Patent Application
20140284120
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a dump truck, and more particularly to a dump truck used in an open coal mine for coal transportation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, a mine dump truck has the following defects: 1) the truck is bulky, and has large loading capacity, a small number of tires, large tire diameter, high center of gravity, so it is prone to overturn; 2) due to the above-mentioned reasons, the bearing pressure of the ground is large, and thus the truck has high requirement on the road quality; 3) the truck has a large turning radius thereby resulting in poor trafficability; 4) large diameter of tires of the truck causes high production costs and inconvenient transportation, storage, and replacement; 5) the axle load of the truck is large, which demands a high requirement on the axle and the reducing mechanism, thereby increasing the product costs; and 6) the truck adopts a rear axle drive, the rear axle bears more than 60% of loading, so the rear axle tires wear down quickly.
In view of the above-described problems, it is one objective of the invention to provide a dump truck featuring high safety and trafficability, and low usage and maintenance costs.
To achieve the above objective, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, there is provided a dump truck comprising a suspension system and a steering system. The suspension system comprises a frame and a plurality of hydraulic suspensions, and every two of the hydraulic suspensions are aligned on one axle. The suspension system comprises at least two axles; the frame comprises a middle box beam and spars protruding from two sides of the middle box beam. The hydraulic suspensions comprise a pivotal bearing, rotating frame, swing arm, hanging cylinder, oscillating axle, and wheels; an upper end of the rotating frame is arranged in a lower surface of the spar of the frame via the pivotal bearing. The upper end of the rotating frame is non-rigidly connected to the swing arm via a pin; one end of the hanging cylinder is hinged to a lower end of the rotating frame, and the other end of the hanging cylinder is hinged to a middle of the swing arm; a cylindrical pin is disposed at a front end of the swing arm. The cylindrical pin disposed in the front end of the swing arm is sleeved in a pinhole of the oscillating axle; and the wheels are arranged at two sides of the oscillating axle, respectively.
In a class of this embodiment, the steering system comprises a steering cylinder, a steering drag link, and a steering tie rod; one end of the steering cylinder is hinged to a supporting seat of the frame, and the other end of the steering cylinder is hinged to a steering arm of the rotating frame. The steering drag link is hinged to rotating frames of two left-to-right adjacent hydraulic suspensions; and the steering tie rod is hinged to rotating frames of two front-to-back adjacent hydraulic suspensions.
In a class of this embodiment, the oscillating axles of the hydraulic suspensions on at least one axle are provided with two hub electric motors and two hub reductors, respectively; output ends of the hub electric motors are arranged on input ends of the hub reductors, outer rings of the hub reductors are connected to an axle housing of the oscillating axle, and output ends of the hub reductors are arranged on the wheels. The two hub electric motor can be replaced by two hydraulic motors.
In a class of this embodiment, the suspension system comprises between two and eight axles.
The steering system comprises a front steering mechanism and a rear steering mechanism. The steering can be achieved by the front steering mechanism or the rear steering mechanism. The former results in a motor steering, and the latter results in a splayed steering. Upon splayed steering, the front wheels and the rear wheels splay in opposite directions, which greatly reduces the turn radius of the dump truck.
Advantages according to embodiments of the invention are summarized as follows.
1) The dump truck has low center of gravity, thereby improving the driving safety. With the increase of the number of tires, under the same loading, the wheel diameter is reduced nearly by half. Thus, the height and the center of gravity of the vehicle are reduced, the anti-overturning capability is enhanced, and the driving stability and safety of the dump truck are improved.
2) The decreased wheel load alleviates the ground pressure, and thus the destruction to the ground is reduced.
3) The dump truck can adopt the mode of all-wheel splayed steering, thereby achieving low turn radius and high trafficability.
4) All-wheel drive can be achieved in the dump truck, so the truck can smoothly passes the wet road, muddy road, and uneven road, with good trafficability, cross-country performance, and maneuverability.
5) The all-wheel drive ensures the stress exerted on the tires is even thereby prolonging the service life thereof, and meanwhile improving the maneuverability on sliding road.
6) When one tire, electric motor, or hydraulic suspension is broken down, to raise the corresponding hanging cylinder so that the tire no longer contacts with the ground. Thereafter, the dump truck can be directly driven to a maintenance station without the traction of a tractor, thereby improving the maintenance efficiency and reducing the use cost of the truck.
The invention is described hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
For further illustrating the invention, experiments detailing a dump truck are described below. It should be noted that the following examples are intended to describe and not to limit the invention.
As shown in
1) Suspension System
As shown in
As shown in
For each axle, two hydraulic suspensions are provided. Thus, whether it is uphill, downhill, or on bumpy roads, or a one-way, two-way cross slope or uneven road surfaces occur, the oscillating axle 10 can adaptively compensate the wheels to yield an even stress. So, the abrasive wear is reduced, the adhesive power is enhanced, and the trafficability and stationarity of the truck are improved.
In this example, the center of gravity of the truck is lowered by about 600 mm in contrast to conventional vehicles.
2) Steering System
The steering system comprises a front steering mechanism and a rear steering mechanism. As shown in
The steering system comprises the front steering mechanism and the rear steering mechanism. The steering can be a motor steering or a splayed steering, and has the automatic centring function. As shown in
While particular embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects, and therefore, the aim in the appended claims is to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201110444254.9 | Dec 2011 | CN | national |
This application is a continuation-in-part of International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2012/085505 with an international filing date of Nov. 29, 2012, designating the United States, now pending, and further claims priority benefits to Chinese Patent Application No. 201110444254.9 filed Dec. 27, 2011, and to Chinese Patent Application No. 201120554557.1 filed Dec. 27, 2011. The contents of all of the aforementioned applications, including any intervening amendments thereto, are incorporated herein by reference. Inquiries from the public to applicants or assignees concerning this document or the related applications should be directed to: Matthias Scholl P. C., Attn.: Dr. Matthias Scholl Esq., 14781 Memorial Drive, Suite 1319, Houston, Tex. 77079.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/CN2012/085505 | Nov 2012 | US |
| Child | 14300184 | US |
