A passive protection and active intervention device and method for preventing tank car tank body from rolling over

Abstract

A passive protection and active intervention device and method for preventing tanker truck tilting, belonging to the field of transportation vehicle safety protection technology, includes left and right hydraulic cylinders symmetrically arranged between the tank and the chassis, two sets of physically independent and non-interconnected cross-connecting oil circuits, and a tilt sensor and controller. The cross-connecting oil circuits include a main push oil circuit connecting the lower chamber of the left cylinder to the upper chamber of the right cylinder, and a return oil balancing oil circuit connecting the lower chamber of the right cylinder to the upper chamber of the left cylinder; each oil circuit is equipped with a non-throttling direct bypass controlled by a throttle valve. Employing a dual protection mode of passive hydraulic linkage as the primary method and active electronic control intervention as a secondary method, it combines the advantages of simple structure, high reliability, and fast response speed, effectively suppressing the tilting of the tanker truck during operation and reducing the risk of rollover.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of safety protection technology for dangerous goods transport vehicles, specifically to a passive protection and active intervention device and method for preventing tanker trucks from tipping over. Background Technology

[0002] Tanker trucks are core equipment for transporting flammable and explosive hazardous materials, and their safe operation is directly related to public safety. Tank tilting and overturning are common serious accidents involving tanker trucks. The main causes include: turning, bumping, and sloshing of liquid inside the tank during emergency braking, which causes the center of gravity to shift; road surface elevation differences and uneven loads on one side exacerbate the tilting tendency, ultimately leading to overturning and causing major accidents such as media leakage, fire, and explosion.

[0003] Existing anti-rollover technologies for oil tankers have significant drawbacks: mechanical stabilizer bars have a rigid fixed torque, cannot be adaptively adjusted, have poor buffering effect, and are insufficient in protecting against sudden rollovers; pure electro-hydraulic systems are complex in structure and expensive, rely entirely on the electronic control system, and lose their protective function if the electronic control fails, resulting in low reliability; the oil circuit has a single flow pattern, which cannot balance smooth damping during normal driving with rapid response to sudden rollovers, easily exacerbating tank sway; hydraulic components have poor sealing performance and weak installation adaptability, are prone to leakage under high-pressure conditions, and are prone to loosening under bumpy conditions, resulting in poor system stability.

[0004] To address the aforementioned problems, this invention provides a device and method that combines passive protection with active intervention, solving the issues of low reliability, slow response, poor adaptability, and incomplete protection in existing technologies. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To overcome the shortcomings of existing anti-tilt technologies for oil tankers, this paper provides a tank anti-tilt device and method that is simple in structure, highly reliable, responsive, and widely adaptable. It achieves passive protection with gentle damping under normal conditions and rapid active intervention in dangerous conditions, effectively suppressing tank tilting and reducing the risk of rollover.

[0006] A passive protection and active intervention device for preventing tanker truck tilting is composed of a tilt angle sensing unit, a hydraulic actuation unit, a cross-connecting oil circuit unit, a throttling speed regulation unit, and an electronic control unit.

[0007] The tilt sensing unit uses a high-precision lateral tilt sensor, which is fixedly installed at the center of the bottom of the tank, away from the vibration and impact area. The measurement range is ±15° and the measurement accuracy is ±0.1°. It can collect the left and right lateral tilt angle signals of the tank in real time and continuously transmit them to the electronic control unit in analog or digital form to provide the system with accurate attitude data.

[0008] The hydraulic actuator is equipped with eight single-rod double-acting hydraulic cylinders, divided into four groups along the length of the tank. Each group includes one left-side cylinder and one right-side cylinder, symmetrically arranged between the bottom of the tank and the main frame beam. The rated working pressure of the cylinders is 16MPa, and the stroke is matched to the height of the tank from 80 to 150mm. The cylinder interior is divided into two independent sealed oil chambers, an upper chamber and a lower chamber, by a piston. Step seals and Glyd rings are used between the piston and the cylinder barrel, and between the piston rod and the guide sleeve to ensure no internal leakage under high pressure. The upper end of the cylinder is rigidly connected to the tank through a connecting bracket, and the lower end is hinged to the main frame beam. The hinge shaft is equipped with a copper-based wear-resistant bushing, allowing the cylinder to swing within a small angle range to adapt to changes in the tank's tilt posture and avoid rigid stress damage.

[0009] The connecting bracket is made of cast steel or stamped steel plate. The upper panel is fully welded to the bottom of the tank. The welding area is stress-relief treated to ensure the connection strength. The lower end is provided with a double-ear hinge seat with standard bolt holes. It is hinged to the upper end of the hydraulic cylinder with high-strength bolts. After the bolts are tightened, anti-loosening washers are installed to prevent loosening due to driving bumps.

[0010] The cross-connected hydraulic circuit unit consists of two sets of physically independent and non-interconnected high-pressure hydraulic circuits: a main push hydraulic circuit and a return oil balancing hydraulic circuit. One end of the main push hydraulic circuit is connected to the lower chamber oil port of the left cylinder, and the other end is connected to the upper chamber oil port of the right cylinder. One end of the return oil balancing hydraulic circuit is connected to the lower chamber oil port of the right cylinder, and the other end is connected to the upper chamber oil port of the left cylinder. The hydraulic circuits use high-pressure rigid pipes or high-pressure flexible pipes with a pressure resistance of 25MPa or higher. The rigid pipes are bent and shaped and fixed with clamps. The flexible pipes have a steel wire braided reinforcement layer. The joints are flared or compression fitting high-pressure joints, ensuring reliable sealing and no leakage. The two sets of hydraulic circuits are symmetrically arranged along the longitudinal beams of the vehicle frame, without crossing or interfering with each other, to avoid hydraulic oil crossflow that could lead to balancing failure.

[0011] The throttling speed control unit is an integrated throttling valve assembly, with two sets connected in series in each oil circuit, respectively arranged at both ends of the oil circuit near the oil port of the oil cylinder. The throttling valve integrates a throttling channel, a high-flow direct bypass, and an electrically controllable valve. The controllable valve is a two-position two-way solenoid valve or a proportional valve. Under normal conditions, it closes when de-energized, and the direct bypass is closed, allowing hydraulic oil to flow only through the throttling channel. The throttling channel has a diameter of 1.5-2mm, providing constant damping. When the valve is energized and opened, the direct bypass is activated, increasing the flow area to 10-15mm², allowing hydraulic oil to pass through quickly. A fluororubber high-pressure sealing ring with a Shore hardness of 70±5 is nested at the valve mating surface, which is oil-resistant, high-pressure-resistant, and aging-resistant, ensuring no hydraulic oil leakage when the valve is opened and closed, and maintaining stable system pressure.

[0012] The electronic control unit is based on a microcontroller or vehicle-mounted PLC, and incorporates a signal acquisition module, a logic judgment module, and a drive output module. The control unit has a preset safe tilt angle threshold, with a default threshold of 3°. This threshold can be adaptively adjusted via the control panel or host computer based on the tanker's rated load capacity, tank volume, and road conditions. The control unit receives angle signals from the tilt angle sensing unit in real time. When the detected angle is less than the threshold, the throttling speed control unit valve remains closed, and the system is in passive damping protection mode. When the detected angle is greater than or equal to the threshold, a high-level drive signal is immediately output to control the throttling speed control unit valve to open, switching to rapid active intervention mode. When the angle recovers to 0.5° below the threshold, the valve is reset after a delay, and the system returns to passive protection mode.

[0013] A passive protection and active intervention method for preventing tanker trucks from tipping over, as described above, includes the following steps: Real-time monitoring: During the operation of the tanker truck, the tilt sensor unit continuously collects the lateral tilt angle of the tank at a frequency of 100Hz and transmits it to the electronic control unit in real time. Passive linkage triggering: When the left or right side of the tank shows a tendency to sink due to uneven load, centrifugal force during turning, or road bumps, the corresponding hydraulic cylinder is passively compressed, the volume of the lower chamber of the cylinder decreases rapidly, and the internal hydraulic oil forms high-pressure oil; the high-pressure oil flows along the main push oil circuit through the throttling speed regulation unit and enters the upper chamber of the opposite cylinder. Two-way balancing action: After high-pressure oil is filled into the upper chamber of the opposite cylinder, it pushes the piston downward and the piston rod extends quickly, rigidly lifting the tank body and sinking to the opposite side to counteract the tilting moment; at the same time, the volume of the lower chamber of the opposite cylinder is compressed, and the internal oil flows back into the upper chamber of the pressurized cylinder along the return oil balancing oil path, forming an upward pulling force on the piston of the pressurized cylinder, constraining the pressurized cylinder to continue to compress, forming a two-way adaptive reverse balancing action; Normal passive protection: When the tank tilt angle is less than the safety threshold, the controllable valve of the throttling speed regulation unit remains closed, and the hydraulic oil flows slowly only through the throttling channel. The damping force is stable, suppressing small-amplitude shaking of the tank and ensuring smooth driving. Active intervention in hazardous conditions: When the tank tilt angle reaches or exceeds the safety threshold, the electronic control unit immediately drives the controllable valve to open, the direct bypass is opened, the hydraulic oil flow rate and velocity are greatly increased, the cylinder extension and retraction response time is shortened to less than 0.2s, and a large counterbalancing torque is quickly output to forcibly correct the tank posture and prevent the tilt from worsening. Automatic mode reset: When the tank posture returns to normal and the tilt angle falls below the safety threshold, the electronic control unit controls the controllable valve to close, the throttling speed regulation unit resumes the throttling mode, and the system continues to work in passive protection mode, cyclically realizing adaptive anti-tilt.

[0014] The beneficial effects of this invention are: 1. Dual protection for greater reliability: Passive hydraulic linkage is the core, and active electric control is the auxiliary. Even if the electric control fails, it can still provide normal protection, with no safety breakpoints. 2. More comprehensive adaptability to various operating conditions: Normal throttling damping ensures smooth driving, while direct bypass provides rapid response in dangerous conditions, balancing smoothness and safety. 3. Simple structure and low cost: No need for complex hydraulic valve groups and electrical control components, easy to install, no need for major vehicle modifications, and adaptable to tanks of different sizes; 4. Stable and durable sealing: The throttling speed control unit has a built-in high-pressure sealing ring to effectively prevent leakage; the connecting bracket is welded and bolted to ensure it does not loosen under bumpy conditions. 5. Superior protection effect: The cross-oil circuit achieves adaptive reverse counterbalance, quickly offsetting the rollover moment and significantly reducing the probability of rollover accidents. Attached Figure Description

[0015] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram showing the installation position of the tilt sensing unit of the present invention; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the installation layout of the hydraulic actuator of the present invention; Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the hydraulic cylinder structure of the present invention; Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the hydraulic oil flow direction under the tilting condition of the present invention; Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the throttling speed regulation unit structure of the present invention; Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the controllable valve structure of the present invention; Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the controllable valve's working state according to the present invention; Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the controllable valve closure of the present invention; Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of the controllable valve opening of the present invention; Figure 11 This is a schematic diagram of the passive protection and active intervention method of the present invention; Reference numerals: 1. Tilt sensing unit, 2. Connecting bracket, 3. Hydraulic cylinder, 4. Throttling speed control unit, 5. Controllable valve, 6. High-pressure sealing ring, 7. Cross-connecting oil circuit unit. Detailed Implementation

[0016] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of this application clearer, the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this application, not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of this application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0017] Please refer to Figures 1-11 The passive protection and active intervention device for preventing tanker truck tilting according to an embodiment of the present invention is described as follows: The device in this embodiment includes: tilt sensing unit 1, connecting bracket 2, hydraulic cylinder 3, throttling speed regulating unit 4, controllable valve 5, high-pressure sealing ring 6, cross-connecting oil circuit unit 7, and electronic control unit.

[0018] The tilt sensing unit 1 uses a high-precision lateral tilt sensor, which is fixed to the center of the bottom of the tank with bolts, at an equal distance from the left and right edges of the tank, to avoid local vibration from interfering with the measurement accuracy; the sensor wiring uses a shielded cable, which is connected to the signal input terminal of the electronic control unit to resist vehicle electromagnetic interference.

[0019] There are a total of 8 hydraulic cylinders 3, divided into 4 groups, symmetrically arranged at equal intervals along the longitudinal direction of the tank. The upper end of the cylinder is hinged to the connecting bracket 2, and the upper panel of the connecting bracket 2 is welded to the bottom steel plate of the tank. The welding is continuous without air holes or false welds, and the welding strength meets the requirements of the full load of the tank. The lower end of the cylinder is fixed to the main beam of the vehicle frame by bolts through the hinge support. Wear-resistant bushings are installed at the hinge to ensure that the cylinder can swing freely without jamming or abnormal noise.

[0020] The cross-connection oil circuit unit 7 includes two sets of independent high-pressure oil circuits. The main push oil circuit connects the lower chamber of the left oil cylinder to the upper chamber of the right oil cylinder, and the return oil balancing oil circuit connects the lower chamber of the right oil cylinder to the upper chamber of the left oil cylinder. The oil circuit uses a Φ10mm high-pressure hose with a working pressure of 25MPa. The connectors are compression fitting high-pressure connectors. Hydraulic oil is applied during assembly, and the tightening torque meets the standard to ensure a leak-free seal. The oil circuit is laid along the inner side of the frame and fixed with plastic clips, away from high temperature, friction and sharp parts to avoid wear and damage.

[0021] The throttling speed control unit 4 is installed in series at both ends of each oil circuit, close to the oil port of the oil cylinder; the throttling valve has a throttling channel and a direct bypass inside; the controllable valve 5 is a two-position two-way solenoid valve, which is normally closed by spring reset and the direct bypass is cut off; the edge of the controllable valve 5 is nested with a high-pressure sealing ring 6, which is made of fluororubber, has good compatibility with hydraulic oil, and does not swell or crack after long-term use; the throttling valve body is forged from aluminum alloy and anodized on the surface, which is corrosion resistant and impact resistant.

[0022] The electronic control unit is installed in the dashboard of the cab or in the protective box on the side of the frame. It is powered by a 24V vehicle power supply and has a built-in filter circuit to adapt to vehicle voltage fluctuations. The control unit has a preset safe tilt threshold of 3°, which can be adjusted by buttons to adapt to different working conditions such as no load, half load, and full load.

[0023] Device operation process: When the tanker truck travels at a constant speed on a straight road, the tank body is stable, the tilt angle sensing unit 1 collects the angle of 0°±0.5°, the electronic control unit has no drive signal output, and the controllable valve 5 remains closed; the hydraulic oil flows only through the throttling channel of the throttling speed regulating unit 4, the damping force is gentle, suppressing the slight shaking of the tank body, and the driving is smooth.

[0024] When the tanker truck turns or passes through a depression on one side of the road, the tank tilts to the left. The tilt angle sensor unit 1 collects an angle of 2°, which is still within the safe range. The left cylinder is compressed, and the high-pressure oil in the lower chamber flows slowly into the upper chamber of the right cylinder through the main push oil circuit. The right cylinder extends and lifts the right side of the tank. The oil in the lower chamber of the right cylinder flows into the upper chamber of the left cylinder through the return oil balancing oil circuit, forming a passive balancing effect. The tank's posture is quickly and smoothly restored.

[0025] When the tanker truck makes a sharp turn at high speed or encounters a severe tilt, the tilt angle sensor unit 1 collects an angle of 3.2°, exceeding the safety threshold. The electronic control unit immediately outputs a signal to drive the controllable valves 5 of all throttling speed regulating units 4 to open, and the direct bypass is fully connected, increasing the hydraulic oil flow rate by more than 8 times. High-pressure oil in the lower chamber of the left cylinder quickly flows into the upper chamber of the right cylinder, and the right cylinder extends instantly, forcefully lifting the right side of the tank. At the same time, the reverse pulling force quickly constrains the compression of the left cylinder, correcting the tilt angle of the tank to within 1° within 0.2 seconds, thus preventing the tank from overturning.

[0026] After the tank's posture stabilizes, the tilt sensor unit 1 collects an angle that drops back to 2.5°. The electronic control unit then controls the controllable valve 5 to close after a 0.5s delay, and the system returns to the throttling damping mode, continuing passive protection.

[0027] Tests have shown that this device can increase the maximum safe tilt angle of tank trucks by more than 40%, with a tilt response time of less than 0.2 seconds. Even in the event of electronic control failure, it can still achieve an anti-tilt effect of more than 60%, and its reliability and safety are significantly better than existing technologies.

[0028] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0029] The parts of this invention not described in detail are prior art.

Claims

1. A passive protection and active intervention device for preventing tanker truck tipping, characterized in that: It includes a tilt sensing unit, a hydraulic actuator unit, a cross-connected oil circuit unit, a throttling speed control unit, and an electronic control unit; The hydraulic actuator consists of multiple sets of hydraulic cylinders symmetrically arranged between the tank and the frame, each set including a left cylinder and a right cylinder. The cross-connected oil circuit unit includes two sets of physically independent and non-connected oil circuits, namely the main push oil circuit connecting the lower chamber of the left oil cylinder and the upper chamber of the right oil cylinder, and the return oil balancing oil circuit connecting the lower chamber of the right oil cylinder and the upper chamber of the left oil cylinder. The throttling speed control unit is installed in series on each oil line of the cross-connecting oil circuit unit, and has a built-in throttling channel, a direct bypass, and a controllable valve. The tilt angle sensing unit is installed at the bottom of the tank and is electrically connected to the electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is connected to the controllable valve signal of the throttling speed regulation unit.

2. The passive protection and active intervention device for preventing tanker truck tilting according to claim 1, characterized in that: The hydraulic actuator contains a total of 8 hydraulic cylinders, divided into 4 groups, symmetrically distributed along the transverse side of the tank. The upper end of the hydraulic cylinder is fixed to the tank via a connecting bracket, and the lower end is fixed to the main beam of the vehicle frame. Each hydraulic cylinder is divided into two independent sealed oil chambers: an upper chamber and a lower chamber.

3. The passive protection and active intervention device for preventing tanker truck tilting according to claim 2, characterized in that: The upper end of the connecting bracket is welded to the tank body, and the lower end is provided with bolt mounting holes. The hydraulic cylinder is bolted to the connecting bracket and the vehicle frame to ensure that the cylinder can flexibly extend and retract with the posture of the tank body.

4. The passive protection and active intervention device for preventing tanker truck tilting according to claim 1, characterized in that: The cross-connection oil circuit unit uses high-pressure hydraulic oil pipes, which can be high-pressure rigid pipes or high-pressure flexible pipes. The two sets of oil circuits are laid out independently throughout the entire process, without any interconnection nodes, thus avoiding hydraulic oil crossflow interference.

5. The passive protection and active intervention device for preventing tanker truck tilting according to claim 1, characterized in that: The throttling speed control unit includes a throttling valve body, a controllable valve, and a high-pressure sealing ring; the high-pressure sealing ring is nested on the edge of the controllable valve and is made of high-pressure hydraulic oil resistant material to prevent oil leakage; the controllable valve can switch between two working modes: throttling channel and direct bypass.

6. The passive protection and active intervention device for preventing tanker truck tilting according to claim 5, characterized in that: Under normal conditions, the controllable valve keeps the throttling channel open, and the hydraulic oil flows slowly at a preset flow rate; when the tilt exceeds the limit, the controllable valve switches to the direct bypass, which greatly increases the flow rate and velocity of the hydraulic oil.

7. The passive protection and active intervention device for preventing tanker truck tilting according to claim 1, characterized in that: The electronic control unit is preset with a safe tilt angle threshold, which can be adaptively adjusted according to the tanker truck model, load and driving conditions.

8. The passive protection and active intervention device for preventing tanker truck tilting according to claim 1, characterized in that: The tilt sensing unit is a lateral tilt sensor that collects the left and right tilt angle signals of the tank in real time and continuously transmits them to the electronic control unit.

9. The passive protection and active intervention device for preventing tanker truck tilting according to claim 1, characterized in that: The device adopts a dual protection mode with passive hydraulic linkage as the main method and active electronic control intervention as the auxiliary method. When the electronic control fails, the passive hydraulic linkage protection function can still work independently.

10. A method for a passive protection and active intervention device for preventing tanker truck tilting, based on any one of claims 1-9, characterized in that: Includes the following steps: Step 1: The tilt sensor unit collects the lateral tilt angle of the tank in real time and transmits it to the electronic control unit; Step 2: When the tank body is pressed down on one side, the corresponding side cylinder is passively compressed, and the hydraulic oil in the lower chamber forms high pressure, which flows into the upper chamber of the opposite side cylinder through the main push oil circuit; Step 3: After oil enters the upper chamber of the opposite side cylinder, the piston rod extends and lifts the corresponding side of the tank. At the same time, the oil in the lower chamber of the opposite side cylinder flows into the upper chamber of the pressurized side cylinder through the return oil balancing oil passage, forming a reverse pulling force to constrain the compression of the cylinder. Step 4: When the tilt angle is within the safe threshold, the hydraulic oil flows through the throttling channel of the throttling speed regulation unit to achieve smooth damping passive protection; Step 5: When the roll angle exceeds the safety threshold, the electronic control unit drives the throttling speed regulation unit to switch to the direct bypass to accelerate the hydraulic oil flow rate and achieve rapid active intervention; Step Six: After the tilt angle returns to a safe range, the throttling speed control unit resets to the throttling channel mode, returning to normal passive protection.

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