US-12617480-B2 - Track system

US12617480B2US 12617480 B2US12617480 B2US 12617480B2US-12617480-B2

Abstract

A track system includes an attachment assembly, a frame assembly connected to the attachment assembly including at least one wheel-bearing frame member. The track system further has leading and trailing idler wheel assemblies at least indirectly connected to the at least one wheel-bearing frame member, at least one support wheel assembly at least indirectly connected to the at least one wheel-bearing frame member, an endless track extending around the leading idler wheel assembly, the trailing idler wheel assembly, and the at least one support wheel assembly. At least one monitoring sensor connected to the endless track and including an array of sensing devices communicates with a track system controller for determining, at least indirectly, at least one of a state of the track system and a ground surface condition.

Inventors

Yves SAUVAGEAU
Philippe JAILLET-GOSSELIN
Pierre-Yves PEPIN
Marc Nadeau
Branislav NANAC
Genevieve Therrien
Andre Todd
Cedric ALLIGUIE
Jonathan LAPALME
Nicolas Dubuc

Assignees

SOUCY INTERNATIONAL INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20190906

Claims (12)

1 . A track system for use with a vehicle having a chassis, the track system comprising: an attachment assembly connectable to the chassis of the vehicle; a frame assembly disposed laterally outwardly from the attachment assembly and connected to the attachment assembly, the frame assembly including at least one wheel-bearing frame member; a leading idler wheel assembly at least indirectly connected to the at least one wheel-bearing frame member; a trailing idler wheel assembly at least indirectly connected to the at least one wheel-bearing frame member; at least one support wheel assembly at least indirectly connected to the at least one wheel-bearing frame member and disposed between the leading idler wheel assembly and the trailing idler wheel assembly; an endless track extending around the leading idler wheel assembly, the trailing idler wheel assembly, and the at least one support wheel assembly; at least one monitoring sensor embedded into the endless track, the at least one monitoring sensor including an array of sensing devices and being configured to generate at least one signal, the at least one monitoring sensor determining, at least indirectly, at least one of a state of the track system and a ground surface condition, the at least one monitoring sensor being a flexible mat structured and dimensioned to extend over a majority of a width of the endless track; and a track system controller communicating with the at least one monitoring sensor for receiving the at least one signal indicative of the at least one of the state of the track system and the ground surface condition.
2 . The track system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one monitoring sensor is configured to generate a first signal indicative of a load parameter supported by the endless track.
3 . The track system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one monitoring sensor includes at least one of strain gauges and load cells.
4 . The track system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one monitoring sensor is configured to generate a second signal indicative of a vibration parameter undergone by the endless track.
5 . The track system of claim 4 , wherein the at least one monitoring sensor includes at least one of an accelerometer and an inclinometer.
6 . The track system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one monitoring sensor is configured to generate a third signal indicative of a temperature parameter of the endless track.
7 . The track system of claim 6 , wherein the at least one monitoring sensor includes at least one of a thermocouple and a thermistor.
8 . The track system of claim 1 , wherein: the attachment assembly includes a multi-pivot assembly having a first pivot extending longitudinally and defining a roll pivot axis of the track system, the frame assembly being pivotable about the roll pivot axis, and a second pivot extending vertically and defining a yaw pivot axis of the track system, the frame assembly being pivotable about the yaw pivot axis; the track system further includes at least one actuator connected between the attachment assembly and the frame assembly for pivoting the frame assembly about at least one of the roll pivot axis and the yaw pivot axis; and the track system controller is configured to connect to and to control the operation of the at least one actuator based on the state of the track system and the ground surface condition.
9 . A vehicle comprising first and second track systems as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the track system controller of the first track system is at least indirectly connected to the track system controller of the second track system for receiving the property of a ground surface and/or a property of a ground surface indicative of a state of the track system determined by the at least one monitoring sensor of the second track system.
10 . An endless track for a track system, comprising at least one monitoring sensor embedded into the endless track, the at least one monitoring sensor including an array of sensing devices and being configured to generate at least one signal, the at least one monitoring sensor determining, at least indirectly, at least one of a state of the track system and a ground surface condition, the at least one monitoring sensor being a flexible mat structured and dimensioned to extend over a majority of a width of the endless track.
11 . A track system for use with a vehicle having a chassis, the track system comprising: an attachment assembly connectable to the chassis of the vehicle; a frame assembly disposed laterally outwardly from the attachment assembly and connected to the attachment assembly, the frame assembly including at least one wheel-bearing frame member; a leading idler wheel assembly at least indirectly connected to the at least one wheel-bearing frame member; a trailing idler wheel assembly at least indirectly connected to the at least one wheel-bearing frame member; at least one support wheel assembly at least indirectly connected to the at least one wheel-bearing frame member and disposed between the leading idler wheel assembly and the trailing idler wheel assembly; the endless track of claim 10 ; and a track system controller communicating with the at least one monitoring sensor for receiving the signal.
12 . The endless track of claim 10 , wherein the state of the track system is a state of the endless track.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/728,161, filed Sep. 7, 2018, entitled “Track System”, U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/728,669, filed Sep. 7, 2018, entitled “Track System”, U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/728,662, filed Sep. 7, 2018, entitled “Track System”, U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/728,673, filed Sep. 7, 2018, entitled “Track System”, U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/728,690, filed Sep. 7, 2018, entitled “Vehicle”, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/728,697, filed Sep. 7, 2018, entitled “Track System”. Each one of these patent applications is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The present technology relates to track systems for vehicles. BACKGROUND Certain vehicles, such as, for example, agricultural vehicles (e.g., harvesters, combines, tractors, etc.) and construction vehicles (e.g., bulldozers, front-end loaders, etc.), are used to perform work on ground surfaces that are soft, slippery and/or uneven (e.g., soil, mud, sand, ice, snow, etc.). Conventionally, such vehicles have had large wheels with tires on them to move the vehicle along the ground surface. Under certain conditions, such tires may have poor traction on some kind of ground surfaces and, as these vehicles are generally heavy, the tires may compact the ground surface in an undesirable way due to the weight of the vehicle. As an example, when the vehicle is an agricultural vehicle, the tires may compact the soil in such a way as to undesirably inhibit the growth of crops. In order to reduce the aforementioned drawbacks, to increase traction and to distribute the weight of the vehicle over a larger area on the ground surface, track systems were developed to replace at least some of the wheels and tires on the vehicles. For example, under certain conditions, track systems enable agricultural vehicles to be used in wet field conditions as opposed to its wheeled counterpart. The use of track systems in place of wheels and tires, however, does present some inconveniences. One of the drawbacks of conventional track systems is that, under certain conditions, the endless track can be in contact with the ground while having an uneven load distribution across the ground contacting segment of the endless track, i.e. the portion of the endless track contacting the ground. As such, since the load is not evenly distributed across the ground contacting segment, areas of the ground contacting segment create high and low pressure spots on the ground surface. The high pressure spots cause undesirable soil compaction at different depth levels. In addition, the uneven distribution of the load along the ground contacting segment can lead to premature wear of some components of the track system. One factor that leads to the uneven distribution of the load across the ground contacting segment of an endless track under certain conditions is that the structural components of the track system do not always allow the endless track to conform evenly to the ground surface like a tire filled with gas (air or nitrogen) does. While it is possible to measure or estimate with sufficient accuracy the load distribution on the various structural components of a track system under static conditions, measuring or estimating the load distribution on the various structural components of a track system under dynamic conditions has proven to be challenging. The load distribution on the various structural components of a track system varies as the track system travels over obstacles such as bumps, recesses, ditches, and potholes. Even when the track system travels on a paved road, the load distribution on the various structural components can change depending on the profile of the road (i.e. the crowned profile of the road). The load distribution on the various structural components can also change because of the camber and toe-in/toe-out angles of the track system relative to the chassis of the vehicle, and even as the vehicle steers left and right. When the load distribution on the various structural components of the track system changes, the load distribution across the ground contacting segment of the endless track changes as well. As such, while a given configuration of the various structural components of a track system can be selected so as to have an optimal load distribution across the ground engaging segment of the endless track in some particular conditions, the same configuration could lead to a suboptimal load distribution across the ground engaging segment of the endless track in other conditions. As such, there remains that there is a need for continued improvement in the design and configuration of track systems so that the load distribution across the ground engaging segment of the endless track be measured or estimated accurately so that the configuratio