2006 Volume 122 Issue 3 Pages 119-128
In the transportation system using a large scaled dump truck, it is important to replace a wheel safely, quickly and easily when a wheel is burst or too much abraded partially. Conventionally, wheel replacement work has been depended on the replacement machinery for exclusive use. Considerable amount of expenditure was necessary to purchase the replacement machinery for exclusive use. Because of this reason, development of wheel replacing unit (handler unit ) has been expected for holding down the production cost.
In this study, motion of a wheel replacement handler was analyzed both theoretically and experimentally, then handler unit was developed and wheel replacement test was carried out. Results obtained from the study are as follows; 1) Optional height of the axis of the large diameter wheel which is to be replaced can be adjusted easily, applying the analyzed equation obtained from theoretical study on the link motion. 2) It was found that a large scale wheel supported by a pair of steel pipes of which diameter and weight were 3.6 m and 5.2 t respectively could be rolled for setting the bolt holes to the bolt positions, when the pipe diameter was larger than 4 in. 3) As a result of rolling test for a large scale wheel using a pair of steel pipes of which diameter were 7in, it was proved that setting work of bolt holes to the bolt positions could be done within the time of 14-20 min. 4) Conclusively, it can be said that the handler unit newly developed in this study has the wide applicability, simplicity and cost performance comparing with conventional wheel replacing machinery.
