Pivotable Slope-Level-Cut Bucket for Excavator
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional excavator buckets experience significant bucket overlap and struggle to maintain optimal orientation on sloped surfaces, particularly in environmental dredging applications where precise positioning is critical, such as removing PCB-contaminated sediment.
Innovation Solution
The design of a slope-level-cut bucket with pivotably connected halves featuring a contoured cutting edge and stepped excavating surface, allowing for precise orientation and reduced overlap on sloped surfaces, optimized for angles between 72 to 79 degrees, and enhanced with a contoured footprint and de-watering apertures for efficient material removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a conventional clamshell bucket with rectangular footprint is used on sloped surfaces, then the bucket can perform basic excavating operations, but significant bucket overlap occurs and precise orientation maintenance becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The bucket is divided into two separate halves (first bucket half and second bucket half) that are pivotably connected, allowing each half to be independently positioned and oriented. This segmentation enables precise control of the cutting edge orientation on sloped surfaces while reducing unnecessary overlap between bucket passes.
Solution Approach 2:
The bucket design transitions from a conventional symmetric rectangular footprint to an asymmetric configuration where the cutting edge is formed by specific walls (front, rear, and cutting walls) of the bucket halves. This asymmetric design optimizes the cutting geometry for sloped surfaces, improving orientation precision and reducing material waste.
2Measurement precision
If conventional clamshell buckets are used for environmental dredging with stringent requirements, then basic material removal can be achieved, but position accuracy of +/â 4 inches vertically and +/â 6 inches horizontally cannot be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The bucket incorporates a hydraulic cylinder that dynamically adjusts the relative position and orientation of the two bucket halves during operation. This dynamic adjustment capability allows the operator to precisely control the cutting edge orientation and bucket position to meet stringent accuracy requirements while maintaining dredging productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The design allows for changing geometric parameters of the bucket configuration, including the angle between bucket halves and the position of the cutting edge relative to the bucket center. By adjusting these parameters, the bucket can achieve the required position accuracy for environmental dredging while maintaining efficient material removal rates.
3Measurement precision
If the bucket cutting edge is designed for optimal performance on sloped surfaces, then orientation precision improves, but the bucket design becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
Dividing the bucket into two pivotably connected halves provides the necessary degrees of freedom to achieve precise slope cutting accuracy. The segmentation allows independent positioning of each half to optimize the cutting edge orientation while keeping each individual half structurally simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The pivotable connection between bucket halves serves multiple functions: it enables precise orientation control on sloped surfaces, allows adjustment for different cutting depths, and provides adaptability for various dredging conditions. This multi-functionality achieves high slope cutting accuracy without requiring multiple specialized bucket designs.
Data Source
AI summary
A slope-level-cut bucket for an excavator includes a first bucket half and a second bucket half. The bucket halves are pivotably connected to each other and movable between a closed position and an opened position. Each bucket half has an excavating edge configured to minimize bucket overlap during cutting of a sloped surface. In particular, the excavating edge includes a plurality of steps. The dimensions of the steps are selected to optimize the cutting of a desired slope of the excavating surface.