LOCKING HEAD

Abstract

The present invention relates to a locking head for telescoping cylinders of a telescopic boom, which has a plurality of telescopic boom portions, and a housing which comprises at least one bolt-like cylinder locking body, which can be moved in and out of the housing in order to lock the locking head with a telescopic boom portion, and at least one bolt-like telescope locking body, which can be moved in and out of the housing in order to release the telescopic boom portion for a telescoping movement. The locking head has at least one electric actuator which is designed to actuate the at least one cylinder locking body and/or the at least one telescope locking body.

Claims

1. Locking head for telescoping cylinders of a telescopic boom having a plurality of telescopic boom portions, comprising: a housing, at least one bolt-like cylinder locking body, which can be moved in and out of the housing in order to lock the locking head with a telescopic boom portion, and at least one bolt-like telescope locking body, which can be moved in and out of the housing in order to release the telescopic boom portion for a telescoping movement, comprising at least one electric actuator which is designed to actuate the at least one bolt-like cylinder locking body and/or the at least one bolt-like telescope locking body.

2. Locking head according to claim 1, wherein both the at least one bolt-like cylinder locking body and the at least one bolt-like telescope locking body are provided with a respective electric actuator.

3. Locking head according to claim 1, further having a spring element which forces the at least one bolt-like cylinder locking body and/or the at least one bolt-like telescope locking body in an extension direction or a retraction direction.

4. Locking head according to claim 3, further having a magnet element.

5. Locking head according to claim 3, wherein the at least one electric actuator is designed to move the at least one bolt-like cylinder locking body and/or the at least one bolt-like telescope locking body in the retraction direction or extension direction.

6. Locking head according to claim 5, wherein an element for forcing in the extension direction is designed to move the at least one bolt-like cylinder locking body outwards even if the at least one electric actuator fails and/or is not supplied with electrical power.

7. Locking head according to claim 1, wherein a hydraulic drive is not used to move the at least one bolt-like cylinder locking body and/or the at least one bolt-like telescope locking body.

8. Locking head according to claim 1, wherein the at least one bolt-like cylinder locking body and the at least one bolt-like telescope locking body have a thread for engaging with a spindle drive by the at least one electric actuator.

9. Locking head according to claim 1, wherein both at least one cylinder locking body and at least one telescope locking body are provided, respective axes of movement of which are not parallel to each other.

10. Locking head according to claim 9, wherein at least two cylinder locking bodies are provided, the respective axes of movement of which are parallel to each other.

11. Locking head according to claim 9, wherein at least two telescope locking bodies are provided, the respective axes of movement of which are parallel to each other.

12. Telescoping cylinder having the locking head according to claim 1.

13. Telescoping cylinder according to claim 12, wherein only the electric actuator needs to be activated to actuate the at least one bolt-like cylinder locking body and/or the at least one bolt-like telescope locking body in the locking head.

14. Locking head according to claim 4, wherein the magnet element is an electromagnet element which forces the at least one bolt-like cylinder locking body and/or the at least one bolt-like telescope locking body in the extension direction or retraction direction.

15. Locking head according to claim 9, wherein the respective axes of movement are perpendicular to each other.

16. Locking head according to claim 10, wherein the respective axes of movement are identical to each other.

17. Telescoping cylinder according to claim 13, wherein no hydraulic force is required.

Description

[0033] Further features, details and advantages of the invention can be seen in the following description of the FIGURE. In the drawings:

[0034] FIG. 1 shows a schematic sectional representation of a locking body as formed in the locking head according to the invention.

[0035] FIG. 1 does not show the entirety of a locking head, but only an isolated area of a locking body 2 and its arrangement for moving the locking body 2. It is clear to a person skilled in the art that both the cylinder locking body and the telescope locking body can be set in motion in the same way.

[0036] The locking body 2 is therefore mounted in the housing 1 and can either be moved into or out of it.

[0037] The basic structure is described below using the cylinder locking body 2 as an example.

[0038] It can be seen that the bolt-like cylinder locking body 2 is slidably mounted in the housing 1. The spring element 4 is designed in such a way that it forces the cylinder locking body 2 outwards into an extended position. For movement in the opposite direction, i.e. inwards, an electric actuator 3 is provided which interacts with the cylinder locking body 2 by rotating a shaft 6, for example a spindle, and moves it inwards into the interior of the housing 1. For example, the cylinder locking body 2 can have a blind bore directed towards the electric actuator 3, which has a threaded area on its inner circumference that meshes with a corresponding area of a shaft driven by the electric actuator 3.

[0039] It is clear to a person skilled in the art that a threaded area can also be provided on the outer circumference of the cylinder locking body, which interacts with a corresponding spindle of the electric actuator 3.

[0040] The reference numeral 5 refers to the lines for activating and supplying power to the electric actuator 3, which have much more compact dimensions and a significantly lower weight than the hydraulic lines used conventionally. Although it is not absolutely necessary to arrange an electric actuator inside the locking head when using a hydraulic drive, the progressive miniaturisation of electrical components and actuators makes it possible to arrange them inside the locking head, so that the advantage of saving weight by omitting the hydraulic lines outweighs the disadvantage.

[0041] With a cylinder locking body 2, the spring element 4 is designed to force the cylinder locking body 2 outwards so that the cylinder locking body 2 remains in its extended position even in the event of a failure or other defect in the electric actuator 3.