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A_novel_forestry_chassis_with_an_articulated_body_ (1)
A_novel_forestry_chassis_with_an_articulated_body_ (1)
Abstract
One of the challenging problems in the forest industry is to develop a chassis that is well-adapted to the complex terrain
conditions in the forest. In this article, a novel forestry chassis with an articulated body with 3 degrees of freedom and
installed luffing wheel-legs (FC-3DOF&LW) is proposed, and the mechanical model of the luffing wheel-leg is built. Based
on the mechanical model, the hydraulic cylinder velocity that involves the wheel-leg luffing is calculated. The process of
surmounting the obstacle is presented by multi-body dynamics simulation. To demonstrate the improvement of ride
comfort, the other simulation of the chassis with an articulated body with 3 degrees of freedom (FC-3DOF) is con-
trasted in multi-dynamics software. The final result shows that curves of barycenter displacement for FC-3DOF&LW
with the front and rear frames are well matched when the front frame surmounts the obstacle; in particular, the bary-
center displacement is almost stable when the rear frame surmounts the obstacle. The maximum rotated angle of the
articulated joint reaches almost 37° without the luffing wheel-leg, whereas it is only 4° with FC-3DOF&LW, a decrease
of 89.1%. Moreover, the acceleration trend for FC-3DOF&LW is more stable than that for FC-3DOF.
Keywords
Rough terrain, luffing wheel-leg, mechanical model, multi-body dynamics simulation
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2 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
investigated using non-smooth multi-body dynamics and YJ Wang20 proposed a model of a quadruped
simulation by J Edlund et al.;10 the new bogie was eccentric wheel chassis, which achieved excellent perfor-
shown to have higher mobility. In addition, special mance when crossing obstacles, even exhibiting the
types of tracked chassis were also researched. ability to climb stairs. Although the chassis-installed
Conventional tracked vehicles have superior cross- quadruple eccentric wheel enhances the trafficability,
country capability compared to common wheeled vehi- vehicle ride comfort is sacrificed. Meanwhile, the low
cles, but they also have poor maneuverability, especially speed of the chassis, which was caused by installing
poor steering performance, so a tracked omnidirec- quadruped eccentric wheel-leg, had an effect on driving
tional vehicle was designed by YN Zhang and T efficiency on flat roads. Articulated chassis have the
Huang. The vehicle demonstrated omnidirectional characteristic of a small radius of steering and are suit-
motion on uneven terrains, superior steering efficiency, able for working in narrow spaces. This advantage is
equal longitudinal motion efficiency, and comparable applied in designing a chassis to work in forests. A
cross-country performance in comparison to conven- study that analyzed the obstacle-surpassing ability of a
tional tracked vehicles.11 It is difficult for ordinary vehi- forestry chassis with an articulated body with 3 degrees
cles to drive on a flat road and surmount obstacles that of freedom (FC-3DOF) was presented by Y Zhu and
are longer than the size of wheel radius, such as stair- JM Kan.21 Due to poor adaptability to terrain and lack
ways, so a study of machine design for a transformable of adhesive force, conventional forestry machinery
shape single-tracked vehicle system was presented by J chassis is prone to wheel-slippage when they work in
Kim et al. Utilization of a variety of shapes provided hilly areas. To address these problems, a six-wheel-
enhanced ability to surmount stair-like obstacles.12 driven articulated chassis adopting the principle of
However, vehicles with tracked chassis cause significant adapting to terrain was designed with 3 degrees of free-
damage to the soil and surrounding plants in the dom. The obstacle-crossing performance of the
forests.3 FC-3DOF was analyzed through curves of barycenter
Aside from the studies of the tracked chassis, some displacements for frames and the force between wheels
methods have been adopted in the field to improve the and ground by multi-body dynamics software, and the
performance of wheeled chassis by developing a key simulation results showed that the FC-3DOF had good
body structure.13–15 Bogies are common mechanisms adaptability to the terrain, good trafficability, and flex-
that are applied in vehicles to ensure the even contact ible steering ability compared with conventional six-
of the wheels on uneven terrain. A study performed by wheeled chassis. The FC-3DOF adapted to terrain and
J Pijuan et al.16 and M Comellas et al.17 quantified the provided contact between wheels and ground at all
ability of overcoming obstacles using different config- times, which contributed to successful driving in rough
urations of vehicle with bogies. Bogies are robust, but terrain. However, poor ride comfort was present when
their main drawback is their heavy weight. In addition, crossing obstacles. The variation in barycenter displace-
bogies combined with articulated steering create severe ment for the rear frame is especially obvious in the ver-
shearing of the soil when turning.3 The structure of tical direction, and a phenomenon that affects front
wheel-leg is usually applied, and a chassis taking a frame and rear frame occurs. In addition, the large
wheel-leg is similar to a robot. A luffing wheel-legged acceleration in the vertical direction negatively affected
robot with six legs was introduced by ZB Sun and JH its ability to surmount the obstacle safely and also led
Liu.18 This robot comprised mobile equipment and was to damage of component parts. Based on the issues
designed to surmount obstacles actively on forest roads. above, a novel wheel-legged structure with active con-
However, the complexity of construction and control, trol was installed in the rear frame. As a result, curves
given the coordinated simultaneous wheel-leg move- of barycenter displacement with cooperation between
ment for the advancement of the vehicle, quickly led to the articulated body and novel wheel-leg are well
problems such as low efficiency for surmounting obsta- matched while crossing the obstacle, and the maximum
cles. There are also numerous papers in the literature rotation angle of the articulated joint decreases by
studying the structure of wheels to enhance the capacity 89.1%. Moreover, the trend of acceleration is also more
of crossing obstacles. An innovative all-terrain vehicle stable than that in FC-3DOF. Thus, the increased ride
with diameter-variable wheels was designed by XJ Yao comfort of FC-3DOF&LW is achieved.
et al.19 Diameter-variable wheels have an advantage in
that they could vary their diameter and overcome
higher obstacles compared to standard wheels when Structure of the FC-3DOF&LW
enough traction is provided. The diameter of the wheels
is varied by a driving motor installed inside the wheel.
Introduction of the FC-3DOF&LW
However, the complicated wheel structure is associated FC-3DOF&LW is proposed to traverse rough terrain
with some risks. Considering that some vehicles needed in the forest. As shown in Figure 1, the presented
to drive on unstructured terrain, such as stairs. GY Ge FC-3DOF&LW is a combination of two frames, two
Zhu et al. 3
front wheels, and four rear wheel-legs. The two frames wheel-leg is firmly installed in rear frame through joint
are connected by an articulated structure with 3 degrees structure 4, that is, fixed joint with fixed structure 2. A
of freedom. Importantly, the four rear wheel-legs with simulation that involves mechanical intension of luffing
a luffing function are attached to the rear frame and wheel-leg is finished in ANSYS workbench. The result
distributed on both sides symmetrically, each with a shows that luffing wheel-leg is strong enough to run in
wheel in the end. FC-3DOF&LW is an improved chas- rough terrain. In addition, the active luffing wheel-leg
sis with installed luffing wheel-legs in the rear frame could match with articulated body with 3 degrees of
based on an original FC-3DOF.21 This aims to ensure freedom, which ensures good contact between the
good contact between the wheels and road and enhance wheels and road and furthermore improves the ride
ride comfort on uneven terrain in the forest. comfort on uneven terrain in the forest.
Table 1. Initial parameters of the luffing wheel-leg. The equation above yields the following result
6 B LAC 3 I1 3 3 C
C0 7
I1
L2 + L2AC + I1 2LAC 3 ðI1 Þ2 ðI1 Þ2
6 750 sin arccos 2 AB pffiffiffi arccos pI2ffiffiffi p6 B@ rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ffi qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi A 7
6 3 LAC 3 I1 I1
ðLAB + LAC + I1 Þ
2 2
2 I 2 7
6 1
12L 2 3 I 7
6 4L2 3 I1
CD 1
7
6 0 AC
1 7
6 LCD 3 LDE 3 ðL2 + L2 + I1 Þ 3 cos u1 7
6 2 B CD LACDE3 pffiffiI1ffi 1
L 3 L 3 cos u AB AC LDE pffiffiffi 1 DE
3 cos u L 3 L CD 3 I2 3 cos u1 7
6 2 3 I1 3 C 7
6 750 cos arccos LAB + LACp+ffiffiffiI1 arccos pI2ffiffiffi p B r 2LAC 3 ðI1 Þ2
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi q ðI1 Þ2
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi C07
4 2 3 LAC 3 I1 I1 6 @ 2 2 A 5
ðL2 + L2 + I1 Þ
1 AB AC
I
12L 2 3 I
CD 1
4L2 3 I1
AC
ð13Þ
Zhu et al. 5
where
2 3
LDE 3 cos u1 2 3 cos u1 LCD 3 L DE 3 cos u1 DE 3 G3 3 cos u1
6 G1 LDE 3 G2G 3 LAC 3 G1 LCD 3 L2L 3
AC 3 G1
7
6
g_ = 4 rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 1
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 7u_ 1
G22 G32
5
1 4(L )2 G2 1 4(L )2 G2
CD 1 AC 1
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
G1 = L2CD + 2(LCD 3 LDE ) sin u1 + L2DE , G2 = 2L2CD + 2(LCD 3 LDE ) sin u1
G3 = L2AB + L2AC + L2CD + 2(LCD 3 LDE ) sin u1 + L2DE
Zhu et al. 7
Figure 5. The comparison between FC-3DOF&LW and FC-3DOF in surmounting the obstacle in ADAMS: (a) comparison of
surmounting the obstacle with the front wheels, (b) comparison of surmounting the obstacle with the front wheels of the rear
frame, and (c) comparison of surmounting the obstacle with the rear wheels of the rear frame.
The velocity functions of the two lifting hydraulic The velocity functions of the four dropping hydrau-
cylinders in the front of the rear frame lic cylinders
8 8
>
> 0 0\t 6:6 >
> 0 0\t 3:8
>
> >
>
< 200 6:6\t 7:2 < 200 3:8\t 4:3
vfl = 0 7:2\t 7:7 nd = 0 4:3\t 4:8
>
> >
>
>
> 200 7:7\t 8:3 >
> 200 4:8\t 5:3
: :
0 8:3\t 15 0 5:3\t 15
The velocity functions of the two lifting hydraulic In the ADAMS environment, a simulation of sur-
cylinders in the rear of the rear frame mounting the obstacle of the FC-3DOF&LW is con-
8 ducted, and it is compared with a FC-3DOF, as shown
>
> 0 0\t 10:7 in Figure 5.
>
>
< 200 10:7\t 11:3 The comparison between FC-3DOF&LW and FC-
nrl = 0 11:3\t 11:8 3DOF in the process of surmounting the obstacle can
>
>
>
> 200 11:8\t 12:4 be seen in ADAMS. For FC-3DOF&LW, the dropping
:
0 12:4\t 15 hydraulic cylinders are helpful to surmount the obstacle
8 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
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