Integrated Footrest and Floor Mat for Wheel Loader Cabins
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Solution Overview
Problem
Construction machines lack a comfortable and easily cleanable footrest for trainers, leading to unbalanced postures and increased cleaning difficulties due to exposed metal footrests and openings in the floor mat.
Innovation Solution
A dual footrest system integrated with the floor mat, featuring inclined surfaces for operators and trainers, with the trainer's footrest wider and positioned to prevent interference, and reinforced with brackets to maintain balance and prevent water leakage during cleaning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a footrest is provided for the trainer in the narrow seating space, then the trainer can keep balance during operations, but the trainer feels cramped and comfort deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The operator's footrest and trainer's footrest are merged into a single integrated footrest structure. The footrest includes an operator's footrest portion and a trainer's footrest portion that are connected and form a unified structure, allowing both users to have access to footrest functionality without requiring separate installations that would consume additional space.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated footrest serves multiple functions: it provides balance support for both the operator and the trainer simultaneously. The footrest structure is designed to accommodate both users' needs within the same spatial footprint, making it a multi-functional component that addresses the balance requirements of two different users.
2Strength
If the footrest is provided by a metal plate fixed to the vehicle body frame with an opening in the floor mat, then the footrest structure is simple and strong, but washing water leaks to the back side and dirt accumulates in the opening requiring additional cleaning work
Solution Approach 1:
The floor mat and footrest are merged into a single integrated structure where the footrest is formed as a projection of the floor mat itself. This eliminates the need for separate metal plates and openings, creating a unified surface that maintains structural integrity while preventing water and dirt accumulation.
Solution Approach 2:
The floor mat is designed as a flexible rubber structure that forms the footrest surface. This flexible membrane approach replaces rigid metal plates with openings, creating a continuous surface that prevents water leakage and dirt accumulation while maintaining the necessary structural support through the rubber material's inherent properties.
3Ease of operation
If the first placement surface of the operator's footrest projects beyond the second placement surface of the trainer's footrest, then the operator has sufficient foot placement area, but the trainer's foot may interfere with the operator's foot
Solution Approach 1:
The footrest structure employs asymmetric design where the operator's footrest portion and trainer's footrest portion have different dimensions and positions. The operator's portion extends further forward while the trainer's portion is positioned more laterally, creating an asymmetric arrangement that provides adequate space for the operator's foot while preventing interference with the trainer's foot through strategic spatial differentiation.
Data Source
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AI summary
A wheel loader includes: a floor (6A) for a driving operation; an operator's seat (10) for an operator to be seated; and a trainer's seat (20) for a trainer to be seated, the operator's seat (10) and the trainer's seat (20) being provided in parallel to each other. A footrest (39) of the wheel loader includes an operator's footrest (37) and a trainer's footrest (38) respectively having placement surfaces (37A, 38A) on which adjacent feet of the seated operator and trainer are respectively placed. The operator's footrest (37) and the trainer's footrest (38) are integrated with each other.