Multi-component Shell Profile for Bucket Material Evacuation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing bucket designs often suffer from material sticking in the corners, leading to reduced productivity and increased fuel consumption due to material packing, which results in weight gain and inefficient material handling during dumping operations.
Innovation Solution
A multi-component shell subassembly with angled plates and a thinner design for the bucket's corners, reducing tight spaces and drag, allowing for easier material release and weight reduction, while maintaining structural integrity and improving fuel efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a single-component curved shell profile is used, then manufacturing is simpler, but material sticks in the corners causing packing and reduced productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The shell profile is divided into multiple separate components (curved shell, end plates, reinforcement elements) that are assembled together. This segmentation allows the corner regions to be specifically designed with different geometries that prevent material packing, while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through modular construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The shell design incorporates varying thickness and geometry at different locations, particularly at the corners where material sticking occurs. The corner regions are designed with specific angular configurations and thickness variations that promote material evacuation, while other regions maintain structural integrity.
2Strength
If the shell is designed with thicker plates for strength, then structural integrity is improved, but weight increases leading to higher fuel consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The shell employs variable thickness design where plates are thicker only in regions requiring high strength (such as the curved portion and critical connection areas) and thinner in regions where less strength is needed. This localized thickness optimization reduces overall weight while maintaining structural integrity where required.
Solution Approach 2:
The shell is constructed from multiple separate plate components rather than a single thick component. This allows strategic placement of thickness and material distribution, concentrating strength where needed and reducing weight in non-critical areas, thereby lowering overall bucket weight and fuel consumption.
3Productivity
If angled plates are added to prevent material sticking, then material evacuation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The angled plates are integrated with the end plates and curved shell components rather than being separate add-on elements. This merging of functions reduces the total number of discrete parts while still providing the material evacuation benefits of angled geometries at the corners.
Solution Approach 2:
Angled plates are implemented only at the specific corner locations where material sticking occurs, rather than throughout the entire shell structure. This localized application of angled geometry provides the necessary material evacuation function while minimizing the addition of complex components.
Data Source
AI summary
A bucket comprises a shell including a curved member that defines a first transverse end, a second transverse end, a top edge and a bottom flat portion, a first flat angled member attached to the first transverse end of the curved member and a second flat angled member attached to a second transverse end of the curved member, a bottom member, and at least one attachment bracket, wherein the bucket assembly defines a bucket center plane and the first and second flat angled members are tapered toward the center plane of the bucket.