Wheel substitutes for land vehicles – With means for tensioning track by moving at least one endwheel
Patent
1997-12-16
1999-11-23
Dayoan, D. Glenn
Wheel substitutes for land vehicles
With means for tensioning track by moving at least one endwheel
305150, 305151, 305153, 305154, 305130, 305133, 305131, B62D 5500
Patent
active
059887753
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a resilient track-tensioning device for tracked automotive vehicles, said device including a track tensioning wheel arrangement for attachment to the rear of a carrier which carries track-wheel units that form part of the vehicle track support assembly.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the case of a known articulated tracked vehicle unit comprising a front and a rear carriage which are pivotally connected together and each of which has two track support assemblies of essentially similar construction for driving an endless drive track or tread which runs around the track-support assembly includes a carrier, a so-called saddle beam, on which there is journalled a drive wheel unit, a plurality of carrier wheel units and a track tensioning wheel unit. The tensioning wheel unit on the track support assembly is positioned furthest to the rear of the saddle beam and is also required to function as a tensioning wheel, i.e. is required to be positionable in the longitudinal direction of the track support assembly so as to enable track tension to be adjusted, and also to function as a track carrier wheel so as to therewith minimize the pressure exerted by the track support assembly on the underlying ground surface. The carrier wheel units and the tensioning wheel unit are pivotally mounted on the saddle beam by means of pendular arms that are pretensioned or biassed by means of torsion springs such as to enable respective wheel units to move resiliently over ground irregularities. The pendular arm of the known tensioning wheel unit is shorter than the pendular arm of the carrier wheel units, meaning that the suspension of the tensioning wheel unit will be more rigid, i.e. less resilient, than the spring suspension of the carrier wheel units. This limits passenger and driver comfort when driving over rough country and also results in an unfavourable distribution of the pressure exerted on the ground beneath the tracks. Furthermore, a tensioning wheel unit that includes a relatively short pendular arm will result in wide variations in track stretch as the tensioning wheel unit springs back and forth (up and down). This is because the pendular arm of the tensioning wheel unit has relatively pronounced movement in the longitudinal direction of the track as the unit springs inwardly.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved resilient track-tensioning device for tracked automotive vehicles, which as a result of improved resiliency and track-geometrical properties enables the tracked vehicle to move much more quickly over both rough country and on road surfaces with improved comfort. When driving at high speeds, for instance a speed of 75 km/hour, which can be compared to a speed of 50 km/hour in the case of earlier known tracked vehicles of the kind defined in the introduction, particularly high demands are placed on the wheel spring-suspension in the track-support assembly and also on the track-tensioning device and the spring system. Among other things, a longer resiliency path is required with regard to the individual ground-abutting carrier wheel and tensioning wheel units when travelling at high speed over rough ground. Furthermore, it is necessary for the spring characteristics of these wheel units to be as similar to one another as possible, therewith contributing to a low and uniformly distributed track ground pressure, which reduces the rolling resistance in the track support assembly. It is also essential that the tensioning wheel suspension is constructed so that inward springing of the tensioning wheel unit will result in the smallest possible variation in the geometric track length, so as to thereby minimize variations in track tension, these variations being liable to cause the track to lurch or twist when track tension is too slight and the track slackens, or in pronounced track wear and a shorter useful life span of bearings and bushings when the track tension is too high. The tensioning whee
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Dayoan D. Glenn
Hagglunds Vehicle AB
Nguyen Long Bao
LandOfFree
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