Industrial Truck Support Roller Parallelogram Guide
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing industrial trucks with support rollers face high production costs due to the need for numerous variants of support rollers and support elements for different types of trucks, leading to increased complexity and manufacturing effort.
Innovation Solution
The support roller is designed to be height-adjustable using a parallelogram guide with a fastening support and two parallel links, allowing for easy attachment of different types of support rollers and elements, enabling the production of multiple variants with minimal construction effort and costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If support rollers are designed with different types and configurations for different industrial truck variants, then the specific performance requirements of each truck type are met, but the number of parts variants increases and production costs rise
Solution Approach 1:
The support roller is designed with a universal mounting structure that can accommodate different support element types (springs, dampers, shock absorbers) through standardized mounting points. The parallelogram guide mechanism serves multiple functions: it allows vertical movement compensation, maintains roller contact with the roadway, and accommodates various support element configurations without requiring different mounting structures for each variant.
Solution Approach 2:
The support roller assembly is segmented into modular components: the roller itself, the support element (spring/damper), and the mounting structure. This segmentation allows individual components to be selected and combined based on specific truck requirements, reducing the need for completely different roller designs for each application.
2Reliability
If support rollers are made vertically mobile to compensate for drive wheel wear and maintain contact force, then force transmission is maintained, but the contact point on the roadway changes significantly with wear
Solution Approach 1:
The support roller is designed with a spherical or crowned running surface instead of a flat surface. This curvature allows the roller to self-align and maintain a relatively stable contact point on the roadway even as the parallelogram guide moves vertically to compensate for drive wheel wear. The curved surface distributes contact forces more evenly and reduces lateral shifting of the contact point.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple types of support elements are provided for different truck types, then specific operational requirements are met, but production costs and manufacturing effort increase
Solution Approach 1:
A single parallelogram guide structure with standardized mounting points serves as a universal platform for multiple support element types. The same mounting bracket and linkage mechanism can accommodate springs, dampers, shock absorbers, or other support elements, allowing manufacturers to produce one base structure and then attach different support elements based on the specific operational requirements of each truck variant.
Solution Approach 2:
The support element selection is made dynamic rather than static - the same physical mounting structure can accommodate different support element types depending on the application. This allows the system to adapt to different operational requirements (pedestrian mode, passenger mode, different load conditions) without requiring different manufacturing processes for the mounting structure itself.
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
This solution allows for a slight change in the contact point of the support roller on the roadway when the drive wheel wears, maintaining consistent force transmission and reducing production costs by using an identical parallelogram guide for various industrial truck types.
Implementation Method 1
EP 2 311 772 A1 and DE 197 53 412 A1 disclose industrial trucks of this type with a drive wheel and support rollers which are arranged laterally spaced from the drive wheel and are supported on the roadway by means of a spring-damper device
Implementation Method 2
The support roller is supported in the vertical direction in a resilient and/or damped manner on the drive part
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to a support roller (6) of an industrial truck (1), wherein the industrial truck (1) has a drive part (2) in which a steerable drive wheel is arranged, wherein the support roller (6) is arranged laterally spaced from the drive wheel in the drive part (2) and is movably arranged on the drive part (2) in the vertical direction (V).The support roller (6) is movably arranged on the drive part (2) by means of a parallelogram linkage (10), wherein the parallelogram linkage (10) has a mounting bracket (11) which can be attached to the drive part (2), and has two vertically spaced and parallel links (15, 16) wherein the links (15, 16) are each pivotally attached to the mounting bracket (11) by means of a link pivot axis (17, 18), and has a support roller carrier (20) to which the support roller (6) can be attached, wherein the support roller carrier (20) is pivotally attached to the two links (15, 16) by means of each of a holder pivot axis (21, 22), wherein the two link pivot axes (17, 18) and the two holder pivot axes (21, 22) form a parallelogram.