Track-supporting roller assembly for a crawler chassis

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9708019-B2
Application number	US-201414249742-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 10, 2014
Priority date	Apr 12, 2013
Publication date	Jul 18, 2017
Grant date	Jul 18, 2017

Abstract

A track-supporting roller assembly, according to the disclosure, for supporting a crawler track of a crawler chassis includes a bearing unit and a track-supporting roller rotatably coupled to the bearing unit. The track-supporting roller includes at least one supporting body made of plastic. The supporting body serves as a damper and prevents a metal-on-metal contact between track chain links of the crawler track and the track-supporting roller. The track-supporting roller assembly according to the disclosure ensures a reduced noise development in the crawler chassis. At the same time, it is possible to also reduce the wear of the track-supporting rollers to a considerable extent.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A track-supporting roller assembly for supporting a crawler track of a crawler chassis, the track-supporting roller assembly comprising:
a bearing unit including at least one bearing body; and
a track-supporting roller rotatably coupled to the bearing unit, wherein the track-supporting roller comprises a shaft having one end rotatably supported by the at least one bearing body, first and second supporting bodies fixed on the shaft in a rotationally-fixed manner and arranged coaxially side by side for contacting and carrying the crawler track, and a stop that spaces the supporting bodies apart, wherein each supporting body has an outer diameter that is greater than an outer diameter of the stop, and the outer diameters of the supporting bodies are the same, and wherein the supporting bodies are made of plastic to reduce noise and wear associated with the track-supporting roller.

2. The track-supporting roller assembly according to claim 1 wherein the supporting bodies comprise polyurethane.

3. The track-supporting roller assembly according to claim 1 wherein the supporting bodies comprise rubber.

4. The track-supporting roller assembly according to claim 1 wherein the outer diameter of each of the supporting bodies is between 40 mm and 100 mm.

5. The track-supporting roller assembly according to claim 1 wherein the supporting bodies are shrunk or cast onto the shaft.

6. The track-supporting roller assembly according to claim 1 wherein the supporting bodies bear against the stop.

7. The track-supporting roller assembly according to claim 1 wherein the bearing unit comprises a roller bearing that couples the track-supporting roller to the at least one bearing body.

8. The track-supporting roller assembly according to claim 7 wherein the roller bearing is a self-aligning roller bearing.

9. The track-supporting roller assembly according to claim 8 wherein the self-aligning roller bearing comprises an inner ring which bears against one of the supporting bodies.

10. The track-supporting roller assembly according to claim 9 wherein the self-aligning roller bearing comprises an outer ring which is arranged in the bearing unit.

11. The track-supporting roller assembly according to claim 8 wherein the self-aligning roller bearing is coupled to the bearing unit by a clamping plate.

12. A crawler chassis comprising a track-supporting roller assembly according to claim 1 , and a crawler track having an upper crawler section and a lower crawler section, wherein the upper crawler section rests on the track-supporting roller of the track-supporting roller assembly in a sagging manner.

13. The crawler chassis according to claim 12 wherein the crawler chassis is configured such that the crawler track can be guided by the track-supporting roller assembly such that an upper edge of the upper crawler section of the crawler track is positioned maximally 700 mm above a lower edge of the lower crawler section.

14. A road finisher comprising a crawler chassis according to claim 12 wherein an upper edge of the upper crawler section is spaced at least 50 mm away from a material bunker bottom.

15. The track-supporting roller assembly according to claim 1 wherein the stop has an inner diameter that corresponds to an outer diameter of the shaft.

16. A road finisher comprising:
a material bunker; and
a crawler chassis including a drive wheel, a crawler track associated with the drive wheel and a track-supporting roller assembly for supporting the crawler track, the crawler track including an upper crawler section and a lower crawler section, the track-supporting roller assembly including a bearing unit and a track-supporting roller rotatably coupled to the bearing unit, wherein the bearing unit includes at least one bearing body, the track-supporting roller comprises a shaft having one end rotatably supported by the at least one bearing body, first and second supporting bodies fixed on the shaft in a rotationally-fixed manner and arranged coaxially side by side and configured to contact and support the crawler track, and a stop between the supporting bodies that spaces the supporting bodies apart, wherein each supporting body has an outer diameter that is greater than an outer diameter of the stop, and the outer diameters of the supporting bodies are the same, and wherein the supporting bodies are made of plastic to reduce noise and wear associated with the track-supporting roller, the upper crawler section rests on the track-supporting roller in a sagging manner, and an upper edge of the upper crawler section is spaced at least 50 millimeters away from a bottom of the material bunker.

17. The road finisher of claim 16 wherein the track-supporting roller further comprises a shaft on which the supporting bodies are fixed, and wherein the supporting bodies are shrunk or cast onto the shaft.

18. The road finisher of claim 16 wherein an upper edge of the upper crawler section is positioned maximally 700 millimeters above a lower edge of the lower crawler section.

Assignees

• Joseph Voegele Ag

Inventors

• Pawlik Christian
• Buschmann Martin
• Weiser Ralf
• Braun Arthur

Classifications

• B62D55/15

  Mounting devices, e.g. bushings, axles, bearings, sealings {(with lubrication means B62D55/092)} · CPC title

• B62D55/06 Primary

  with tracks without ground wheels · CPC title

• E01C19/18

  Devices for distributing road-metals mixed with binders, e.g. cement, bitumen, without consolidating or ironing effect (E01C19/20, {E01C19/21, E01C19/46} , E01C19/47, {E01C19/48, E01C21/00, E01C23/065, E01C23/07} take precedence; conveying installations for concrete or the like B65G) · CPC title

• B62D55/0966 Primary

  Low noise rollers, e.g. with antivibration means (elastic wheel rims in general B60B9/00) · CPC title

• E01C19/48

  for laying-down the materials and consolidating them, or finishing the surface {, e.g. slip forms therefor, forming kerbs or gutters in a continuous operation in situ (E01C19/002, E01C23/065 take precedence; devices for guiding or controlling the machines along a predetermined path E01C19/004)} · CPC title