Electrohydraulic Loadsensing

Valve-controlled hydraulic drives are frequently used when high dynamics, high reliability and a compact structural form are required. A disadvantage which is frequently attributed to a valve-controlled drive is its poor running efficiency. It not only leads to higher energy consumption but - amongst other things - to the necessity of installing larger pumps and more elaborate cooling equipment. Both these factors cause an increase in the costs of hydraulic drives. Load sensing is known from the field of mobile hydraulics as a driving concept with high running efficiency. In load sensing the supply pressure is adjusted to suit the actuator's highest point of load pressure. The dynamics of this system is worse than that of systems with a constant supply pressure. Electrohydraulic load sensing offers possibilities to improve the dynamics of valve-controlled drives in load sensing by using control engineering measures.