RU2732662C1 - Amphibious vehicle with increased cross-country capacity - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: transportation.SUBSTANCE: invention relates to amphibious vehicles, which can be used as basic structure for construction of manned or unmanned vehicles. Amphibian means of increased cross-country capacity comprises first and second primary engines, four ground propellers made as retractable to watercraft amphibious vehicle body position above waterline. Amphibious vehicle additionally contains two more primary engines with formation of individual drives of each of ground propulsors used, and each of latter is equipped with angular speed sensor. As propulsor for movement on surface of water there is used an air screw installed in upper rear part of body of amphibious vehicle and equipped with means of changing direction of propeller thrust vector.EFFECT: enabling increase in amphibious vehicle flotation ability in difficult driving conditions.1 cl, 2 dwg

Description

The invention relates to amphibious vehicles, i. E. means capable of moving on land and on water, and can be used as a basic structure for building manned or unmanned (robotic) vehicles for movement on the surfaces of various environments.

The purpose of the invention is to expand the scope of the amphibious vehicle by increasing the cross-country ability in difficult driving conditions - overcoming water obstacles (lakes, river areas), ice and snow fields, swampy terrain.

Known "Multipurpose transport" Ivanovets "" (utility model patent RU 27534, IPC B60F 3/00, publ. 10.02.2003), which is an amphibious vessel, "including a waterproof boat hull, chassis, engine, air pusher propeller and a cargo-passenger compartment, characterized in that it has three pairs of low-pressure wheels, with the middle pair shifted to the stern and can be driven by the engine. "

The disadvantages of the above transport are:

- impossibility of lifting wheels when driving in a displacement position, which increases resistance when driving on water and soil with low bearing capacity;

- implementation of only one driving axle, instead of all-wheel drive and, as a consequence, - reduced cross-country ability when the driving pair is slipping, which does not allow using the proposed vehicle when driving on difficult surfaces, such as: swampy areas, snow-ice build-ups, overgrown areas grass, etc.

Known amphibious vehicle (utility model patent RU 100959, IPC B60F 3/00, publ. 01/10/2011), intended for movement on the "surface of various media - from solid to water, as well as to effectively overcome various border areas in the form of wet sand , swamps, reservoirs overgrown with grass, etc. " A well-known amphibious vehicle containing "displacement elements mounted on a carrier base, a module for placing a payload and control, as well as a power plant consisting of an internal combustion engine and a propeller" is characterized in that it is "equipped with a wheeled chassis, and at least one displacement the element is made to be connected when driving on weak load-bearing surfaces. " In one embodiment, the vehicle can be equipped with an "additional wheel drive", and the "connected displacement elements are made lifting and lowering in height".

The disadvantages of the known amphibious vehicle are:

- the absence of a keel in combination with a high position of the center of gravity, which worsens stability on the water;

- when placing wheels inside displacement elements - decrease in the angles of entry and exit of an amphibious vehicle, in case of removal of wheels outside the displacement elements - an increase in resistance to movement on the water;

- the lack of an all-wheel drive transmission of the wheeled chassis, which reduces the cross-country ability on land when driving in difficult road conditions.

The device closest in technical essence to the claimed invention, taken as the closest analogue, is a method for constructing a power transmission and its use in high-speed amphibians, described in patent RU 2640382 "Power transmission for amphibians" (IPC B60F 3/00, publ. . 28.12.2017).

The essential features of an amphibian using a power transmission according to the aforementioned patent are the presence of a "first prime mover", "first ground propulsion means", "first ship propulsion means", "second prime movers", "second ground propulsion means", "second ship means propeller ", as well as, in various embodiments of the invention, one or more disconnect couplings configured to selectively disconnect any one or more of the components in the power train in such a way that a selective drive from the first prime mover or the second prime mover (or their combinations) of one, two, three, or all four wheels (or tracked propellers) belonging to the first and second ground propulsion means, as well as controls for selectively activating and deactivating any one or more disconnect couplings. The term "prime mover" in the terminology of the cited patent refers to a device that directly transfers mechanical energy to one or more propulsion devices. In this case, both the first and the second, ground propulsion means, can be any pair (left-right, front-rear) of the used wheels (or caterpillar drives), and all ground propulsion means are made retractable to a position above the waterline of the amphibian hull for movement on water, and a water cannon or a mushroom propeller can act as the first and second means of the ship's propulsion system.

The presence of the above-described essential features in conjunction with other features given in the description of the closest analogue, which are not essential from the point of view of the claimed invention, allows you to get more flexibility and versatility of the power train and amphibians using this power train.

At the same time, the known amphibian using the above-described power transmission has a number of disadvantages:

- the use of a mechanical transmission that transfers power from two prime movers to ground propellers (wheels or tracks) does not allow the implementation of an individual traction mode for each of the propellers, which significantly complicates the use of the vehicle in off-road conditions and can lead to its jam

- the use of submersible devices (water cannons, propellers, etc.) as propellers for movement on the surface of the water does not allow the amphibian to be used on swampy areas and in border water areas containing vegetation, which can make it impossible to continue movement and lead to stuck amphibians ...

To eliminate the above disadvantages, the applicant proposes an amphibious off-road vehicle, which, like the closest analogue, contains the first and second prime movers, four ground movers (wheels, tracks), made retractable to a position above the waterline of the amphibian hull for movement on water, but, unlike the closest analogue, it additionally contains two more prime movers, thus forming individual drives for each of the ground movers used, each of the latter being equipped with an angular velocity sensor of the mover and, as an option, a torque transducer, and as a mover for moving on the water surface, an air propeller is used, installed in the upper rear part of the amphibious vehicle body and equipped with a means of changing the direction of the propeller thrust vector.

As a result of the proposed technical solution, an increase in the cross-country ability of an amphibious vehicle in difficult driving conditions is achieved, namely:

- the addition of two more additional prime movers according to the number of ground propellers makes it possible to realize individual high-speed and traction modes for each of them:

- due to the processing of signals from the angular velocity sensors of each of the ground movers, it becomes possible (due to the difference in readings) to detect the occurrence of slippage of the ground mover (loss of adhesion) and individually adjust the power supplied to each of the ground movers;

- installation of torque sensors makes it possible to increase the accuracy of regulation and control of individual traction modes of ground propellers at low speeds, which, together with the processing of signals from angular rate sensors and the use of a microprocessor-based device for controlling the operation of an amphibious vehicle, minimizes the risk of getting stuck (buried) of one or more ground movers;

- the use of a propeller as a propeller for moving along the surface of the water avoids the vehicle getting stuck when driving in swampy areas and in border water areas containing vegetation (algae, reeds, etc.);

- the use of a propeller, allows you to create additional thrust also when driving on land, on snow or ice fields, etc., facilitating the work of ground propulsion devices.

In various embodiments of the invention, both electric motors and, for example, hydraulic motors (hydraulic motors), as proposed in the embodiment of an amphibious vehicle described below, can act as prime movers that individually drive each of the four ground movers. In this case, the type of prime movers used is not essential for achieving the claimed technical result.

The essence of the invention in one of the possible (but not the only) implementation options is illustrated in Fig. 1 and FIG. 2. In FIG. 1 shows a general view of an amphibious off-road vehicle, FIG. 2 shows the basic hydraulic diagram of the transmission of the drive circuit of one of the four wheels and the propeller.

The basis of the amphibious cross-country vehicle is the body 1 of the flat-keeled type (see Fig. 1). Hull profile 1 was selected in accordance with the expected operating conditions, and to provide increased displacement. In the upper part of the housing 1 there is a propeller 2 with its own individual drive 3 based on a hydraulic motor. In the front and rear parts, on the sides of the housing 1, there are wheels 4, each of which has its own individual drive based on a hydraulic motor, thus forming a hydraulic motor-wheel 5.

Each of the hydraulic motor wheels is equipped with a wheel speed sensor based on, for example, a Hall effect. In one embodiment of the invention, each of the hydraulic wheel motors is additionally equipped with a torque sensor installed between the hydraulic motor housing and its attachment point to the suspension units 6.

Suspension units 6 of hydraulic motor wheels 5 are made with the possibility of lifting and retracting the latter inside the body, for which purpose niches 7 of the appropriate size are made in the body 1. Folding and unfolding of hydraulic motor-wheel units 5 is carried out from a separate drive, which can be either a hydraulic or an electric drive. To implement the latter, the amphibious vehicle can be equipped with its own power plant based on, for example, an internal combustion engine. The rotation of the front left and right wheels 4 for maneuvering the amphibious vehicle while driving on land is carried out using separate hydraulic cylinders, i.e. independently, but can be synchronized by combining the cavities of the hydraulic cylinders of the left and right wheels. It is also possible to implement the rotation of the wheels by linear electromechanical actuators with a ball screw transmission in a sealed design or another type of drive. The direction of the thrust vector of the propeller 2 when driving on water is controlled by rotating the entire fan as a whole around the vertical axis using a separate drive, for example, a hydraulic cylinder. To reduce losses due to overflow through the blade edge, the fan flow path is surrounded by a band, fixed on the frame.

As a transmission for driving the wheels 4 and the propeller 2, a hydraulic drive is selected, consisting of an axial piston pump and hydraulic motors with a swash plate. FIG. 2 shows a basic hydraulic diagram of one of the transmission channels. The hydraulic circuit for the entire transmission is a similar circuit for all four wheels and the propeller operating in parallel.

Since in the implemented scheme one pump is installed for several drives, its regulation is impractical. Instead, it requires regulation of the power transmitted to each actuator, which is carried out by a controlled pressure reducing valve KP. The mechanically controlled ZM spool serves to exclude the channel from control. When it is closed, the hydraulic motor M does not receive power and turns freely. An integral spool check valve prevents fluid leakage between the transmission circuits.

To change the direction of rotation, hydraulic valve A1 and reverse P are provided. One of the ports of hydraulic valve A1 is equipped with an MH manometer for pressure feedback downstream of the KR reducing valve. The controlled throttle ДР allows to partially or completely block the drain line, thus providing smooth deceleration of the drive, up to its complete stop, maintaining the torque even at zero speed. Excess working fluid pumped by the HA pump is discharged through the safety valves KP1 and KP2 into the tank B. Outlets of the lines to the tank are organized in such a way that the drain line fitting does not touch the liquid mirror. As a result, the energy stored in the liquid is dissipated into heat when discharged into the tank. Thus, it is possible to implement the mode of holding the position under load, in which the mechanical efficiency of the entire system is zero, but the torque is created on the actuator. The AK pressure accumulator is designed to smooth out the pulsations of the axial piston pump supply, the F filter is installed in accordance with the requirements for the working fluid.

Claims (2)

1. Amphibious off-road vehicle, containing the first and second prime movers, four ground movers, made retractable to a position above the waterline of the amphibious vehicle hull for movement on water, characterized in that it additionally contains two more prime movers with the formation of individual drives for each of the used ground propellers, each of the latter being equipped with an angular velocity sensor, and an air propeller installed in the upper rear part of the amphibious vehicle body and equipped with means for changing the direction of the propeller thrust vector is used as a propeller for moving along the water surface. 2. Amphibious off-road vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that each of the individual drives of the ground movers further comprises a torque sensor.

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