Agricultural Wheel Ballast Mount With Debris-Ejecting Centering Base
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wheel weight systems for agricultural vehicles require access to both sides of each wheel for attachment and removal, making it difficult and time-consuming for operators to change ballast configurations, especially when transitioning between road transport and field work.
Innovation Solution
A wheel weight system comprising a base configured to be coupled to a wheel center of an agricultural vehicle, with a ballast weight that can be easily attached and detached without removing the wheel. The base features a centering portion that aligns with the ballast weight, allowing debris to exit through cutouts, facilitating easier installation and maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If typical ballast wheel weight attachment configurations are used, then the wheel weights can be securely attached to the wheels, but access to both sides of each wheel is required making it difficult and time-consuming to add or remove ballast without removing the wheels
Solution Approach 1:
The attachment system is divided into separate components: a base that remains attached to the wheel and a ballast weight that can be independently attached and removed. This segmentation allows the ballast to be changed without removing the entire wheel assembly, significantly reducing the time and effort required for configuration changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The base acts as an intermediary component between the wheel and the ballast weight. It provides attachment points on both sides of the wheel, allowing the ballast to be secured without requiring direct access to both sides of the wheel itself. This intermediary structure enables easy ballast changes while maintaining secure attachment.
2Productivity
If the wheel weight system allows easy attachment and removal of ballast weights, then operational efficiency is improved, but the base structure becomes more complex requiring centering portions and cutouts
Solution Approach 1:
The base is segmented into functional portions: a centering portion with cutouts and an attachment portion. This segmentation allows each part to serve its specific function - the centering portion ensures proper alignment while the attachment portion secures the ballast. The modular design manages complexity by organizing functions into distinct segments.
Solution Approach 2:
The base features asymmetric design elements including a centering portion that extends only on one side and cutouts positioned at specific locations. This asymmetric configuration enables the base to perform multiple functions (centering, alignment, debris ejection) without requiring symmetric complexity on both sides, thereby managing overall structural complexity.
3Manufacturing precision
If the base centering portion extends outwardly to align the ballast weight, then alignment precision is improved, but the base structure requires additional material and becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The centering portion is designed as an asymmetric extension that protrudes only where needed for alignment. By concentrating the alignment function in a specific asymmetric region rather than distributing complexity uniformly, the design achieves high alignment precision while minimizing overall structural complexity and material usage.
Solution Approach 2:
The centering portion serves multiple functions: it provides alignment precision for the ballast weight, structural support for the attachment mechanism, and houses cutouts for debris ejection. By making this single component multi-functional, the design achieves high precision without proportionally increasing overall complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A wheel weight system for an agricultural vehicle includes a base couplable to a wheel and a ballast weight couplable to the base. The base and the ballast weight each defines a through-hole extending along a rotational axis. One side of the base has a base centering portion extending outwardly from a base end face portion and tapering radially inwardly, the base centering portion defining a centering portion cutout. One side of the ballast weight defines a ballast cutout face spaced apart along the rotational axis from a ballast end contact face configured to contact the base end face portion. The centering portion cutout of the base at least partially circumferentially aligns with the ballast cutout face about the rotational axis such that debris radially exits the through-holes from between the centering portion cutout and the ballast cutout face.