Pivot Platform Assembly for Ground Engaging Tool Servicing Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ground engaging tools, such as rippers, interfere with accessing the interior of work vehicles like skid steers, making servicing challenging due to their design and positioning.
Innovation Solution
A platform assembly with pivot joints that allows the platform to rotate between lowered and raised positions, providing support above ground engaging components in the lowered position and facilitating access to these components in the raised position, thereby enabling easier servicing and access to the vehicle's interior.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the ground engaging tool is positioned to perform ground-working operations, then the tool can effectively till soil or accomplish ground operations, but the tool interferes with accessing the interior of the work vehicle chassis for servicing
Solution Approach 1:
The platform is designed to be movable between a lowered working position and a raised servicing position through pivot joints. This dynamic reconfiguration allows the platform to transition from blocking access to providing access, resolving the contradiction between maintaining ground-working capability and enabling ease of repair.
Solution Approach 2:
The platform assembly adds a vertical dimension to the servicing access problem. By raising the platform vertically above the ground engaging components, operators gain access to the vehicle interior from above, creating a new spatial pathway that bypasses the interference caused by the tool's horizontal positioning.
2Reliability
If the platform is positioned in the lowered position to support objects above ground engaging components, then safety and stability are improved, but access to ground engagement components is blocked
Solution Approach 1:
The platform's ability to dynamically transition between lowered and raised positions through pivot joints allows it to maintain safety during operation (lowered position) while enabling access to ground engagement components when needed (raised position).
Solution Approach 2:
The platform assembly is segmented into multiple platforms that can be independently positioned. This segmentation allows one platform to remain in the lowered safety position while another can be raised to provide access, or the same platform can be sequentially repositioned between safety and access functions.
Data Source
AI summary
A platform assembly for a ground engaging tool contains a platform that establishes a single substantially planar support surface, at least one pivot joint that is coupled to the platform to facilitate its rotation between a lowered and raised position and that is coupled to the ground engaging tool. The platform supports an object above the ground engaging components of the ground engaging tool while the platform is in the lowered position, and the platform facilitates access to the ground engagement components of the ground engaging tool while the platform is in the raised position.