RU2340506C2 - Track-type machine mover - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: transportation.

SUBSTANCE: track-type machine mover contains support frame, wide-section caterpillar band with tracks, steering device and track roller group comprising turning and non-turning sections. Tracks are made symmetrically tapering from central part to ends and are interconnected by continuous resilient member fixed in track central part with possibility to bend vertically and horizontally in any of its cross-sections. Track horns or pins are made in the central part of caterpillar band along its longitudinal axis. Steering device comprises caterpillar band stabiliser, guiding wheel, turning section of track roller groups and vertical hinge. Fixed support of vertical hinge is mounted on support frame and movable support is connected with turning section of track roller groups. Vertical axis of vertical hinge is separated from vertical plane passing through horizontal axis of turning section track roller group by distance of 0.3-0.8 of distance between horizontal axes of adjacent caterpillar band tracks.

EFFECT: widening of technical facilities arsenal.

2 cl, 3 dwg

Description

The tracked vehicle mover is designed to equip various vehicles, ranging from snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles for rough terrain to crawler-mounted motorcycles, vehicles for other planets, and demining robots.

Such a mover will be able to work in the regions most unsuitable for ordinary transport, in search parties, in oil fields, agricultural lands, bringing minimal environmental damage to the surface on which it moves.

Currently known tracked vehicle movers usually contain two tracked tracks. These canvases are a special case of chain transmission and, by definition, can only move forward or backward, since the caterpillar is not able to bend in the direction perpendicular to its movement. This feature of the chain transmission is described, for example, in the book of D.V. Chernilevsky. Fundamentals of machine design. Moscow, UMiITs. "Educational literature", 1998, p. 122: "Since the chain in cross section does not have flexibility, the chain drive shafts must be parallel and the sprockets are installed in the same plane." Therefore, tracked all-terrain vehicles are usually performed with two tracks. To complete the rotation of such a machine, one caterpillar has to be braked, and the other has to move around it. This requires a lot of engine power and does a lot of damage to the soil or road surface.

Known, for example, is the mover of an all-terrain vehicle designed by a Russian engineer A. A. Porohovschikov, designed and manufactured in 1915 (the journal Technika i Armament 2001, No. 9, p.15). The all-terrain vehicle contains a support frame, a wide-profile tracked track, which includes articulated tracks with ridges or spars, mounted with gaps relative to each other, and covering the drive and guide wheels, a group of track rollers, as well as a rotation mechanism made in the form of two separate side wheels. The rotation of such a mover is carried out by turning these two wheels with effort and heavy loads. When testing an all-terrain vehicle, it was additionally necessary to push wooden poles into the ground.

Also known is the mover of a snowmobile (US patent No. 2925873, class B62M 27/02 (natsl. 180-5), publ. In 1960), containing a support frame, a wide-profile track, including articulated tracks with ridges or tsevok, mounted with gaps relative to each other, and covering the drive and guide wheels, a group of track rollers, as well as the rotation mechanism, made in the form of two separate skis. The rotation of such a mover is carried out by turning these two skis with effort and heavy loads. At the same time, the caterpillar itself, due to rotation around the vertical axis, “loosens” snow and earth.

Also known is the mover of the "snow bike" (US patent No. 3221830, class B62M 27/02 (natsl. 180-5), publ. In 1965) containing a support frame, a wide-profile track track, which includes articulated between themselves, tracks with ridges or tsevok, mounted with gaps relative to each other, and covering the drive and guide wheels, a group of track rollers, as well as a rotation mechanism made in the form of legs of a "cyclist" on both sides of the track. The rotation of such a mover is carried out by turning the bicycle steering wheel, rigidly connected with the caterpillar, relative to the two skis on the legs with the muscular effort of the cyclist.

Also known is the mover of the "snow scooter" (US patent No. 3252533, class B62M 27/02 (natsl. 180-5), published in 1966), containing a support frame, a wide-profile tracked track, which includes articulated between themselves, tracks with ridges or yokes mounted with gaps relative to each other, and covering the drive and guide wheels, a group of track rollers, as well as a rotation mechanism made in the form of one independent ski. The rotation of such a mover is carried out by turning the specified ski with effort and heavy loads. At the same time, both the ski and the caterpillar itself loosen the snow and the earth, turning around a vertical axis.

Closest to the technical nature of the proposed propulsion is the propulsion of a snowmobile according to US patent No. 3404745, class. B62M 27/02 (nat.cl. 180-5), publ. in 1968, containing a support frame, a wide-profile tracked track, which includes articulated tracks with ridges or spars, mounted with gaps relative to each other, and covering the drive and guide wheels, a group of track rollers, as well as a rotation mechanism made in the form of a small separate ski.

The rotation of such a mover is carried out by turning the specified ski with effort and heavy loads. At the same time, both the ski and the caterpillar itself, due to the bias, displace and turn the snow and the ground.

In the proposed mover, a smooth change is made to the profile of the track, which takes the form of the circle along which the vehicle is rotated.

To do this, the tracks are made symmetrically tapering from the central part to the ends, interconnected by a continuous elastic element, fastened in the central part of the tracks with the possibility of vertical and horizontal bending in any of its cross-section, located in the gap between the tracks, ridges or lugs are made in the central part of the track along its longitudinal axis, and the rotation mechanism includes a track stabilizer and a vertical hinge, the fixed support of which is fixed to the support frame, and the movable - Knit with rotary rollers section, with the vertical pivot axis is spaced from the vertical plane passing through the horizontal axis of the support roller rotating section, a distance equal to 0.3-0.8 the distance between the horizontal axes of adjacent shoe web crawler.

Let us examine in more detail the method of forming the essential features of this invention.

What is needed to rotate the track (its part located on the ground) in a horizontal plane?

1. Create spatial gaps between the tracks, ie Do not connect them directly with horizontal hinges, as in well-known vehicles with two tracks. Moreover, depending on the angle of rotation, the tracks may narrow or not narrow to the ends (this affects only the minimum turning radius of the all-terrain vehicle).

2. Connect the tracks to each other with a continuous inextensible elastic element, for example, a steel cable running along the track, exactly in its center. This will make it possible, when turning, to position the longitudinal axis of the web on a circle along which the vehicle rotates. The elastic element must be inextensible in order to maintain a predetermined distance between tracks along the axial line of the web when turning.

3. The “fingers” of the track rollers and the “pin” of the tracks to engage the track rollers with the track should be positioned as close as possible to the center of each track (ideally above the resilient member). This will ensure that the distance between the fingers on the circumference of the roller coincides with the distance between the arms of the blade, despite the location of the blade around the circumference of the rotation.

4. Correctly distribute the rotary and non-rotary parts over the area of the track. Otherwise, the all-terrain vehicle will either not turn at all, or it will require a large engine power and will create significant destruction of the surface on which it moves (as in well-known tracked vehicles).

Unfortunately, the desired complete absence of soil erosion when turning a tracked vehicle is utopia. We can talk only about its reduction, for which the proposed mover is intended. But it is very important to find the ratio of that part of the caterpillar track that, when turning, continues to go in a straight line, and that which paves the new way for the caterpillar, laying its tracks along the selected radius. If the vertical axis of the caterpillar propulsion unit is located in front of the vertical plane passing through the horizontal axis of the caster, resting on the ground, then the side component does not appear in the vehicle’s speed vector due to repulsion from the ground. Accordingly, the track continues to move forward, despite the rotation of the front track roller and part of the tracks of the tracks to the side using a rotary device. With the further action of the rotary mechanism, the web tracks jump off the steering wheel.

If the vertical axis of the rotary unit is located behind the indicated plane, and significantly, then some part of the track is the force of the rotary unit involved in interaction with the ground and will give a side component. Turning of any type of ground transport is impossible without interacting with the ground (when a pair of forces is applied, the rotary element is displaced and, due to a change in the position of the stop plane in the ground, a side component of the vehicle’s speed vector appears).

Thus, the peculiarity of this conceptual type of caterpillar transport ("mono caterpillar") is not that it finally eliminated the interaction with the ground, as the authors of the Russian patent indicated in Appendix 1 think, and many other inventors, but in changing the form of this interaction . Therefore, the front (rotary) part of the track in the proposed mover plays the role of that small ski in the prototype (US patent No. 3404745). It creates a lateral emphasis in the ground and, thereby, a lateral component of the velocity vector.

For direct proof of this situation, without which the creation of a mover of this type is impossible neither at the level of patentable essential features, nor, moreover, at the level of a workable device, the authors of this application have constructed 2 active all-terrain vehicles with such mover. The tests of the first of them took place in August 2005. This model had a swivel mechanism in which the vertical axis of rotation could be moved forward and backward along the axis of the propulsion device. The tests showed at what exact distance the vertical axis of the hinge should be separated from the vertical plane passing through the horizontal axis of the support roller of the rotary section, so that a stable lateral component of the speed vector of the propulsion device appears. At a shorter distance, the model continued to move straight, despite the operation of the rotation mechanism. The second model (tests passed in July 2006) already has no problems with the turn. This is confirmed by the video shooting carried out during the tests of both models.

Figure 1 shows the appearance (side) of the proposed propulsion. Figure 2 shows the caterpillar track (top view) in the process of turning the all-terrain vehicle with the proposed mover.

The mover consists of a support frame 1, a wide-profile track 2 with tracks 3. FIG. 2 shows a yaw variant of the track, with the troughs playing the troughs 4 in adjacent tracks facing towards each other, together with the gaps 5 between the tracks. The canvas covers the leading 6 and the guide 7 of the wheel, as well as a group of track rollers 8 and the rotation mechanism 9.

The tracks 3 of the track can be made symmetrically tapering from the central part to the ends (or they may not be - this only affects the minimum radius of rotation of the mover, and are connected by a continuous elastic element 10, mounted in the central part of each of the tracks. Element 10 has the possibility of vertical and horizontal bending in any of its cross section, located in the gap between the tracks. The ridges or tssevok (Fig. 1 and 2 are shown tsevok) are made in the Central part of the track along its longitudinal C. The track roller group 8 comprises a non-rotatable 11 and a rotary 12 section, and the rotation mechanism 9 includes a track stabilizer 13. This stabilizer, designed to prevent the track track (GP) from jumping off the guide wheel 7, is located outside, outside the GP, near the steering wheel, and mounted with the possibility of its engagement with the outer surfaces of the tracks GP. A possible implementation of the stabilizer 13 is to perform it in the form of one of the track rollers (8 or 12, which is clearly visible in figure 1).

The rotation mechanism 9 also includes a steering wheel 7, a pivoting section 12 of the track rollers and a vertical hinge 14. A fixed hinge support 15 is fixed to the support frame 1, and the movable one is connected to the pivoting section 12 of the track rollers, and the vertical axis 16 of the hinge is spaced from the vertical the plane 17 passing through the horizontal axis 18 of the support roller of the rotary section, at a distance D equal to 0.3-0.8 of the distance L between the horizontal axes of adjacent tracks of the track. This horizontal distance L is depicted in figure 1 in a vertical plane - for ease of comparison with the distance D.

The proposed mover works as follows.

In the initial position, the support frame 1 with the help of groups of track rollers 8 and 12 rests on the tracks 3 of the lower part of the wide profile track 2. At the moment of the start of movement, the driving engine starts to work (it may be different: internal combustion engine, diesel engine, electric motor, etc. .), the driving wheel 6 receives rotation from it. The teeth of the wheel 6 (visible in FIG. 1), meshed with the tines of the track 2, begin to move the tracks 3. The distance between the tracks remains unchanged due to the elastic element 10 (for example er, flexible steel rope), connecting tracks. The mover moves forward or backward, depending on the direction of rotation of the drive wheel 6.

If it is necessary to turn the vehicle to the right or left, the turning mechanism 9 is turned on, and the steering wheel 7, simultaneously with the turning section 12 of the track rollers and the track stabilizer 13, starts moving along an arc of a circle centered on axis 16. An elastic element, sections of which are located in the grooves 19 of the teeth of the track rollers 12 and the guide wheel 7, moves in space, transferring the tracks 3 of the track track 2 behind them. These grooves 19 of the track roller are clearly visible in FIG. 2 (top view of the roller). In this case, the tracks of the caterpillar track occupy a new position (see figure 2) on the surface along which the movement is carried out. The stabilizer 13 limits the instability of the horizontal position of the tracks 3 when leaving or entering the steering wheel 7.

Figure 3 shows a photo of the above second active model of an all-terrain vehicle with the proposed propulsion.

Claims (2)

1. The mover of the tracked vehicle, comprising a support frame, a wide-profile tracked track, which includes articulated tracks with ridges or spindles, mounted with gaps relative to each other, and covering the drive and guide wheels, and also containing a turning mechanism and a group of track rollers comprising a rotary and non-rotary sections, characterized in that the tracks are made symmetrically tapering from the central part to the ends, interconnected by a continuous elastic element, fixed to the center the flax part of the tracks with the possibility of vertical and horizontal bending in any of its cross section located in the gap between the tracks, ridges or lugs are made in the central part of the track along its longitudinal axis, the rotation mechanism includes a track stabilizer, a guide wheel, a rotary section of the track rollers and a vertical hinge, the fixed support of which is fixed on the support frame, and the movable one is connected with the rotary section of the track rollers, and the vertical axis of the vertical hinge is spaced from a vertical plane passing through the horizontal axis of the track roller of the rotary section, by a distance equal to 0.3-0.8 of the distance between the horizontal axes of adjacent tracks of the track. 2. The caterpillar track mover according to claim 1, characterized in that the caterpillar track stabilizer is made in the form of a track roller located outside the caterpillar track near the guide wheel and mounted to engage with the outer parts of the track tracks.

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