JPH06239271A - Horizontal level control mechanism for crawler traveling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate a trouble where the center of gravity of a body is shifted rearward and the front section of a crawler leaves a ground level at an angle large enough to allow the deposition of mud, when a truck frame at an ascending process is caused to move down forward. CONSTITUTION:Horizontal level control links 4F and 4R as parallel links turning in a longitudinal direction on the operation of a hydraulic cylinder 7, are pivotally supported at front and rear positions on a chassis frame 1a, and truck frame support links 5F and 5R are laid like parallel links respectively forward of both support positions, thereby supporting a truck frame 2. Also, an idler frame 3 is extended from an idler 11 in parallel to the chassis frame 1a and supported thereon. Also, the intermediate section of the link 4R at the side of an idler link 4R and aft of the chassis frame 1a is supported on the idler frame 3 to form a parallel link.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in a horizontal control mechanism for keeping left and right tilts horizontal in a crawler traveling device used in a combine or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When driving a traveling vehicle having a crawler traveling device, a technique of a horizontal control mechanism for keeping the left and right inclinations constant regardless of the height of the ground is well known.
This is because the track frame is configured to be vertically movable in parallel. For example, a horizontal control link that is a parallel link is pivotally supported from the main body frame to the track frame, and the horizontal control link is connected to the tilt sensor from the tilt sensor. A configuration is known in which the hydraulic cylinder is rotated by expansion and contraction based on the detection of, and thereby the track frame is moved up and down to change the vertical height of the crawler. This will be described with reference to side views of the crawler traveling device having the conventional horizontal control mechanism shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. When the crawler side in FIG. 8 is lowered, the parallel link for horizontal control is rotated from the X position to the Y position. As a result, the crawler traveling device moves up and down (track frame goes down) as shown in FIG. 9, whereby the main body can be held horizontally even when the ground surface is lowered due to a depression or the like.

[0003]

However, in the conventional crawler traveling device, the supporting portion of the rear idler 11 'is fixed to the track frame 2'on which the track roller 10' is mounted, while the front portion of the front idler 11 'is fixed. Sprocket 9 '
Is mounted on the main body by a mission case of the main body, and is fixed to the main body side. Further, since the degree of freedom in changing the circumferential length of the crawler is limited, as shown in FIG. When the lower side of the crawler traveling device is lowered downward by rotating ', the entire track frame 2'approaches the sprocket 9'side, and the frontmost track roller 10'a and the sprocket 9'are The front-to-back width of is reduced. This means that the position of the center of gravity of the traveling vehicle moves to the rear, and the rear portion of the vehicle body is lowered, which seriously hinders work. In addition to increasing the vertical width of the crawler traveling device, the angle formed by the sprocket 9'and the frontmost track roller 10'a, that is,
The ground contact angle (leaving angle) θ2 in front of the crawler 2'becomes extremely large and causes mud gathering. As described above, in the conventional horizontal control mechanism by vertically moving the track frame, the movement of the center of gravity of the vehicle and the increase in the ground contact angle in front of the crawler pose problems.

[0004]

The present invention has the following constitution in order to solve the above problems. That is, in the crawler traveling device in which the track frame can be moved in parallel substantially vertically, the idler that tensions the crawler is moved back and forth in conjunction with the vertical movement of the track frame.

[0005]

[Operation] When the track frame is moved downward,
The idler moves forward in conjunction with each other, thereby maintaining the degree of freedom of the crawler circumference change and preventing the track frame from approaching the sprocket side. Therefore, the center of gravity does not move, and the bed leaving angle in front of the crawler does not become so large.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
1 is an overall side view of the combine, FIG. 2 is a side view of a crawler traveling device adopting the horizontal mechanism of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a front sectional view of the same, and FIG. 4 is a crawler traveling device when the crawler vertical width is minimum. FIG. 5 is a schematic side view, FIG. 5 is a schematic side view when the crawler vertical width is intermediate, FIG. 6 is a schematic side view when the crawler vertical width is maximum, and FIG. 7 is an embodiment in which the idler is moved back and forth by a hydraulic cylinder. FIG.

The crawler traveling device is employed as a combine traveling device as shown in FIG. 1, for example. Explaining the overall structure of the crawler traveling device, first, at the front portion, sprocket 9 is attached to the left and right axles that are pivotally supported by a transmission case M transmitted from an engine E, and a plurality of track rollers 10 are provided behind it. The track frame 2 supporting the shaft is arranged, and the idler 11 for tensioning the crawler 12 is arranged at the rearmost part, and the crawler 12 is wound around the sprocket 9, the track roller 10, and the idler 11, and the mission case M The track roller 10 and the idler 9 follow the drive of the sprocket 9 which is further transmitted, drive the crawler 12, and travel. In addition,
In the combine of FIG. 1, the track frame 10 is suspended from the chassis 1 which is the bottom of the main body by a link mechanism described later, and the threshing unit 14, the sorting unit 15, and the Glen tank 17 are arranged on the chassis 1. The harvesting section 13 is provided in front of the threshing section 14 and the sorting section 15, and the control section 16 is provided in front of the grain tank 17 to form a combine.

The horizontal control mechanism in the crawler traveling device having such a structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.
A support frame 1b is hung vertically to the left and right of the chassis 1, a chassis frame 1a is horizontally arranged at the lower end of the support frame 1b, and fulcrums B and B are provided in front of and behind the chassis frame 1a for horizontal control. The lower portions of the working links 4F and 4R are pivotally supported, and the connecting rods 8 are pivotally connected to the upper portions of the horizontal control links 4F and 4R in parallel with the chassis frame 1a to form parallel links. Then, the tip end portion of the piston rod of the hydraulic cylinder 7 attached to the vehicle body is pivotally attached to the upper end portion of the front horizontal control link 4F. And
The rear ends of the track frame support links 5F and 5R are fixed to fulcrums B and B pivotally supported on the chassis frame 1a, and are formed in an L shape in a side view with the horizontal control links 4F and 4R.
Its front end is pivotally supported on the track frame 2 horizontally arranged outside the chassis frame 1a to form a fulcrum C. The horizontal control links 4F and 4R rotate back and forth by the expansion and contraction of the piston rod of the hydraulic cylinder 7 with the pivot points B and B as fulcrums, and the track frame support links 5F and 5R follow the pivot points B and B. With the fulcrum as a fulcrum, the track frame 2 is rotated up and down, that is, the vertical position of the track roller 10 is changed.

Further, the idler frame 3 pivotally supporting the idler 11 arranged at the rear end is the chassis frame 1a.
Is disposed in parallel to the upper rear part of the idler frame 3
And an intermediate portion of the rear horizontal control link 4R at a fulcrum A, and between the rear end of the chassis frame 1a and the idler frame 3 in parallel with the horizontal control link 4R. 6 to connect the horizontal control link 4
The link portion between the fulcrum A and the fulcrum B of R and the idler link 6 form a parallel link. With such a configuration, the rotation of the rear horizontal control link 4R due to the expansion and contraction of the hydraulic cylinder 7 causes the fulcrum A and the idler link 6 of the rear horizontal control link 4R to have a pivot fulcrum B as a fulcrum. The idler frame 3 rotates back and forth between the front and rear widths L2, whereby the center of the idler 11 moves between the front and rear widths L1.

By adopting the horizontal control mechanism configured as described above, the crawler traveling device changes the vertical height as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6. Reference characters A, B, and C in the drawings indicate the pivot points of the rear horizontal control link 4R. FIG. 4 shows a side surface shape of the crawler traveling device at the time of normal traveling in a state where there is no recess on the ground surface. The piston rod of the hydraulic cylinder 7 is contracted, and the fulcrum C portion is at the uppermost position. As the hydraulic cylinder 7 extends, the state shown in FIG. 6 is reached when the extension width reaches the maximum value through the state shown in FIG. That is, the fulcrum C portion is at the lowest position, and the vertical width of the crawler 12 is maximized. At this time, since the idler frame is conventionally fixed to the track frame, the front-rear distance between the sprocket 9 and the frontmost track roller 10a is reduced due to the limit of the crawler circumference, and the center of gravity is moved rearward. However, since the idler 11 moves forward by L1 by adopting the horizontal control mechanism of the present invention, the degree of freedom of the crawler circumference can be increased, and the sprocket 9 and the front track roller 10a shown in FIG. The front-rear distance of is almost unchanged compared to the case of FIG. Therefore, the center of gravity does not change due to the vertical width adjustment of the crawler traveling device, and stable traveling is possible.

Further, the floor clearance angle θ1 in front of the crawler in FIG. 6 is compared with the conventional floor clearance angle θ2 in FIG. 8 when the front-rear distance between the sprocket 9 and the front track roller 10a is reduced. It is not big, and the adverse effects of mud gathering are reduced.

Further, by changing the link ratio or the expansion / contraction amount of the hydraulic cylinder, the link rotation width, that is, the fulcrum A, is increased to increase the longitudinal rotation width L2 in FIG. Although it is possible to increase the amount of change in the width, conventionally, it was not possible to increase the link rotation width due to the limit of the degree of freedom of the crawler circumferential length. However, in the present invention, since the idler position moves inward by the front-back rotation width L2 at the fulcrum A on the idler frame 3 (L1 = L2), even if the link rotation amount is large, there is a margin in the crawler circumferential length. Yes, a large amount of change in the crawler vertical width can be adopted. Therefore, even if the ground surface is largely displaced, it is possible to obtain a traveling vehicle in which the vehicle body is always held horizontally correspondingly.

The above is the embodiment of the horizontal control mechanism for moving the track frame and the idler by the link rotation by the expansion and contraction of the hydraulic cylinder. In addition to this, instead of the hydraulic cylinder, the motor is operated based on the detection of the ground clearance. A method of driving and expanding and contracting the electromagnetic solenoid is also conceivable. Further, instead of the link mechanism, for example, a method in which a hydraulic cylinder is interposed between the chassis and the track frame and the track frame is moved up and down by expansion and contraction of the cylinder is also possible. A configuration is also possible in which the vertical movement width of the frame is input to the controller 19 by the detection value of the vertical movement detection sensor 18, the electromagnetic valve 20 is switched to drive the hydraulic cylinder 21, and the idler 11 is moved back and forth.

[0014]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects. That is, in the horizontal control operation of the crawler traveling device that changes the crawler up and down according to the change of the ground surface, the idler can be moved back and forth, so that the crawler can be moved up and down almost at that position without changing the circumferential length. Therefore, the position of the center of gravity does not change, stable traveling is obtained, and the bed leaving angle in front of the crawler does not increase, so that the adverse effect of mud gathering is reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall side view of a combine.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a crawler traveling device that employs a horizontal control mechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front sectional view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of the crawler traveling device when the crawler vertical width is minimum.

FIG. 5 is a schematic side view when the crawler vertical width is intermediate.

FIG. 6 is a schematic side view when the crawler vertical width is maximum.

FIG. 7 is a view showing an embodiment in which an idler is moved back and forth by a hydraulic cylinder.

FIG. 8 is a schematic side view of the crawler traveling device employing the conventional horizontal control mechanism when the crawler vertical width is minimum.

FIG. 9 is a schematic side view when the crawler vertical width is maximum.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Chassis 1a Chassis Frame 2 Track Frame 3 Idler Frame 4L ・ 4R Horizontal Control Link 5L ・ 5R Track Frame Support Link 6 Idler Link 7 Hydraulic Cylinder 8 Connecting Rod 9 Sprocket 10 Track Roller 11 Idler 12 Crawler

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A crawler traveling device in which a track frame is configured to be able to move substantially vertically in parallel, wherein an idler for tensioning the crawler is configured to move back and forth in conjunction with the vertical movement of the track frame. Horizontal control mechanism for the device.