Excavating – Scoop or excavating and transporting container – Dipper-type
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-12
2001-01-09
Batson, Victor (Department: 3671)
Excavating
Scoop or excavating and transporting container
Dipper-type
C037S466000, C037S410000, C220S562000, C220S004140
Reexamination Certificate
active
06170180
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an excavator, in particular to a mini-excavator.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Mini-excavators are generally understood to be micro-excavators which travel on rubber crawler tracks. These machines can drive through door openings of a carcass and are used as so-called construction robots with hydraulic hammers instead of excavator shovels also when renovating buildings.
With such mini-excavators, the aim is undertaken to carry the greatest possible fuel supply despite the very small dimensions. Thanks to this measure, the required refuelling intervals can be kept large. In a similar way, a large supply of hydraulic oil leads to an extension of the oil-change intervals. Furthermore, a large available oil supply improves the oil cooling of the excavator hydraulics.
At the same time, however, an operator's cabin should be made as comfortable as possible for the operator. For example, a driver's seat should be designed with sufficient suspension, which, however, requires a lot of room in the operator's cabin. In the operator's cabin, room is additionally required for a battery, a cabin heater and, for example, for an instrument panel. As the devices named can, in total, often only be fitted with difficulty in an operator's cabin, occasionally open operator's platforms are used, for example with a roll-over bar. To provide an appropriate size to the operator's cabin, the two fluid tanks named above are normally fitted below the driver's seat or in the engine compartment. However, this has the consequence that, for example, when the fuel tank is disposed below the driver's seat, there is no room left for a cabin heater. The disposition of the hydraulic oil tank in the engine compartment, on the other hand, leads to a warming of the oil due to the engine heat so that larger oil coolers are required which, in turn, leads to increased room requirements and/or lowers the engine accessibility.
Another problem which occurs, in particular with mini-excavators, is that due to the strict dimension specifications, the insulation of the engine compartment or of the valve box of the excavator is only possible in an insufficient manner. For the reasons given above, sound-proofing layers of thick construction such as are usual with larger machines cannot be used with mini-excavators.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore the object of the invention to avoid the disadvantages associated with the disposition of fluid tanks in the engine compartment or in the operator's cabin and at the same time to improve the noise insulation of an excavator, in particular of a mini-excavator.
This object is solved by means of an excavator, in particular a mini-excavator, having the features of the present invention. By the disposing of at least one fluid tank between the engine compartment and the valve box of the excavator, it is effectively possible to dampen or insulate noise which is created in either the engine compartment or the valve box. The at least one fluid tank essentially extending over the width of the superstructure thus performs a dual function, namely the simultaneous noise dampening of the engine compartment and the valve box which are disposed separately from each other. Furthermore, in accordance with the invention, the disposition of a fluid tank within the engine compartment is avoided so that, for example in the event of a hydraulic oil tank, only an oil cooler less complex than the state of the art has to be used. Finally, thanks to the disposition in accordance with the invention of the at least one fluid tank, a larger amount of space is available in the operator's cabin.
In accordance with one preferred embodiment of the excavator in accordance with the invention, an operator's cabin (possessing a driver's seat) of the superstructure of the excavator is essentially formed above the at least one fluid tank. Thanks to the positioning of the operator's cabin above the fluid tank, a particularly effective noise insulation is ensured in the operator's cabin towards engine compartment noise or valve box noise.
Appropriately, the engine compartment, the valve box and the at least one fluid tank are disposed at least partially within a frame of the superstructure. In this way, a particularly compact and robust structure is made available.
Appropriately, a heating device is disposed below the driver's seat of the operator's cabin. In this way, the space made available in the operator's cabin through the disposition in accordance with the invention is utilized in an optimum manner. It is, for example, also easily possible due to the disposition of the fluid tanks in accordance with the invention to provide a driver's seat which has a relatively large construction with a spring frame in the operator's compartment.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, for which separate protection is desired, the excavator possesses a first and a second fluid tank, with these fluid tanks abutting each other with one positive and complementary side wall each. Thanks to such a forming of abutting fluid tanks, a particularly simple installation of the tanks is possible, for example in the frame of the superstructure. The two fluid tanks can thus abut each other in a fixed manner or in a wedge-like manner while utilizing the room in an optimum manner, whereby the noise insulation effect is favorably influenced. By forming the fluid tank with side walls abutting each other obliquely, the tolerance specifications for the fluid tanks are furthermore reduced, whereby a less expensive production is possible.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the side walls of the fluid tanks, which are inclined in each case, run parallel to the longitudinal direction of the excavator.
Advantageously, the at least one fluid tank is made of metal, in particular of steel, or of plastic. While steel tanks are characterized by a particularly high mechanical stability, the use in particular of plastic tanks leads to a further improvement in the noise dampening or insulation.
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Batson Victor
Karl Schaeff GmbH & Co. Maschinenfabrik
Schlesinger Arkwright & Garvey LLP
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