Pivotable Fifth-Wheel Connector Alignment for Offset Trailer Coupling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing connection systems for commercial vehicles require precise alignment and are prone to excessive wear, making it difficult to connect trailers and towing vehicles with significant height or oblique offsets, and often necessitate complex control mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A connection system with pivotable plug-in units on both the towing vehicle and trailer, allowing for independent pivotability to compensate for height and oblique positions, featuring a floating mounting arrangement and restoring means to facilitate easy alignment and reduce wear, with a design that enables collinearity of coupling axes even in challenging orientations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manually individual plug connectors on elastic lines are manually coupled between trailer and towing vehicle, then connection can be established, but excessive wear occurs in the region of plug-in contacts and precise alignment is required
Solution Approach 1:
The plug-in unit is mounted on the carrier unit so as to be able to pivot about a pivot axis, allowing dynamic adjustment to compensate for height and oblique offsets between trailer and towing vehicle, eliminating the need for precise manual alignment and reducing wear on connection contacts
Solution Approach 2:
The pivotable design allows the coupling axis orientation to change dynamically, enabling the connection system to adapt to various relative positions and angles between the trailer and towing vehicle, thereby maintaining reliable connection without excessive wear
2Reliability
If a first plug connector is fixed in the region of the coupling plate and further plug connectors are arranged on the coupling unit on the trailer with pivotability, then reliable connection is possible in horizontal oblique position, but the trailer must be arranged exactly at the correct height relative to the towing vehicle
Solution Approach 1:
Both the first plug-in unit on the carrier unit and the second plug-in unit on the connection unit are equipped with pivotability about respective pivot axes, enabling dynamic compensation for both height differences and oblique positions, thereby achieving reliable connection without requiring precise height alignment
Solution Approach 2:
The connection system is divided into multiple independently pivotable components (first plug-in unit and second plug-in unit), each capable of adjusting its orientation to compensate for misalignment, allowing the system to handle both height and angular offsets independently
3Device complexity
If all plug connections are arranged in the king pin, then connection can be established, but a complex control mechanism is required to close the plug connection after the king pin has been coupled into
Solution Approach 1:
The pivotable plug-in units are designed to automatically align and connect when the trailer and towing vehicle are coupled, eliminating the need for complex control mechanisms to close the plug connection, as the mechanical coupling itself facilitates the connection process
Data Source
AI summary
A connection system for use on a fifth-wheel coupling includes first and second connection units each including a carrier unit and a plug-in unit each having a coupling axis and mounted on the respective carrier unit so as to be able to pivot about a respective pivot axis, a, the first and second plug-in units respectively including a coupling region of an electrical line element and/or a fluid-conveying line, the second connection unit mounted on a semi-trailer to be pivotable about a pivot axis such that the second connection unit can be moved into a coupling position, wherein the second pivot axis extends parallel to the first pivot axis when the second connection unit is in the coupling position, and wherein the first coupling axis is essentially collinear with the second coupling axis if the first and second plug-in units are in the coupling position.