EP0790167B2 - Guide pulley array for a transporting plant with aerial cable - Google Patents

Abstract

Balance arm, esp for cableway cabin made from series of members linked by bearings, one with free articulated joint surrounded by elastic sleeve.

Description

The invention relates to a rocker for supporting or compressing a cable of an overhead cable transport installation, comprising rocker elements, each of which is articulated by a bearing comprising a hinge with an elastic sleeve, on an axis central support and carries at its ends support rollers or compression of the cable or support pins of other balance elements. A rocker according to the preamble of claim 1 is known from prior use.

A rocker of the kind mentioned is, for example, attached to the top of a support tower of a towing cable of a gondola or chairlift, to balance the load on all of the balance wheels. The balance is necessarily equipped with a safety device, which causes the stop of the installation during an incident, in particular during a derailment of the cable or the loss of a roller. A known safety device, which has imposed itself by its simplicity and reliability, detects excessive tilting of one of the balance elements, for example the input element and / or output of the beam. Such rockers have been used successfully for many years, but the passage of loads on the pendulum generates noise and vibrations, which affect the comfort of passengers and cause additional wear.

The present invention aims to allow the realization of a balance of improved operation, which retains the simplicity of structure and safety. It starts from the observation that in normal operation, the balance elements do not move substantially and that the small pivoting can be supported by elastic or deformable assemblies, only the actuation of the security element requiring a deflection important.

The document US-A-4,995,319 relates to a balance wheel, all the joints are constituted by elastic sleeves interposed between two coaxial sleeves. The maximum pivoting of 15 degrees, permitted by the elastic sleeve, is insufficient to actuate with certainty a detector of excessive pivoting of a balance element.

According to the invention, the bearing of at least one balance element is a composite bearing constituted by the combination of a freely rotating articulation, allowing large deflections of the balance element and a sleeve coaxial articulation. elastic, allowing limited pivoting of the balance element. The elastic sleeve provides vibration filtering and flexibility, which enhances passenger comfort. This elastic sleeve is interposed between the support shaft and a coaxial sleeve, on the outside of which is mounted to free rotation the hub of the balance element. The elastic sleeve is secured by its inner periphery to the support axis and by its periphery external to the coaxial sleeve and the pivoting of the rocker element generates a deformation of the elastic sleeve.

The document FR-A-1,435,111 discloses a composite hinge, having an inner sleeve mounted for free rotation on a shaft and surrounded by an elastic sleeve, integral with an outer sleeve. This type of joint, for example used to connect two rods or levers of a suspension system of motor vehicles, allows misalignments.

The set of support bearings of the balance can be of the composite type, but it is possible to equip only the balance elements equipped with a safety device, in this case the input and / or output elements, of a composite bearing, the bearings of the other elements or of certain other elements being free articulation or elastic sleeve.

The safety device is advantageously of the breakable bar type, arranged on the pivoting path of the rocker element and on the drop path of the cable, such that excessive pivoting of the rocker element and / or the fall of a derailed cable causes the breaking of the bar and thus the interruption of a safety circuit.

• la figure 1 est une vue en élévation d'un balancier selon l'invention;
• la figure 2 est une vue en plan du balancier de la figure 1:
• les figures 3, 4 et 5 sont des coupes, à échelle agrandie, respectivement suivant les lignes III-III, IV-IV et V-V de la figure 1;
• la figure 6 illustre un palier standard d'un élément de balancier.

Other advantages and features will emerge more clearly from the description which follows, of an embodiment of the invention given by way of example and represented in the accompanying drawings, in which:

• the figure 1 is an elevational view of a balance according to the invention;
• the figure 2 is a plan view of the pendulum of the figure 1 :
• the Figures 3, 4 and 5 are sections, on an enlarged scale, respectively along the lines III-III, IV-IV and VV of the figure 1 ;
• the figure 6 illustrates a standard bearing of a balance element.

In the figures, a rocker with eight rollers 14 supporting an aerial cable (not shown), in particular a gondola or chairlift, comprises four balance elements 10, 11, 12, 13, each carrying a pair of rollers 14 of cable support. The rollers 14 are disposed at the ends of the balance members 10-13, the media of which are articulated on the support pins 17. The support pins 17 of the balance element pairs 10, 11, 12, 13 are supported by the ends of a pair of auxiliary balance elements 15,16, themselves articulated in the middle on auxiliary support pins 18, carried by the ends of a main balance element 19. The main balance element 19 is rotatably mounted on a main axis 20 carried by a pylon (not shown). All of the balance members 10-13, 15, 16 and 19 consist of two parallel, spaced flanges 21, 22, between which are interposed the rollers 14 and the support pins 17,18,20. Such rockers are well known and it is useless to describe them in more detail. It is clear that the invention is applicable to rockers having a different number of pairs of rollers 14, in particular to a single-pair beam, carried by a single balance member.

The rollers 14 are rotatably mounted by ball bearings 23, on pins 24, interposed between the flanges 21,22 of the balance members 10-13. A cable guide 25 is associated with the rollers 14 for input and output of the beam. ( figure 3 )

With particular reference to the figure 4 it can be seen that the articulation of the rocker element 10, at the inlet of the rocker arm, is arranged in a composite bearing, constituted successively from the inside to the outside of; a bolt 26, passing through the flanges 21,22 of the auxiliary balance member 15; a spacer sleeve 27 threaded onto the bolt 26; an elastic sleeve 28 surrounding the spacer sleeve 27; a coaxial sleeve 29 externally sheathing the elastic sleeve 28 and a tubular hub 30, mounted to rotate freely with interposition of an anti-friction material 31. The elastic sleeve 28 is secured by its inner periphery to the spacer sleeve 27 and by its periphery external to the coaxial sleeve 29 to form a one-piece assembly, which allows, by elastic deformation of the sleeve 28, a limited relative pivoting between the sleeves 27,29. The spacer sleeve 27 is secured, by clamping the bolt 26 and jamming, to the flanges 21,22 of the auxiliary balance member 15 and this assembly constitutes the support shaft 17. The hub 30 is rigidly secured to the flanges 21,22 of the balance element 10 and carries a safety device 32 to bar. It is understood that the free rotation of the hub 30 on the coaxial sleeve 29 allows a large pivoting of the rocker member 10, during an incident and the actuation of the safety device 32, while the elastic sleeve 28 does not allow only weak swivelings.

On the figure 5 , which illustrates the bearing of the second balance element 11, the flanges 21,22 of the auxiliary balance element 15, the bolt 26, the spacer sleeve 27 wedged between the flanges 21,22, the elastic sleeve 28 and the hub 30 integral with the flanges 21,22 of the rocker element 11. The sleeve 28 is integral with the spacer sleeve 27 and the hub 30. A catch-up cable 33 is carried by the hub 30. It is easy to see that this bearing permits only a limited pivoting of the rocker element 11, by elastic deformation of the sleeve 28. This limited pivoting is sufficient for the balancing of the loads and for a correct operation of the installation, since this rocker element 11 does not is not equipped with a safety device that requires significant pivoting. The bearings of the other balance members 12, 13 as well as those of the auxiliary balance elements 15, 16 and principal 19 are advantageously of the same type, with simple elastic sleeve 28.

The figure 6 , illustrates a standard bearing of a balance member 11. It is recognized the flanges 21,22 of the auxiliary balance element 15, the bolt 26, the spacer sleeve 27 wedged between the flanges 21,22, and the hub 30 secured flanges 21,22 of the rocker element 11. The hub 30 is mounted to freely rotate directly on the spacer sleeve 27 with the interposition of the anti-friction material 31. A catch-up cable 33 is carried by the hub 30. It is easy to see that this bearing of a standard type does not include an elastic sleeve 28 of vibration filtering and is therefore used in association with a resilient sleeve bearing, for example, an auxiliary beam element 15.16.

It is useless to describe the operation of the pendulum and it is sufficient to recall that, according to the invention, the input and / or output balance elements 13 are equipped with a composite bearing with an elastic sleeve 28 and with free rotation according to figure 4 . All other bearings of the balance members 11, 12; 15.16; 19 may be of the same type or simply have an elastic sleeve according to figure 5 . Certain bearings, in particular of the main balance element 19 and / or auxiliary balance elements 15, 16 may be of the standard type with free rotation according to the figure 6 other combinations are conceivable.

Claims (6)

1. A rocker arm for supporting or compressing a cable on an overhead cable transportation installation, comprising rocker arm components (10-13 ; 15, 16 ; 19), each of which is articulated by means of a bearing having an articulation with an elastic sleeve, on a central support shaft (17, 18, 20), and carries at its ends wheels (14) for supporting or compressing the cable or support shafts (17, 18) for other rocker arm components, the bearing of at least one rocker arm component (10) being a composite bearing, formed by the combination of a free-rotation articulation (29, 30), allowing large movement of the rocker arm component (10) and a coaxial articulation with elastic sleeve (28), allowing limited pivoting of the rocker arm component, characterised in that the elastic sleeve (28) of the composite bearing is interposed between the support shaft (17) and a coaxial socket (29), the elastic sleeve (28) being fixed together by its internal periphery to the support shaft (17) and by its external periphery to the said coaxial socket (29), and in that a hub (30) of the rocker arm component is mounted for free rotation on the coaxial socket (29).
2. A rocker arm according to claim 1, characterised in that the rocker arm component (10, 13), disposed at the entry and/or exit of the rocker arm, is equipped with a composite bearing and a detector (32) for excessive pivoting of the rocker arm component.
3. A rocker arm according to claim 2, characterised in that the said detector (32) is a breakable bar disposed on the pivoting path of the rocker arm component (10, 13) and on the fall path of the cable, so that an excessive pivoting of the rocker arm component and/or the fall of a derailed cable causes the rupture of the bar and thus the interruption of a safety circuit.
4. A rocker arm according to claim 2 or 3, characterised in that the other rocker arm components (11, 12), intermediate between the entry and exit elements (10, 13) and the auxiliary (15, 16) and main (19) rocker arm components, are equipped with a free-rotation bearing or an elastic-sleeve bearing.
5. A rocker arm according to claim 1, characterised in that all the rocker arm components (10-13; 15, 16; 19) of the rocker arm are equipped with a composite bearing.
6. A rocker arm according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the rocker arm element has two parallel plates (21, 22) spaced apart and in that the wheels (14) and support shafts (17, 18) are interposed between the two plates.

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