Patent Application
20230332382
The present disclosure relates to wear members attached to the work implements of heavy equipment such as cold planers, bulldozers, mining equipment, and the like. Specifically, the present disclosure relates to wear members that have wear indicators.
In industries such as the earthmoving, mining, construction, paving, and agriculture industries, etc., work implements such as buckets, blades, shovels, grapples, shears, etc. have ground engaging tools such as shrouds, sliders or skids, cutting edges, etc. are used to encounter a work material such as rocks, dirt, asphalt, etc. In general the ground engaging tools and other wear members are attached to provide a buffer between the work material and the work implement to extend the useful life of the work implement. At some point in time, the wear member is worn away and needs to be replaced.
U.S. Pat. Appl. Publ. No. 2011/0162241 A1 discloses a wear indicator on a tool that is provided to determine if a blade or edge of a tool is worn past a predetermined point. It provides for the easy identification of the condition of replacement wear surfaces. The wear indicator or marking may be implemented in many ways that will not interfere or impede in the integrity of the blade or tool. Some examples include laser etching of the mark, a line pressed into the surface of the blade, dimples along a line, a scribe mark, a paint, a material located inside of the product that becomes visible when the part is to be replaced, or any other suitable way to easily and visually determine the condition of the blade.
These known wear indicators require the operator of a machine using such work tools or wear members to visually inspect the wear member to determine its condition. This may require machine downtime, or even disassembly of the equipment in order to see the wear indicator. For example, cold planer attachments used with paving equipment cannot always be seen during use since they are obstructed by various components of the cold planer attachment. This may require disassembly of the attachment in order to see the condition of the wear indictors, necessitating a prolonged amount of downtime for the machine which is undesirable for an economic endeavor employing the machine.
Accordingly, wear indicators that may be observed without requiring machine downtime are needed.
A wear member according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes an attachment portion, and a wear portion extending from the attachment portion that defines a wear surface. The wear portion may have a bleeding wear indicator that is disposed in the wear portion, and that is spaced a predetermined distance away from the wear surface.
A skid for use with a cold planer assembly according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may comprise a sliding portion including a sliding surface, and a connecting portion extending from the sliding portion that is thinner than the sliding portion. The sliding portion may include a first dispersible wear indicator positioned in the sliding portion away from the sliding surface.
A method of alerting that a wear member needs to be replaced according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may comprise forming a wear member that includes a dispersible wear indicator or a bleeding wear indicator.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. In the drawings:
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. In some cases, a reference number will be indicated in this specification and the drawings will show the reference number followed by a letter for example, 100a, 100b etc. It is to be understood that the use of letters immediately after a reference number indicates that these features are similarly shaped and have similar function as is often the case when geometry is mirrored about a plane of symmetry. For ease of explanation in this specification, letters will often not be included herein but may be shown in the drawings to indicate duplications of features discussed within this written specification.
While the arrangement is illustrated in connection with a cold planer attachment assembly being used by a skid steer, the arrangement disclosed herein has universal applicability in various other types of machines commonly employ track systems, as well wheels. The term “machine” may refer to any machine that performs some type of operation associated with an industry such as mining, earthmoving, or construction, paving, or any other industry known in the art. For example, the machine may be a skid steer as shown, a paver, an excavator, a wheel loader, a cable shovel, or a dragline or the like. Moreover, one or more implements may be connected to the machine. Such implements may be utilized for a variety of tasks, including, for example, lifting, loading, pushing and paving.
Power source 102 may drive the undercarriage assembly(s) 104 of machine 100 at a range of output speeds and torques. Power source 102 may be an engine such as, for example, a diesel engine, a gasoline engine, a gaseous fuel-powered engine, or any other suitable engine. Power source 102 may also be a non-combustion source of power such as, for example, a fuel cell, a power storage device, or any other source of power known in the art.
Undercarriage assembly(s) 104 may include crawler tracks 106. The undercarriage assemblies 104 may be attached to the machine 100 via hydraulic cylinders 108 that may be raised or lowered or rotated to position the machine 100 vertically and/or horizontally at a desired position relative to a work surface. Other types of undercarriages may be employed such as those employing wheels, walking mechanisms, etc.
An implement assembly in the form of a cold planer attachment assembly 200, which includes a rotary cutting drum assembly or ripping subassembly 204 (best seen in
As shown in
In
Looking at
Referring to
An instance of a skid 300c is best shown in
Turning now to
The skid 300 may comprise a sliding portion 304 including a sliding surface 306 (i.e., a bottom surface that contacts or slides on the work material such as asphalt, etc.), as well as a connecting portion 308 that may extend from the sliding portion 304, and that is thinner than the sliding portion 304.
More specifically, the connecting portion 308 (which may also be referred to as an attachment portion since this portion is used to attach the skid or wear member to some other structure via fasteners inserted through a plurality of thru-holes 317, via welding, etc.) may define an attachment portion width W308, while the sliding portion 304 (which may also be referred to as a wear portion since this portion wears as this portion slides) defines a wear portion width W304 that is greater than the attachment portion width W308.
This may yield an at least partially “T shape” 309 in a cross-section parallel to the wear portion width W304 and the attachment portion width W308. As shown in
The sliding portion 304 may include a first dispersible wear indicator 302 (may also be referred to as a bleeding wear indicator since the substance from which the wear indicator is made may bleed or leach into the working material, etc.) positioned in the sliding portion 304 away from the sliding surface 306 as represented by distance 311. More particularly, the first dispersible wear indicator 302 may have an elongated racetrack perimeter 312 (so called since the perimeter has two flat sides that are joined by semicircles), but not necessarily so. For example, other shaped perimeters may be employed including rectangular, circular, elliptical, polynomial, etc. In some embodiments, the first dispersible wear indicator comprises at least one of the following: a paint, a polymer, a dissolvable solid, and a fluid, etc.
Also, a ramp portion 314 may be provided that extends from the sliding portion 304 at an oblique angle 316 to the sliding portion 304. This ramp portion may also be referred to as a “push portion”, a “deflector portion”, etc. as it moves material or debris out of the way of the skid, underneath the skid, etc. So, the ramp portion may include a bottom surface that acts as a push surface 318.
With continued reference to
Also, the sliding portion 304 may include a top exposed surface 322 (may be planar and parallel to the sliding surface 306), and the first dispersible wear indicator 302 may be disposed at the top exposed surface 322 of the sliding portion 304 proximate to the connecting portion 308 (or attachment portion). For example, the wear indicator may be disposed inside of the sliding portion or wear portion away from any exposed surface, etc.
To provide ease and flexibility in use and during assembly, the first dispersible wear indicator 302 may be symmetrical to the second dispersible wear indicator 302a about a first plane of symmetry 324 as shown in
In a more general sense, the skid 300 may be referred to as a wear member and its construction or associated principles may be applied to other types of wear members such as shrouds, tips, and cutting edges, etc.
Still referring to
As alluded to earlier herein, the bleeding or dispersible wear indicator may comprise at least one of the following: a paint, a polymer, a dissolvable solid, and a fluid etc.
In certain embodiments, the bleeding wear indicator includes a fluid that comprises at least one of the following: a colored liquid, and a colored gas. When the working material contacts or exposes the liquid or gas, the liquid may be seen on the work material, or the gas may be seen in the vicinity of the work area, alerting the operator or other personnel in the area that a wear member needs to be replaced.
In other embodiments the bleeding or dispersible wear indicator may include a dissolvable solid that is water soluble. When the working material contacts the dissolvable solid, the moisture content of the working material (e.g., as would be the case for oilsands applications) will cause the solid to disperse or bleed into the working material, alerting that a wear member needs to be repaired or replaced.
In some embodiments, the bleeding or dispersible wear indicator includes a paint that is yellow, or a polymer that is yellow. Other noticeable colors may be employed including red, orange, etc.
As depicted in
The skid or wear member may be a unitary body as shown or be an assembly of different parts including enhanced wear members (e.g., chocky blocks, wear buttons, etc.), mounting plates, etc. Often, the skid or wear member consists essentially of a metallic material such as cast iron, steel, grey cast iron, etc.
Any of the aforementioned features and their associated dimensions may be altered to be different than what has been shown or mentioned herein in other embodiments of the present disclosure.
In practice, a work implement, a skid, and/or a wear member or a portion thereof may be sold, manufactured, bought etc. and attached to the machine in the aftermarket or original equipment scenarios according to any of the embodiments discussed herein. That is to say, the machine may be sold with the work implement, a skid, and/or a wear member and/or a portion thereof according to embodiments described herein or the machine may be retrofitted, repaired, refurbished to use any of the embodiments discussed herein. The various components including, but not limited to the skids, may be fabricated from any suitable material such as cast iron, grey cast iron, steel, etc.
In some embodiments, the bleeding or dispersing material may comprise a liquid that will glow when ultraviolet light is shown on it (may be referred to as a “UV glowing liquid” (step 406). To that end, UV lights 126 may be supplied at the rear of the machine as shown in
The nature of this dispersible or bleeding material allows it to be left behind or to egress away from a hidden wear member, giving notice that the wear member may need servicing without necessitating disassembly of the machine, or assembly to which the hidden wear member is attached. This may avoid unnecessary downtime for the machine.
As used herein, the articles “a” and “an” are intended to include one or more items, and may be used interchangeably with “one or more.” Where only one item is intended, the term “one” or similar language is used. Also, as used herein, the terms “has”, “have”, “having”, “with” or the like are intended to be open-ended terms. Further, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly stated otherwise.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the embodiments of the apparatus and methods of assembly as discussed herein without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention(s). Other embodiments of this disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the various embodiments disclosed herein. For example, some of the equipment may be constructed and function differently than what has been described herein and certain steps of any method may be omitted, performed in an order that is different than what has been specifically mentioned or in some cases performed simultaneously or in sub-steps. Furthermore, variations or modifications to certain aspects or features of various embodiments may be made to create further embodiments and features and aspects of various embodiments may be added to or substituted for other features or aspects of other embodiments in order to provide still further embodiments.
Accordingly, it is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention(s) being indicated by the following claims and their equivalents.
