Heavy Duty Excavator Bucket Exoskeletal Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing excavator buckets face inefficiencies in energy consumption and payload capacity, with most incremental improvements compromising other structural or functional aspects, and prior art buckets are not optimized for harder rock-filled earth types.
Innovation Solution
The design features a robust heavy-duty excavator bucket with outwardly inclined side walls, a specific lip-to-side wall height ratio, and an exoskeletal structure of cast steel components, including a cast steel cap rail and junction members for reduced friction and increased payload capacity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If an archless bucket design is used, then the bucket mass is reduced and payload capacity is increased, but the bucket robustness is reduced and maintenance requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The bucket is divided into multiple replaceable components including wear members on the lip and wing members, allowing critical wear areas to be independently replaced without replacing the entire bucket structure
Solution Approach 2:
The side walls are inclined outwardly at a specific angle range (5° to 20°) to optimize the balance between payload capacity and structural robustness, representing a parameter optimization approach
2Loss of energy
If the side walls are inclined outwardly, then frictional resistance between earth mass and bucket is reduced, but the bucket structural strength is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The side wall inclination angle is optimized within a specific range (5° to 20°) to achieve the best compromise between reducing frictional drag and maintaining sufficient structural strength
Solution Approach 2:
The bucket combines cast steel components (lip member, wing members, junction members) with steel plate components (side walls, rear wall, floor) to achieve both lightweight efficiency and robustness in critical areas
3Reliability
If a robust arched bucket design is used, then maintenance requirements are reduced, but payload capacity is reduced and drag energy increases
Solution Approach 1:
The traditional arch structure is removed from the bucket design, extracting the heavy structural element that limited payload capacity while relying on reinforced cast components at critical junctions to maintain robustness
Solution Approach 2:
The junction members are shaped to provide smooth arcuate transitions between floor and side walls, and between side walls and rear wall, reducing frictional engagement with earth masses while maintaining structural integrity
4Quantity of substance
If the lip width to side wall height ratio is increased, then payload capacity is increased, but drag energy increases
Solution Approach 1:
The lip width to side wall height ratio is optimized within a specific range to achieve the best compromise between maximizing payload capacity and minimizing drag energy during bucket filling operations
Data Source
AI summary
A heavy duty excavator bucket is constructed with an exoskeletal structure comprising coupled cast components including a lip member, opposed wing members, junction members locatable between floor and side walls and side and rear walls and a cap rail structure extending between opposed wing members about the upper periphery of the bucket to form an integral structure. Steel plate floor, side wall and rear wall members extend between adjacent exoskeletal regions. The bucket may include a cast arch member extending between opposed wing members and a cast reinforcing member extending between opposed junction members adjacent said rear wall.