FAST ASSEMBLY HEAD FOR A TELESCOPIC BOOM AND METHOD OF ASSEMBLING SAME

Abstract

The disclosure relates to an assembly head for a telescopic boom that can be separated into an inner and an outer boom set and that is reversibly mountable at an inner telescopic section of the outer boom set. The assembly head comprises a pulley head having deflection pulleys and a telescopic tube section that is arranged the pulley head, that can be pushed into the inner telescopic section from its end, and that has a substantially smaller length than the inner telescopic section. The disclosure further relates to a separable telescopic boom having an assembly head in accordance with the disclosure, to a mobile crane having a telescopic boom in accordance with the disclosure, and to a method for the self-assembly of an assembly head in accordance with the disclosure at the outer boom set of a telescopic boom.

Claims

1. An assembly head for a telescopic boom that can be separated into an inner boom set and an outer boom set and that can be reversibly mounted at an inner telescopic section of the outer boom set, the assembly head comprising a pulley head having deflection pulleys and comprising a telescopic tube section that is arranged at the pulley head, that can be pushed into the inner telescopic section from its end, and that has a substantially smaller length than the inner telescopic section.

2. The assembly head in accordance with claim 1, wherein the telescopic tube section is not a telescopic section of the telescopic boom.

3. The assembly head in accordance with claim 1, wherein the pulley head has connection means that are connectable to connection means of the inner telescopic section.

4. The assembly head in accordance with claim 1, wherein the pulley head has a fastening point to which an assembly rope can be fastened to lift the assembly head, with the fastening point being disposed above a center of gravity of the assembly head in a raised state.

5. The assembly head in accordance with claim 1, wherein a guide element is provided that is arranged at the telescopic tube section and that cooperates with a guide element of the inner telescopic section on the assembly of the assembly head to facilitate an introduction of the telescopic tube section.

6. A telescopic boom for a crane, that can be separated into two boom sets, the telescopic boom comprising an outer boom set having a coupling section and at least one telescopic section displaceably supported in the coupling section, an inner boom set having at least one additional telescopic section displaceably supportable in an inner telescopic section of the outer boom set, and an assembly head reversibly mountable at the inner telescopic section.

7. The telescopic boom in accordance with claim 6, wherein an assembly arm is provided that is mounted or mountable at the outer boom set, and that can be moved from a transport position into an assembly position and vice versa.

8. The telescopic boom in accordance with claim 7, wherein the assembly arm has a deflection pulley via which an assembly rope is guidable for lifting of the assembly head, with the assembly rope being fastenable to a fastening point of the assembly head.

9. The telescopic boom in accordance with claim 8, wherein an axis of rotation of the deflection pulley is not oriented perpendicular to or in parallel with a longitudinal axis of the outer boom set and/or to/with a longitudinal axis of the assembly arm.

10. The telescopic boom in accordance with claim 9, wherein the assembly arm is pivotably supported about an axis at the outer boom set, said axis not being oriented perpendicular to or in parallel with the longitudinal axis of the outer boom set.

11. The telescopic boom in accordance with claim 7, wherein the assembly arm does not project beyond the outer contour of the outer boom set in the transport position.

12. A mobile crane having the telescopic boom in accordance with claim 6.

13. A method of assembling an assembly head at the outer boom set of a telescopic boom, the method comprising: a) moving an assembly arm into the assembly position; b) guiding an assembly rope over a deflection pulley of the assembly arm and connecting the assembly rope to the assembly head; c) raising the assembly head to a height of an inner telescopic section; e) connecting the assembly head to the inner telescopic section; f) releasing the assembly rope from the assembly head and removing the assembly rope from the assembly arm; and g) moving the assembly arm into a transport position;

14. The method in accordance with claim 13, wherein the assembly head is mounted at the outer boom set by establishing a pinning connection between a pulley head and the inner telescopic section.

15. The method in accordance with claim 13, wherein the following step is carried out before step e): d) partially extending the inner telescopic section to receive a telescopic tube section of the assembly head.

16. The assembly head in accordance with claim 3, wherein the connection means of the inner telescopic section is arranged at its collar.

17. The telescopic boom in accordance with claim 6, wherein the assembly arm is mounted or mountable at the coupling section and at a fastening device.

18. The telescopic boom in accordance with claim 7, wherein the assembly arm is mounted or mountable at the coupling section.

19. The telescopic boom in accordance with claim 7, wherein the assembly arm is mounted or mountable at a fastening device for a guying of the telescopic boom.

20. The method in accordance with claim 13, wherein connecting the assembly head to the inner telescopic section includes pinning the assembly head to the inner telescopic section.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0042] Further features, details, and advantages of the disclosure result from the embodiment explained in the following with reference to the Figures. There are shown:

[0043] FIG. 1: the assembly head in accordance with a certain embodiment assembled at the outer boom set of a telescopic boom in a perspective view

[0044] FIG. 2: the assembly head of FIG. 1 in a frontal view;

[0045] FIGS. 3-7: different steps of the assembly method in accordance with the disclosure in a lateral view of the outer boom set; and

[0046] FIG. 8: the outer boom set with an assembly arm in the transport position of FIG. 7 in a perspective view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] A certain embodiment of the assembly head 10 in accordance with the disclosure is shown in a perspective view in FIG. 1, with the assembly head 10 being assembled at the outer boom set 20 of a telescopic boom of a mobile crane disassembled for transport, i.e. separated into an outer and an inner boom set. FIG. 2 shows a frontal view of the assembly head 10 fastened to the outer boom set. The outer boom set 20 comprises a coupling section 22 connected in an articulated manner to the mobile crane, not shown in any more detail, and two telescopic sections 24, 26 that are displaceably or telescopically supported are completely retracted. The innermost of the two telescopic sections 24, 26 is called the “inner telescopic section” 26 in the following.

[0048] The assembly head 10, that can also be called a fast assembly head comprises a complete pulley head 12 having an upper deflection pulley and a lower pulley set for guiding or reeving a hoist rope (not shown) and a short telescopic tube section 14 that cannot be seen in FIGS. 1-2 since it is located fully within the inner telescopic section 26 (the telescopic tube section 14 can be recognized in FIGS. 3 and 4).

[0049] The assembly head 10 is an attachment head that is assembled by pushing the telescopic tube section 14 into the inner telescopic section 26 and subsequent establishing of a pinning connection between the pulley head 12 and the inner telescopic section 26 at the outer boom set 20. For this purpose, the pulley head 12 and the collar 27 extending around the opening of the inner telescopic section 26 at the front face each have connection means 16, 28 formed as pinning points. This means that the force transmission between the assembly head 10 and the inner telescopic section 26 surrounding it does not take place or only takes place to an insignificant extent via the telescopic tube section 14, but rather via the established pinning connection 16, 28.

[0050] The telescopic tube section 14 is substantially shorter than the telescopic sections 24, 26 of the outer boom set 20 and does not represent a telescopic section. The telescopic tube section 14 rather serves the stable fastening/support of the assembly head 10 at/in the inner telescopic section 26. In the present embodiment, the telescopic tube section 14 therefore has a length that substantially corresponds to the length of the pulley head 12 and thus only extends in the outermost end region of the inner telescopic section 26 in the assembled state. The assembly head 10 thereby only has a relatively low weight and can as a rule be transported together with the disassembled telescopic boom, i.e. in a state mounted at the outer boom set 20. The outer contour of the telescopic tube section 14 can substantially correspond to the inner contour of the inner telescopic section 26. The telescopic tube section 14 can contact a support point of the inner telescopic section 26 on which an outer telescopic section of the inner boom set is supported in the assembled state.

[0051] The additional telescopic sections that are not shown in any more detail here, that are called the “inner boom set”, and that are telescopically supported in the inner telescopic section 26 of the outer boom set 20 and comprise the innermost telescopic section with the boom head are in contrast dismantled for the purpose of a weight reduction for road transport and are transported to the deployment site separately. It is now possible by means of the assembly head 10 in accordance with the disclosure to use the disassembled mobile crane with a dismantled telescopic boom independently for lifting work, for example for preparatory work for a self-assembly of the mobile crane, even though the actual boom head of the inner boom set is not attached. The assembly head 10 is removed prior to attachment of the removed additional telescopic sections.

[0052] FIGS. 3 to 7 show different sections of the method in accordance with the disclosure for the self-assembly of the assembly head 10 in accordance with the disclosure at the outer boom set 20 in each case in a side view of the boom. The self-assembly method can be carried out before or after the transport to the deployment site.

[0053] An assembly arm 30 that has a deflection pulley 32 rotatable about a horizontal axis at its end about which axis an assembly rope 40 is guidable is fastened to the coupling section 22 of the outer boom set 20. The assembly arm 30 is mounted via a console 36 at a fastening device 38 of the coupling section 20 to which a Y guying of the telescopic boom can be attached. No additional mount for the assembly arm 30 thereby has to be provided at the coupling section 22. The Y guying is also not in use during the assembly and use of the assembly head 10 so that the fastening device 38 is readily usable. If no guying is necessary, the assembly arm 30 could even remain at the coupling section 22. A disassembly of the assembly arm 30 is, however, also likewise possible after the use of the assembly head 10.

[0054] As can be recognized in FIG. 8, the assembly arm 30 is pivotable about a pivot axis 34 inclined toward the longitudinal axis of the coupling section 22 between a transport position in which it contacts the coupling section 22 (cf. FIGS. 7-8) and an assembly position in which it is usable to raise the assembly head 10 (cf. FIGS. 3-6). The deflection pulley 32 is arranged laterally offset with respect to the console 36 and the axis of rotation of the deflection pulley 32 is inclined toward the longitudinal axis of the assembly arm 30. The deflection pulley 32 is to the side of the coupling section 22 in the transport position due to this offset so that the total assembly arm 30 does not project or does not substantially project beyond the outlines of the outer boom set 20 (cf. FIG. 7) and the permitted dimensions in public road traffic for mobile work machines are observed. In the assembly position, the axis of rotation of the deflection pulley 32 is in contrast substantially perpendicular or approximately perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the coupling section 22 and the assembly arm 30 with the deflection pulley 32 projects to the front beyond the tip of the retracted outer boom set 20.

[0055] The assembly head 10 has a rope connection point 13 that is arranged such that it is above the center of gravity of the assembly head 10 in its raised and/or suspended state thereof. The suspended assembly head 10 is thereby automatically correctly aligned in the air so that the telescopic tube section 14 faces in the direction of the inner telescopic section 26 (cf. FIG. 4).

[0056] In the first step of the self-assembly method (FIG. 3), the assembly arm 30 is pivoted into (and optionally latched in) the assembly position, the assembly rope 40 is guided around the deflection pulley 32 and is fastened to the rope connection point 13 of the assembly head 10. The assembly head 10 is located on a transport vehicle 50 (that was e.g. driven to the deployment site to attach the assembly head on site—it can alternatively already be attached before the road transport and traveled together with the mobile crane) and can now be raised by retracting the assembly rope 40. No auxiliary crane or other external tool is required for this, the lifting mechanism is located at the boom set 20 itself.

[0057] FIG. 4 shows the suspended assembly head 10 after it has been raised to the height of the inner telescopic section 26. Due to the self-alignment, the telescopic tube section 14 faces the opening of the inner telescopic section 26. To facilitate the introduction of the telescopic tube section 14 into the inner telescopic section 26, a guide element 18 is arranged at the telescopic tube section 14 and cooperates with a guide element, not shown here, of the inner telescopic section 26 (e.g. a rail or the like).

[0058] In the next step, the inner telescopic section 26 is extended for so long until the pulley head 12 of the assembly head 10 abuts the collar 27 of the inner telescopic section 26 (FIG. 5). The pinning connection of the combined connection means 16, 28 can now be established.

[0059] The support point in the collar of the telescopic section 26 receives the telescopic tube section 14 in the existing support for the inner telescopic section. This mount is, however, ring-shaped and linear and can only take up forces in a plane perpendicularly intersecting the telescopic section.

[0060] All the forces in the other directions can be taken up via the pinning connection 16, 28 in accordance with FIG. 4 that has to have sufficiently large dimensions. An abutment can additionally be provided that introduces the forces in the longitudinal direction of the telescopic boom directly from the assembly head 10 into the collar of the telescopic section 26.

[0061] FIG. 6 shows the assembled assembly head 10 after the assembly rope 40 has been released and has been removed or unreeved from the assembly arm 30 and after the inner telescopic section 26 has been fully retracted again. The assembly head 10 is ready for use after the folding in (and optional latching) of the assembly arm 30 into the transport position (FIG. 7) and after the reeving of a hoist rope over the deflection pulleys at the pulley head 12 and the rollers of a hook block. The dismantling of the assembly head 10 takes place in the reverse order of the previously described steps.

[0062] FIGS. 1-8 show example configurations with relative positioning of the various components. If shown directly contacting each other, or directly coupled, then such elements may be referred to as directly contacting or directly coupled, respectively, at least in one example. Similarly, elements shown contiguous or adjacent to one another may be contiguous or adjacent to each other, respectively, at least in one example. As an example, components laying in face-sharing contact with each other may be referred to as in face-sharing contact. As another example, elements positioned apart from each other with only a space there-between and no other components may be referred to as such, in at least one example. As yet another example, elements shown above/below one another, at opposite sides to one another, or to the left/right of one another may be referred to as such, relative to one another. Further, as shown in the figures, a topmost element or point of element may be referred to as a “top” of the component and a bottommost element or point of the element may be referred to as a “bottom” of the component, in at least one example. As used herein, top/bottom, upper/lower, above/below, may be relative to a vertical axis of the figures and used to describe positioning of elements of the figures relative to one another. As such, elements shown above other elements are positioned vertically above the other elements, in one example. As yet another example, shapes of the elements depicted within the figures may be referred to as having those shapes (e.g., such as being circular, straight, planar, curved, rounded, chamfered, angled, or the like). Further, elements shown intersecting one another may be referred to as intersecting elements or intersecting one another, in at least one example. Further still, an element shown within another element or shown outside of another element may be referred as such, in one example.

[0063] The following claims particularly point out certain combinations and sub-combinations regarded as novel and non-obvious. These claims may refer to “an” element or “a first” element or the equivalent thereof. Such claims should be understood to include incorporation of one or more such elements, neither requiring nor excluding two or more such elements. Other combinations and sub-combinations of the disclosed features, functions, elements, and/or properties may be claimed through amendment of the present claims or through presentation of new claims in this or a related application. Such claims, whether broader, narrower, equal, or different in scope to the original claims, also are regarded as included within the subject matter of the present disclosure.

REFERENCE NUMERAL LIST

[0064] 10 assembly head [0065] 12 pulley head [0066] 13 fastening point [0067] 14 telescopic tube section [0068] 16 connection means [0069] 18 guide element [0070] 20 outer boom set [0071] 22 coupling section [0072] 24 telescopic section [0073] 26 inner telescopic section [0074] 27 collar [0075] 28 connection means [0076] 30 assembly arm [0077] 32 deflection pulley [0078] 34 pivot axis [0079] 36 console [0080] 38 fastening device [0081] 40 assembly rope [0082] 50 transport vehicle