The present disclosure relates to refuse collection and, more particularly, to a grabber for picking up refuse containers.
Grabbers are the primary interface between a lifting device and a refuse collection container. In designing grabbers, the function is to secure the refuse container, support the weight of a loaded container, lift the container and empty it in the collection vehicle. This is to occur without distorting the container in any way that may either damage the container or prevent refuse from exiting the container in a dumping position. Also, the maneuverability of the grabber is important in that containers are often positioned in close proximity to one another and to other objects. Having a grabber that can easily approach and secure a container in close quarters is an enhancement to the functionability of the grabber.
The present disclosure provides the art with a grabber having an arm geometry to surround a wide variety of containers. The arm geometry prohibits contact of the container by the arm itself. Thus, this eliminates damage and distortion to the containers. The grabber includes a belt that concentrates the highest gripping force on the corner of the container where the container is the stiffest.
The present disclosure also provides a grabber with implements that are substantially parallel with one another enabling maximum versatility in selecting containers in close quarters.
The disclosure also provides a tensioning device that enables the belt to have a varied tensioning force. Further, the present disclosure provides a gear mechanism that is readily removable from a housing for gear replacement.
According to the disclosure, a grabber assembly comprises a base for securing with a refuse collection device. A pair of arms is pivotably coupled with the base. The pair of arms moves between a grasping position and a release position. A belt is coupled with the arms. The belt contacts a refuse container in the grasping position. A tensioning device is provided to tension the belt. The tensioning device provides a variable tension on a force in the belt. The tensioning device includes a pair of springs with a first and second spring force rate. The spring force rate of the second spring is larger than the spring rate of the first spring.
A grabber assembly comprises a base to secure with the refuse collection device. A pair of arms pivotally couple with the base. The pair of arms moves between a grasping position and a release position. A belt is coupled with the arms. The belt contacts a refuse container in the grasping position. A pair of flippers is provided with each arm coupled with a distal end of each of the arms. The flippers are movable between a grasping and a release position. The flippers are independently actuated with respect to the arms. The flippers are capable of being positioned substantially parallel to one another.
According to another aspect, a grabber assembly comprises a base to secure with the refuse collection device. A pair of arms is pivotally coupled with the base. The pair of arms moves between a grasping position and a release position. The belt is coupled with the arms. The belt contacts a refuse container in the grasping position. A pair of readily removable gear sections meshes with one another to move the arms with respect to one another. Each gear section includes a housing with a bore to receive a pivot pin. A pair of space plates is on the housing. A removable gear portion is coupled between the plates. At least one removable fastener secures the gear portion with the plates.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
Turning to the figures, a refuse collection vehicle is illustrated and designated with the reference numeral 10. The refuse collection vehicle includes a frame 12, supported by wheels 14, a cab 16 and an internal combustion engine (not shown). The cab also includes a steering wheel, brakes, etc. to drive the vehicle 10. The refuse collection device 20 is positioned on the frame 12. The refuse collection device 20 includes a body 22, a hopper 24, and a lift arm 26. The lift arm 26 includes a grabber 30 that grasps refuse container 32 and dumps the refuse container 32 into the hopper 24. The hopper 24 also includes a packer assembly or ram (not shown) that pushes the refuse into the body 22 (see
A position sensor (LVDT, rotary sensor) is placed on the packer assembly or ram so that the position of the packer is always known. The position of the packer could be a parameter that is modifiable by the user. This could be advantageous because at the beginning of a route, the user could set the packer to just clear the hopper. At the end of the route, the user could set the packer to execute a full pack. This information could also be used in conjunction with load weight and cylinder pressure to approximate the density of the load that is being carried. Thus, this provides information that could be used to optimize routes and vehicle efficiency.
Turning to
Arms 46, 48 are coupled with the pivots 38, 40. Each arm 46, 48 include a belt tensioning mechanism 50. The belt tensioning mechanism 50 is coupled with belts 52, 54.
The arms 46, 48 have an upper portion 56 and the lower portion 58. The upper portion 56 includes a bore 60 that receives the pins 38 and 40. The upper portion 56 includes an inner surface 62 that is positioned along a radius R from the proximal end of the upper arm 56 attached with the pin 38, 40 throughout approximately two-thirds of the arm length. The lower portion 58 includes an inner surface 64 that is tangent with the arcuate surface 62. A pulley 66 is on arm 46 and a pair of pulleys 66 is on the arm 48. Also, rollers 68 are at the distal ends of the arms 46, 48. Thus, the arms 46, 48 are elongated and the pulleys 66 are positioned behind the containers 32 as seen in
Each arm includes a belt tensioner 50. The belt tensioner 50 enables a variable force to be applied by the belts 52, 54 onto the container 32. The belt tensioner 50 generally includes a biasing mechanism 70 and an attachment mechanism 72 coupling with the belts 52, 54. The biasing mechanism 70 ordinarily includes a base 74 with a perpendicular rod 76 extending from it (
The connection assembly 72 includes a bracket 98 which includes a pair of straps 100 that connect with belt clamping assemblies 102 that clamp the belts 54. Also, pulleys 104 enable the straps 100 to move as the belts 54 are tensioned (
The belt tensioner 50 on arm 46 differs from the tensioner 50 on arm 48 only in the connection assembly 72′. Here, since it includes a single belt clamp 102, a single strap 106 is connected directly with the crank 96 (
When a container enters the arms 46, 48, the belts 52, 54 contact the container 32. As this happens, due to the spring force of the first spring 80, the belts 52, 54 enable the container 32 to be received into the belts 52, 54. As the arms 46, 48 continue to be rotated around the container 32, the second spring 82 begins to provide a force to tension the belts so that the belts 52, 54 apply a force onto the container 32 to retain the container 32 within the gripping arms 46, 48. Due to the variable tension as well as the design of the arms 46, 48, only the tensioning belts 52, 54 contact the container 32. The tensioning belts 52, 54 do not contact the arms 46, 48 as the arms 46, 48 are moved around the container 32. Thus, as can be seen in
Turning to
The gear sections 42, 44 provide additional versatility for the grabber 30. Gear sections 42, 44 are formed with a hollow cylinder 130 and a pair of plates 132, 134 forming a housing (see
A position sensor 142 (LVDT, rotary sensor) is placed on the grabber assembly 30 so that the position or rotation of the arms 30 is always known. The sensor 142 may be coupled with the cylinder 46 to measure the piston rod stroke or with a pin 40 to measure the rotational angle. Ordinarily, a magnetic pickup on the piston rod or pin is sensed by the sensor 142 to determine position. By knowing arm position, this enables the user to set the closed position of arms and the open position of the arm anywhere along the arc of travel. Knowing and being able to control and set this parameter is advantageous because a user would be able to set the degree of closure for different sized containers. Thus, as container sizes change, the diameter of the cross-section changes, therefore by setting the optimized location of closed arms for a small can or a large can could be done at the press of a button.
The description of the disclosure is merely exemplary in nature and thus, variations that do not depart from the gist of the disclosure are intended to be within the scope of the disclosure. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/640,129, filed on Apr. 30, 2012. The entire disclosure of the above application is incorporated herein by reference.
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