Abstract
Snow-clearing vehicle (1), having a sweeper-blower arrangement (10), wherein the sweeper-blower arrangement is adjustably pivotable around a vertical axis (13) which runs through the snow-clearing vehicle. The sweeper-blower arrangement has a sweeping-roller brush (4) which is rotatingly drivable around its longitudinal axis. In the direction of travel, blow-air openings (5, 6, 7, 8) arranged on both sides of the vertical axis are provided in front and along the sweeping-roller brush (4), which are arranged for simultaneous and identically acting blowing. This allows for an improved removal of the snow to be cleared.
Claims
1. Snow-clearing vehicle with a right clearing side and a left clearing side, having a sweeper-blower arrangement, wherein the sweeper-blower arrangement is adjustably pivotable around a vertical axis which runs through the snow-clearing vehicle, and wherein the sweeper-blower arrangement is provided with a sweeping-roller brush which is rotatingly drivable around its longitudinal axis, as well as with a plurality of blow-air openings arranged in the direction of travel in front and along the sweeping-roller brush on both sides of the vertical axis, wherein the sweeper-blower arrangement provides blow-air openings arranged on both sides of the vertical axis which are provided for simultaneous, identically acting blowing such that all said blow air openings on both sides of the vertical axis act by blowing snow to the same clearing side of the vehicle.
2. Snow-clearing vehicle according to claim 1, wherein two or more blow-air openings are provided on each side of the vertical axis.
3. Snow-clearing vehicle according to claim 1, wherein for a sweeping-roller brush with a length of 4 to 6 meters at least four blow-air openings are provided, and wherein for a sweeping-roller brush with a length of more than 6 meters at least six blow-air openings are provided.
4. Snow-clearing vehicle according to claim 2, characterized in that the blow-air openings are substantially evenly spaced apart from each other.
5. Snow-clearing vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the blow-air openings are pivotably arranged individually or in groups for changing their blowing direction.
6. Snow-clearing vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the blow-air openings are slidably arranged individually or in groups along the sweeping-roller brush.
7. Snow-clearing vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the outer blow-air opening which forms the beginning of the blow-airstream is slidable such that it is eventually positioned outside the area covered by the sweeping-roller brush.
8. Snow-clearing vehicle according to claim 1, wherein two or three blow-air openings each are arranged on a common carrier on each side of the vertical axis, wherein each carrier is adjustable along the sweeping-roller brush, and the corresponding blow-air openings are pivotably arranged on the carrier such that the angle of the corresponding blow-airstream to the sweeping-roller brush is adjustable in a horizontal plane.
9. Snow-clearing vehicle according to claim 1, wherein at least two blow-air openings are arranged in the direction of travel behind the sweeping-roller brush, which are arranged to pivot together with the sweeping-roller brush.
10. Snow-clearing vehicle according to claim 1, wherein it is a vehicle with its own drive and a snowplow in the front.
11. Snow-clearing vehicle according to claim 1, wherein it is a pullable vehicle without its own drive.
12. Snow-clearing vehicle according to claim 9, wherein blow-air is generated separately for one group of blow-air openings each.
13. Snow-clearing vehicle according to claim 1 wherein the blow-air openings are pivotably arranged individually or in groups for changing their blowing direction, and/or wherein the blow-air openings are slidably arranged individually or in groups along the sweeping-roller brush, said vehicle having an electronic control device which is designed for controlling the pivoting of the blow-air openings and/or for controlling the sliding of the blow-air openings.
14. Method for operating a sweeper-blower clearing vehicle having a right clearing side and a left clearing side, wherein an airstream is generated from at least four partially overlapping individual blow-airstreams by at least four identically and simultaneously acting blow-air openings along a sweeping-roller brush of the sweeper-blower clearing vehicle such that all said blow air openings act by blowing to the same clearing side of the vehicle; wherein said snow clearing vehicle is a vehicle having a sweeper-blower arrangement, wherein the sweeper-blower arrangement is adjustably pivotable around a vertical axis which runs through the snow-clearing vehicle, and wherein the sweeper-blower arrangement is provided with the sweeping-roller brush which is rotatingly drivable around its longitudinal axis, as well as with the plurality of blow-air openings arranged in the direction of travel in front and along the sweeping-roller brush on both sides of the vertical axis, wherein the sweeper-blower arrangement provides blow-air openings arranged on both sides of the vertical axis which are provided for simultaneous, identically acting blowing.
15. Method according to claim 14, wherein the blow-air openings are arranged substantially at the same distance from each other along the sweeping-roller brush and operated such that it results an essentially even combined blow-airstream along the sweeping-roller brush.
16. Method according to claim 14, wherein those blow-air openings which are located closer to the end of the overlapping blow-airstream, particularly the last two or the last three blow-air openings, are pivoted at a greater angle in the direction of travel than the other blow-air openings.
17. Method according to claim 14, wherein at least the blow-air opening arranged at the end of the sweeper-blower brush is shifted along the sweeper-blower brush until the shifted blow-air opening is located outside of the sweeping area of the sweeper-blower brush.
18. Method according to claim 14, wherein the blow-air openings are pivotably arranged individually or in groups for changing their blowing directions, and/or wherein the blow-air openings are slidably arranged individually or in groups along the sweeping-roller brush for changing their positions; and wherein different directions and/or positions of the blow-air openings are stored in and are retrievable from an electronic control of the snow-clearing vehicle.
19. Snow-clearing vehicle with a right clearing side and a left clearing side, having a sweeper-blower arrangement, wherein the sweeper-blower arrangement is adjustably pivotable around a vertical axis which runs through the snow-clearing vehicle, and wherein the sweeper-blower arrangement is provided with a sweeping-roller brush which is rotatingly drivable around its longitudinal axis, as well as with a plurality of blow-air openings arranged in the direction of travel in front and along the sweeping-roller brush on both sides of the vertical axis, wherein the sweeper-blower arrangement provides blow-air openings arranged on both sides of the vertical axis which are provided for simultaneous, identically acting blowing such that all said blow air openings on both sides of the vertical axis act by blowing snow to the same clearing side of the vehicle, wherein two or more blow-air openings are provided on each side of the vertical axis, and wherein the blow-air openings are pivotably arranged individually or in groups for changing their blowing direction.
20. Snow-clearing vehicle with a right clearing side and a left clearing side, having a sweeper-blower arrangement, wherein the sweeper-blower arrangement is adjustably pivotable around a vertical axis which runs through the snow-clearing vehicle, and wherein the sweeper-blower arrangement is provided with a sweeping-roller brush which is rotatingly drivable around its longitudinal axis, as well as with a plurality of blow-air openings arranged in the direction of travel in front and along the sweeping-roller brush on both sides of the vertical axis, wherein the sweeper-blower arrangement provides blow-air openings arranged on both sides of the vertical axis which are provided for simultaneous, identically acting blowing such that all said blow air openings on both sides of the vertical axis act by blowing snow to the same clearing side of the vehicle, wherein two or more blow-air openings are provided on each side of the vertical axis, and wherein the blow-air openings are pivotably arranged individually or in groups for changing their blowing direction and wherein the blow-air openings are slidably arranged individually or in groups along the sweeping-roller brush.
21. Snow-clearing vehicle according to claim 20, wherein the outer blow-air opening which forms the beginning of the blow-airstream is slidable such that it is eventually positioned outside the area covered by the sweeping-roller brush.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) Further embodiments, advantages, and uses of the invention follow from the dependent claims and from the following description using the drawings:
(2) FIG. 1 shows schematically a top view of an embodiment of a snow-clearing vehicle;
(3) FIG. 2 shows a schematic top view according to FIG. 1 with a preferred setting of the blow-air openings;
(4) FIG. 3 shows a further schematic top view of the snow-clearing vehicle of FIG. 1 for illustrating the pivotability of the blow-air openings;
(5) FIG. 4 shows a further top view according to FIG. 1 for illustrating a possible position of the blow-air openings;
(6) FIG. 5 shows a depiction according to FIG. 1 for illustrating the relocatability of blow-air openings;
(7) FIG. 6 shows a depiction according to FIG. 1 with blow-air openings behind the sweeping-roller brush;
(8) FIG. 7 shows a diagrammatic depiction of a sweeper-blower arrangement with a common carrier for two blow-air openings each;
(9) FIG. 8 shows the example from FIG. 7 with a different position of the carriers;
(10) FIG. 9 shows an example of a snow-clearing vehicle without its own drive and for the arrangement of radial blowers; and
(11) FIG. 10 shows a depiction for illustrating the clearing width of the sweeping brush.
WAY(S) TO REALIZE THE INVENTION
(12) FIG. 1 and further drawings show a schematic top view of a self-propelled snow-clearing vehicle 1. The vehicle sits on the surface, on which the snow to be cleared is located and which, for example, is a runway of an airport, and the vehicle travels in the direction of the arrow F for removing snow. The vehicle is schematically indicated with a driver's cabin 2 and the wheels 3. Such a vehicle has the drives for all the driving and snow removal functions usual for snow-clearing vehicles which will not be further explained herein. The vehicle is equipped with a snowplow 20 which will also not be explained further since this is known to a person skilled in the art of snow-clearing vehicles. FIG. 1 shows the snowplow 20 in the position for clearing snow to the right in the drawing and denoted with 20 as a dotted line in order to indicate the position in which the snowplow has been brought to the left in the figure. The vehicle is further equipped with a sweeper-blower arrangement 10, having a sweeping-roller brush 4 which is pivotable around a vertical axis 13. Such sweeper-blower arrangements with a sweeping-roller brush and their pivotability are known to a person skilled in the art, and the pivot mounting and the drive for rotating the brush shall not be further explained herein. Along its longitudinal axis, the brush can be formed as one piece or from a plurality of parts. FIG. 1 shows the sweeping-roller brush 4 in the position which is suitable for the position of the plow 20 or the removal of snow to the right in the drawing. The sweeping-roller brush 4 as dotted depiction indicates the position for removing snow to the left.
(13) In the schematic depiction of FIG. 1 and further drawings, the blow-air openings of the sweeper-blower arrangement provided for blowing air are merely indicated as circles. A person skilled in the art knows the design of the blow-air openings as simple round or square openings of a pipe, or as nozzle-shaped outlet of a pipe, or on a pipe which usually let the blow-air emerge horizontally. FIGS. 7 and 8 show an example in more detail. The blow-air openings are connected by means of pipelines, which are not depicted, to a device 11 for generating air under pressure or, as a result, a stream of air, respectively. This device 11 can have any type of design known to a person skilled in the art and can, for example, be an electrically driven radial blower.
(14) According to the invention, openings for blowing air out from the sweeper-blower arrangement or, in other words, blow-air openings are arranged on both sides of the vertical axis 13 along the sweeping-roller brush 4 and are provided for emitting blow-air in an essentially identical manner, or in other words, in a manner that leads to air streams that work in essentially the same direction. This is depicted in FIG. 1 with an example of four blow-air openings 5, 6, 7, and 8. It is also possible to provide only three blow-air openings, or it is also possible to provide more than four blow-air openings. The blow-air openings are acting identically by blowing the snow to the same clearing side, i.e. either to the left or to the right. With the indicated conical airstreams 5 (from the blow-air opening 5) and 6 (from opening 6) and 7 (from opening 7) and 8 from the blow-air opening 8, the blowing of the snow to the right is depicted which also corresponds to the position of the plow 20 and the sweeping-roller brush. The equally or identically, respectively, acting airstreams which are generated along the sweeping-roller brush result in the positive effects described with the advantages of the invention. In particular, it is possible to set the sweeping-roller brush at a less acute angle, resulting in a greater clearing width. This is shown schematically in FIG. 10 with the angles ? and ? for two different positions of the sweeping brush, wherein the smaller angle ? results in the greater clearing width ? of the sweeping brush 4 when compared to the greater angle ? which results in the smaller clearing width ?.
(15) While the basic configuration with a plurality of identically acting blow-air openings was depicted using FIG. 1, FIG. 2 shows a preferred setting, in which the blow-air openings are arranged such that their airstreams 5, 6, 7, and 8 and their effective ranges overlap. It is also preferred that all or some of the blow-air openings along the sweeping-roller brush are at the same distance a from each other.
(16) The blow-air openings are preferably arranged pivotably, and therefore are pivotable from the position according to FIG. 1 to the position according to FIG. 2. In such case, a pivot axis is provided for each blow-air opening which allows for the appropriate rotation and thus adjustment of direction of the conical airstream. The pivoting can be motor-driven, and it can be affected by an electronic control, adjusted to the position of the sweeping-roller brush 4 and also to the plow 20. It is clearly apparent from FIG. 2 how the exemplarily operated blow openings allow for the removal of the snow in a particularly satisfactory manner.
(17) For explanation purposes only, FIG. 3 shows the position for snow removal to the right and as well the position for snow removal to the left. Of course, either of the two positions is selected when removing snow along the track of the vehicle. For simplifying the drawing, it is only shown for the blow-air opening 5 and its airstream 5 that during pivoting of the sweeping-roller brush 4 to the position denoted with reference sign 4, the blow-air opening 5 is also rotated together with the sweeping-roller brush 4 and additionally pivoted to the position, ensuring that its airstream proceeds as depicted with reference sign 5, and so the snow is blown to the left. Correspondingly, this would also apply to the blow-air openings 6, 7, and 8. Alternatively to such pivotable blow-air openings, an additional set of blow-air openings can also be provided, the blowing direction of which is directed in the opposite direction of the blow-air openings 5-8, and so this additional set of blow-air openings is activated and the blow-air openings 5-8 are deactivated, when the sweeping-roller brush 4 is in the pivoted position. This can be achieved with switchable valves or flaps which optionally connects the blow-air generator 11 to one or the other set of blow-air openings.
(18) FIG. 4 once again shows a schematic top view of the removal of snow to the right. The same reference signs denote the same or functionally similar elements as described above. In FIG. 4, a further operating type is depicted, in which the blow-air openings continue to operate simultaneously and identically in the meaning of the present invention (in this case all of them blow to the right), but are pivoted around different angles. In this example with four blow-air openings, the three blow-air openings 6, 7, 8 positioned further to the right are pivoted by an increasingly greater angle than the blow-air opening 5 positioned on the far left. It is also possible that only the two blow-air openings 7 and 8 are increasingly pivoted, or it is also possible that only the blow-air opening 8 is pivoted relative to the blow-air openings 5, 6, and 7 which are arranged in alignment.
(19) FIG. 5 shows a further preferred embodiment, in which at least one blow-air opening is relocatable, or in other words, slidable along the sweeping-roller brush. In the example of FIG. 5, all blow-air openings are depicted as shifted, and so the blow-air opening 5 is eventually positioned outside of the sweeping-roller brush 4. It is also possible that only the blow-air opening 5 was shifted, while the other blow-air openings maintained their positions. For a removal to the left, the blow-air opening 8 would be the blow-air opening which eventually were to be positioned outside of the sweeping-roller brush. The shift makes it possible that the blow-air becomes already effective at the outer end of the sweeping-roller brush.
(20) FIG. 6 shows a further embodiment, in which blow-air openings 25, 26 are provided also in the direction of travel of the vehicle behind the sweeping-roller brush 4. They can be arranged, as depicted, in one half of the sweeping-roller brush or on both sides of the vertical axis. The blow-air openings behind the sweeping-roller brush are preferably also pivotable and, if necessary, also slidable in order to act in the position 4 of the sweeping-roller brush the same way as in the position 4 of FIG. 6.
(21) FIGS. 7 and 8 show a diagrammatic view of a sweeper-blower arrangement with the sweeping-roller brush 4 and four blow-air openings 5 to 8. The view shows the front of the vehicle against the diving direction. The device 11 for generating blow-air is only indicated, similar to its connections 11, which are pipelines or hose lines, to the blow-air openings 5 to 8. In this embodiment, the blow-air openings are arranged in groups of two on a common carrier, each slidable along the sweeping-roller brush. The respective blow-air openings are arranged individually pivotable on the carrier. In FIG. 7, the carriers 30 and 31 are depicted with the blow-air openings 5, 6, and 7, 8 in a position that is not shifted, and the blow-air openings are pivoted for blowing to the right (as seen looking in the direction of travel). The individual swivel drives for the blow-air openings are denoted with 15-18 and can be controlled with the control 33 (only indicated by a box) of the snow-clearing vehicle in order to adjust the pivot angle and the blowing direction. A preferred different embodiment is a mechanical arrangement, for example with a rod system, which mechanically diverts the pivoting of the blow-air openings from the pivoting sweeping-roller brush, and so the blow-air openings are automatically pivoted to the desired position by the mechanical arrangement, when the sweeping-roller brush is pivoted. FIG. 8 shows that the carriers are shifted and the blow-air openings are adjusted for blowing to the left (as seen looking in the direction of travel). FIG. 8 also shows the form of the blow-air openings at the outlet of the blow-air, which in this example is rectangular. The corresponding shifting drive 34, 35 for carrier 30 and 31 is only indicated. These drives can also be controlled by the control 33.
(22) FIG. 9 shows a further embodiment, in which the snow-clearing vehicle is a vehicle without its own drive and is pulled by another vehicle. As a rule, the other vehicle is a snowplow. In FIG. 9, the same reference signs once again denote the same or functionally similar elements. This embodiment shows as an example that, instead of a central device for generating blow-air, two separate devices 11 and 11 can be provided, each associated with a group of blow-air openings. In this case, they are the blow-air openings arranged on a common carrier 30 and 31 which are merely indicated in the drawing with their blow-air cones 5-8. The devices 11 and 11 can be, for example, electrically or hydraulically driven radial fans. The design for generating blow-air in FIG. 9 could also be provided in a self-propelled vehicle according to FIGS. 1 to 6. FIG. 10 has already been explained above.
(23) While preferred embodiments of the invention are described in the present application, it must be clearly pointed out that the invention is not limited to these embodiments and can also be designed in a different manner within the scope of the following claims.
