Application of Flexible Bridges and/or Flexible Turn-Table to a Crawler - Type Excavator for Vibration Isolation

Conventional crawler-type excavators have not had any suspension-like systems for the reduction of the road-induced vibration that is transmitted to an operator. In order to make the operator more comfortable when traveling, two kinds of vibration isolation elements in Fig.1(b) were newly introduced to the under-carriage system and their effects were investigated in this study. One of vibration isolation elements is the flexible bridge[1] made of multilayered rubber on steel plates instead of only steel. The other one is the flexible turn-table[1] between the center frame and cabin.

In this experimental study, the effects of the vibration isolation elements on the vibration responses at the seat floor were analyzed for three types of off-roads. As analysis tools, power spectral densities of accelerations at the cabin floor, ride values for the assessment of ride comfort and vibration duration time permissible for human body based on British Standards[2] were used.