Articulating Hitch for Surface Conditioners
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hitches for surface conditioning tools lack the ability to adjust pitch articulation effectively, leading to inefficiencies in maintaining playing surfaces and other applications, as they fail to maintain a consistent angle during turns and do not adequately cover the turning path of work machines, requiring additional passes and constraining the useable turning radius.
Innovation Solution
An articulating pitch-adjustable hitch system with a laterally-articulating frame, featuring play-added clevis-type joints and a three-point connection, allows for active and passive adjustments to maintain a consistent angle relative to the ground surface, enabling the hitch to adapt to turns and cover the entire turning path of the work machine without leaving behind tracks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a fixed hitch is used to couple surface conditioning tools with work machines, then the structure is simple and stable, but the tool cannot maintain a consistent angle during turns and cannot cover the entire turning path
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by transforming the fixed hitch into an articulating hitch with multiple degrees of freedom. The hitch includes a laterally-articulating frame with play-added clevis-type joints that allow the tool to dynamically adjust its orientation during turns, maintaining a consistent working angle relative to the ground surface while adapting to the changing motion of the work machine.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the hitch structure into multiple articulated sections connected by joints. The laterally-articulating frame is divided into separate components that can rotate relative to each other, enabling independent adjustment of pitch and lateral angles. This segmentation allows the tool to cover the entire turning path while keeping the overall structure manageable through modular joint design.
2Productivity
If a fixed hitch is used, then the device complexity is low, but additional passes are required and the usable turning radius is constrained
Solution Approach 1:
The articulating hitch with play-added clevis-type joints provides dynamic adjustment capability that allows the tool to automatically track the turning path of the work machine. This eliminates the need for additional passes to cover areas missed by a fixed hitch, directly improving productivity while the modular joint design keeps the complexity increase manageable.
3Manufacturing precision
If pitch adjustment is added to the hitch, then the angle consistency during turns is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements pitch adjustment through a dynamic articulating mechanism with play-added clevis-type joints rather than a static adjustable system. The joints naturally provide pitch variation through their range of motion during turns, maintaining angle consistency relative to the ground surface without requiring complex active control systems, thereby achieving precision with moderate complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
One exemplary embodiment is a hitch assembly including forward and rearward lateral members, first and second longitudinal members and a lifting member which are coupled together to form a laterally-articulating pitch-adjustable quadrilateral. The forward lateral member is coupled with the first longitudinal member by a first joint and the second longitudinal member by a second joint. The rearward lateral member is coupled with the first longitudinal member by a third joint and the second longitudinal member by a fourth joint. The lifting member is coupled with the rearward lateral member by a first flexible rigging member and a second flexible rigging member. The quadrilateral can articulate between a left-leaning configuration, a rectangular configuration, and a right-leaning configuration. The lifting member can be adjusted to vary an amount of slack in one or both of the flexible rigging members and to raise and lower the rearward lateral member.