Patent Application
20180162708
The present invention relates to the field of mobile personnel lifting platforms, also commonly referred to as aerial work platforms. It relates more particularly to aerial work platforms with wheels by means of which the aerial work platform is supported on the ground and movable thereon.
Aerial work platforms are machines intended to enable one or more persons to work at a height. They comprise a chassis, a work platform and a mechanism for lifting the work platform. The work platform comprises a deck surrounded by a guardrail. It is designed to receive one or more persons and optionally also loads such as tools or other equipment, and materials such as paint, cement, etc. The work platform is supported by the lifting mechanism, which is mounted on the chassis. In this case, the chassis rests on the ground by means of the aforementioned wheels. The lifting mechanism makes it possible to raise the work platform from a position lowered on the chassis to the required working height, generally by means of one or more hydraulic cylinders. The drive for moving the aerial work platform on the ground is generally mounted directly on the chassis. This is the case also with the hydraulic unit supplying the aforementioned cylinder(s), but it may also be mounted—when it comprises one—on the turret of the lifting mechanism that is mounted pivotably on the chassis in order to make it possible to change the orientation of the lifting mechanism and therefore of the work platform.
There exist several types of lifting mechanism for the work platform according to which the aerial work platforms are named. The invention relates especially, but without being limited thereto, to scissor-type aerial work platforms and vertical-mast aerial work platforms.
With regard to scissor-type aerial work platforms, the lifting mechanism comprises beams articulated at their centre like scissors, these scissor mechanisms being mounted one above the other via their ends which are pivotably connected in order to reach the required working height.
With regard to vertical-mast aerial work platforms, the lifting mechanism is designed in the form of an extensible mast comprising vertical parts sliding on one another in order to extend vertically to the required working height. Their lifting mechanism sometimes comprises a turret on which the sliding vertical parts are mounted, the turret being mounted pivotably on the chassis about a vertical axis in order to be able to vary the orientation of the work platform with respect to the chassis. The work platform is mounted on the highest vertical part sometimes by means of a pendular arm—that is to say an arm articulated on the vertical mast about a horizontal axis—in order to give more flexibility to the user in reaching the working position. Depending on the models concerned, the maximum working height varies generally between 6 and 12 metres.
These two types of aerial work platform have the common feature of presenting an increased risk of tipping when they move on the ground while their work platform is raised. This risk is liable to occur when one of the wheels travels in a pothole in the ground or mounts a projection such as a kerb. This risk relates in particular to the fact that their chassis is relatively narrow and their wheels have small dimensions, unlike other types of aerial work platforms having a wide chassis and larger wheels, as is the case with articulated aerial work platforms and telescopic aerial work platforms, which are generally designed for exclusively outdoor use and to reach greater heights, which may range up to more than 40 metres.
To limit the risk of the aerial work platform tipping, arranging, under the chassis, side bars commonly referred to as pothole-protection bars, is known. More precisely, such a bar is arranged under the chassis, on each side, and extends horizontally over substantially the entire length between the front wheel and the rear wheel. A device automatically moves these two bars between a raised position, referred to as the inactive position, and a lowered position, referred to as the active position. One of these two bars—referenced 10—is visible in
When the work platform is lowered on the chassis, the risk that the aerial work platform may tip is non-existent and the bars are in the raised position. In this case, the ground clearance is sufficiently great to enable the aerial work platform, when it moves, to pass over obstacles such as potholes or kerbs without the chassis contacting the ground.
When the work platform is raised, the bars are in the lowered position. The ground clearance is then substantially reduced. If a wheel of the aerial work platform runs in a pothole, the adjacent bar contacts the ground around the pothole. Consequently, the inclination of the chassis of the aerial work platform is limited, thus preventing its tipping over.
There exist mainly two technological approaches for making the device automatically moving the bars between their raised position and their lowered position.
A first approach consists of using a mechanical connection between the mechanism for lifting the work platform and the bars, as well as springs. The energy for actuating the work platform lifting mechanism is used to move the bars from the raised position to the lowered position. Examples of this approach are described by U.S. Pat. No. 6,425,459 B1, WO 2005/068347 A1 and CA 2 646 412 A1. These solutions are however, mechanically complex, all the more so since they must comprise a system for locking the bars in their lowered position in order to maintain this position if an external force tending to make them return to the raised position is applied to them.
The second approach consists of using actuators allocated solely to the actuation of the bars; they are therefore independent of the actuator or actuators of the mechanism for lifting the work platform. Each bar is actuated by a respective actuator for moving it from the raised position to the lowered position and vice versa according in particular to the signal from a position sensor detecting whether the work platform is in the lowered position or not.
US 2002/0185850 A1 discloses another implementation of this second approach. Each bar is mounted therein on the chassis by a first pair of links articulated on each other forming a first toggle-joint mechanism and a second pair of links articulated on each other forming a second toggle-joint mechanism. When the two toggle-joint mechanisms are folded, the bar is in the raised position while the bar is in the lowered position when the toggle-joint mechanisms are in the unfolded position. An actuator specific to each bar is mounted between the two toggle-joint mechanisms in order to move them from the folded position to the unfolded position and vice versa. In the unfolded position, the links of the toggle-joint mechanisms are placed in abutment beyond the position of alignment of their axes. In this way, the forces external to the aerial work platform applied to the bars in the lowered position and which urge them towards the raised position—which may correspond to the weight of the aerial work platform—are countered by the toggle-joint mechanisms, rather than by the actuators. Because of this, the force to be developed by the actuators is limited to that necessary for moving the toggle-joint mechanisms from the folded position to the unfolded position and vice versa. However, this solution is complex and expensive despite the fact of using more economical actuators.
EP 831 054 A2 also discloses another implementation of this second approach, but using only one hydraulic cylinder to actuate the two bars. For this purpose, the cylinder is mounted under the chassis and extends parallel halfway between the two bars, the body of the cylinder being fixed to the chassis while its rod pivotably actuates the two bars by means of a toggle-joint angle transmission mechanism that transforms the movement of the rod parallel to the bars into a movement perpendicular to the bars. Although using only one cylinder, this solution is despite everything complex and bulky because of the toggle-joint angle transmission mechanism.
Moreover, it is known to arrange under the chassis, just behind the front wheels and in front of the rear wheels, side bars for protection against potholes that are fixed and very short, in order to reduce the ground clearance only locally at the wheels. An example of this is given in WO 2013/059243 A1. Though this solution is simple and economical, it only moderately limits the risk of tipping of the aerial work platform. In addition, when it moves with the work platform lowered, the aerial work platform may become jammed on small irregularities on the ground, such as a tar joint present for example on door thresholds at the entrance to a building.
One aim of the present invention is to provide a technical solution for protection against potholes for aerial work platforms that at least partially overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks. According to one aspect, the invention aims to provide a solution that is both reliable while being simpler and economical.
To this end, the present invention proposes an aerial work platform comprising:
The lowered position of the side bars makes it possible to limit the risk that the aerial work platform may tip over if a wheel runs in a pothole when moving on the ground with the work platform raised. The fact that the actuator is allocated solely to the actuation of the two side bars is advantageous since, being distinct from the actuator or actuators of the mechanism for lifting the work platform, it avoids using a complex mechanical connection between the platform lifting mechanism and the side bars as is the case with the prior art using the first approach described above. Moreover, using a single actuator for actuating the two bars at the same time is more economical and limits the mounting operations compared with the prior art using two actuators as is the case with those using the second approach described above.
According to an advantageous aspect of the invention, the actuator has two opposite ends through which it actuates the two side bars by varying the distance between the two ends, the actuator acting on each of the two side bars through another of the two ends and the actuator being held only through the two ends. Because of this, the mechanism for actuating the bars is simpler, more economical and more compact compared with the teaching of EP 831 054 A2 mentioned above.
According to preferred embodiments, the invention comprises one or more of the following features:
Other aspects, features and advantages of the invention will emerge from a reading of the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, given by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawing.
We shall describe hereinafter a preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to
As can be seen in
The aerial work platform comprises, on each lateral side, an anti-pothole bar 10. One of these two bars is visible in
The system for actuating the bars 10 in order to move them into the lowered position and in the raised position will be described with reference to
Each bar 10 is secured, towards each of its longitudinal ends, to a support 21 that is mounted pivotably on the chassis 1 about a respective shaft 22. The bars 10 pass from the raised position to the lowered position and vice versa by pivoting about the shafts 22. Each bar 10 is moved between these two positions by a same actuator, in this case a hydraulic cylinder 30. This is allocated solely to the actuation of the bars 10. The body of the cylinder 30 is mounted in a pivot connection about a shaft 33 on a support 21 of one of the bars 10. In this case, the body of the cylinder 30 has been extended by a rod 32 that is arranged fixedly on the body of the cylinder 30. The rod 31 of the cylinder 30 is mounted in pivot connection about a shaft 34 on a support 21 of the other bar 10. In a variant, the rod 31 of the cylinder 30 and/or the body of the cylinder 30 are mounted—preferably in a pivot connection—directly on the corresponding bar 10 or on a part other than a support 21 to which the corresponding bar 10 is secured.
As can be seen in
As can be seen in
In a variant, the cylinder 30 may be mounted on the supports 21 so that it is the emergence of the rod 31 that causes the movement of the bars 10 into the lowered position and the retraction of the rod 31 that causes their movement 10 into the raised position.
As can be seen, the cylinder 30 extends horizontally and perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the chassis 1, which limits the space necessary for the housing of the cylinder 30.
The cylinder 30 is solely held on the chassis by the supports 21 on which it is mounted, which simplifies the assembly operations.
The hydraulic supply to the cylinder 30 is effected through flexible pipes, which enables the body of the cylinder to move relative to the chassis 1 when the rod 31 emerges or retracts.
In our example, the cylinder 30 is a double-acting cylinder. It is supplied with hydraulic fluid by means of two couplings 36, 37 mounted in our example on a housing 35. The housing 35 is itself mounted on the body of the cylinder 30 by two rigid tubes each supplying chambers of the cylinder 30 from the couplings 36, 37 via a respective non-return valve contained in the housing 35. These non-return valves advantageously provide safety by locking the rod 31 of the cylinder 30 in position when it is not in movement or in the case where the hydraulic supply circuit were to fail.
For reasons of safety, a position sensor 50 is provided for each bar 10 in order the check whether it is in the lowered position. This makes it possible to trigger an alarm and prevent the movement on the ground of the aerial work platform if one of the bars 10 is not in the lowered position when it should be. In this case, each sensor 50 cooperates with a support surface 21 of the bar 10.
It is advantageous for the bottom edge 10a of the bars 10, when they are in the lowered position, to be offset towards the outside of the chassis with respect to the vertical V passing through the pivot shaft 22 of the support 21. In this way, the forces Fv external to the aerial work platform that are exerted vertically upwards on the bottom edge 10a of the bars 10 are countered directly by the chassis 1 at 41 where the bar 10 is in abutment. It is therefore not the cylinder 30 that counters the vertical forces. The same applies to the forces FLI external to the aerial work platform exerted laterally on the bars 10 in the direction of the outside of the chassis 1. On the other hand, the cylinder 30 counters the forces FLE external to the aerial work platform that are exerted laterally on the bars 10 towards the inside of the chassis 1. This is advantageous because the side forces FLE and FLI are generally lower than the vertical forces Fv, which makes it possible to use a less powerful and therefore less expensive cylinder 30.
In general terms, the system for actuating the bars 10 is preferentially sized so as to be able to hold the bars 10 in the lowered position for vertical forces Fv exerted on each of them of at least half the weight of the aerial work platform with its work platform loaded to its maximum allowable load. Likewise, the system for actuating the bars 10 is preferentially sized so as to be able to hold the bars 10 in the lowered position for side forces FLE, FLI exerted on each of them of at least one quarter of the weight of the aerial work platform with its work platform loaded to its maximum allowable load.
The cylinder 30 can be supplied by the hydraulic supply circuit of the aerial work platform that serves for the supply of the actuators of the lifting mechanism 2 and/or the actuators controlling the orientation of the steered wheels 4 of the aerial work platform. The cylinder may be conventionally controlled by a hydraulic directional control valve, preferably with electrical control. The directional control valve may then be controlled by an electrical circuit according for example to a position sensor—not shown—that detects whether the lifting mechanism 2 of the work platform 3 and/or commands triggered by the operator at the control station of the aerial work platform.
There are several ways of managing the sequences of lowering and raising the bars 10. By way of example, the control circuit may cause the raising of the bars 10 in the case where a command for moving the aerial work platform on the ground is triggered by the operator and the aforementioned position sensor detects that the lifting mechanism 2 is in the lowered position. In the opposite direction, the control circuit may cause the lowering of the bars 10 in the case where a command to raise the work platform 3 is triggered by the operator. If the position sensor of the lifting mechanism indicates that the work platform 3 is raised and one of the position sensors 50 indicates that a bar is not in the lowered position, the control circuit prevents the movement on the ground of the aerial work platform and triggers an alert for the attention of the operator, for example by switching on a fault indicator light on the control station.
When the cylinder 30 retracts its rod 31, the latter moves the locking mechanism into the locked position that is illustrated by
Naturally, the present invention is not limited to the examples and embodiment described and depicted but is capable of numerous variants accessible to a person skilled in the art. The actuator may be of any suitable type other than a hydraulic cylinder. Although particularly suited to scissor-type aerial work platforms and vertical-mast aerial work platforms, the invention can be applied to any other type of mobile personnel elevating platforms, including aerial work platforms that are towed or pushed for moving them on the ground.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1553476 | Apr 2015 | FR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/FR2016/050893 | 4/15/2016 | WO | 00 |
