Tractor Hitch Assembly with Integrated Hydraulic Pump Mount
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing trailer designs require significant bracing to support heavy agricultural implements, leading to increased weight and fuel costs, and the mounting of hydraulic pumps on implements results in a long PTO shaft that reduces the tractor's turning radius and risks damage during turns.
Innovation Solution
A trailer hitch assembly with a hydraulic pump mounted below a drawbar, featuring a pivotally connected trailer tongue and adjustable couplers, along with a suspension system that includes leaf springs and lateral locating linkages, allowing for reduced weight and improved turning radius without compromising load support.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If the hydraulic pump is mounted on the implement itself, then the pump can provide high pressure and flow rates, but the PTO shaft length increases which reduces the turning radius and increases damage risk
Solution Approach 1:
The hydraulic pump is extracted from the implement and relocated to the trailer hitch assembly. This allows the pump to be positioned close to the tractor (reducing PTO shaft length) while still providing hydraulic power to the implement through dedicated hydraulic lines, thereby resolving the contradiction between power delivery capability and turning radius.
2Strength
If significant bracing is added to the trailer frame to support heavy agricultural implements, then the load support capability improves, but the trailer weight increases leading to higher fuel costs
Solution Approach 1:
The hydraulic pump mounting structure is merged with the trailer hitch assembly, combining multiple functions (hydraulic power delivery, implement support, and tongue coupling) into a single integrated structure. This eliminates the need for separate bracing elements, reducing trailer weight while maintaining load support capability through the combined structural system.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution reduces the weight of the trailer assembly while effectively supporting hydraulic pumps and maintaining a smaller turning radius, thereby decreasing fuel costs and minimizing the risk of PTO shaft damage during turns.
Implementation Method 1
The hydraulic pump generates a flow of high pressure hydraulic fluid which passes through a hydraulic line to a motor or driven element of the agricultural implement
Implementation Method 2
a suspension system that includes leaf springs and lateral locating linkages
Data Source
AI summary
A tractor hitch assembly comprises a drawbar with a hydraulic pump mounted to a pump mount extending below the drawbar and drawbar couplers formed thereon. A trailer tongue coupler is pivotally connected to the drawbar for pivoting about a roll axis and a yaw axis. The tongue of a trailer is removably securable to the trailer tongue coupler in a plurality of selected vertical alignments. The trailer tongue is formed integral with a main beam of the trailer frame extending the length of the trailer.