Hydraulic control valve arrangement

Claim 1

Hydraulic control valve arrangement for controlling flow of fluid to at least one fluid actuated consumer device, comprising housing means provided with inlet passage means connected to a source of hydraulic pressure fluid, consumer passage means connected to a consumer device, return passage means connected to a reservoir, and a bore intersecting said passage means; a first valve member movable in said bore between a neutral position preventing flow of fluid from said inlet passage means to the consumer device and from the latter to said return passage means, and a plurality of active positions for permitting flow from said inlet passage means to the consumer device, respectively flow from the latter to said return passage means, said first valve member forming a first throttle between said inlet passage means and the consumer passage means which varies as a function of the movement of said first valve member away from its neutral position; a bypass passage in said housing means between said inlet passage means and said return passage means, said bypass passage including a valve seat and a chamber downstream of said valve seat; a second valve member in said bypass passage movable between a closed position engaging said valve seat and an open position, said valve member having a pair of opposite first pressure faces, one of which being subjected to the fluid pressure in said inlet passage means and said second valve member including a piston portion having a pair of opposite ends in said chamber between said first pressure faces and having a diameter greater than the remainder of said second valve member, a first collar on one of said opposite ends of said piston portions which is adjacent said valve seat and having an outer peripheral surface closely adjacent to a peripheral surface defining said chamber and forming therewith a second throttle, and a damping collar on said piston portion axially spaced from said first collar and forming in said chamber to one side of said damping collar a damping chamber; control passage means communicating with said bore downstream of said first throttle and directing fluid pressure to the other of said first pressure faces so that said second valve member is biased by the pressure difference produced by said first throttle to said open position; spring means biasing said second valve member to said closed position; said opposite ends of said piston portions forming together with said first and second damping collars, respectively, a pair of second pressure faces, one of which is located downstream of said second throttle so that the pressure difference produced by said second throttle acts on said second pair of pressure faces to bias said second valve member in a direction opposite to the force produced by said spring means.