COMPARTMENT

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application claims priority from Italian patent application no. 102017000141257 filed on 6/12/2017, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference .

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a radio-controlled earth- moving machine. This machine can be used in particular for making tunnels.

BACKGROUND ART

The earth-moving machines used in tunnels comprise a frame, which supports two side tracks and which supports in its rear part a compartment housing an engine to move the tracks. The machine is further equipped with a tool to excavate the tunnel and/or to transport the earth produced by the excavation. Everything is designed to minimize the height of the earth-moving machine. The engine compartment is nothing more than a prismatic box housing the engine.

The earth-moving machines currently on the market have a serious drawback.

Particularly at the exit of the tunnel, the machine must travel along a road that can have some bumps or even a minimum slope. Consequently, since the bottom wall of the engine compartment is quite close to the road surface, the engine compartment comes into contact with this surface and if this contact is violent, it can even cause considerable (sometimes irreparable) damage, not only to the engine compartment but also to the part of the frame that supports it .

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide an earth- moving machine that is free of the aforementioned drawback. The object of the present invention is a preferably radio- controlled earth-moving machine and of the type comprising: a frame provided with two side tracks;

an engine compartment supported by the rear part of said frame;

characterized in that it comprises means to control the vertical movement of said engine compartment to change the distance between this latter and the road surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention, a preferred embodiment is described purely by way of example, in which: Figure 1 is a side view of an earth-moving machine manufactured according to the dictates of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a front view of the machine of Figure 1;

Figures 3 and 4 are respectively side and front views of the earth-moving machine with its engine compartment in a different position with respect to the position shown in

Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 5 is a partial plan view and on an enlarged scale of a part of the earth-moving machine of Figure 1; and

Figure 6 is a view on an enlarged scale of an area of the earth-moving machine shown in Figure 5.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Figures 1 and 2 indicate as a whole an earth-moving machine, radio-controlled by means of a known type of control device 2. The machine 1 is particularly suitable to excavate tunnels and has therefore a reduced height. The machine 1 comprises a frame 3 of a known type provided with two side tracks 4 and with a tool (not shown since it is of known type) suitable to excavate the tunnel and/or to transport the earth produced by the excavation. Moreover, the frame 3 supports in its rear part a compartment 5, commonly called the engine compartment because it houses an engine, not shown, to control the movement of the tracks 4, the engine compartment 5 being a prismatic box supported by the frame 3.

As shown in Figures 2 to 6, in its rear area the frame 3 is provided with a plate 6 arranged on a horizontal plane and supporting two vertical guides 7 parallel to each other.

The engine compartment 5 has a front wall 8 that, by means of brackets 11, supports a plate 12 arranged on a vertical plane orthogonal to the horizontal plane on which the plate

6 is arranged, the vertical side edges of the plate 12 being slidable along the guides 7. A (pneumatic, hydraulic or oleodynamic) fluid dynamic actuator 13 is installed between the plates 6 and 12. Its longitudinal axis is vertical, parallel to the plate 12 and orthogonal to the plate 6. As shown in Figures 2, 4, the actuator 13 has its own stationary cylinder 14 carried by the plate 6 and its own rod 15 having a top free end fixed to a pair of brackets 16, which are in turn fixed to the plate 12.

In use, when the machine 1 has to drive along a road with bumps or slopes, to avoid any contact between the bottom wall of the engine compartment 5 and the road surface, the device 2 controls the actuator 13 and switches it from the configuration shown in the Figures 1 and 2 into the configuration shown in Figures 3 and 4. Basically, the upward movement of the rod 15 is controlled so as to lift the engine compartment 5 and bring it to a certain distance from the road surface so that the bottom wall of the engine compartment does not come into contact with the road surface. The device 2 can obviously control the actuator 13 to bring the engine compartment 5 back into the configuration shown in Figures 1 and 2. Basically, the object of the present invention consists in providing means that can control the vertical movement of the engine compartment 5 to change the distance between this latter and the road surface. It is clear that the movement of the rod 15 can be controlled even for a distance shorter than the maximum distance, depending on the slope. Finally, as shown in Figures 1 and 3, it is possible to provide the machine 1 with a sensor 17 which, for example, can be mounted on the bottom wall of the engine compartment 5 and which is able to detect the distance between the bottom wall of the engine compartment 5 and the road surface so as to send a relative signal to the device 2. When the detected distance between the bottom wall of the engine compartment 5 and the road surface is smaller than a predetermined value, the device 2 sends an acoustic or visual alarm signal and possibly blocks the movement of the machine 1, or the device 2 automatically orders the lifting of the engine compartment 5.

From the above description, the advantages achieved by means of the present invention are clear.

In particular, the machine 1 avoids either manually or automatically any contact between the engine compartment 5 and the road surface, especially when the machine 1 travels along a road with bumps or slopes. Therefore, this avoids any damage to the engine compartment 5 and to the frame 3.

Basically, it is possible to control the lifting of the engine compartment 5 from its usual working position (the machine 1 must work in a tunnel which normally has a reduced height) to a safety position that prevents any contact between the engine compartment 5 and the road surface, and vice versa. Moreover, it is possible to change the lifting height of the engine compartment 5. Finally, it is possible to provide the machine 1 with means (sensor 17) that signal the distance between the bottom wall of the engine compartment 5 and the road surface to warn the operators about any possibility of impact between the engine compartment 5 and the road surface and/or to automatically control the lifting of the engine compartment 5.

It is clear that the means for lifting the engine compartment may be different from those shown and described.