Agricultural Trailer Brake Shoe Alignment With Self-Centering Pin
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Solution Overview
Problem
Agricultural trailer axles often suffer from misalignment of brake shoes due to manufacturing and assembly tolerances, leading to reduced braking power, uneven wear, vibrations, and potential breakage, posing safety risks.
Innovation Solution
A brake design for agricultural trailer axles that allows separate fitting of the brake mass, ensuring the ideal axis of the brake shoes coincides with the axle, wheel hub, and brake drum, using a pin with removable engagement means and conjugate surfaces to maintain alignment during assembly and operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the brake plate is welded to the axle for constructional simplicity and economy, then manufacturing cost and assembly simplicity are improved, but misalignment between the brake mass and axle occurs due to greater tolerances and thermal shrinkage, leading to eccentricity of the brake shoes
Solution Approach 1:
The brake assembly is divided into separate components: the brake plate welded to the axle, and the brake mass (shoes and articulating pin) that can be independently positioned and adjusted. This segmentation allows the brake mass to be separately aligned and secured to the brake plate without being constrained by welding tolerances, thus maintaining alignment precision while preserving manufacturing simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The brake mass acts as an intermediary element between the axle and the braking system. By positioning the articulating pin within the hole of the brake plate and securing it with locking means, the system mediates between the welded brake plate and the brake shoes, ensuring proper alignment while maintaining the economic welded construction of the brake plate to axle connection.
2Manufacturing precision
If the brake mass is separately assembled and coupled with the brake plate, then alignment precision is improved, but assembly complexity and time are increased
Solution Approach 1:
The brake mass components (brake shoes and articulating pin) are pre-assembled and positioned to achieve proper alignment before being coupled to the brake plate. The articulating pin is preliminarily positioned within the hole of the brake plate, and alignment is established before the final locking operation, ensuring precision without requiring complex assembly procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The self-centering feature of the articulating pin within the hole of the brake plate allows the component to automatically align itself during assembly. This self-alignment mechanism eliminates the need for complex alignment tools or procedures, reducing assembly complexity while maintaining high alignment precision through the inherent geometric design of the pin and hole engagement.
3Stability of the object's composition
If locking means with reciprocally engaged conjugate surfaces are used to fix the pin position, then alignment stability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The locking means utilize reciprocally engaged conjugate surfaces that provide a self-centering and self-aligning mechanism. The curved or rounded surfaces of the locking means allow the articulating pin to automatically find its centered position within the hole, ensuring stable alignment while using a simple locking geometry rather than complex adjustment mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The reciprocally engaged conjugate surfaces of the locking means enable automatic self-alignment and self-centering of the articulating pin within the brake plate hole. When the locking means are engaged, the conjugate surfaces guide the pin into the correct position, providing stable alignment without requiring external alignment tools or complex adjustment procedures, thus maintaining simplicity while ensuring stability.
Data Source
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AI summary
A brake for trailer axles of agricultural type (1) comprising at least one axle (10), a wheel hub (20), a brake drum (30) and a brake mass (40) rigidly connected to said axle (10) and comprising at least one brake plate (41), at least two shoes (50 A, 50 B) equipped with friction material (51 A, 51 B) and an articulating pin (70) of said two shoes (50 A, 50B) having a stem (72) removably housed in an axial direction in a hole (200) provided on said brake plate (41), characterised in that said pin (70) has at least one first ring (210) having a radially internal surface provided with removable engagement means engaging with said stem (72) and a radially external surface provided with a circumferential engagement groove (213) for said two shoes (50 A, 50 B), in that said stem (72) of said pin (70) is housed with radial clearance in said hole (200) and in that locking means is provided with a wheelbase set between the axis (Y1) of said pin (70) and the axis (Y2) of said hole (200), said locking means comprising at least two reciprocally engaged conjugate surfaces (44, 45, 201, 219).