Tracked Vehicle Motor Guard Structure for Impact Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing motor guards for tracked vehicles, such as hydraulic excavators, face challenges in protecting the traveling motor from rocks and stones while maintaining a lightweight and simple structure, as they require increased thickness or reinforcing ribs, which complicates manufacturing and increases weight.
Innovation Solution
A motor guard with a double structure comprising an inner guard member and an outer guard member, where the traveling motor is mounted on the reduction gear protruding inwardly, and the inner guard member is designed to provide higher strength and durability, while the outer guard member is lighter and split into sections for easy replacement, absorbing impacts and diffusing forces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the motor guard is mounted in a cantilever state with a simple structure, then the manufacturing is easier and weight is reduced, but the strength and durability to protect the traveling motor from rocks and stones deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The motor guard is divided into a first guard member and a second guard member positioned at different heights. This segmentation allows each member to be optimized independently - the first guard member can be thinner and lighter while the second guard member provides additional protective strength, resolving the contradiction between manufacturing simplicity and protective strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The protection structure is extended from a single-level guard to a multi-level guard system with members at different heights. This dimensional change allows the guard to protect the traveling motor from multiple angles and impact points without requiring any single member to be excessively thick or heavy.
2Strength
If the thickness dimension of the metal plate is increased to improve strength, then the protective capability improves, but the weight increases and mounting work becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the guard into multiple members, the total protective strength is distributed across several thinner components rather than requiring one thick component. This reduces the overall weight while maintaining or improving protective capability through the distributed structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Different guard members can have different thicknesses and material properties optimized for their specific protective roles. The first and second guard members can be designed with local quality variations to provide adequate strength where needed while minimizing weight in less critical areas.
3Strength
If reinforcing ribs are added to the motor guard to improve strength, then the protective capability improves, but the structure becomes more complex and manufacturing requires more labor
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of adding reinforcing ribs to a single complex guard structure, the invention segments the guard into multiple simpler members. This segmentation provides the necessary strength through the multi-member configuration rather than through complex ribbing, reducing overall structural complexity while maintaining protective strength.
Data Source
AI summary
A traveling motor (19) of a reduction device (16) is mounted on a reduction gear (17) in a state protruding to an inner side in a left-and-right direction from a left side frame (7) and a right side frame (14) toward a center frame (6). Moreover, a motor guard (22) provided on a rear side which is the other side in a front-and-rear direction of each of the side frames (7) and (14), respectively, and covering the traveling motor (19) is constituted by an inner guard member (23) covering the traveling motor (19) and an outer guard member (25) covering the inner guard member (23) from an outer side.