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. A locking head for telescoping cylinders of a telescopic boom having a plurality of telescopic boom portions, comprising: a housing, at least one cylinder locking body, configured to move in and out of the housing in order to lock the locking head with a telescopic boom portion of the plurality of telescopic boom portions, at least one telescope locking body oriented perpendicular to the at least one cylinder locking body, the at least one telescope locking body configured to move in and out of the housing in order to release the telescopic boom portion of the plurality of telescopic boom portions for a telescoping movement, 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 in a retraction direction towards an interior of the housing, and a spring element or a magnet element configured to exert a force outwards on the at least one cylinder locking body and/or the at least one telescope locking body in an extension direction, the extension direction opposite to the retraction direction.

2. The locking head according to claim 1, wherein the at least one electric actuator comprises a first electric actuator and a second electric actuator, wherein the first electric actuator actuates the at least one cylinder locking body and the second electric actuator actuates the at least one telescope locking body.

3. The locking head according to claim 1, comprising the spring element, wherein the spring element is configured to exert the force outwards on the at least one cylinder locking body and/or the at least one telescope locking body in the extension direction.

4. The locking head according to claim 3, wherein the spring element is designed to exert the force outwards on the at least one cylinder locking body even if the at least one electric actuator fails and/or is not supplied with electrical power.

5. The locking head according to claim 1, comprising the magnet element, wherein the magnet element is configured to exert the force outwards on the at least one cylinder locking body and/or the at least one telescope locking body in the extension direction.

6. The locking head according to claim 5, wherein the magnet element is an electromagnet element.

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

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

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

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

11. The locking head according to claim 10, wherein the respective axes of movement are coaxial.

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

13. The locking head according to claim 9, wherein the respective axes of movement are perpendicular to each other.

14. A telescoping cylinder having the locking head according to claim 1.

15. The telescoping cylinder according to claim 14, wherein only the at least one electric actuator is activated to actuate the at least one cylinder locking body and/or the at least one telescope locking body in the locking head.

16. The telescoping cylinder according to claim 15, wherein actuating the at least one cylinder locking body and/or the at least one telescope locking body does not use hydraulic force.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(1) Further features, details and advantages of the invention can be seen in the following description of the FIGURE. In the drawings:

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(2) The figure shows a schematic sectional representation of a locking body as formed in the locking head according to the invention.

(3) The figure 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 8 and the telescope locking body 9 can be set in motion in the same way.

(4) The locking body 2 is therefore mounted in the housing 1 and can either be moved into or out of it.

(5) The basic structure is described below using the cylinder locking body 8 as an example.

(6) It can be seen that the bolt-like cylinder locking body 8 is slidably mounted in the housing 1. The spring element 4 is designed in such a way that it forces the cylinder locking body 8 outwards into an extended position. It can also be provided that the locking head is further provided with a magnet element 10, in particular an electromagnet element 11 which forces the at least one cylinder locking body 8 and/or the at least one telescope locking body 9 in the extension or retraction direction. For movement in the opposite direction, i.e. inwards, an electric actuator 3 is provided which interacts with the cylinder locking body 8 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 8 can have a blind bore directed towards the electric actuator 3, which has a threaded area 12 on its inner circumference that meshes with a corresponding area of a shaft driven by the electric actuator 3.

(7) It is clear to a person skilled in the art that a threaded area 12 can also be provided on the outer circumference of the cylinder locking body, which interacts with a corresponding spindle of the electric actuator 3.

(8) 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.

(9) With a cylinder locking body 8, the spring element 4 is designed to force the cylinder locking body 8 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.