Amphibious Vehicle Power Allocation for Landing Torque Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Amphibious vehicles require excessive engine torque during landing, leading to increased engine size due to the combined requirements of the drive device for land travel and propulsion device for water travel, which is unnecessary for slow speed and posture control.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a power distribution system with separate transmissions for land and water travel, each with a dedicated gear ratio and clutch function, allowing for reduced torque requirements and output during landing by optimizing gear shifts and clutch control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If both the drive device and propulsion device are activated during landing mode, then the amphibious vehicle can perform transition from water to land, but the engine torque requirement increases excessively
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the transmission system adjustable through gear shifting. The transmission can dynamically change gear ratios to match different operational modes (land, water, landing), allowing the engine to operate in appropriate torque ranges for each mode rather than requiring excessive torque for all modes simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the transmission parameter (gear ratio) to resolve the contradiction. By selecting appropriate gear ratios in the transmission, the system can reduce the torque requirement during landing mode while maintaining the capability to perform water-to-land transition, thus resolving the conflict between reliability and power requirements.
2Reliability
If the engine is sized to provide excessive torque for landing mode, then the amphibious vehicle can perform transition operations, but the engine size increases unnecessarily
Solution Approach 1:
The transmission system provides dynamic adaptability through gear ratio changes, allowing a smaller engine to deliver appropriate torque during landing mode by utilizing lower gear ratios. This eliminates the need to oversize the engine for peak landing torque requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
By changing the transmission gear ratio parameter, the system enables a compact engine to provide sufficient torque during landing operations. The transmission acts as a parameter adjustment mechanism that allows the engine to operate at optimal sizes while still meeting the torque demands of transition operations.
3Productivity
If the drive device is optimized for land travel mode with wide speed range, then land travel performance is improved, but the device complexity increases when accommodating both land and water modes
Solution Approach 1:
The transmission system is designed with multi-functionality to handle both land and water travel modes as well as landing operations. By incorporating a universal transmission that can adapt to different operational requirements through gear ratio changes, the system avoids the need for separate specialized transmissions for each mode, thereby managing complexity while maintaining productivity.
4Productivity
If the propulsion device is optimized for water travel mode with wide speed range, then water travel performance is improved, but the device complexity increases when accommodating both land and water modes
Solution Approach 1:
The transmission system serves multiple functions by providing optimized gear ratios for both water and land travel modes. This universal transmission approach allows the propulsion device to maintain high productivity in water travel while sharing the same transmission infrastructure with land travel operations, thereby avoiding the complexity of completely separate transmission systems.
Data Source
AI summary
An amphibious vehicle is provided with: a drive source (1) that produces power; a drive device for land travel (4a, 4b) that is driven by the power produced by the power source; a propulsion device for water travel (6a, 6b) that is driven by the power produced by the power source; and a power allocation device (2) that allocates the power produced by the power source between the drive device for land travel and the propulsion device for water travel. When moving from water to land, both the drive device for land travel and the propulsion device for water travel are operated. The amphibious vehicle is further provided with a first transmission (3) between the power allocation device and the drive device for land travel, and a second transmission (5a, 5b) between the power allocation device and the propulsion device for water travel separately from the first transmission.