JP2516716B2 - Road balancers, especially self-propelled load balancers - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a load balancer for facilitating the transportation and processing of heavy articles, and in particular, for the purpose of facilitating the processing of articles in a low position, the transportation of heavy articles and the loading of the articles by air. The present invention relates to a self-propelled load balancer that sets almost no load by pressure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A known load balancer of this type is described in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 61-197079.
In this case, a piston rod of a balance cylinder is pivotally attached to one link of an intermediate arm which is fixed to a turntable provided on a carriage so as to be rotatable and pivotally attached to a support.
In the balance cylinder, air pressure corresponding to the load of the article acts on the piston provided on the piston rod, and the article placed on the tip of the intermediate arm can be processed without load. The balance cylinder unit includes an air spring brake that can restrain the piston rod from above and a piston that receives the air pressure corresponding to the load of the article and that can extend the piston rod. Further, the balance cylinder unit includes a weight sensing cylinder which is fitted to the lower end of the balance cylinder and accommodates the weight sensing medium. The lower end of the balance cylinder forms a piston acting on the weight sensing medium, and the piston has the same diameter as the piston of the balance cylinder. In this shape of the load balancer, the balance cylinder unit is directed upward and is pivotally attached to the intermediate arm, so that the height of the support pillar for supporting the intermediate arm is increased, and the height of the load balancer is increased as a whole, for example, indoors. It was impossible to use. Therefore, the inventor of the present invention has filed Japanese Patent Application No. 3-2
No. 43425 proposes a load balancer in which a set of a balance cylinder and a weight sensing cylinder and an air spring brake for restraining the piston of the balance cylinder are provided in parallel to reduce the height of the entire load balancer. Also in this case, there is a limit in limiting the entire height to a low level, and it is unsuitable for work such as exchanging and maintaining heavy equipment under construction machinery, heavy vehicles, rudder aircraft, and the like.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to eliminate these drawbacks of the prior art, and a load balancer which can be applied to the lower side of construction machines, heavy vehicles and rudders, especially the transportation of heavy goods. It is to provide a self-propelled load balancer that also enables.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to horizontally pivot a weight sensing cylinder to a chassis frame of a vehicle, and to arrange a balance cylinder in series with the weight sensing cylinder. Is pivoted to an arm that extends below an L-shaped lever arm that is horizontally pivoted to the vertical frame at the center, and this L
One end of a push rod is pivotally attached to the other arm of the L-shaped lever arm, and the other end of the push rod is a parallel link mechanism composed of two support arms, one end of which is vertically attached to the chassis frame. This is solved by a load balancer that is pivotally attached to one support arm and the other ends of each of the support arms are pivotally attached together to a yoke having a load support adapter.

A further object of the present invention is to arrange a weight sensing cylinder horizontally near a rear wheel and a vertical center line of a chassis frame of a vehicle having a pair of driving wheels and capable of steering a pair of wheels. A balance cylinder having an air brake is arranged in series with the weight-sensing cylinder, and the piston rod of the balance cylinder is attached to the lower part of an L-shaped link whose center is pivotally connected to a vertical frame. To the other arm of the L-shaped link, and one end of the push rod is pivotally connected to the other arm of the L-shaped link, and the other end of the push rod is pivotally connected to the upper and lower ends of the standing frame. That the one end of the parallel link mechanism consisting of two support arms is pivotally attached, and the other end of each of the support arms is pivotally attached to the load support adapter via the yoke. An engine for driving the driving vehicle to prepare air pressure to the balance cylinder is arranged laterally with respect to a vertical centerline of the truck, and an air tank and an oil tank are sandwiched by the parallel link mechanism so as to sandwich the vertical centerline of the truck. It is solved by a self-propelled load balancer characterized by being arranged laterally with respect to.

[0006]

In the load balancer constructed as described above, the weight sensing cylinder and the balance cylinder unit having the air brake are arranged horizontally with respect to the vehicle, and the piston rod of the balance cylinder is loaded via the L-shaped link. Since it is pivotally attached to the support arm of the parallel link mechanism that supports the load balancer unit, the overall height of the load balancer can be made sufficiently low to match the diameter of the balance cylinder unit. Since the diameter of the balance cylinder can be increased even if the length of the arm of the L-shaped link pivotally attached to the push rod that engages with the support arm is shortened, even if the stroke length of the piston of the balance cylinder is shortened, It is possible to make the elevation angle of the support arm that supports the load sufficient.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The chassis (2) of the load balancer (1) according to the present invention shown in FIG. 1 has a pair of vertically extending vertical frames (3) (only one of which is shown in FIG. 2) and this vertical. The main frame is composed of a plurality of horizontal frames (4) connecting the frames (3) in the horizontal direction. A pin (5) protruding forward from the horizontal frame (4) is provided on the vertical center line of the chassis (2) of the horizontal frame (4) at the front end of the main frame (2). A lateral beam (6) is borne by the pin (5), and a pair of arms projecting forward at both ends thereof are fixed to the lateral beam (6). Each arm (6) has two left and right arms. The wheels (7, 8) of the bearing are supported. This wheel (7,8)
The bearing shaft is driven by a chain via an oil motor (9) provided on the main frame (2) via a clutch (10). The swinging range of the lateral beam (6) supporting the drive wheels (7, 8) around the pin (5) is limited by a stopper (not shown) (not shown), That is, the relative variable angle between the wheels (7, 8) and the main frame (2) is within a predetermined range.
The wheels (7, 8) are also equipped with flat tires, so that the front axle, including the lateral beams (6), forms a rigid suspension. The supply of hydraulic oil to the oil motor (9) is, as shown in FIG. 1, an oil pump (1) driven by a small engine (11) provided on the right side of the vertical center line of the truck.
2), in which oil is simultaneously supplied to the respective oil motors (9) attached to the left and right wheels (7, 8).

A pivot shaft (13) rotatable about a vertical axis is provided on each side of the rearmost horizontal frame (4) of the main frame (2).
Steering wheels (14) are mounted on shaft pins which project laterally from 3). Similarly, a drag link in which both ends are pivotally attached to a lever (not shown) laterally protruding from the left and right pivot shafts (13), and a steering link (not shown) that forms a link is connected to a handle (15). Steering force transmitted from (not shown) is transmitted. Although this steering mechanism has a well-known configuration, the steering wheel (1
It is important that the steering angle of 5) and the steering angle of the wheels are substantially the same. As shown in FIG. 2, a yoke (17) for attaching the seat (16) is attached to the rearmost horizontal frame (4) of the main frame (2), and the yoke (17) is attached to the yoke (17). The front edge of the seat is the vertical axis (1
8) It is supported so as to be rotatable around it. As shown in FIG. 2, the rear end of the weight sensing cylinder (20) forming the balance cylinder unit (200) is pivoted to the frame (4) by a pin (19) orthogonal to the vertical centerline of the truck. It is worn. A balance cylinder (21) is arranged in series in front of the weight sensing cylinder (20). In the balance cylinder (21), the balance piston (2
2) is arranged and a piston rod (23) is connected to this piston (22), and this piston rod (23)
Similarly penetrates the air brake (24) arranged in series with the balance cylinder (21) and projects outward. The air brake (24) resists the force of the spring with the brake rod when receiving the air pressure and the piston rod (23).
This is a well-known air brake that is separated from the brake piece and presses the brake piece with a spring force when the air pressure is released. A balance cylinder unit (200) including a weight sensing cylinder (20), a balance cylinder (21) and an air brake (24).
Are arranged horizontally along the vertical frame (3). The tip of the piston rod (23) is an arm that extends below one of the L-shaped links (26) pivotally attached to the standing frame (25) that stands vertically from the frame (3). It is pivotally attached to the end of (27). One end of a push rod (29) is pivotally attached to the tip of the other arm (28) of the L-shaped link (26). One end of both support arms (30, 31) forming a parallel link mechanism is pivotally mounted above the standing frame (25). Both pivot points (30A, 31A) and the central pivot point (32) of the L-shaped link are on the same axis. A push rod (29) is arranged parallel to this axis, and the other end of the push rod (29) is pivotally attached to one support arm (30). At the other end of both support arms (30, 31),
A yoke (34) for pivotally supporting the support lever (35) about a vertical axis (33) is pivotally mounted, and the yoke (3) is
The distance between the pivot points (30B, 31B) with respect to 4) is the same as the distance between the pivot points (30A, 31A) with respect to the vertical frames (25) between the support arms (30, 31) and the yoke (34). The axis connecting the pivot points with the support arms (30, 31) is the support arm (30, 31) and the standing frame (2
5) It is located parallel to the axis connecting the pivot points with. Another lever (37) for supporting an article supporting adapter, for example, a fork (36) is pivotally attached to the tip of the supporting lever (35) so as to be pivotable about a vertical axis.

As shown in FIG. 3, a balance unit (200) including a weight sensing cylinder (20), a balance cylinder (21) and an air brake (24) places an article on an article supporting adapter (36). And the piston rod (23) of the balance cylinder (21) is loaded via both support arms (30, 31), push rod (29) and L-shaped link (26). At this time, by switching the manual switching valve (51) to the valve position (51B), the air brake (24) is ventilated, and the piston rod (23) is restrained by the air brake (24), so that the load is increased. From (23) to the air brake (2
4) and the balance cylinder (21). The balance cylinder (21) presses a weight-sensing medium (38) in the weight-sensing cylinder (20), which is pressed between the balance cylinder (21) and the sensing cylinder (20) to accommodate the load of the article. The generated reference pressure P is generated. This reference pressure adjusts the air pressure acting on the balance piston (22) of the balance cylinder (21) by the precision pressure reducing valve (50). That is, the liquid pressure is supplied to the precision pressure reducing valve (50) through the switching valve (57), and the air pressure supplied from the air source (60) to the balance cylinder (21) is used as a load by the valve (50). Adjust to the corresponding value. In order to make the pressure of the medium the same as the adjusted air pressure for fine adjustment of the air pressure, the pressure receiving area of the balance piston (22) and the pressure receiving area of the medium may be made the same.

The air source (60) supplied to the balance cylinder (21) is a balance unit (200) provided near the vertical center line of the carriage, a support arm, a parallel link mechanism, and a lateral direction of the L-shaped link, particularly a forward direction. It is prepared by the small engine (11) provided in the. Therefore, the balance unit (2
00), etc., may be located slightly on the opposite side of the small engine from the longitudinal centerline of the vehicle. The small engine (11) is connected to the oil pump (1) via the power distribution device (40) as described above.
2) is driven to enable the supply of pressure oil to the drive wheel (f), while the compressor (41) is driven to prepare compressed air for the balance cylinder (21). The vehicle includes a balance unit (200) and a parallel link mechanism (100), and an oil reservoir (42) and an air tank (4).
3) is provided, and a valve unit for controlling the air pressure and a pneumatic control panel (44) are further provided in front of this position.
In this way, the bogie balances the left and right weights.

As described above, the yoke (17) is fixed to the rear of the main frame (2), and the seat (16) is supported by the yoke (17) so that the seat (16) can be horizontally swiveled to approach the vehicle. When pivoted, the seat (16) is pivotable about the seat support axis (18) by an angle of 90 °.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described in detail.

First, when an article is placed on the article support adapter (36), the load is applied to the support lever (35) and the yoke (3).
4) It is transmitted to the balance piston (22) through the parallel link mechanism (100) and further through the push rod (29) and the L-shaped link (26). At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, the air brake (24) is connected to the manual switching valve (5
Since 1) is switched to the ventilation position (51B), it is ventilated and restrains the piston rod (23). Therefore, both the air brake (24) and the balance cylinder (21) sense the weight in the weight sensing cylinder (20). Pressing the medium (38), the medium is compressed between the weight sensing cylinder (20) and the balance cylinder (21) to generate a pressure corresponding to the load. At this time, the automatic switching valve (57) is also released from the pressure of the air and switched to the position where the reference pressure P is supplied to the precision pressure reducing valve (50). Therefore, this reference pressure P
Is supplied to the precision pressure reducing valve (50) and precisely adjusts the air pressure supplied to and discharged from the balance cylinder (21). Next, the manual switching valve (50) is switched to supply compressed air from the air source to the air brake (24), and the piston rod (23)
Is released from the air brake (24). At the same time, the precision pressure reducing valve (50) receives air pressure from the automatic switching valve (54).
The pressure air supplied and discharged through the balance cylinder (2
1) It has been switched to a position that leads to the inside. In this way, since the air pressure supplied into the balance cylinder (21) corresponds to the load of the article, the piston of the balance cylinder supports the article placed on the adapter (36) without weight. To do. Therefore, the articles on the adapter (36) can be easily handled by human hands in the vertical swing range of the parallel link mechanism (100) and the swing range of the yoke (34) and the support levers (35, 37). Two
When an overload is applied to 1), the valve (56) that constantly monitors the pressure of the weight sensing medium (38) senses this and cuts off the supply of air into the air piston (24), and the piston rod (25). ) To ensure safety.

The auxiliary pressure reducing valve (55) has a function of adjusting the air pressure to the balance cylinder (21) under no load.

Further, the balance cylinder unit, that is, the weight sensing cylinder (20), the balance cylinder (21) and the air brake (24) are arranged in series and are arranged in parallel with the main frame (), that is, horizontally. This makes it possible to extremely reduce the height of the load balancer in accordance with the diameter of the unit.

[0016]

By horizontally arranging a balance unit including a weight sensing cylinder, a balance cylinder, and an air cylinder in a vehicle, the height of the load balancer can be extremely lowered, and the balance unit is also included. On both sides of the load support link, it is possible to arrange a small engine and compressor that generate air pressure to balance the load, and an air tank, and at the same time, use a device that generates an energy source for driving the wheels of the truck with this small engine. By being able to drive, it is possible to provide a self-propelled load balancer, so that maintenance and inspection work and replacement work of these devices can be performed on the underside of, for example, large vehicles and aircraft.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a load balancer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing a sectional line II-II in FIG. 1, and particularly showing a main portion of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a pneumatic circuit of a load balancer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Load Balancer 2 Chassis (Main Frame) 3 Vertical Frame 4 Horizontal Frame 6 Arm 7 Wheel 8 Wheel 9 Oil Motor 10 Clutch 11 Small Engine 12 Oil Pump 41 Compressor 13 Pipot Shaft 14 Wheel 15 Handle 16 Seat 17 Yoke 18 Pin 19 Weight Sensing Cylinder 20 Pin 21 Balance Cylinder 22 Piston 23 Piston Rod 24 Air Brake 25 Vertical Frame 26 L-shaped Link 29 Push Rod 30 Support Arm 31 Support Arm 34 Yoke 35 Support Lever 37 Support Lever 36 Article Support Adapter 200 Balance Cylinder Unit 100 Parallel Link mechanism

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A balance cylinder unit is horizontally pivoted on a chassis frame of a vehicle, and a piston rod of the balance cylinder unit is located below a L-shaped link pivotally attached to a standing frame of the chassis frame at a central portion. One end of the push rod is pivotally attached to the other arm of the L-shaped lever arm, and the other end of the push rod is pivotally attached to the standing frame of the chassis frame. A load balancer pivotally attached to one support arm of a parallel link mechanism composed of two support arms, and the other end of the support arm is pivotally attached to a yoke having an article support adapter. 2. A weight sensing cylinder of a balance cylinder unit is horizontally pivoted along a chassis frame near a rear wheel of a chassis frame of a vehicle having a pair of drive wheels and steered wheels, and a piston of the balance cylinder unit. The rod is pivotally attached to an arm extending below an L-shaped link pivotally attached to a frame erected on the chassis frame at its center portion, and one end of the push rod is pivotally attached to the other arm of the L-shaped arm. And the other end of the push rod is pivotally attached to one support arm of a parallel link mechanism composed of two support arms pivotally attached to the standing frame,
The other end of the support arm is pivotally attached to a yoke equipped with an article support adapter, and an engine for supplying energy for driving the drive wheels and working air to the balance cylinder unit is installed in the longitudinal center of the vehicle. A self-propelled load balancer, wherein the air tank and the oil tank are arranged laterally with respect to the line, and the air tank and the oil tank are arranged laterally with respect to the vertical center line of the vehicle with the parallel link mechanism interposed therebetween.