Walker
The walking gear is a special type of chassis and is used to move machines. It is mainly used in construction machinery .
construction
The walking frame consists of a tub and several walking feet. The walking feet are attached to the device either on rails or hydraulic cylinders .
Working principle
The device stands on the tub during work. During this time, the walking feet hang in the air. If the device is to be moved, the walking feet are moved to the desired position and lowered. Then the tub with the entire device is lifted and moved (along the rail or with the help of the hydraulic cylinder ). When you arrive at the new position, the tub is lowered and the walking feet are raised again.
Advantages and disadvantages
Due to the large contact area of the tub, the soil pressures are very low, which is advantageous when used in soils with low load-bearing capacity. As the tub can be freely rotated to the walking feet, the devices can change direction as required on the spot, which gives them advantages over crawler tracks (these are tied to specified minimum curve radii).
The disadvantage is the low speed of movement (operational flexibility ) and the high maintenance costs.
Use and dissemination
Due to the very slow movement, machines with walking gear are usually used where it is possible to work from one point over long periods of time. On the other hand, due to their high maneuverability, the devices can be used in tight spaces.
Traditionally, the devices were developed, built and used in the Eastern Bloc or the USA . They could hardly prevail in Germany.
literature
- Rolf Dieter Stoll, Christian Niemann-Delius, Carsten Debenstedt, Klaus Müllensiefen: The lignite opencast mine. 1st edition, Springer Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg 2009, ISBN 978-3-540-78400-5 .
- Hans-Gustav Olshausen, VDI-Gesellschaft Bautechnik (Hrsg.): VDI-Lexikon Bauingenieurwesen. Springer Verlag Berlin, Berlin 1991, ISBN 978-3-662-30425-9 .
- Heinz M. Hiersig (Ed.): VDI-Lexikon Maschinenbau. VDI-Verlag GmbH, Düsseldorf 1995, ISBN 978-3-540-62133-1 .