Shock-absorbing and tensioning hydraulic devices with automated control systems for tracked undercarriage systems of tractors

Presently, there is a trend of developing resource- and energy-saving technologies for agricultural production. This implies modernizing undercarriage systems of traction, transport and transportation vehicles to adapt them to the peculiarities of the agricultural eco-system. Tracked vehicles can achieve this due to actuators and advanced systems for controlling changes in certain parameters of tracked undercarriage systems. In particular, this can be achieved by creating, maintaining, and changing the force of preliminary static tension of tracks, depending on conditions and modes of vehicle motion. We developed the principles of selecting the optimal value of the preliminary static tension force of tracks. We analyzed the experimental data and established that values of preliminary static tension force and those of tensile force oscillations in tracked bypasses can reach large values during motion. These values increase as conditions and modes of vehicle motion get more complicated. This proves the necessity to apply shock-absorbing and tensioning devices with automation and intellectualization. We reviewed and analyzed conventional structures of shock-absorbing and tensioning automated devices in tracked vehicles. This allowed us to reveal many disadvantages, including their reaction solely to external disturbance, reduced to the hydraulic cylinder rod, and not to the conditions and motion modes. We proposed a basic diagram, general structure, and operation principle of a hydraulic shock-absorbing and tensioning automated device. In this structure, the tension force of tracks changes during motion depending on the position of vehicle controls set by the operator according to the specified conditions and modes of motion. We created the necessary prerequisites for complex automation and intellectualization of shock-absorbing and tensioning devices of tractors.