HK1143127B - Vehicle - Google Patents

Description

Vehicle with a steering wheel

Technical Field

The invention relates to a vehicle, in particular a work vehicle, according to the preamble of claim 1, comprising a detachable ballasting weight, lifting means for lifting the ballasting weight from a lowered position to a mounted position on the vehicle, and support means with at least one extendable support foot.

Background

Work vehicles such as lift trucks, mobile drilling rigs and vibrators typically have ballasting weights. Ballasting weights are used to reduce the risk of vehicle tilting and are usually placed opposite the mast or working equipment on the work vehicle.

In order to reduce the overall weight of the vehicle during transport out of or to the work site and thereby keep it below certain limits, it is common practice to separate the ballasting weights from the vehicle and transport them independently to the work site. Thereafter, at the project site, the ballasting weights are again mounted to the vehicle.

To enhance the roll stability, it is also known to use additional support devices on the vehicle. Typically, such support means are constituted by a plurality of support feet which can be extended and increase the contact surface of the vehicle on the ground.

One common vehicle may be found, for example, in US 3,278,045. In order to lift and install the ballast weights on the vehicle, a cable winch arrangement of a crane is used. The vehicle is also supported by the extended support feet during lifting of the ballasting weight.

Furthermore, a mobile crane is known from EP 1780167 a2, in which a separate cable winch arrangement is provided for lifting the ballast weights.

Furthermore, an excavator with a lifting device for a ballast weight is known from US 3,902,735. The lifting device includes a pivot arm attached to the bottom surface of the upper frame and pivoted by means of a pair of positioning cylinders for lifting and lowering the ballast weight.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention is based on the following objectives: provided is a vehicle, particularly a work vehicle, having a simple structure while allowing good handling of a ballasting weight.

According to the invention, this object is solved by a vehicle having the features of claim 1. Preferred embodiments are set out in the dependent claims.

The vehicle according to the present invention is characterized in that: in order to extend the at least one supporting foot, the supporting device has at least one positioning cylinder, and the at least one positioning cylinder is designed to raise and lower the ballast weight at the same time.

The basic idea of the invention resides in the fact that no additional lifting means are provided for lifting the ballast weight. Instead, for this purpose positioning cylinders are used, which are usually of the hydraulic type and are provided for extending the supporting feet. As a result, the construction work of the entire apparatus is simplified, since the lifting and lowering of the ballast weights and the extending of the support feet do not have to take place simultaneously.

According to the invention, it is preferred that the at least one positioning cylinder has a piston rod which can be connected to the support disc and the ballast weight. Thus, if desired, the support disc contacting the support foot on the ground can be removed from the piston rod by a detachable connection. In this way, the support disc can be designed with a large diameter and can be easily removed when the positioning cylinder is detachably connected to the ballast weight. The connection of the support disc can be designed independently of the connection of the ballast weight. In particular, a simple threaded connection or a simple bolted connection is sufficient for fastening the support disk.

Basically, the positioning cylinder may be laterally disposed beside the ballast weight. In order to actuate the ballast weights with as little bending moment as possible, it is advantageous according to the invention if the ballast weights have a passage for each positioning cylinder through which the respective positioning cylinder extends. The passageway may be specifically positioned in the center of the ballast weight so that virtually no bending moment is applied to the one or more positioning cylinders. This allows a further simplification of the structure and allows a direct connection without a lever mechanism.

Furthermore, according to the invention, a locking device is provided for detachably connecting the ballast weight to the piston rod of the at least one positioning cylinder. The locking means may be operated automatically (e.g. by means of a suitable locking cylinder) or manually.

In this connection, it is particularly preferred according to the invention that the locking means comprise at least one latch bolt for establishing a form-fitting connection. The latch bolt may be actuated transversely to the direction of movement of the piston rod, i.e. in an approximately horizontal manner. For this purpose, horizontal access is provided for the latches on the ballast weights. By means of the latch bolt, at least form-fitting fastening of the ballast weight on the positioning cylinder can be achieved. By means of suitable tapered surfaces on the latch bolt or on the associated opposing surfaces of the piston rod and the ballast weight, an additional clamping effect and thus a further press-fitting component can be achieved during lifting of the ballast weight.

According to the invention, an increased variability of the vehicle is achieved, because: the ballast weight has a base plate, on which a further ballast plate can be fastened; and the locking means is designed to be located in a part of the bottom plate. The ballast weights are made up of plates or segments whose lowest support plate is the bottom plate. One or more additional ballast plates may be placed on and attached to the base plate, depending on the total weight required for ballasting. The ballast plate can be designed as a simple metal plate or concrete plate, since only the bottom plate comprises a locking device with a latch and possibly a latch passage.

Furthermore, according to the invention, a fastening device is provided on the vehicle, with which the ballast weight can be detachably fastened in a mounted position on the vehicle. Once the lifting device has lifted the ballasting weight to the mounting position, the ballasting weight is connected to the frame of the vehicle in a fixed manner by the fastening device. Thereafter, the locking means between the ballast weight and the positioning cylinder may be disassembled, so that the positioning cylinder may then be used again as a support means. To remove the ballast weights, the process is reversed.

Basically, the supporting and lifting device according to the invention can be used on wheeled vehicles and rail vehicles. The chassis may be rigidly attached to the superstructure. According to the invention, it is particularly preferred that the vehicle has an underframe and an upper frame rotatably supported thereon, so that the positioning cylinder and the ballast weight are arranged on the rear part of the upper frame in the mounted position. Here, a heavy work implement, such as a mast with a drilling drive, is usually arranged at the front, opposite the rear. To prevent tilting in the direction of the front part, ballast is provided on the rear part. The arrangement according to the invention on the rotatable upper frame thus ensures the tilting stability even if the longitudinal direction of the upper frame is turned relative to the longitudinal direction of the underframe.

In this connection, it is preferred that the ballasting weight on the upper frame reaches a lowered position beyond at least one position of the underframe and can be placed vertically on the ground by means of at least one positioning cylinder. This position is preferably the position of the upper frame when the longitudinal direction of the upper frame is aligned with the longitudinal direction of the underframe. However, because the length of the upper frame typically exceeds the width of the underframe, the ballasting weights can also be installed or removed when the upper frame is rotated 90 °.

According to the invention, during operation, a support disc is arranged on the piston rod below the ballast weight in the mounted position. In this way, the supporting cylinder is connected in a fixed manner with its cylinder housing to the superstructure of the vehicle (more particularly to the upper frame), and the piston rod passes through the entire ballast weight from above and projects from the bottom face of the ballast weight. In this position, a support disc may be connected to the piston rod, wherein the support disc may have a larger diameter than the passage, in particular through the ballast weight. In this way, the support disc can then be moved downwards in order to additionally support the vehicle relative to the ground.

According to the invention a particularly stable lifting device is achieved in that two positioning cylinders are provided which can be actuated simultaneously to lift and lower the ballast weight. Here, the two positioning cylinders are arranged symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and in the central region of the ballast weight. By using two positioning cylinders, it is also possible to achieve lifting of a large counterweight for ballasting with a continuous compact construction.

Drawings

The invention will be further described hereinafter by means of preferred examples of embodiments schematically illustrated in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a vehicle according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the ballast weight of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a partial cross-sectional view of the ballast weight of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows a side view of yet another vehicle according to the present disclosure with the ballast weight in a lowered position;

FIG. 5 shows an enlarged view of a portion of the ballast weight in a lowered position;

FIG. 6 shows an enlarged view of the locking device; and

fig. 7 shows a view of the vehicle of fig. 4 with the ballast weight in an installed position.

Detailed Description

In a first embodiment of a vehicle 10 according to the invention according to fig. 1, the vehicle 10 comprises an undercarriage 12 with a side crawler 13. The upper frame 14 is rotatably supported on the chassis of the base frame 12. A ballasting weight 30 according to the present invention is provided on the illustrated rear portion 16 of the upper frame 14. Opposite the rear part 16, a mast superstructure 15 (only partially shown) is provided on the upper carriage 14.

To avoid the risk of tilting towards the mast superstructure 15 during operation of the vehicle 10, a ballast weight 30 according to the invention is located on the rear portion 16 of the upper carriage 14. The ballast weight 30 includes a lowermost base plate 32 on which a plurality of ballast plates 34 are stacked as needed for ballasting.

At the central portion of the base plate 32, two cylindrical holding shafts 33 are fixed to project through passages in the two lower holding plates 34 in the upward direction into recesses located on the ballast weights 30. In order to fasten the ballast weight 30 on the rear portion 16, two fastening means 24 are provided on the upper frame 14, each fastening means 24 having a horizontally oriented actuating cylinder 26 with a locking bolt 25. The actuating cylinders 26 are each fixed on an adjusting sleeve 27, which adjusting sleeve 27 is connected in a fixed manner to the upper frame 14.

When the ballast weight 30 is in the shown mounted position on the upper frame 14, the retaining shaft 33 projects into both adjustment sleeves 27. The ballasting weight 30 is form-fit locked on the upper frame 14 by moving the locking bolt 25 through a corresponding bolt passage 35 located in the retaining shaft 33 and the adjustment sleeve 27. The locked position can be seen on the right-hand fastening means 24 in fig. 1, while the left-hand fastening means 24 shows the locking bolt 25 in a retracted position for the removal of the ballast weight 30.

As can also be seen in more detail in connection with fig. 2 and 3, the vehicle 10 according to the invention has a lifting device 50 with two positioning cylinders 52, wherein the positioning cylinders 52 extend through the floor 32 and the two lower carrier plates 34 from top to bottom through respective passages 36 in the central portion of the ballast weight 30. Two positioning cylinders 52 are secured to the rear portion 16 of the upper frame 14. The cylinders each include a cylinder housing 54, and a piston rod 56 is movable within the cylinder housing 54 by appropriate supply and exhaust of hydraulic fluid. The lower end of the piston rod 56 serves as a support foot 64, for which purpose it has a cylindrical support disk 66. The support plate 66 is connected to the piston rod 56 via a detachable connection.

Slightly above the support plate 66, a locking device 40 is provided in a portion of the bottom plate 32, with which locking device 40 the piston rod 56 can be connected to the bottom plate 32 of the ballast weight 30. To this end, each piston rod 56 has an annular conical element 44 with an inclined outer surface. A suitable fixing sleeve 46 is arranged on the associated passage 36 of the bottom plate 32 so that by inserting the two latch bolts 42 horizontally, a form-fit connection is formed between the piston rod 56 and the bottom plate 32. With this locking, the ballast weight 30 can be moved vertically by the lifting device 50, with two positioning cylinders 52 between the shown mounting position on the upper carriage 14 and the lowered position on the ground. Additional centering is achieved on the upper frame 14 by an adjustment groove 38 provided on the side of the ballast weight 30 facing the upper frame 14.

Fig. 4 shows, by way of further example, a lowered position in which the ballast weight 30 rests on the ground by means of the bottom plate 32. In this position, ballasting weight 30 can be picked up by vehicle 10, whereby vehicle 10 moves toward ballasting weight 30 and ballasting weight 30 is adjusted for further installation. After adjustment, the piston rod 56 of the positioning cylinder 52 may extend vertically downward to the position shown in fig. 5.

In this extended position of the piston rod 56, the latch bolt 42 may now be inserted through a corresponding bore in the bottom plate 32 in an approximately horizontal manner, as shown in particular in fig. 6. On the one hand the latch bolt 42 rests on the block-shaped conical element 45 and the conical side surface of the block-shaped conical element 45 is located on the piston rod 56, and on the other hand the latch bolt 42 rests on the conical seat 47 and the conical side surface of the conical seat 47 is located on the base plate 32. Thus, a form-fitting locking of the piston rod 56 with the bottom plate 32 and thus of the piston rod 56 with the ballast weight 30 is achieved.

By retraction of the piston rod 56, the ballast weight 30 can then be moved vertically upward to a mounted position on the upper frame 14 of the vehicle 10. In this upward movement position, the ballast weight 30 can now be connected in a fixed manner to the upper frame 14 via the holding shaft 33 via fastening means (simple bolted connection according to fig. 7).

Thereafter, the locking device 40 between the piston rod 56 and the base plate 32 may be disassembled again. Thus, the piston rod 56 is again free to move downwardly and serves as a support foot 64, so that the contact surface and thus the roll stability of the vehicle 10 can be improved. In the embodiment shown in fig. 7, a simple ball cup 65 is provided on the bottom surface of piston rod 56 to form a support foot 64. To detach and remove ballast weights 30, the process may be reversed.

Claims (11)

1. A vehicle, comprising:

an upper frame comprising an adjustment sleeve fixedly connected thereto,

a detachable ballast weight comprising a base plate and a retaining shaft fixed to the base plate,

-fastening means for detachably fastening the detachable ballasting weight to an upper frame of the vehicle, wherein the retaining shaft protrudes into the adjustment sleeve and is detachably retained in the adjustment sleeve by the fastening means,

-lifting means for lifting the ballasting weight from a lowered position into a mounting position on the vehicle,

-a locking bolt which is provided with a locking pin,

an actuating cylinder for actuating the locking bolt, and

-a support device having at least one extendable support foot and at least one positioning cylinder for extending the support foot,

wherein

-the at least one positioning cylinder is configured to raise and lower the detachable ballast weight and provide support for the vehicle with extendable support feet.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein

The at least one positioning cylinder has a piston rod that can be connected to the support disc and the ballast weight.

3. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein

The ballast weight has a passageway for each positioning cylinder through which the respective positioning cylinder extends.

4. The vehicle of claim 2, wherein

In order to detachably connect the ballast weight to the piston rod of the at least one positioning cylinder, a locking device is provided.

5. The vehicle of claim 4, wherein

The locking device comprises at least one latch bolt for establishing a form-fit connection.

6. The vehicle of claim 4, wherein

A further ballast plate can be fastened to the base plate of the ballast weight, and wherein the locking means are designed in a part of the base plate.

7. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein

The fastening means is capable of detachably fastening the ballast weight at the mounting location on the vehicle.

8. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein

The vehicle has an undercarriage on which the upper frame is rotatably supported such that in the installed position the at least one positioning cylinder and the ballast weight are disposed on a rear portion of the upper frame.

9. The vehicle of claim 8, wherein

By means of the at least one positioning cylinder, the ballast weight on the upper carriage reaches at least one position beyond the undercarriage and can be placed vertically in the lowered position on the ground.

10. The vehicle of claim 2, wherein

During operation, a support disc is provided on the piston rod below the ballast weight in the mounted position.

11. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein

Two positioning cylinders are provided that can be actuated simultaneously to raise and lower the ballast weights.