Articulated Joint Pendulum Stop for Soil Compactor Safety

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing articulated/pendulum joints for construction machines, such as soil compactors, lack sufficient security against excessive pendulum movement, which can lead to potential damage during steering and pendulum movements on uneven terrain.

Innovation Solution

The articulated/pendulum joint design incorporates a pendulum stop arrangement with adjustable maximum pendulum deflection ranges, where the first and second maximum pendulum deflections define a decreasing pendulum travel as the joint parts articulate, ensuring that the system components do not come into contact during combined steering and pendulum movements.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If the pendulum movement range is increased to improve adaptability to uneven terrain, then the ability to compensate for ground unevenness is improved, but the risk of component contact and damage increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveadaptability to uneven terrainVSAvoidrisk of component contact and damage
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary anti-action by providing pendulum stops that prevent excessive pendulum movement before it can cause harmful effects. The stops are positioned to limit the pendulum deflection range in advance, preventing the front joint part from contacting the rear joint part during combined steering and pendulum movements, thus eliminating the risk of damage before it occurs.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #9Preliminary anti-action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent changes the parameter of pendulum deflection range by introducing adjustable pendulum stops that can be positioned at different locations. This allows the maximum pendulum deflection to be controlled and adjusted, creating a decreasing pendulum travel range as the joint parts articulate, thereby maintaining reliability while preserving necessary adaptability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

2Reliability

If the maximum pendulum deflection range is decreased to prevent component contact, then the safety against excessive pendulum movement is improved, but the ability to compensate for ground unevenness is reduced

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesafety against excessive pendulum movementVSAvoidability to compensate for ground unevenness
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies dynamics by creating a dynamic pendulum stop arrangement where the effective pendulum deflection range changes during operation. The pendulum stops are designed to provide a decreasing pendulum travel range as the joint parts articulate, allowing the system to adapt the pendulum movement range based on the current operational state, thus maintaining safety while preserving compensatory ability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies preliminary action by pre-positioning the pendulum stops at specific locations that define the maximum permissible pendulum deflection. This preliminary arrangement ensures that during normal operation, the pendulum movement is automatically limited to safe ranges, preventing component contact while still allowing sufficient movement to compensate for typical ground unevenness.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Reliability

If the pendulum stops are positioned to limit pendulum movement in both directions, then the security against excessive pendulum movement is improved, but the complexity of the joint mechanism increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesecurity against excessive pendulum movementVSAvoidcomplexity of the joint mechanism
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies merging by combining the pendulum stop functionality with the existing joint mechanism structure. The pendulum stops are integrated into the joint mechanism as part of the coupling element assembly, rather than being separate add-on components. This merging approach provides the necessary limitation on pendulum movement in both directions while minimizing the increase in overall device complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Data Source

PatentEP3697966B1Articulated/swivel joint for the articulated connection between a rear section and a front section of a construction machine
Publication Date: 2022.10.19 HAMM AG
  • EP3697966B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP3697966B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP3697966B1 patent drawingFigure 5~6

AI summary

An articulated/swivel joint for the articulated connection between a rear section (12) and a front section (12) of a construction machine (10), in particular a soil compactor, comprising a rear joint part (26), which is to be fitted on a rear section (12) of a construction machine (10), a front joint part (28), which is to be fitted on a front section (20) of a construction machine (10), and a joint mechanism (25), which couples the rear joint part (26) to the front joint part (28) in a jointed manner, wherein the joint mechanism (25) couples the rear joint part (26) and the front joint part (28) in order to perform an articulated movement, which corresponds to a steering movement between the rear section (12) and front section (20), and a swivel movement, which corresponds to a torsion movement between the rear section (12) and front section (20), wherein the joint mechanism (25) is assigned a swivel-stop arrangement (48) for limiting the swivel movement of the front joint part (28) in relation to the rear joint part (26), wherein the swivel-stop arrangement (48) comprises a first swivel stop (88) for predetermining a first maximum amount of swivel deflection during deflection of the front joint part (28) in relation to the rear joint part (26) in a first swivel-movement direction and also a second swivel stop (86) for predetermining a second maximum amount of swivel deflection during deflection of the front joint part (28) in relation to the rear joint part (26) in a second swivel-movement direction, which is counter to the first swivel-movement direction, wherein the first maximum amount of swivel deflection and the second maximum amount of swivel deflection define a maximum swivel-deflection range for the swivel movement of the front joint part (28) in relation to the rear joint part (26), wherein, when an articulated movement is being performed, the maximum swivel-deflection range decreases as the amount of articulated deflection increases, starting from a neutral position of articulation of the front joint part (28) in relation to the rear joint part (26).