Design and control performance optimization of dual-mode hydraulic steering system for wheel loader

Abstract

The traditional wheel loader performs the steering operation by the rotation of the steering wheel, which significantly increases the complexity and fatigue of the operator. This paper presents a dual-mode steering system to solve the afore-mentioned problems, where a pilot control valve with a joystick is connected in parallel with the redirector to control the hydraulic steering system. The steering speed and angle of the loader can be controlled by the swing angle and time of the joystick. Based on the simulation and experimental results, the proposed system has the same trend of pressure variation and good steering performance compared with the traditional steering system. The hydraulic damping diameter matching the steering system is obtained by simulating and optimizing the equivalent model. The experimental results show that the effective control swing angle of the joystick increased from 12.5° to 19.7°, which improves the control accuracy of the steering system.