A new three-wheeled bogie design is evaluated on soft and rough terrain

The new bogie consists of one large wheel and two smaller wheels.

The design could possibly provide the flotation benefits of tracks but the manoeuvrability benefits of wheels, to a greater extent than that provided by standard bogie axles. The big driving wheel is connected to and aligned with the chassis main axis. The two smaller wheels are positioned on the frame legs in front of, and behind the large wheel. The two small wheels rotate freely. A conventional bandtrack is then fitted over the three wheels. A simulation analysis of the proposed bogie design then took place.

The results showed that the new bogie design had higher mobility than the conventional bogie in terms of acceleration and crossing wider ditches. Soil displacement was smaller when turning on flat firm ground, and the maximum load for a given soil bearing capacity could be increased. However, the bogie requires more torque to achieve the same traction force as a conventional bogie, and provides less acceleration when travelling over obstacles.

This article, titled “A long-tracked bogie design for forestry machines on soft soil and rough terrain”, was published in the Journal of Terramechanics, Vol. 50 (2013). The authors were J Edlund, E Keramati and M Servin. Source (information and image): http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S00224898130001892