A study on torque measuring technique for track drive unit of earthmoving equipment with very large capacity

Since a demand for an extensive range of earthmoving equipment like a hydraulic excavator with a capacity of 85tons has been asked in construction fields, a performance of its track drive unit has to be verified experimentally. Among the verification of the performances, a torque measurement is at issue, in which a torque meter is utilized widely. However, the very large scaled torque meter is necessary when a discharged torque from the track drive unit is increased significantly. In addition, the price for experimental set-up of a torque meter is too high due to its limitation of the geometry such as long length, and a break down in operation occurs frequently. In this study, to measure a high torque up to 200,000Nm, a new technique was proposed as an alternative of conventional measurement by using a torque meter. The new technique enables to measure the high torque stably in a compact space via a torque arm and two load cells. The experimental results showed a propriety of the proposed torque measuring technique for a track drive unit with very large capacity.