EP0569277B1 - Electric lifting vehicle with a telescopic boom - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to industrial trucks.

There are generally two main categories of forklifts because of the energy sources they use, both for their movement on the ground and for the operation of their lifting means: electric trucks and thermal trucks.

Electric carts are reserved for industrial use because of their flexibility and simplicity of driving, their absence of noise and pollution, their reduced dimensions which allows them to move easily in a congested environment, while thermal carts are generally intended for outdoor use, are able to cross slopes and lift larger loads.

Thermal carriages use for lifting loads either a front mast system or a telescopic arm system allowing a longitudinal offset of the load, while so far, an electric trolley with telescopic arm has not been produced. Known carriages of this type are all equipped with a mast.

The main reason for this state of affairs is the important place occupied by the accumulator tanks necessary for the supply of electrical energy to these carts.

Generally, these occupy the entire width of the carriage substantially in the center thereof. They are covered by a cover serving as an attachment plane to the driver's seat.

When servicing and changing the accumulators, you must plan to tilt the seat and lift the accumulator bins from above.

The small width of the electric forklifts, the central location of the driving position and the size of the batteries prevent the adoption of a lifting means for these trucks other than a mast and in particular a telescopic arm.

The implantation of a telescopic arm on electric trolleys currently known involves completely modifying the design of this kind of trolley. Indeed, while in current lift mast carriages, the lifting efforts are supported on the center line of the front wheels, in an armored carriage, these lifting efforts are supported at the rear at the point arm articulation. It is also imperative to maintain good lateral and rear visibility for the driver despite the presence of the arm extending over the entire length of the truck at a level close to the driver's vision perimeter.

The object of the present invention is to provide an industrial handling trolley with an electrical energy source, the lifting equipment of which is constituted by a telescopic arm, which remains very compact in order to be able to move easily in a room. congested, has an arm arrangement ensuring unobstructed visibility, has a good balance of the masses and a good weight centering which allows to obtain a large lifting capacity and longitudinal offset safely, allows easy and fast handling of accumulator tanks and retains an acceptable autonomy.

• l'équipement de levage est constitué par un bras télescopique articulé à l'arrière du châssis et disposé sensiblement dans l'axe longitudinal médian du chariot,
• le châssis est constitué par deux poutres orthogonales : une poutre longitudinale portant à l'arrière la potence du bras de levage et une poutre transversale fixée à la poutre longitudinale et portant les roues avant,
• et en ce qu'au moins sur un côté de la poutre longitudinale, en arrière de la poutre transversale et en avant de la ou des roues arrière, le châssis porte un plancher ouvert latéralement vers l'extérieur qui supporte au moins un caisson amovible pour des accumulateurs électriques.

The invention is embodied by an industrial handling trolley with an electrical energy source comprising a chassis, two front wheels and at least one rear wheel, a driving and maneuvering station, at least one housing for the accumulators and equipment for lifting supported by the chassis, characterized in that:

• the lifting equipment is constituted by a telescopic arm articulated at the rear of the chassis and arranged substantially in the median longitudinal axis of the carriage,
• the chassis is constituted by two orthogonal beams: a longitudinal beam carrying at the rear the bracket of the lifting arm and a transverse beam fixed to the longitudinal beam and carrying the front wheels,
• and in that at least on one side of the longitudinal beam, behind the transverse beam and in front of the rear wheel or wheels, the chassis carries a floor open laterally outwards which supports at least one removable box for electric accumulators.

There is thus substantially released in the median longitudinal axis of the carriage a housing which allows the arm in the low transport position not to obstruct the lateral and rear visibility of the driver and thanks to the position of the accumulator box, a weight centering favorable to the lifting performance of the machine. In addition, thanks to the removable storage compartment and the lateral opening of the floor carrying it, maintenance and handling of the accumulators can be carried out very easily from the side and from below, for example on the using another forklift, the forks of which are engaged under the removable box. In addition, this arrangement of the chassis makes it possible to keep the cart according to the invention very compact.

• le chariot est muni d'un plancher de support s'étendant symétriquement de part et d'autre de la poutre longitudinale du châssis pour deux caissons d'accumulateurs distincts,
• la poutre transversale du châssis est disposée en arrière des roues avant et porte deux flasques verticaux qui portent lesdites roues avant ;
• la poutre longitudinale du châssis est constituée par deux plaques verticales entretoisées dans lesquelles sont également formés les montants de la potence d'articulation du bras télescopique,
• la poutre transversale du châssis est creuse et forme un caisson étanche constituant un réservoir de liquide hydraulique,
• la partie arrière du plancher de support des caissons d'accumulateur s'étend au-delà desdits caissons pour former un support pour des contrepoids.
• le chariot est équipé d'une roue arrière et les contrepoids sont disposés sur le plancher de part et d'autre de ladite roue,
• le chariot est équipé de deux roues arrière et les contrepoids sont disposés sur le plancher entre lesdites roues,
• le dessous des caissons amovibles logeant les accumulateurs est équipé de pions de centrage et de calage coopérant avec des trous du plancher

D'autres caractéristiques et avantages de l'invention ressortiront de la description qui va suivre d'un exemple non limitatif de réalisation de l'invention en référence aux dessins annexés sur lesquels :

• La figure 1 est une vue en élévation d'un chariot électrique selon l'invention du côté du poste de conduite;
• La figure 2 est une vue en élévation de face, bras levé, du chariot de la figure 1;
• La figure 3 et une vue de dessus avec arrachement partiel de la partie arrière du chariot de la figure 1;
• La figure 4 est une vue schématique en plan du châssis du chariot des figures précédentes, le bras télescopique, les capotages et le poste de pilotage ayant été enlevés.

According to other inventive characteristics:

• the carriage is provided with a support floor extending symmetrically on either side of the longitudinal beam of the chassis for two separate accumulator boxes,
• the transverse beam of the chassis is disposed behind the front wheels and carries two vertical flanges which carry said front wheels;
• the longitudinal beam of the chassis consists of two vertical braced plates in which the uprights of the articulation bracket of the telescopic arm are also formed,
• the transverse beam of the chassis is hollow and forms a sealed box constituting a reservoir of hydraulic fluid,
• the rear part of the support floor of the accumulator boxes extends beyond said boxes to form a support for counterweights.
• the carriage is fitted with a rear wheel and the counterweights are arranged on the floor on either side of said wheel,
• the carriage is equipped with two rear wheels and the counterweights are arranged on the floor between said wheels,
• the underside of the removable boxes housing the accumulators is equipped with centering and wedging pins cooperating with holes in the floor

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description which follows of a nonlimiting example of embodiment of the invention with reference to the appended drawings in which:

• Figure 1 is an elevational view of an electric cart according to the invention from the side of the driving position;
• Figure 2 is a front elevational view, arm raised, of the carriage of Figure 1;
• Figure 3 and a top view with partial cutaway of the rear part of the carriage of Figure 1;
• Figure 4 is a schematic plan view of the chassis of the carriage of the preceding figures, the telescopic arm, the cowlings and the cockpit having been removed.

As can be seen in the figures, the trolley according to the invention comprises, in a chassis which will be described in more detail in relation to FIG. 4, a telescopic arm 1 arranged in the median longitudinal axis of the trolley (FIG. 3) on the left side of this arm 1, a driving and maneuvering station 2 provided with a seat 3 mounted on a tilting cover 4 closing a removable box 5 in which the electric accumulators 6 are housed.

Symmetrically with respect to the arm 1, the carriage has on its right side a second removable box 7 for another series of electric accumulators 6.

In this exemplary embodiment, the chassis carries two front wheels 8, non-steerable and non-drive, and a single rear wheel 9, steerable and drive.

The driving position 2 is protected by an open cabin 10 extending over practically the entire length of the carriage, from a point located in front of the front wheels 8 to a point located at the rear end of the box. accumulators 5 (Figure 1).

Referring to FIG. 4, it can be seen that the chassis proper is mainly constituted by a longitudinal beam and a transverse beam 12.

The longitudinal beam consists of two vertical plates 13, 14 fixed to each other by spacers 15.

The plates 13 and 14 are of such shape that they also constitute the uprights of the bracket 16 of articulations of the lifting arm 1.

The beam 12 is constituted as a hollow box also acting as a reservoir for the hydraulic liquid necessary for the operation of the arm.

The beam 12 is closed at its two ends by flanges 17, 18 which carry the front wheels 8. We see on FIG. 4 shows that the bearing shafts of the front wheels 8 pass through the flanges 17, 18 and are fitted with disc brakes 19.

It can also be seen that the spacers 15 are arranged towards the rear of the plates 13 and 14. This arrangement is advantageous because it allows a well to be formed between the plates in which the arm 1 can be housed in the low position in order to give visibility of the driver. However, it ensures sufficient rigidity of the beam 11 because the lifting forces will be essentially supported by the rear part of the carriage. In addition, the transverse beam 12 acts as a spacer in the front part.

Between the rear of the transverse beam 12 and the rear end of the carriage, under the longitudinal beam 11 is fixed a floor 20 which has on either side of the beam 11 a large recess 21 open laterally. The opposite edges of this recess 21 have holes 22, reinforced with plates 23, intended to cooperate with centering pins, not shown, provided under the boxes 5 and 7 for housing the accumulators 6.

Figure 4 also shows how one can very easily, using another forklift represented by its only forks 24, handle the boxes 5 and 7 by lifting them from below. This is an important advantage in view of the fact that these handling operations are very frequent taking into account the need to recharge the accumulators.

It can also be seen in FIG. 5, that the front end of the beam 11 is situated slightly behind the front limiting plane of the carriage, which provides a space 25 in which at least the support 26 of the deck 27 located at the end of the arm 1 can be retracted, which increases the compactness of the carriage and its stability during its movements with a load close to ground level.

Behind the location of the boxes 5 and 7, the floor 20 extends to serve as a support for counterweights 28. In the median longitudinal axis of the carriage, the floor 20 also has an additional recess 29 for the passage of the rear wheel 9.

• au lieu d'être disposé selon l'axe longitudinal médian du chariot, le bras télescopique 1 peut être décalé sur un côté par rapport à cet axe et être muni d'un dispositif connu en soi de déport latéral du tablier porteur d'outil de sorte que les charges manutentionnées soient centrées selon cet axe longitudinal médian.
  Dans une telle disposition, le caisson à accumulateurs situé sous le poste de conduite pourrait être de taille plus importante, tandis que le caisson opposé pourrait être diminué, voire totalement supprimé, ce qui permettrait de construire un chariot d'autonomie acceptable et de largeur très réduite correspondant bien aux conditions d'utilisation industrielles dans un environnement encombré dans lequel les voies de circulation sont très étroites;
• au lieu de comporter deux roues avant non motrices non directrices et une roue arrière directrice et motrice, le chariot pourrait adopter tout autre système de roues notamment deux roues avant motrices et une roue arrière directrice, deux roues avant motrices et directrices et une roue arrière non motrice non directrice, deux roues avant et deux roues arrière motrices et/ou directrices etc...
• au lieu d'être constitué par deux plaques entretoisées, la poutre longitudinale pourrait être formée d'un caisson creux qui pourrait constituer également un réservoir ou une gaine de passage des conduites, canalisations et câbles divers qui sont nécessaires aux liaisons entre les différents organes de la machine;
• au lieu d'être portées par des flasques fixées à la poutre transversale, les roues avant pourraient être directement montées aux extrémités de cette poutre, ou d'un essieu remplaçant cette poutre.
• dans le cas ou le chariot est équipé de deux roues arrière, le plancher comportera deux évidements latéraux pour le passage de ces roues et les contrepoids seront supportés par la partie de plancher s'étendant entre les roues arrière.

Of course without departing from the scope of the invention, other variant embodiments could be adopted for example:

• instead of being arranged along the median longitudinal axis of the carriage, the telescopic arm 1 can be offset on one side with respect to this axis and be provided with a device known per se for lateral offset of the tool carrying deck so that the loads handled are centered along this median longitudinal axis.
  In such an arrangement, the accumulator box located under the driving position could be of larger size, while the opposite box could be reduced, or even completely eliminated, which would make it possible to build a cart of acceptable autonomy and very wide reduced corresponding well to industrial conditions of use in a congested environment in which the traffic lanes are very narrow;
• instead of having two front non-driving non-driving wheels and a rear driving and driving wheel, the truck could adopt any other wheel system, in particular two front driving wheels and a rear driving wheel, two front driving and driving wheels and a rear wheel not driving non-driving, two front wheels and two rear driving and / or steering wheels etc ...
• instead of being constituted by two braced plates, the longitudinal beam could be formed of a hollow box which could also constitute a reservoir or a sheath for passage of the various pipes, conduits and cables which are necessary for the connections between the various organs of the machine;
• instead of being carried by flanges fixed to the transverse beam, the front wheels could be directly mounted at the ends of this beam, or of an axle replacing this beam.
• in the case where the trolley is equipped with two rear wheels, the floor will have two lateral recesses for the passage of these wheels and the counterweights will be supported by the floor part extending between the rear wheels.

Throughout this description, the term chassis indicates the carrier structure of the carriage, that is to say that on which all the equipment is mounted and which supports all the efforts. According to a possible variant embodiment of the invention, in the case of a trolley with front-wheel drive and / or steering the transverse part of the chassis can advantageously be replaced by a bridge which while fulfilling the function of beam will ensure the transmission of the torque and / or steering movements at the front wheels.

Claims (10)

1. An industrial handling trolley having an electrical energy supply, including a chassis, two front wheels and at least one rear wheel, a driving and control station, at least one housing for the batteries and lifting equipment supported by the chassis, characterised in that:

   - the lifting equipment is constituted by a telescopic boom (1) pivoted at the rear of the chassis and disposed substantially in the median longitudinal axis of the trolley,

   - the chassis is constituted by two orthogonal beams (11, 12) : a longitudinal beam (11) carrying rearwardly the bracket (16) of the lifting boom (1) and a transverse beam (12) fixed to the longitudinal beam (11) and carrying the front wheels (8),

   - and in that at least on one side of the longitudinal beam (11), at the rear of the transverse beam (12) and at the front of the rear wheel or wheels (9), the chassis carries a platform (20) open laterally towards the exterior which supports at least one removable box (5, 7) for electric batteries (6).
2. A handling trolley according to Claim 1, characterised in that the trolley is provided with a support platform (20) extending symmetrically to either side of the longitudinal beam (11) of the chassis for two separate battery boxes (5, 7).
3. A handling trolley according to Claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the transverse beam (12) of the chassis is disposed to the rear of the front wheels (8) and carries two vertical flanges (17, 18) which carry the front wheels (8).
4. A handling trolley according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the longitudinal beam (11) of the chassis is constituted by two braced vertical plates (13, 14) in which are also formed the uprights of the pivoting bracket (16) of the telescopic boom (1).
5. A handling trolley according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the transverse beam (12) of the chassis is hollow and forms a sealed box constituting a reservoir of hydraulic liquid.
6. A handling trolley according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the rear portion of the platform (20) supporting the battery boxes (5, 7) extends beyond the boxes to form a support for counterweights (28).
7. A handling trolley according to Claim 6, characterised in that the trolley is equipped with a rear wheel (9) and the counterweights (28) are disposed on the platform (20) to either side of the wheel.
8. A handling trolley according to Claim 6, characterised in that the trolley is equipped with two rear wheels and the counterweights (28) are disposed on the platform between the wheels.
9. A handling trolley according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the underside of the removable boxes (5, 7) housing the batteries is equipped with centering and securing spigots cooperating with holes (22) in the platform (20).
10. A handling trolley according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the transverse beam (12) is replaced by a bridge ensuring the transmission of torque and/or directional movements to the front wheels.

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