Vehicle with Trailer, Operatively Connected Thereto Through a Cardan

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a vehicle (1) with trailer (2), operatively connected thereto through a cardan (3), comprising sensing means (4) of the angle (, ) between the vehicle (1) and the cardan (3), between the trailer (2) and the cardan (3) or between the vehicle (1) and the trailer (2), comparison means of the angle with a threshold angle and means (7) which disengage the power take-off upon exceeding in one direction the threshold angle and which engage It when the angle exceeds again the threshold angle in the opposite direction. The vehicle according to the present invention is a towed load.

Claims

1) Vehicle (1) with trailer (2), operatively connected thereto through a cardan (3), characterised in that it includes sensing means (4) of the angle (; ) between the vehicle (1) and the cardan (3), between the trailer (2) and the cardan (3) or between the vehicle (1) and the trailer (2), comparison means of the angle with a threshold angle and means (7) which disengage the power take-off upon exceeding in one direction the threshold angle and which engage it when the angle exceeds again the threshold angle in the opposite direction, characterised in that said trailer (2) is a towed load and in that sensing means (4) of the angle (; ) are arranged around the cardan (3).

2) Vehicle (1) as in claim 1), characterised in that it is a standard agricultural tractor.

3) Vehicle (1) as in claim 1, characterised in that the trailer (2) is an agricultural machine trailer, chosen in the group consisting of a sprayer, a string trimmer, a lawn-mower, a harvesting machine.

4) Vehicle (1) as in claim 1, characterised in that said sensing means of the angle (; ) are chosen from the group consisting of electrovalves, pneumatic valves, infrared sensors, optic fibre sensors or photocells.

5) Vehicle (1) as in claim 1, characterised in that said sensing means (4) of the angle (; ) are two (4A, 4B), arranged at 180 one with respect to the other.

6) Vehicle (1) as in claim 1, characterised in that a single sensing means (4) is provided on the vehicle (1) and/or on the trailer (2), in contact with a sleeve (5) which is made to fit on the cardan (3) or on the casing found on the cardan (3).

7) Vehicle (1) as in claim 1, characterised in that the sensors (4) are photoelectric cells, provided on the vehicle (1) and on the trailer (2) and the measured angle is the angle between the vehicle (1) and the trailer (2).

8) Vehicle (1) as in claim 7), characterised in that the angle between the vehicle (1) and the trailer (2) is obtained by evaluating the mutual misalignment of the photocells found on the vehicle (1) and trailer (2).

9) Vehicle as in claim 1, characterised in that in said means (7) which disengage the power take-off upon exceeding in one direction the threshold angle and which engage it when the angle exceeds again the threshold angle in the opposite direction are connected to an actuating motor (9) which is adapted to move said means upon reception of signals from the sensors (4) and which indicate the exceeding of said threshold angle, in one direction or another.

10) Vehicle as in claim 9), characterised in that said sensors (4) are electrovalves, each carrying a contact plate (6), resting on the cardan wall during straight traveling.

11) Vehicle as in claim 9, characterised in that said means (7) which engage and disengage the power take-off consist of a lever, which can be manually actuated in case of necessity.

Description

[0012] Further features and advantages of the invention will anyhow be more evident from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, given by mere way of non-limiting example and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0013] FIG. 1 is a side view of a generic tractor with towed trailer, joined by means of a cardan;

[0014] FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of a tractor joined to a trailer by a cardan, in rectilinear movement;

[0015] FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2, but in the course of a curve;

[0016] FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a detail of a vehicle according to the present invention;

[0017] FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a detail according to an embodiment of the invention;

[0018] FIG. 6 is a side view, partially in section, of a detail of a further embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the present invention, in an operating position;

[0020] FIG. 8 is a detailed view of the embodiment of FIG. 7, in another operating position;

[0021] FIG. 9 is a detailed view as FIG. 8, but in the operating position of FIG. 7;

[0022] FIGS. 10A and 10B show a detail of the views according to FIGS. 7 to 9; and

[0023] FIG. 11 shows a diagram of operation of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 to 10.

[0024] The following description will be carried out illustrating the special case of a tractor 1, operatively connected by a cardan 3 to a towed trailer 2; however, the present invention is not limited to the only case of the tractor, but extends, in principle, to any vehicle with towed trailer, which bears a power take-off. It should be understood that the towing action of the trailer 2 does not take place through the cardan 3, but hooking a towing eye of the trailer 2 at a pin of the tractor 1.

[0025] The tractor 1 is a normal agricultural tractor, of the type that is commonly found on the market, except for what will be described below. Similarly, the trailer 2 is a normal towed trailer for agricultural machines; it can carry a sprayer, a string trimmer, a lawn-mower, a collecting machine or other. The cardan 3 is, in itself, an ordinary cardan, to be used for power take-off.

[0026] According to the present invention, sensing means 4 of the angle which the cardan 3 forms with the tractor 1 and the angle that the same cardan 3 forms with the trailer 2, are arranged between the tractor 1 and the cardan 3 and between the trailer 2 and the cardan 3, in contact with the same cardan 3, so that these angles are known in any moment of vehicle travel.

[0027] The means 4 may be any means adapted for sensing an angle. Preferably, they may be electrovalves, pneumatic valves, infrared sensors, optic fibre sensors or photocells. Such devices are mostly simple, whilst giving sufficiently accurate results.

[0028] Said means 4 are preferably arranged on the tractor 1 and trailer 2, for simplicity of construction. It is also possible to have the means 4 on the ends of the cardan 3, facing respectively towards the tractor 1 and trailer 2. Since, however, for safety reasons, the cardan 3 is generally covered by a casing (not shown in the drawings), the means 4 in this case must necessarily exit the casing itself. The means 4 for sensing angles ; are arranged around the cardan (3), so that they can easily and immediately sense any angular movement.

[0029] FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which said sensing means, 4A and 4B, are provided in two specimens, arranged preferably at 180 with respect to each other, so as to detect the right-left angular movements with a very simplified construction.

[0030] An alternative embodiment of the invention is represented in FIG. 6. In it, a single sensing means 4preferably an electrovalve, so that the movement automatically entails the sensing of the angleis positioned on the tractor 1 and/or on the trailer 2, contacting a sleeve 5 that is made to fit on the cardan 3 or, rather, on the casing normally present on the cardan 3, to be able to detect any movement in any direction.

[0031] Another alternative embodiment is illustrated in FIGS. 7 to 9. As it can be seen in the above figures, the sensors 4, for example considering of constituted by an electrovalve, carry contact plates 6, to be placed on the cardan 3. FIGS. 7 to 10 also show a lever 7 to engage and disengage the power take-off, connected via an arm 8 to a motor 9. Said motor 9 is preferably an electric motor, but any other type of motor can be used, without thereby affecting the operation of the present embodiment.

[0032] When the tractor 1 is used to tow the trailer 2, it starts from a situation such as that illustrated in FIG. 2. In this situation, the angle and the angle are both equal to 90. In this situation, it is possible to insert the power take-off and the cardan 3 starts to rotate at the desired speed. In this way, the rotation of the engine of the tractor 1 transmits energy to the cardan 3 that rotates and, in turn, brings the motor, which drives the equipment contained inside the trailer 2 in rotation. For example, if verdigris is sprayed on the vines, this movement goes along each row and the movement of cardan 3 puts in rotation the motor of a pump contained in the trailer 2, which draws the verdigris solution from a dedicated tank and sprays it on vine leaves.

[0033] Still considering, purely by way of example and absolutely not of limitation, the case of verdigris sprayed on the vines, consider the moment when the tractor 1 reaches the end of the row. The driver will have to rotate the tractor 1 and trailer 2 around the head of the row, to perform a U-turn. Thus, a condition such as that illustrated in FIG. 3 is obtained. At a certain point, the angle , the angle or both will reach a value of 35 or less, or 145 or more. Thus, the angles and exceed downwards the 35 threshold angle and exceed upwards the 145 threshold angle (the two definitions are, of course, completely equivalent). If the cardan 3 continues to rotate at the desired speed, it would eventually break. So far, at the beginning of the U-turn, the driver of the tractor had to remember to switch off the power take-off, which led to the stop of rotation of the cardan 3 and the subsequent suspension of spraying. According to the present invention, instead, the sensors 4 continuously sense the angles and , sending their value to an appropriate data processing unit, not illustrated in the drawings.

[0034] An arrangement as that of FIG. 5 is used to sense the angles and in the right and left directions with respect to the travel direction of the vehicle, the only critical directions, as the trailer hitch, with its rigidity, makes the formation of dangerous vertical angles almost impossible. The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6 allows to use only one sensor that checks and detects all the movements of the sleeve 5 with a single sensor 4.

[0035] The processing unit receives the signals from the sensors 4 and compares them with a threshold value, for example, but not limited to it, 35 and/or 145. This value may also be higher, in order to increase the degree of safety, or lower, if the cardan is resistant even when working with angles of more than 35. When the value of , of or both reaches the threshold value, the processing unit sends a signal to the power take-off, which determines its disengagement by known means. In this way, the cardan 3 stops rotating and the current operationfor example spraying with verdigrisis arrested.

[0036] Once the U-turn is completed, there is a passage from the situation illustrated in FIG. 3 to that illustrated in FIG. 2 and angles and return gradually to the value of 90. According to the prior art, the driver must now re-insert the power take-off to restart spraying. If the driver forgets to do it as soon as possible, spraying could start too late (taking into account also the inertia time for the pump) and a good part of the new row (if not all) would be deprived of verdigris, which could result in damage to the fruits.

[0037] According to the present invention, the sensors 4 continue to sense the angles and and, as soon as the processing unit verifies that they are both above the threshold valueas mentioned, for example, greater than 35 or lower than 145send a signal to the power take-off that determines its immediate re-engagement. Possibility of an unplanned swing, that brings one of the angles below the threshold, involves in any case the disengagement of the power take-off and the rescue of the cardan 3. Presently, this particular case almost inevitably leads to breakage of the cardan 3, as an unexpected movement hardly allows the driveralready busy maintaining the balance of the vehicle 1 as stable as possibleto also think about the disengagement of power take-off.

[0038] Alternatively to what was previously seen, if the sensors 4 are photoelectric cells, they may be provided on the vehicle 1 and the trailer 2 (always in the vicinity of the cardan) and the measured angle is the angle between the vehicle 1 and the trailer 2, obtained by evaluating the mutual misalignment of photocells on the vehicle 1 and trailer 2. This system is particularly simple and cost-effective.

[0039] In the case represented in FIG. 6, the electrovalve 4 enables the disconnection of the power take-off also in the case in which, when vehicles are not running, an operator inadvertently touches the sleeve 5.

[0040] The present invention allows, therefore, to obtain the disengagement and engagement of the power take-off in a vehicle with the trailer connected by a cardan when the angle between the vehicle and the trailer causes a threshold value to be exceeded, in one direction or the other, without requiring the intervention of the operator driving the vehicle. In addition, the driver does not have to worry about the power take-off and the angle between the vehicle and trailer, which allows him to focus more on other operations he is performing. This cannot, of course, take place if the trailer 2 is a borne load, for the intrinsic features of this system that force lifting the load from the ground at each curve. In this way, breakage of the cardan 3 due to distraction or the excessively prolonged suspension of the operation being performed is avoided. In addition, there is a net increase of safety in the running of the vehicle, since the level of attention to driving by the driver increases considerably, while maintaining or even increasing the quality of the operation being performed. Furthermore, the time during which the power take-off is not engaged are reduced to the minimum exactly indispensable to avoid breakage.

[0041] In the vehicle according to the prior art, exceeding the threshold angles for short times does not normally cause the breakage of the cardan. However, stress that is still exerted on its casing entail its release and, sometimes, its breakage. This no longer occurs with the vehicle according to the present invention. In particular, the casing no longer rotates with the cardan 3, which guarantees a higher safety level.

[0042] With regards to the embodiment of FIGS. 7 to 11, in the normal straight travel condition, the sensors 4 bring the contact plates 6 in leaning on one side of the cardan 3. Under this operating condition, the power takeoff is engaged and, with the cardan 3, feeds energy to the towed trailer 2. The engagement and disengagement lever 7 is in the natural position, towards the lower part of the towing vehicle, as illustrated in FIGS. 7, 9 and 10B.

[0043] When or exceed the threshold value, for example 35 or 145, the contact plate 6 external to the outer curve loses contact against the cardan 3, while the other is compressed, moving the sensor arm 4, for example an electrovalve. As soon as the threshold value is exceeded, the movement of the arm 4 of the electrovalve exceeds the point of action and gives an electrical signal, which is transmitted via the cables 10 or 10B to the cable 11 and from here to the motor 9, which shall enter into function, dragging the arm 8 towards it, which raises the power take-off engagement and disengagement lever 7, until it is in the position shown in FIGS. 8 and 10A. In this way, the power take-off is disengaged, ceasing to provide power to the trailer and placing the cardan into safe conditions, as seen so far in the present invention.

[0044] Once the curve is finished, the angle or exceeds the threshold value in the opposite direction and the electrovalve arm that had been moved exceeds again, this time in the reverse direction, the point of action and gives, through cable 10A or 10B, the cable 11 for signal which in turn transmits it to the motor 9, that pulls in the opposite direction the lever 7, which returns in the position of FIGS. 7, 9 and 10B, reinserting the power take-off and restarting the cardan 3.

[0045] The lever 7 can also, of course, be operated manually in case of need.

[0046] What has been seen above, it can also take place with a motor 9 which moves in one direction, in the presence of return springs that bring the lever 7 into the rest position, once the signal coming from the electrovalve 4 stops the motor, leaving the arm 8 and the lever 7 idle.

[0047] Therefore, the embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 to 11 consists in a vehicle as in any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that in said means 7 that disengage the power take-off at the overrun of the threshold angle in a direction and engage it when the angle exceeds again the threshold angle in the opposite direction are connected to an actuating motor 9 which is adapted to move said means upon reception of signals from the sensors 4 and which indicate the overcoming of said threshold angle, in a direction or another.

[0048] It is understood, however, that the invention is not to be considered as limited by the particular arrangement illustrated above, which represents only an exemplary embodiment of the same, but different variants are possible, all within the reach of a person skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention itself, as defined by the following claims. In particular, the sensors could be of different type, or the vehicle may be different from a tractor or the threshold angles may be or become different.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0049] 1 Tractor [0050] 2 Trailer (of 1) [0051] 3 Cardan [0052] 4 Sensor [0053] 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D Sensors [0054] 5 Sleeve [0055] 6 Contact plates (of 4) [0056] 7 Power take-off engagement and disengagement lever [0057] 8 Arm (of 9) [0058] 9 Motor [0059] 10A Electric cable [0060] 10B Electric cable [0061] 11 Electric cable [0062] Angle between 1 and 3 [0063] Angle between 2 and 3