restrict the

flow, the gages will both read zero.

If we block the output, both gages will show the same

pressure.

Now if we put a restrictor in the line we'll see a pres-

sure drop.

The final possibility is if the output is blocked the pres-

sure will be the same on both sides of the restrictor.

CONTROLS PISTON PUMPS Page 5

DELTA^Q 10-210-0
The output of the pump is fed through a restrictor.

A sense line is on the motor side feeding back to the

flow compensating valve.

The output of the pump is also connected (thru a port)

to the flow control, and finally a port in the flow control
feeds the control sleeve in the pump.

Notice that there is a restrictor in the output line caus-

ing a pressure drop - as the output of the pump meets
resistance to flow because of a load on the motor the
pressure in the sense line will go up - reducing the
pressure drop across the restrictor.

The increased pressure will push the main spool to

the left allowing the control sleeve to drain, increasing
the stroke of the pump and, therefore, increasing the
output.

CONTROLS PISTON PUMPS Page 6

DELTA^Q 10-210-0
If the speed of the hydraulic motor slows down, the
pressure on both sides of the restrictor will tend to
equalize - allowing the spool to move to the right
and partially destroke the pump - thus reducing its
output.

That's the basic theory of the flow control. Now we'll

look at the flow control valve itself.

We'll build the valve one part at a time.

The valve body has 4 ports.

Port 1 is open to pump pressure.
Port 2 is open to control sleeve.
Port 3 is open to case drain.
Port 4 is the sense line.

In the valve body is the main spool.

When the spool is left port 1 is blocked, port 2 is

open to port 3 so the control sleeve is drained to the
case and the pump is fully on stroke.

Behind the main spool is a small spring that presses

only the main spool. This spring is called a bias
spring - it exerts about 100 pounds of pressure push-
ing the spool left to keep the pump on stroke.

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DELTA^Q 10-210-0
Behind the bias spring is the main spring and behind
the main spring is a small piston.

The spool, main spring and the piston normally move

left and right as a unit.

Now notice the restrictor - the sense line pressure is

normally lower than the pump pressure. If the sense
line pressure is 100 psi lower than pump pressure

because of the restrictor and a reduced load, the

pump pressure will be high enough to overcome the
bias spring which is pushing the spool to the left. The
spool will now move to the right and the pump will par-
tially destroke reducing the output.

CONTROLS PISTON PUMPS Page 8

DELTA^Q 10-210-0

If the load increases, the pressure on the load side of

the restrictor will build increasing the pressure in the
sense line which pushes the small piston, main spring
and the main spool to the left bringing the pump on
full stroke.

Increase the load further - sense pressure goes up -

moving the spool left -

pump pressure goes up push-

ing the main spool right and we're again in balance.

This process continues until the pressure is so high

that any additional increase in pump pressure will not
allow the small sense piston to move right. However,
the pump pressure is still building.

This is when the main spring comes into play. The

pump pressure is so high that the spring begins to col-
lapse. The spool moves right opening port 1 (pump
pressure port) to port 2 (control sleeve port)
destroking the pump.

This situation is simply pressure compensation.

So there you have - flow control until pressure reach-

es maximum and then pressure compensation to
save the system from too high a pressure.

CONTROLS PISTON PUMPS Page 9

DELTA^Q 10-210-0
To adjust the load sense control, the system must be
running and must be “deadheaded” or stalled so that TO ADJUST THE LOAD SENSE CONTROL,
pressure is up, the pump is destroked and flow is THE SYSTEM MUST BE:
near zero. RUNNING

DEAD HEADED (STALLED)

DESTROKED

FLOW NEAR ZERO

Now the compensator adjustment screw is turned in

or out.

A pressure gage in the load circuit will show that pres-

sure goes up as the adjustment screw is turned in
and goes down as the adjustment screw is turned
out.

Note: The sensing line should be steel with a swivel fit-

ting so that pressure adjustments can be made with-
out twisting the tubing.

CONTROLS PISTON PUMPS Page 10