Design and Development of an Excavator attachment

Abstract

This dissertation work aims at design & development of an excavator attachment that contains boom, arm, bucket, linkages & cylinders. Excavation tasks range from cutting a geometrically described volume of earth for a trench or foundation footing to loading a pile of soil. The main objective of this project is to design the excavator attachment for specified kinematics parameter. The designed mechanism of attachment should also provide specified breakout, digging & lifting force. Following methodology is applied to achieve this. Benchmarking: Various models available in the market of twelve ton gross weight are compared for different critical parameters. Conceptualization & Specification freezing: Essential parameters for kinematics design are identified & best values for those parameters have been chosen. Kinematics Design: Point Geometry of mechanism is obtained considering geometric constrains like interfering, fouling etc. Breakout, Digging & Lifting force requirement is also taken into consideration. Breakout, Digging & Lift force calculation: Forces available at different position of mechanism are calculated using standardize calculation procedure. v Static force analysis Static force analysis is done to find out forces coming on the different parts of the mechanism. e.g. bucket, boom, arm, linkages etc. Topology, Shape determination & Modeling Topology & shape of the different component of the mechanism is determined. Components are modeled using CAD software. Finite element Analysis FEA of designed components is done using FEA software to validate load withstanding capacity of the mechanism in different operating conditions. Design Modifications After interpreting FEA results design modifications is made for minimum weight.