UTILITY VEHICLE HAVING A CHASSIS ON WHICH A TIRE INFLATION SYSTEM CAN BE ARRANGED

Abstract

A utility vehicle having a chassis on which a tire inflation system is configured to be arranged, wherein the chassis has at least one axle with a cavity which is embodied as a compressed-gas reservoir in which a gas at a specified gas pressure is stored for inflating a tire of the utility vehicle with the gas, wherein the compressed-gas reservoir has a wall with a compressive strength of at least 0.9 N/mm2, preferably at least 1.4 N/mm2.

Claims

1.-14. (canceled)

15. A utility vehicle, comprising: a chassis on which a tire inflation system can be arranged; wherein the chassis has at least one axle with a cavity; wherein the axle includes a compressed-gas reservoir in which a gas is stored at a specified gas pressure for inflating a tire of the utility vehicle with the gas; wherein the compressed-gas reservoir has a wall with a compressive strength of at least 1.4 N/mm2; and wherein the compressed-gas reservoir is configured to be filled up to a gas pressure which is higher than the specified tire gas pressure, to at least 14 bar, by an external compressed-gas supply unit, wherein the external compressed-gas supply unit comprises a compressor at a gas station or a workshop.

16. The utility vehicle as claimed in claim 15, wherein the wall of the compressed-gas reservoir has biaxial compressive strength.

17. The utility vehicle of claim 15, wherein the wall of the compressed-gas reservoir has triaxial compressive strength.

18. The utility vehicle as claimed in claim 15, wherein the at least one axle of the chassis comprises a material which has a higher compressive strength than a compressive stress which is applied to the at least one axle by the specified tire gas pressure.

19. The utility vehicle as claimed in claim 15, wherein the utility vehicle does not include a booster pump in the system or line system for filling the compressed-gas reservoir.

20. The utility vehicle as claimed in claim 15, wherein the gas pressure reservoir is fluidically connected to at least one axle stub via which the gas can be conducted into a tire, wherein the axle stub is includes a gas reservoir.

21. The utility vehicle as claimed in claim 15, wherein the at least one axle of the chassis comprises an inflation unit that includes a valve device, for inflation with the gas by the external compressed-gas supply unit.

22. The utility vehicle as claimed in claim 21, wherein the valve device is bi-directional.

23. The utility vehicle as claimed in claim 15, further comprising: at least one sensor for continuously acquiring a sensor signal correlated with the specified gas pressure, where the at least one sensor is arranged in the compressed-gas reservoir on the at least one axle.

24. The utility vehicle as claimed in claim 23, wherein the at least one sensor is connected to a controller which is designed to receive and evaluate the sensor signal which is acquired by the sensor.

25. The utility vehicle as claimed in claim 23, wherein the at least one sensor includes a multiplicity of sensors, wherein the multiplicity of sensors acquire different sensor signals, which signals can each be correlated with the gas pressure.

26. The utility vehicle as claimed in claim 25, where the multiplicity of sensors are configured to sense a pressure and/or temperature.

27. The utility vehicle as claimed in claim 25, wherein the controller is configured to display, after a gas pressure which is lower than the specified gas pressure has been sensed, an indicator signal to a driver by an indicator device which alerts the driver to an excessively low gas pressure in the compressed-gas reservoir.

28. The utility vehicle as claimed in claim 27, wherein the indicator signal is an optical signal and/or acoustic signal.

29. The utility vehicle as claimed in claim 28, wherein the indicator device comprises a lamp or sound generator located on a dashboard of the utility vehicle.

30. The utility vehicle as claimed in claim 24, wherein the controller is arranged in an electronic brake system.

31. The utility vehicle as claimed in claim 15, wherein the utility vehicle comprises a utility trailer.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] Further advantages and features of the present invention can be found in the following description of a preferred embodiment with reference to the appended FIGURE. In the drawing:

[0024] FIG. 1 shows a schematic plan view of a chassis which is connected to a tire inflation system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0025] FIG. 1 shows a chassis 10 of a utility vehicle 12, in particular of a trailer. The utility vehicle 12 has tires 14 which are connected to the chassis 10 via an axle stub 16. The axles 20 to 28 of the chassis 10 each have a cavity 30 to 38 which serves as a gas pressure reservoir 40. The walls 41 of the gas pressure reservoir 40 have a compressive strength of at least 0.9 N/mm2 and preferably at least 1.4 N/mm2. The walls 41 of the gas pressure reservoir 40 can take or withstand a pressure of 9 bar, and preferably 14 bar or more, without the gas pressure reservoir 14 being damaged here.

[0026] In addition, an inflation unit 42, which when necessary can be connected to an external compressed-gas supply unit 44, is arranged on at least one axle 20 to 28 of the chassis 10. The pressure supply unit 44 is embodied, for example, as a compressor at a gas station or at a workshop. The temporary connectability of the compressed-gas supply unit 44 to the inflation unit 42 is indicated by the dashed double arrow 46.

[0027] If, for example, the at least one sensor 50 acquires a sensor signal which is correlated with the gas pressure, or a gas pressure in the gas pressure reservoir 40 which is lower than a specified gas pressure, in particular lower than 14 bar, the pressure signal which is acquired by the at least one sensor 50 is transmitted to a controller 60. As illustrated in FIG. 1, for example a plurality of sensors 50 can be arranged on the chassis 10, in particular one sensor 50 can be arranged on each of the axles 20 to 28. Each of these sensors 50 is designed to communicate with the controller 60. The communication of the sensors 50 with the controller 60 is indicated in each case by the double arrows 62. In addition, the sensors 50 can acquire different sensor signals which can each be correlated with the gas pressure. For example, the sensors 50 can sense a pressure or a temperature, or can carry out electronic or mechanical pressure measurement.

[0028] The controller 60 is designed to receive at least one sensor signal of the sensor 50, and to evaluate the same. If a result of a pressure evaluation of the controller 60 is, for example, that the specified gas pressure in the gas reservoir 40 is lower than the specified gas pressure, the reduced pressure in the gas pressure reservoir 40 is indicated, for example, by means of an indicator device 65, to a driver of the utility vehicle 12. The indicator device 65 can be embodied, for example, as a lamp and/or as a sound generator which is arranged on a dashboard of the utility vehicle.

[0029] By virtue of the fact that the gas pressure reservoir 40 has an increased gas pressure level and the axle stubs 16 are each embodied at least partially as gas reservoirs, a gas pressure in a tire 14 can be directly topped up if necessary, in particular without the use of a booster pump.

[0030] The user of the vehicle 12 therefore does not need to monitor the tire pressure in the tires 14 himself anymore. A user of the vehicle 12 must merely react when the controller 60 indicates via the indicator device 65 that the gas pressure accumulator 40 has a lower gas pressure than the specified gas pressure. In such a case, the gas pressure reservoir 40 can be topped up again with pressurized gas by means of the inflation device 42 and by means of the external compressed-gas supply unit 44.

[0031] Consequently, the proposed utility vehicle which has a chassis and a tire inflation system does not require either connection to a gas pressure vessel of a secondary consumer or a booster pump for boosting the gas pressure.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

[0032] 10 Chassis [0033] 12 Utility vehicle [0034] 14 Tire [0035] 16 Axle stub [0036] 20-28 Axle [0037] 30-38 Cavity [0038] 40 Gas pressure reservoir [0039] 41 Wall [0040] 42 Inflation unit [0041] 44 External compressed-gas supply unit [0042] 46 Temporary connection [0043] 50 Sensor [0044] 60 Controller [0045] 62 Connection between controller 60 and sensor 50 [0046] 65 Indicator device