Movable Frame Tractor for Middle-Mounted Implement Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current tractors with middle-mounted implements face difficulties in easy mounting and unmounting, particularly due to the need to slide large, bulky implements into position, and lack the capability to efficiently carry material tanks while handling various implements.
Innovation Solution
A tractor design featuring a movable frame assembly that allows for easy attachment and detachment of middle-mounted implements by lowering dolly wheels and raising the frame, enabling direct driving over the implement, and incorporating consumables carriages for bulk seed, pesticides, or fertilizer application, with adjustable wheel positions for improved implement handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If implements are mounted in the middle of the tractor, then the operator can view the implement working the field and make immediate adjustments, but there is no easy way to change middle mounted implements requiring them to be slid to the left or right of the tractor
Solution Approach 1:
The tractor employs a movable frame assembly that can shift position dynamically. The frame is connected to the tractor body through sliding mechanisms and hydraulic cylinders, allowing it to move between a retracted position (for easy implement removal) and an extended position (for proper implement mounting). This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction by making the mounting process adaptable rather than fixed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dolly wheels as an intermediary element between the implement and the ground. These wheels support the implement during the mounting process, allowing the tractor to back up directly over the implement without requiring manual sliding. The dolly wheels temporarily bear the implement's weight and facilitate positioning, then are retracted once mounting is complete.
2Manufacturing precision
If implements are mounted in the middle of the tractor, then better depth control and weight distribution are achieved, but implements are big, bulky, heavy and difficult to move into position
Solution Approach 1:
The dolly wheels serve as a mechanical intermediary that supports heavy implements during the mounting process. By placing the implement on the dolly wheels first, the system eliminates the need for manual lifting or sliding of heavy equipment. The tractor then simply backs up over the supported implement, using its own weight and movement to complete the mounting without straining against the implement's mass.
Solution Approach 2:
The dolly wheels create a level, stable platform that supports the implement at the correct mounting height and position. This equipotential support system ensures that heavy implements are already positioned at the optimal depth and angle before the tractor engages them, eliminating the need for additional lifting or positioning efforts against gravity and weight.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a tractor is designed to carry material tanks, then bulk seed, pesticides, or fertilizer can be applied, but the tractor structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The movable frame assembly serves multiple functions: it enables middle-mounted implement attachment, supports material tanks and carriages, and provides a platform for various agricultural operations. By designing this single structural element to perform multiple roles, the patent adds versatility without proportionally increasing complexity. The same hydraulic system that moves the frame also handles tank positioning and implement mounting.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the implement mounting system with the material handling system into a single integrated structure. The frame assembly that mounts implements also supports material tanks and carriages, merging two separate functions into one unified system. This consolidation reduces the number of separate components and simplifies the overall tractor architecture while maintaining both capabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
A middle mounted implement tractor utilizes a movable frame design in order to provide for middle mounting of implements on a tractor that can drive up to the implement, raise its front portion in the air, drive forward over the implement, and then lower the front portion to the ground and attach the middle mounted implement. This is accomplished utilizing a front frame assembly pivotably connected to a mounting frame assembly which mounts the implement; a frame mover mechanism that lifts the front frame and mounting frame; a middle frame which connects the cab, frame mover mechanism and related components; and a rear frame which attaches rear wheels, caster wheels, engine, etc. The front wheels can turn one hundred and eighty degrees and the tractor can easily interchange consumables via a carriage system that allows simple loading and unloading of tanks, etc.