Renze
Super Member
It is hard for me to see how a person could ever use an accumulator on a tractor loader to get both smoothing and speed increases. Rather, it will be the other way round...if it is used for smoothing, it will slow the loader down...since that accumulator has to get charged along with the cylinder end being pumped up.
I currently work at a small wheel loader builder in the netherlands. Hanomag (now Komatsu) was the first to show a study model with boom suspension based on an accumulator system, and our company, (way before my time) was the first to introduce it at their smallest 10t loader back in 1989 or so as standard equipment.
Right now it is allmost standard on every brand of wheel loader, volvo calls its BSS (boom suspension system) and Cat calls it ride control i think.
The system on our todays models with Parker hydraulics automatically switch it on above 7kmh. To do that, an automatic valve senses the pressure in the lift rams, then charges the accumulator to the same pressure, then opens the valve to make the lift cylinders communicate with the loader rams. If this wasnt done, the driver would encounter a sudden drop or rise of the boom whenever the valve would connect the suspension accumulator.
Also accumulators are used for steering damping, and for brake backup pressure. Its not really practical to use an accumulator for energy regeneration, because of its "accumulating" properties: in other words you can compress a spring when you go down in the elevator, but the very same compressed spring would not deliver the force to push you back up again (if it was strong enough to lift you, it would have never let you go down)
Next to that, a wheel loaders main task is scooping: power up, float down: when regenerating the energy of the downstroke it would slow down the operation too much: It must drop like dead weight to the ground in 1.5 second. (yes, it takes a better operator than me to get the max out of these loaders !)
in a commercial payloader, membrane accumulators just wont last: We use piston accumulators since 10 years or so.
From personal experiments i learned that it IS required to put the downstroke to float, even though i have long oil hoses on my frontloader that can be sucked vacuum to get some damping play, its not enough, the inward stroke of the loader cylinder must be freely connected to the tank. I will plumb one in when i have time, because my front axle suspension doesnt work with the loader on it, while i have it for loading bales (on rough land)