DE9104224U1 - Multi-broom sweeper - Google Patents

Description

Describe ibunq ••Multi-broom sweeper"

The invention relates to a multi-broom sweeper according to the preamble of claim 1.

Such sweepers are often used to sweep along curbs on streets or paths, whereby the problem is to cover all areas to be swept, especially on sharp convex or concave curves or corners or projections, in such a way that a flawless sweeping process is guaranteed, especially with the right-hand brush. The same applies when driving around obstacles, i.e. parked vehicles, for example, around which the sweeping process should be carried out as completely as possible.

In order to be able to sweep better out of corners and around projections during the sweeping process, it has already become known to provide a support arm in the middle of a sweeper with disc brushes arranged in the front area of the chassis and not pivoting in a horizontal plane, at the front end of which there is a third disc brush that can be pivoted out to the side so far that it can also reach areas next to the two disc brushes that are not pivoting horizontally. In order to be able to sweep corners and projections cleanly with this vehicle, the chassis itself is equipped with a vertical articulated joint between the front and rear wheels. However, this requires considerable construction effort and also makes the vehicle relatively difficult to maneuver. Due to the fixed arrangement of two disc brushes, seamless sweeping of corners and projections is not always guaranteed. In other words, they complement each other.

The three disc brushes provided on the known sweeper do not work in such a way that a perfect sweeping process is guaranteed in the event of any sweeping problems.

The invention is therefore based on a generic multi-brush sweeper which is already equipped with two disc brushes that can be pivoted about a vertical axis and which protrude significantly beyond the front of the chassis so that they are in the driver's field of vision.

The aim of the invention is to further develop such a multi-broom sweeper so that corners can be completely swept and also around projections can be swept perfectly without leaving any unswept areas or traces.

To solve this problem, the features of the characterising part of claim 1 are provided.

The essence of the invention is therefore to be seen in the fact that in front of the front of the chassis to the right of the middle (in countries with left-hand traffic, right and left would be swapped), two support arms of two disc brushes overlap, so that the two associated disc brushes can be brought into such a variety of different relative angular positions that practically any sweeping problem at corners, projections or obstacles can be solved perfectly. It is therefore essential that in front of the vehicle to the right of the middle, two disc brushes offset in the longitudinal direction of the support arms with support arms arranged one above the other and approximately aligned vertical pivot axes can be pivoted approximately from the middle of the vehicle to a right-hand side limit position, whereby viewed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, the disc brush attached to the third, longer support arm is located directly next to the disc brush attached to the lower, shorter support arm.

91 π ■ ? ? - ⁹

broom comes to rest.

When they are as close together as possible during sweeping, the first and third circular brushes are only a small distance apart from each other, which is preferably a small fraction of their diameter, so that the dirt swept inwards by the third brush is immediately caught by the first circular brush after it has been loosened. In this way, both brushes ensure that they sweep largely streak-free, even when cornering.

The invention allows for optimal sweeping on the right-hand side of the vehicle on two levels (e.g. curb/gutter). Furthermore, the third disc brush in particular can also partially reach under projections, e.g. hedges, benches or vehicles.

When the third disc brush is fully extended to the side, a large sweeping width is achieved, e.g. 3 m instead of 2.30 m with only two disc brushes.

When driving around projections to the right, where the vehicle has to make a larger turn to avoid a collision of the right rear wheel with the projection, an exact sweeping track can still be achieved by the third disc brush, which has a much larger range of variation.

While the two right-hand disc brushes work together to sweep out corners and sweep over protrusions, the second disc brush, which is attached to a support arm on the front left of the chassis, essentially only has the function of directing the material swept by the two right-hand disc brushes to the suction shaft arranged between the two disc brushes attached to the short support arms.

In the usual way, the left circular brush also sweeps the area it sweeps over clean.

The features of claim 2 ensure that there are no collisions between the two right-hand support arms and the disc brush, even when the disc brush is in the sweeping position.

The optimal complementation of the two right-hand disc brushes is particularly promoted by the features of claim 3.

In order to be able to position the third disc brush clearly next to the first disc brush when viewed in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, the features of claim 4 are expedient.

The sweeping of corners and the reversing of projections is further promoted by the features of claim 5.

Since the steerability of the sweeper is also essential for the optimal sweeping of corners and reversing of projections, claim 6 provides for a particularly advantageous four-wheel steering, especially in combination with the third support arm. In this way and by suitable lateral pivoting of the two right support arms, practically every corner can be perfectly swept and every projection perfectly reversed.

While the maximum deflection of the rear wheels should be limited to 20°, the maximum deflection of the front wheels is practically 60°. According to the invention, the steering deflections up to 20° are exactly inversely proportional, while after that only the front wheels travel through the further range from 20 to 60".

The inventive and preferably at its end according to

The third support arm, which is angled downwards, can only be swivelled sideways and in height, but cannot be adjusted in length. This allows the driver to get used to the extent to which the third disc brush protrudes in front of the vehicle, which is just as important for sweeping out corners cleanly and reversing protrusions as it is for avoiding collisions between the third disc brush, which protrudes very far, and any obstacles.

By designing the third support arm according to the invention as defined in claim 7, a particularly lightweight and material-saving structure is achieved.

The invention is described below by way of example with reference to the drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic side view of a three-brush sweeper according to the invention working along a curb,

Fig. 2 is a schematic front view of the object of Fig. 1 on a slightly enlarged scale,

Fig. 3 is a purely schematic plan view of the object of Figs. 1 and 2 to illustrate the operation in the area of a curb corner,

Fig. 4 shows an enlarged section of the third support arm of the sweeper according to the invention,

Fig. 5 a section along line V-V and

Fig. 6 shows a schematic illustration in plan view of the operation of the sweeper according to the invention.

24.

- 10 -

According to Figures 1 to 3, the three-brush sweeper according to the invention, driven by a drive unit 29, has a dirt collection container 30 and a driver's cab 31 on a chassis 16 with two front wheels 11 and two rear wheels 28. A suction hose or suction pipe 32 sucks up the dirt collected by a suction shaft 22 arranged between the front wheels 11 and in front of them, which is fed to the suction shaft 22 by two disc brushes 12, 13 arranged laterally in front of the front 19 of the machine.

The disc brushes 12, 13 are attached to a cross-member 33 via essentially horizontal side support arms 14, 15, which can be designed as parallelogram rods, which extends transversely in front of the front of the chassis. The cross-member 33 is placed on a triangular support 39 on a complementary triangular support 38, which is attached to the vehicle chassis 16 via a rod 34 that can preferably be raised and lowered hydraulically. In the lowered position, the cross-member 33 is supported by lateral wheels 36 standing on the roadway 35.

The disc brushes 12, 13 can be driven by hydraulic motors 37 to rotate in the direction of the arrows shown in Fig. 3. Their axes of rotation 17, 18 are slightly inclined in the manner shown in Fig. 2 so that the disc brushes 12, 13 essentially rest with their outer sides on the surface of the roadway 35 in a sweeping manner.

The support arms 14, 15 can be raised and lowered by hydraulic means 40 indicated in Fig. 1 and 2. The lateral pivoting around the vertical axes 25, 27 is also carried out by hydraulic means 51 (Fig. 3). The hoses and

- 11 -

For the sake of clarity, pipes are shown in the
Drawing not shown.

According to the invention, a second triangular support 42 (Fig. 2) is placed on the triangular support 38, which is fastened to the triangular support 39 at the top by a screw 41, on which
To the right of the vehicle centre there is a support 43 which
extends well above the crossbeam 33 and on which approximately above the vertical axis of the first support arm 14 a third support arm 20 is arranged around a vertical axis 24
is pivotably mounted. The support arm 20 can also be pivoted up and down about a horizontal axis 23 by means of a hydraulic system indicated only as a dashed line 44.

The third support arm 20 has a region 20' extending essentially horizontally over the first support arm 14 and the first circular brush 12, as well as a region 20" bent downwards at the end, at the lower end of which
At the end a third circular brush 21 with also slightly slanted
fixed to a stationary rotary axis 45, which can be driven by a hydraulic motor 37 to rotate in the direction of the arrow (Fig.3). This circular brush 21 is also located with its
outside on the surface to be swept.

From Fig. 1 it can be seen that the axes of rotation 17, 18, 45
are also slightly tilted forward so that the front
Area where the disc brushes 12,13, 21 sweep on the road surface.

It is particularly important that the triangular support 42 with the parts attached to it, in particular the third
Support arm 20 and the disc brush 21 can be easily lifted off the triangular support 38, so that the arrangement carrying the third disc brush 21 can be dismantled and assembled in the simplest way. For the not shown

- 12 -

Hydraulic lines should be provided with appropriate quick couplings. In this way, the third disc brush 21 can be easily mounted or dismounted if it is not required for a specific sweeping problem.

According to Fig. 4 and 5, the support arm 20 can be designed in a particularly expedient manner so that its areas 20', 20" are made of a comparatively thin metal tube to which metal webs 54 are attached at certain intervals, which, according to Fig. 4 and 5, carry the hydraulic lines 52 consisting of rigid tubes and, if necessary, a water spray line 53 between them, which is guided into the interior of the third broom 21. Since all parts 52, 53, 54 are positively connected to one another, the lines 52, 53 contribute to the stability of the third support arm and thus ensure a lightweight construction. A stiffening plate 55 should be provided in the bend between the areas 20', 20".

The operation of the described three-broom sweeper is as follows:

When sweeping a curb 46, the first support arm 14 is extended so far to the right that its outer circumference sweeps the corner 47. The swept material is swept inwards and picked up by the suction shaft 22. The left circular brush 13 similarly sweeps the material it has collected from the left inwards, also to the suction shaft 22.

The disc broom 21 attached to the third support arm is raised to the level of the upper surface of the curb 46 by largely horizontalizing the area 20· of its support arm 20, so that it rests on the pavement surface 48.

91 fU 224.

- 13 -

and sweeps the dirt located there in front of the first disc brush 12 working next to and behind it.

In order to ensure this mode of operation, the third support arm 20 is extended into the position shown in Fig. 3 with the maximum deflection angle α to the vehicle longitudinal direction 26.

According to the invention, the third circular brush 21 can now advantageously be used to sweep out a corner 49 or to turn over a corner projection 50 by pivoting the third support arm 20 slightly inwards in the direction of the dashed arrow from the position shown in Fig. 3, so that the circular brush 21 can be lowered into the corner 49 by operating the hydraulic system 44. The driver must make a correspondingly sharp steering turn of the front wheels 11, as indicated in Fig. 3.

After reaching the corner projection 50, the disc broom 21 can be held in such a position by suitable actuation of its support arm 20, which is also carried out by a hydraulic system not shown, that the corner 50 is turned over perfectly.

In Fig. 3, four-wheel steering is also indicated, whereby the rear wheels 28 should only have a maximum deflection of 20° so that there can be no collisions with house walls or other vehicles at the rear of the vehicle. According to the invention, however, the opposite deflection of the front wheels 11 and the rear wheels is directly proportional until an angle of 20° is reached. After reaching a deflection angle of 20°, only the front wheels 11 continue their deflection of 20 to 60°, while the rear wheels maintain the maximum deflection of 20°.

- 14 -

until the front wheels are swiveled back below 20°, whereupon the proportional adjustment between front wheels 11 and rear wheels 28 takes place again.

The combination of this special four-wheel steering with the inventively arranged third disc brush 21 allows the perfect solution of practically every sweeping problem on corners and projections.

The direction of travel of the sweeper according to the invention is shown in Fig. 3 by the arrow F.

The hydraulic winches provided for the lateral pivoting of the support arms 14, 15, 20 are indicated by dashed lines at 51 in Fig. 3.

In countries with left-hand traffic, the third disc brush 21 provided according to the invention is to be arranged in a mirror image to the longitudinal center plane of the vehicle, in contrast to the illustration in the attached drawing.

Fig. 6 schematically illustrates how a sweeper equipped according to the invention can be driven around a parked vehicle 58 while largely completely sweeping out the corner areas and the projections.

In the right-hand view of the sweeper in Fig. 6, the wheels 11, 28 are turned to the left and the third disc brush 21 reaches just into the corner between the curb 46 and the rear of the parked vehicle 58. The disc brushes 12, 21 are arranged diagonally one behind the other, so that the material swept by the brush 21 is conveyed by the disc brush 12 to the suction shaft 22 located at the front of the sweeper and not shown in Fig. 6. The disc brush 21 then follows the path with its outer side

- 15 -

the sweeping edge track 57, which also extends partially under the vehicle. The left circular brush 13 moves with its outside along the left sweeping edge track 56.

In the left illustration in Fig. 6, the sweeper according to the invention has almost driven around the parked vehicle 58, and the right-hand disc brush 21 can be extended to the right as far as the corner to the right in front of the vehicle, so that this area is also swept perfectly. Fig. 6 makes it particularly clear how important the combination of the three pivoting disc brushes 12, 13, 21 with the front-wheel steering is.

81 04 224.

Claims (7)

Expectations 1. Multi-brush sweeper with a steerable chassis (16) having at least three and in particular four wheels (11, 28) and a drive unit, on which two disc brushes (12, 13) that can be driven to rotate are arranged in front of the front wheels to the side of the center via side support arms that can be pivoted laterally and preferably also raised and lowered, the essentially vertical axes of rotation (17, 19) of which extend so clearly to the front (19) of the chassis (16) that the sweeping side of the disc brushes (12, 13), which is preferably located on the outside and at the front, is in the driver's field of vision, with a suction shaft (22) located in the sweeping area of the two disc brushes being located between the two disc brushes (14, 15) and preferably immediately behind them, characterized, that in the front of the chassis (16) above the side support arms (14, 15) and preferably to the right of the centre, a third, laterally pivotable and raising and lowering support arm (20) is arranged, which carries a third disc broom (21) at its front end and extends forwards or laterally beyond the right disc broom (14). 2. Sweeper according to claim 1,
characterized, that the third support arm (20) has a substantially horizontally extending region (20') which is attached to the chassis (16) so that it can be raised and lowered and pivoted laterally and has a region (20") angled downwards towards the third disc brush (21). 01 &eegr;* 3. Sweeper according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that that the vertical pivot axis (24) of the third support arm (20) is located substantially above the vertical pivot axis (15) of the first support arm (14) and is offset somewhat parallel to it, preferably forwards and inwards. 4. Sweeper according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the maximum swivel angle (α) of the third support arm (20) to the right relative to the machine longitudinal direction (26) is significantly larger than that of the first support arm (14). 5. Sweeper according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the vertical pivot axes (24, 25) of the first and third support arms (14, 20) are located near the right-hand side of the machine. 6. Multi-brush sweeper according to the preamble of claim 1, which in particular also has the features of the characterizing part and/or one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the chassis (16) is equipped with four-wheel steering, in which the rear wheels (28) have a significantly smaller maximum deflection than the front wheels, characterized in that that the steering deflections of the front and rear wheels (11, 28) are directly inversely proportional up to the maximum deflection of the rear wheels (28) and that with larger steering deflections of the front wheels (11) the maximum deflection is present at the rear wheels (28). 7. Multi-broom sweeper according to one of the preceding claims, Q] (H 224 characterized, that the guided along the third support arm (20)
Hydraulic lines (52) and, if applicable, also the water spray line (53) guided along them consist of rigid material, in particular metal pipes, which are connected at intervals via metallic webs (54) to the tubular third support arm (20) in such a way that the hydraulic lines (52) and, if applicable, the
Water spray line (53) forms a load-bearing part of the support arm (20). &eegr;L ??k