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EP-4217214-B1 - TOWING ARRANGEMENT FOR A TOWING VEHICLE, SYSTEM, TRAILER, AND METHOD

EP4217214B1EP 4217214 B1EP4217214 B1EP 4217214B1EP-4217214-B1

Inventors

  • KORTESALMI, OSSI
  • MIETTINEN, JOONA

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20210922

Claims (11)

  1. Towing system (50), the system (50) including: - a towing vehicle (12) comprising a chassis (14), a front axle (16), with front wheels (18), and a rear axle (20), with rear wheels (22), fitted to the chassis (14) at a distance from each other, as well as the towing vehicle's (12) towing point (24) fitted to the chassis (14) or in connection with the chassis (14) between the front axle (16) and the rear axle (20), - a device (100) to be towed equipped with a towing arm (64) to be coupled to the drawbar (26), and - a towing arrangement (10), the towing arrangement comprising: - a drawbar (26) comprising a first end (28) arranged to be pivoted to the towing vehicle's (12) towing point (24) and a second end (29), in which second end (29) the drawbar' s (26) towing point (30) for the device (100) to be towed is formed, in which the drawbar (26) is arranged essentially parallel to the towing vehicle's (12) chassis (14) and extends, in a case of the second end (29), behind the towing vehicle's (12) rear axle (20), - a first pivot (32) for pivoting the drawbar (26) under the rear axle (20) to the towing vehicle's (12) towing point (24) formed under the towing vehicle's (12) chassis (14, which first pivot (32) is in a transverse direction of the chassis (14), - a second pivot (34) fitted to the drawbar's (26) second end (29), which second pivot (34) is vertical and arranged to transmit rigidly to the first pivot (32) a load of the trailer (56) being towed, - a third pivot (44) located at one end (28, 29) of the drawbar (26) equipped with a shaft in a longitudinal direction of the towing vehicle (12), thus permitting the device (100) to tilt in the towing vehicle's (12) transverse direction, in which the towing arm (64) is rigidly attached to the drawbar's (26) rearmost pivot (34, 44), - a vertical support (41), in connection with which the second pivot (34) is formed and to which the drawbar (26) attaches, as well as an upper drawbar (35) comprising two ends (37) attached at one end (37) to the vertical support (41) and at the other end (37) to the towing vehicle's (12) chassis (14), characterized in that the towing arrangement (10) further includes a connector arm (43) connecting the upper drawbar (35) to the towing vehicle's (12) towing point (24) by running over the rear axle (20), and the drawbar (26), the upper drawbar (35), and the connector arm (43) form a closed annular structure around the rear axle (20).
  2. Towing system according to Claim 1, characterized in that the third pivot (44) is formed in the vertical support (41) to the rear of the towing vehicle's (12) rear axle (20).
  3. Towing system according to Claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the towing arrangement (10) further includes a chassis support (48) connected to an attachment end (38) of a support arm (36), which is arranged to be attached on top of the towing vehicle's (12) chassis (14).
  4. Towing system (50) according to any of Claims 1 - 3, characterized in that the system (50) includes a trailer (56) arranged to be towed with aid of the towing vehicle (12) as the device (100), and the trailer (56) includes - the trailer's chassis (58) comprising a towing end (60) and a loading end (62), as well as the towing arm (64) at the trailer's (56) towing end (60) to attach the towing arm (64) to the towing vehicle's (12) towing point (24), - an essentially level deck (66) comprising a front end (68) and a rear end (70), fitted on top of the trailer's (56) chassis (58), - wheels (79) fitted on both side of the trailer's (56) chassis (58) at sides of the deck (66).
  5. Towing system according to Claim 4, characterized in that the towing vehicle (12) is an earth-moving vehicle, which includes tipping-cylinder lugs (78), which attach to the chassis' (14) undersurface and the towing vehicle's (12) towing point (24) is formed in the tipping-cylinder lugs (78).
  6. Towing system according to Claim 5, characterized in that the earth-moving vehicle acting as the towing vehicle (12) includes tipper-body pivot points (80), which are located in the chassis (14) and the said upper drawbar (35) is attached to the said tipper body's pivot points (80).
  7. Towing system according to Claims 4 - 6, characterized in that the trailer (56) includes in addition swing bogies (72) to connect the wheels (79) to the chassis (58), which swing bogies (72) are arranged on both sides of the trailer's (56) chassis (58), at sides of the deck (66), and each of the trailer's (56) swing bogies (72) includes - an eccentric arm (82) comprising a first end (84) pivoted to the trailer's (56) chassis (58) and a second end (86), - an operating device (88) pivoted from a first end (90) to the trailer's (56) chassis (58) and from a second end (92) to between the eccentric arm's (82) first end (84) and second end (86) , - a swing arm (74) pivoted to the eccentric arm's (82) second end (86), comprising two ends (76), on each of which ends one said wheel (79) is mounted in bearings, in which the eccentric arm (82) is arranged to lower the deck's (66) rear end (70) onto the ground, the front end (68) remaining essentially in place.
  8. Towing system according to any of Claims 4 - 7, characterized in that the towing arm (64) includes attachment means (81) for coupling the trailer rigidly to the second pivot (34) or the third pivot (44), permitting only movement around the relevant pivot's (34, 44) rotation axis.
  9. Towing system according to Claim 4, characterized in that the towing arm (64) is rigidly coupled to the drawbar's (26) rearmost pivot (34,44), thus transmitting the trailer's (56) load to the first pivot (32).
  10. Towing system according to Claim 9, characterized in that the towing arm (64) includes attachment means (81) for coupling the trailer rigidly to the second pivot (34) or the third pivot (44), permitting only movement around the relevant pivot's (34, 44) rotation axis.
  11. Towing system according to Claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the trailer (56) includes in addition swing bogies (72) for connecting the wheels (79) to the chassis (58), which swing bogies (72) are arranged on both sides of the trailer's (56) chassis (58) at the sides of the deck (66), in which each swing bogie (72) includes - an eccentric arm (82) comprising a first end (84) pivoted to the trailer's (56) chassis (58), and a second end (86), - an operating device (88) pivoted at a first end (90) to the trailer's (56) chassis (58) and at a second end (92) between the eccentric arm's (82) first end (84) and the second end (86), - a swing arm (74) pivoted to the eccentric arm's (82) second end (86), comprising two ends (76), the wheels (79) being mounted on bearings at each end, in which the eccentric arm (82) is arranged to lower the deck's (66) rear end (70) to the ground, the front end (68) remaining essentially in place.

Description

The invention relates to a towing system according to claim 1. Favourable embodiments are set out in the dependent claims. The document GB 731 476 A discloses a towing system known in the prior art. In mines and quarries, heavy work machines equipped with crawler-track chassis or wheeled chassis are moved mainly with the aid of trailers, to prevent wear in the crawler-track chassis and to accelerate moving. Because the work machines are often large and heavy, for example with a weight of 120 tn, the trailers are often quite long. A trailer is known from publication WO 2015/025077 A1, which is generally towed using a chassis-steered towing vehicle, i.e. a dumper. The trailer is attached to a towing point on top of the dumper's chassis, with the aid of a towing arm known as a gooseneck. The trailer forms a long rigid totality, which is relatively easy to turn with the aid of a chassis-steered dumper. Here the towing point has degrees of freedom for turning the trailer in all three directions. However, on many work sites trailers are towed with the aid of a towing vehicle with a rigid chassis and steered only with the aid of its front wheels, preferably an earth-moving vehicle. Generally earth-moving vehicles are used to move earth, but, if the tipper body and the tipping cylinders operating it are removed, the trailer can be attached with the aid of a gooseneck to the earth-moving vehicle's towing point in front of the rear axle, formed above the earth-moving vehicle's chassis. Figures 1 and 3a show the attachment, according to the prior art, with the aid of a gooseneck 110, of a trailer 56' to a towing point 24 above the towing vehicle's 12 chassis 14. In the towing point, the gooseneck's 110 towing head can rotate around all three axes. In a known manner, there is a sphere in the towing point, to which the towing head's spherical surface fits. When using a rigid-chassis towing vehicle 12, the towing point 24 is formed at a considerable height above the support point p of Figure 3a. When towing a rigid trailer 56' the totality becomes, however, significantly slow to turn, as the towing vehicle's 12 turning radius is large and the trailer's 56' length 11 quite long. In other words, the wheel-span between the towing vehicle and the trailer's swing bogie's axle is large. In this context, the term a rigid towing vehicle refers to a towing vehicle, in which there is a rigid chassis without chassis steering, steering taking place only by turning the front wheels and the rear axle is preferably driven. There can be one or more rear axles in the towing vehicle, such as, for example, in Haulmax 3900-series earth-moving vehicles. Another problem relates to the towing point 24 formed on top of the chassis 14 of the towing vehicle 12 according to Figure 3a. The towing point 24 is located on top of the chassis 14 quite high from the ground surface 200, which acts as a support point p for the towing vehicle and particularly for the towing vehicle's rear wheels 22. When the trailer 56' and the heavy work machine (not shown) transported on it are towed, a horizontal force V1, which runs over the rear axle 20 through the trailer's 56' gooseneck 110, acts backwards on the towing point 24 of the towing vehicle 12 from the trailer 56' being towed. As the towing vehicle's 12 rear wheels 22 act as a support point, from which the traction force V2, created by the towing vehicle's engine, is transmitted forwards, and the towing point 24 is high above the surface of the ground, a large lever arm is created for the force V1, which seeks to rotate the towing vehicle 12 around the support point p. Only the gravity G acting on the towing vehicle's 12 own mass G seeks to cancel this moment. With heavy loads, and particularly when going uphill, the force V1 can make the towing vehicle's 12 front wheels 18 rise from the ground and in that way cause a loss of steerability and control. For this reason, when transporting heavy loads additional weights 63 attached to their fronts have to the used in towing vehicles 12, which prevents the towing vehicle's 12 front wheels 18 from rising off the ground 200, but at the same time increases the combination's total mass and therefore the loading acting on the towing vehicle 12, and its fuel consumptions. The additional weights reduce the useful load of the total weight of the combination. The size of the additional weight can be, for example, 20 - 50 tn, depending on the size of the towing vehicle. The invention is intended to create a towing arrangement, a system, a trailer, and a method, which permit the device being towed to be towed more easily and safely than by solutions of the prior art. The characteristic features of the towing arrangement according to the present invention are stated in the accompanying Claim 1, the characteristic features of the system are stated in the accompanying Claim 6, the characteristic features of the trailer are stated in the accompanying Claim 13, and the characte