Motion stability estimation for modular traction vehicle-based combined unit.

One of the promising ways of efficiently applying high power intensity tractors is their design and utilisation in the form of modular traction vehicles comprising two modules: the power module and the process module. In order to provide for the sufficient manoeuvrability of the modular traction vehicle, when its process module passes a turn, the latter is equipped with vertical and horizontal hinge joints. The freedom of the process module’s rotation with respect to the power module in the horizontal plane through the agency of the above-mentioned vertical hinge joint is restrained by a hydraulic cylinder, in which the chambers above and below the piston are connected via a throttle valve with a hydraulic resistance coefficient of about 1.03×10 N m s rad. This paper is concerned with the theoretical and experimental research into the stability of motion (on turn spaces as well as in the transport mode) of a modular combined unit, when its velocity changes and/or the slip resistance coefficient of the tyres on the wheels of the process module, in which the hydraulic cylinder is equipped with a throttle valve with the above-mentioned hydraulic resistance coefficient, changes.