Description:“MOTORIZED TROLLEY USED FOR SHIFTING OF TRANSFORMER COILS FROM ONE TO ANOTHER WORKING STATION”

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to Motorized trolley used for shifting of Transformer coils from one working station to another working station involving inter-bay movement at Transformer manufacturing block.

The motorized trolley can be employed for lifting weight of ⁓60 Ton.

BACKGROUND/PRIOR ART OF INVENTION

Background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.

When the transformer shop was constructed, it was built with an idea that it will be most modern plant of that time with most modern machines and facilities. Accordingly, for shifting of coils, Air Casters were bought and they were used for shifting of coils from one bay to another or in and out of the drying heating oven. They worked well for some time but soon they started giving trouble because of following reasons:

- Levelling issue of epoxy floor
-Damaged epoxy floor
- Damaged floor caused frequent puncture of bladders
- Pushing & pulling of air-caster with powerful diesel based lifters
- Pushing & pulling, further damaged other parts of air caster

These reasons were prevailing and did not allow the Air casters to work smoothly anytime which led to complete fiasco and jeopardized all activity which were related to coil shifting through air casters. It was too difficult to live with the situation as nothing used to go right and all day planning used to fail. Some of the daily troubles are listed below:

-With troublesome Air caster it was never certain to take the hot coil out of heating oven in time, though it is very much important to take the coil out in minimum possible time and press it in hot condition to get desired height;

-Punctured bladders used to get repaired but they never used to work with full efficiency, so even after full air pressure air caster was never able to lift the pallet to the required height for making it friction less and therefore diesel operated fork lifters were used to move it forcefully with great difficulty.
-Huge carbon smoke used to be extracted from the fork lifters;
-Moving approx. 40T mass with floor friction was never so easy and in doing this exercise, the floor used to get damaged with every forceful shifting;

-There used to be plan for the day but shifting activities were always on mercy of air casters, which were uncertain and therefore planning used to fail too frequently;

-For heating the coil, it takes 36-48 hours and then it has to be pressed in hot condition but if one fails to shift the coil in time then whole of the 48hrs of heating used to go waste;

-Shifting and use of these coils is always a time bound activity but because of these air casters and damaged floor, it used to take quite long for shifting any coil to its destination, thus whole planning used to fail which invited other problems like coil jump, replacing level issue etc.

With these daily issues it was too difficult to manage.

In view of the above, motorized trolley was introduced so as to address the aforesaid drawbacks of the prior arts.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
Primary object of the invention is to provide Motorized trolley used for shifting of Transformer coils from one working station to another working station.

Another object of the invention is to provide Motorized trolley used for shifting of Transformer coils from one working station to another working station, which obviates shortcomings of the prior art (s).
Still another object of the invention is to provide Motorized trolley used for shifting of Transformer coils from one working station to another working station, which is simple in construction and serves the purpose efficiently.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide Motorized trolley with its unique feature of moving the item to its destination without engaging the trolley permanently.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which a preferred form of the present invention is illustrated.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION
One or more drawbacks of conventional systems and process are overcome, and additional advantages are provided through the apparatus/composition and a method as claimed in the present disclosure. Additional features and advantages are realized through the technicalities of the present disclosure. Other embodiments and aspects of the disclosure are described in detail herein and are considered to be part of the claimed disclosure.
According to this invention, there is provided Motorized trolley used for shifting of Transformer coils from one to another working station comprising a plurality of slewing bearings (2) connected with the output of motor (5, 6) through gear which rotates the trolley as per command given for left / right movement, wherein the trolley is provided with drive Wheel (3A) and Idler Wheel (3B), and the Induction motors (5, 6) are fitted with the gears of drive wheels, in which the trolley is operated on power pack (1) and controlled by control panel (4).

The wheels (3A,3B) are made of material including Polyurathane (PU) for its movement on epoxy / concrete floor.

The drive PU wheel (3A) is provided for turning and backward / forward movement of the trolley and the idler PU wheel (3B) is provided for the movement of trolley as it gets pushed by the drive PU wheels (3A).

Multiple hydraulic button jacks are fitted in between the idler PU wheels, in which once hydraulic button jacks are energized can lift the weight jointly and shift the weight from one place to another place.

For the energization of the jacks, an oil filled tank/Hydraulic cylinder is connected through hoses to the jacks, which are turned ON and OFF by a push button on the control panel / remote (4).

The motorized trolley is connected to cable reel drum (7) so as to have uninterrupted supply up to for example 30m of its movement, in which the cable drum (7) is fitted for folding and unfolding of the cable.

The control panel (4) is fitted with Distribution of main power supply, Protection of power supply through MCBs, Contacts for turning ON and OFF the motor supply, transferring the control to Local/Manual mode, in which the control panel manages the trolley's movements.

The control system (4) is provided with multiple Push buttons fitted with labels as follows:
-Forward: for the forward movement of the trolley,
-Backward: for the backward movement of the trolley,
-Right: for turning right,
-Left: for turning left,
- Up: for energizing the hydraulic button jacks,
-Down: for De-energizing the hydraulic button jacks,
-Emergency: for bringing the whole system at stand still,
- Set Speed: for controlling the speed of trolley.

The motorized trolley can shift the given job to its desired position followed by getting ready for the next loading, with no need of engaging the trolley permanently. It can be employed for lifting weight of ⁓60 Ton.

Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the inventive subject matter will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, along with the accompanying drawing figures in which like numerals represent like components.

It is to be understood that the aspects and embodiments of the disclosure described above may be used in any combination with each other. Several of the aspects and embodiments may be combined to form a further embodiment of the disclosure.

The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWING

The illustrated embodiments of the subject matter will be best understood by reference to the drawings, wherein like parts are designated by like numerals throughout. The following description is intended only by way of example, and simply illustrates certain selected embodiments of devices, systems, and processes that are consistent with the subject matter as claimed herein, wherein:-

Figure 1 shows: Motorized trolley used for shifting of Transformer coils from one working station to another working station according to the present invention.
The figures depict embodiments of the disclosure for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWING OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
While the embodiments of the disclosure are subject to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiment thereof have been shown by way of example in the figures and will be described below. It should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the scope of the disclosure.

The present invention makes a disclosure regarding a technology pertaining to invention on a Motorized trolley used for shifting of Transformer coils from one working station to another working station.

The Motorized Trolley is connected to a 3 phase power supply through 30 mtr. Long cable. The Forward, Reverse movement turning to Left or Right is controlled through the handheld pendent. There are multitude of hydraulically operated jacks fitted on the trolley. The body of jack is below the top structure of the trolley. Suitable Hydraulic Power packs to operate these jacks are mounted under the trolley or inside along with length near a control panel.

The trolley is transported under the pallet by navigating through the handheld pendent. Once the trolley is positioned centrally along the length and width of the pallet, the hydraulic jacks are operated to raise the pallet with or without load above the ground. Now, the pallet is transported to the desired location by operating the trolley. The trolley can be taken out for next material movement by lowering the hydraulic jacks to rest the pallet on the ground.

The motorized trolley as illustrated in figure 1 involves the following features:

Power Pack: 1
The motorized trolley works on electrical power. Three phase supply is required to 4 induction motors fitted in the trolley, wherein Three for the movement of trolley and one for the hydraulic pressure.
The induction motors include Trolley turning mechanism turning left/right AC induction motor (5) and drive wheel forward/reverse movement AC induction motor (6).
Slewing Bearing:2
Slewing bearing is provided for the purpose of swiveling movement of the trolley for turning. The trolley is enabled with the feature of not only forward and reverse movement but also slewing movement. These slewing bearings (2) are connected with the output of motor (5, 6) through gear which rotates it as per command given for left or right movement.
This trolley is meant for its movement on epoxy / concrete floor, so its wheels are PU (Polyurathane) wheels (3A, 3B) and they are sufficient to generate the required friction/reaction for the movement from the floor.

Drive PU Wheel and Idler PU Wheel:3A & 3B

• Specify the functions of both the drive PU wheel (responsible for movement) and the idler PU wheel (providing support without active propulsion).
Drive PU wheel (3A) is provided for the purpose of turning and backward / forward movement of the trolley, however idler PU wheel (3B) is meant for the movement of trolley, as it is getting pushed by the drive PU wheels (3A).
• Highlight any unique features or configurations that enhance traction, durability, or maneuverability.
The uniqueness of this trolley is its feature of shifting the given job to its desired position and then getting ready for the next loading, with no need of engaging the trolley permanently.

Control Panel:4

The Control panel is fitted with:
a) Distribution of main power supply,
b) Protection of power supply through MCBs,
c) Contacts for turning ON and OFF the motor supply,
d) Transferring the control to Local or Manual mode.
The control panel manages the trolley's movements.
• There are various Push buttons fitted with labels as follows and provided with the control system:
Forward: for the forward movement of the trolley.
Backward: for the Back ward movement of the trolley.
Right: for turning right.
Left: for turning left.
Up: for energizing the hydraulic button jacks.
Down: for De-energizing the hydraulic button jacks.
Emergency: for bringing the whole system at stand still.
Set Speed: for controlling the speed of trolley which can move with max speed of 3m/min.
Trolley Turning Mechanism:
On command through the panel/remote, the slewing bearing, operates through center motor which further drives the drive PU wheel, once this drive PU wheel moves in left or right direction the idler PU wheels get a push and they move in opposite direction of what drive PU wheels are moving, for instance, if drive PU wheel is moving in right direction then idler PU wheels will make move towards left direction and thus whole trolley moves in left direction.
Provision for smooth and controlled turning:
For smooth control on movement of trolley, the Induction motors are fitted with the gears of drive wheels in such a fashion that it allows max 3m/min of trolley movement. While making a slewing movement, the center motor gets a command to turn the PU wheels to the desired turning radius and then the other two motors give a command for its forward or backward movement, that too in a controlled manner, and this is how the whole trolley moves precisely with full accuracy. But many a times because of long length of trolley the turning radius gets insufficient to get the desired turn and in such case it is required to move the trolley backward and forward to get the desired turn.
Drive Wheel Forward-Reverse Movement
As shown in the figure 1, there are two induction motors (5,6) fitted at both side of the Drive PU wheels, the output of these two motors through gear are fitted directly with the shaft of wheel, so when the command is given for forward or reverse movement of the trolley, these two motors through gear mechanism provide the required acceleration to the drive PU wheel which subsequently drives the idler PU wheel for forward and backward movement of the trolley.
Safety or precision features associated with the drive system is as follows:
There is an alarm fitted in the trolley which makes sound during any movement of trolley, this alerts the surrounding. Also there is an emergency push button fitted which brings whole of the system to standstill once pressed.

Cable Reel Drum:7

This trolley is a motorized trolley, so as to have uninterrupted supply up to 30m of its movement, cable is required and the cable drum 7 is fitted for folding and unfolding of cable.
This trolley is a motorized trolley and works on 415V, 3Ph AC supply, so as to feed this electric supply.
The cable of 30 m can be used for movement of the trolley.

The most important component is the Button jacks which are fitted in between the idler PU wheels. The plurality of hydraulic button jacks are fitted in the trolley and once they are energized, they can lift the entire weight of 60T jointly and can shift the whole of the weight from one place to another place. For the energization of these jacks, an oil filled tank is connected through hoses to these jacks and they are turned ON and OFF by a single push button on the control panel / remote.

The material given above is as an example without restricting scope of the invention to the same. Thus, other materials readily apparent to a person skilled in the art are understood to be within purview of the invention.

ADVANTAGES OF INVENTION
This is the only trolley available with its unique feature of moving the item to its destination without engaging the trolley permanently.
This 60T motorized trolley can be a very perfect replacement for already existing 50T Air casters. Introduction of motorized trolley gives rise to below advantages:

-Designed in view of existing resources, so there is no new items required for its operation other than 3ph power supply;

- With usage of rollers at the bottom, un-levelling of floor doesn’t bother its performance;

-It can work even with unlevelled or cracked floor;

-In minutes, coils can be shifted in and out of oven or to other bay;

-Just after oven drying, hot coils can be pressed in minutes to achieve the required dimension;

-No need of any puller or lifter and thus shop remains free from any carbon dust;

-All day planning can be well executed, as there is no uncertainty about shifting of coils;

-Other bays, whose planning was dependent on shifting of transformer coils can now be executed as per their plan;

- Earlier it was only one or max two coils used to get lowered in core but now coils of all three phases can be lowered in single shift;

- Work force resource involved earlier has reduced from 6 heads to 1 head;

- It has given much ease to the workforce and big physical & mental relaxation;

- No requirement of frequent visits of maintenance team;

- No requirement of frequent floor repair activity;

- Saving in the cost & involvement of compressors & their maintenance, which was mandatory for pneumatic Air-casters;

- Trolley has got upper hand for its operation as it can work with just 3ph supply & hydraulic oil, so it is much easier to handle as compared to pneumatic Air casters.

TEST RESULT
S No. Using Air Caster Using Newly invented Motorised trolley
1. Min. 6 head counts required Only 1 head is enough
2. Time required for shifting 3-4 hrs depending on luck Within 5 min shifting is possible
3. Can work only on fully levelled friction less floor Can work on any floor
4. Prolong time in shifting caused cooling of coil Shifting is done in 5 min so coil remains hot
5. Diesel operated Lifter ( causes pollution) was required to push/pull the air caster No such lifter is required ( No pollution)

Above are few tangible benefits listed in tabular form, however there are lot many intangible benefits of this motorized trolley.
Each of the appended claims defines a separate invention, which for infringement purposes is recognized as including equivalents to the various elements or limitations specified in the claims. Depending on the context, all references below to the "invention" may in some cases refer to certain specific embodiments only. In other cases, it will be recognized that references to the "invention" will refer to subject matter recited in one or more, but not necessarily all, of the claims.

Groupings of alternative elements or embodiments of the invention disclosed herein are not to be construed as limitations. Each group member can be referred to and claimed individually or in any combination with other members of the group or other elements found herein. One or more members of a group can be included in, or deleted from, a group for reasons of convenience and/or patentability. When any such inclusion or deletion occurs, the specification is herein deemed to contain the group as modified thus fulfilling the written description of all groups used in the appended claims.
It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particulars claim containing such introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogues to “at least one of A, B and C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B”.

The above description does not provide specific details of manufacture or design of the various components. Those of skill in the art are familiar with such details, and unless departures from those techniques are set out, techniques, known, related art or later developed designs and materials should be employed. Those in the art are capable of choosing suitable manufacturing and design details.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure. It will be appreciated that several of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be combined into other systems or applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations, or improvements therein may subsequently be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as encompassed by the following claims.

The claims, as originally presented and as they may be amended, encompass variations, alternatives, modifications, improvements, equivalents, and substantial equivalents of the embodiments and teachings disclosed herein, including those that are presently unforeseen or unappreciated, and that, for example, may arise from applicants/patentees and others.
While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.
, Claims:We Claim
1. Motorized trolley used for shifting of Transformer coils from one to another working station comprising a plurality of slewing bearings (2) connected with the output of motor (5, 6) through gear which rotates the trolley as per command given for left / right movement, wherein the trolley is provided with drive Wheel (3A) and Idler Wheel (3B), and the Induction motors (5, 6) are fitted with the gears of drive wheels, in which the trolley is operated on power pack (1) and controlled by control panel (4).

2. The motorized trolley as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wheels (3A,3B) are made of material including Polyurathane (PU) for its movement on epoxy / concrete floor.

3. The motorized trolley as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the drive PU wheel (3A) is provided for turning and backward / forward movement of the trolley and the idler PU wheel (3B) is provided for the movement of trolley as it gets pushed by the drive PU wheels (3A).

4. The motorized trolley as claimed in claims 1-3, wherein multiple hydraulic button jacks are fitted in between the idler PU wheels, in which once hydraulic button jacks are energized can lift the weight jointly and shift the weight from one place to another place.

5. The motorized trolley as claimed in claim 4, wherein for the energization of the jacks, an oil filled tank/Hydraulic cylinder is connected through hoses to the jacks, which are turned ON and OFF by a push button on the control panel / remote (4).

6. The motorized trolley as claimed in claims 1-5, wherein the motorized trolley is connected to cable reel drum (7) so as to have uninterrupted supply up to for example 30m of its movement, in which the cable drum (7) is fitted for folding and unfolding of the cable.

7. The motorized trolley as claimed in claims 1-6, wherein the control panel (4) is fitted with Distribution of main power supply, Protection of power supply through MCBs, Contacts for turning ON and OFF the motor supply, transferring the control to Local/Manual mode, in which the control panel manages the trolley's movements.
8. The motorized trolley as claimed in claims 1-7, wherein the control system (4) is provided with multiple Push buttons fitted with labels as follows:
-Forward: for the forward movement of the trolley,
-Backward: for the backward movement of the trolley,
-Right: for turning right,
-Left: for turning left,
- Up: for energizing the hydraulic button jacks,
-Down: for De-energizing the hydraulic button jacks,
-Emergency: for bringing the whole system at stand still,
- Set Speed: for controlling the speed of trolley.
9. The motorized trolley as claimed in claims 1-8, which can shift the given job to its desired position followed by getting ready for the next loading, with no need of engaging the trolley permanently.

10. The motorized trolley as claimed in claims 1-9, which can be employed for lifting weight of ⁓60 Ton.