Selection and Adaptation of Hydraulic Cylinders for Tipper

Hoisting
Manohar M Hegde
Introduction
Tipper trucks and Dump trucks are useful material handling equipment in construction
sites, quarries and mines. Tipper load bodies come in various sizes – from 0.5 cubic
meters (small utility trucks) to 40.0 cubic meters and more (Big mining trucks, trailer
tippers).Efficiency with which a tipper truck dumps the material from it’s load body is
important to reduce the overall ‘loading – carrying –dumping’ cycle time. Lifting of
material filled load body in a tipper truck is commonly accomplished by hydraulic
cylinders. Selection of cylinder (single cylinder, multiple cylinders, telescopic cylinder,etc)
and specification (diameter,stroke) plays an important role in building a tipper.The
selected cylinders should meet the functional requirement and also be cost effective.In
addition, tipper end users expect high reliability and durability. The utilisation pattern can
vary from site to site, from light duty to very heavy duty. Accordingly, the criteria to select
and adapt cylinders should also vary.

Tipper in normal condition Tipper dumping

Fig-1
Fig-1 shows the general arrangement of the load body of a tipper during normal and
dumping positions.

Typical cylinder configurations Loaded Tipper body in equilibrium

Fig-2 Fig-3
Fig-2 Shows the various ways in which hydraulic cylinders can be adapted to carry out
the tipping function.
1
Problem Statement
Functional effectiveness and the cost of cylinders are influenced by the maximum length
and bore diameter, which in turn depend upon the positioning of the cylinders with
respect to C.G. of the filled load body and the hinge pin. This process requires trial and
error calculations with various design parameters, and is thus time consuming.
Fig-3 show the tipper body being lifted by hydraulic cylinder. It can be seen that the
hinged load body structure, together with the lifting cylinder, can be represented by a
simple mechanism. Fig-4. Within the load body the force transfer paths form a triangle,
with the C.G. of the loaded body, the body hinge pin, and the cylinder connection point
representing the vertices. The dumping action can be defined as moving the C.G. of the
loaded body from a level of H1 to a level of H2,with one edge of the load body hinged to
the chassis. Fig-5. A certain amount of ‘work’ needs to be done for moving a given mass
of material (weight W LB) from a level of H1 to level H2. This work is accomplished by the
force provided by the cylinders.
Depending upon the application, the angle through which the load body is tilted can vary
from 40º to 60º.
The maximum values of the cylinder force and stroke can be estimated by carrying out
first a detailed kinematic analysis of the lifting mechanism and then force analysis.

Simplified mechanism model Disposition of C.G.

Fig-4 Fig-5

Importance of selection of cylinder : The primary attributes of a hydraulic cylinder are –

cylinder bore diameter and stroke. In addition, maximum operating hydraulic pressure,
and the number of cylinders used also play a role in the selection process. The minimum
functional requirement (for doing the ‘work’) can be achieved by various combinations of
cylinder diameter, cylinder stroke, system pressure and number of cylinders. However,
the maximum pressure is based on the finalised hydraulic system.Also, the tendency is
to go for minimum number of cylinders to keep adaptation simple. In general, single
cylinder with lesser bore diameter and lesser stroke is preferred to keep the costs down.
Since work done is a function of force and stroke, a smaller stroke necessitates a larger
diameter cylinder and vice-versa. With larger diameter also come larger forces, and to
withstand larger forces, the structure has to be made stronger, which again adds to the
cost. Thus a careful trade-off between cylinder diameter and cylinder stroke needs to be
made, to achieve a functionally satisfying and cost effective selection.
2
Simple Free Body Diagrams(FBD) of a loaded tipper body, actuated by a hydraulic
cylinder at two different stroke lengths(corresponding to two different levels of the loaded
body) are shown in fig-6. (For the sake of simplicity, the position of CG of the loaded
body is assumed to remain same during dumping, although due to the material falling to
the ground, the effective position is changing. This assumption will not have any bearing
on the sizing of the cylinder.)
Using simple trigonometric constructions, the cylinder stroke required to achieve the
vertical movement of C.G., and the force required at the cylinder to balance the weight of
the tipper load body at any position of dumping can be found out. Fig-6 also shows the
detailed disposition of the mechanism required to carry out the necessary calculations

Cylinder strokes L1 and L2 Analysis scheme of mechanism

Fig-6

The parameters defining the mechanism of the tipper body, and required to carry out the
calculations are listed below:
(Reference - 4500 /7000 Kgs Truck, weight of body with material - 2500 Kgs)

Sl No Parameter Symbol Value Unit Remarks

Total weight of body with
1 W LB 2500 Kgs Fixed design parameter
material
2 Height of C.G. H Independent variable parameter,
3 Initial height of CG H1 300 mm Fixed design parameter
4 Final height of CG H2 1000 mm Fixed design parameter
Distance between CG and
5 body hinge pin (C.G. R 1065 mm Fixed design parameter
moment arm)
Dimension – Horizontal
distance between body
6
hinge pin and cylinder xc mm Primary design parameter
anchor point on chassis
Dimension - Vertical
distance between body
7
hinge pin and cylinder yc mm Primary design parameter
anchor point on chassis
Dimension - Side of the
triangle formed between
8
C.G., body hinge pin and b mm Secondary design parameter
cylinder force application
3
 point.
Dimension - Side of the
triangle formed between
9 C.G., body hinge pin and
cylinder force application
point.
Internal angles of the
10
above triangle
Angle between horizontal
11
and the C.G. moment arm
Angle between horizontal
12
and cylinder axis
Length of the hydraulic
13
cylinder
Force in the hydraulic
14 cylinder required to
balance the load body
c mm Secondary design parameter
α1, α1, Derived parameters using R,b
Degrees
α1 and c
Derived variable parameter. θ1
and θ2 are minimum and
θ Degrees maximum values of θ
respectively, derived from H1 and
H2
Derived parameter using
β Degrees
c,yc,L,θ,and α1.
Dependant variable parameter to
study behaviour of objective
L mm function.L1 and L2 are the
minimum and maximum values
respectively, of cylinder length.
Dependant variable parameter to
study behaviour of objective
Fc N
function. Fc_max is maximum
values of cylinder force.

Mathematically, cylinder stroke and cylinder force are represented as:

L= ʄ (H,xc,yc,R,b,c) ; Fc = ʄ (W LB,L,xc,yc,R,b,c)

The solution to the problem involves the following steps :

1. Determination of maximum and minimum cylinder lengths required to lift and lower the
load body during a complete dumping cycle.
2. Determination of a range of position of the cylinder connection points fulfilling the
kinematic design constraints(Lmax,Lmin and Lmax-Lmin)
3. Determination of the maximum and minimum forces in the cylinder and hinge point
during complete dumping cycle.
4. Iteration by modifying the cylinder connection points until to fulfil structural design
constraints. (Fc_max,maximum hinge pin force)

Result :
Results of some iterations carried out using the above example are recorded below :
Parameters kept constant : W LB – 2500 Kgs,H1 – 300mm,H2 – 1000mm,R-1065mm

Trial Xc Yc b c Lmin Lmax Stroke Fc_ Fc_ Pin_ Remarks

no min max max

1 1200 100 400 700 530 1093 563 12000 89000 84000 Cylinder length
medium, forces
moderate

2 400 100 350 790 413 758 345 21000 115000 102000 Cylinder length
short, high forces

4
 3 1400 100 350 750 681 1271 590 10000 87000 83000 Cylinder length
medium, forces
moderate

4 200 100 600 500 317 513 196 40000 155000 150000 Shortest cylinder,
highest values of
forces

5 2000 100 950 2000 440 2184 1744 5200 12300 20000 Longest cylinder,
lowest cylinder
force
Note : All dimension in mm, all forces in N

Qualitative behavior of cylinder length and force variation are shown in fig-7 :
Sl Configuration Cylinder Length Variation Cylinder Force Variation
No
1

Lmin=530mm Lmax=1093mm Fcyl_max = 89000 N

Lmin=413mm Lmax=758mm Fcyl_max =110000 N

3
Cylinder Length vs Height of C.G. Cylinder Force vs Height of C.G.
1400 100000
Cylinder Length mm →

Cylinder Force N →

1200 90000
80000
1000 70000
800 60000
50000
600
40000
400 30000
20000
200
10000
0 0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Height of C.G. mm → Height of C.G. mm →

Lmin=681mm Lmax=1271mm Fcyl_max =87000 N

Cylinder Length vs Height of C.G. Cylinder Force vs Height of C.G.

600 180000
Cylinder Length mm →

Cylinder Force N →

500
160000
140000
400 120000
300 100000
80000
200
60000
100 40000
20000
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Height of C.G. mm →
Height of C.G. mm →

Lmin=317mm Lmax=513mm Fcyl_max =155000 N

5
 5
Cylinder Length vs Height of C.G. Cylinder Force vs Height of C.G.
2500 14000

Cylinder Length mm →

Cylinder Force N →
12000
2000
10000
1500 8000
6000
1000
4000
500
2000

0 0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Height of C.G. mm → Height of C.G. mm →

Lmin=440mm Lmax=2184mm Fcyl_max = 12500N

Fig-7

General observations on the various configurations studied :

Trial Description
no
1 Cylinder below the load
body, cylinder anchor
point on chassis middle.
2 Cylinder fixed very close
to hinge pin, on the
chassis
3 Cylinder fixed away from
the hinge pin,on the
chassis.
4 Cylinder fixed very close
to the hinge pin,on the
chassis.
5 Cylinder fitted at the front
end, on the chassis.
Advantages Drawbacks
Cylinder can be Kinematically not feasible. Lmin <
accommodated below the (Lmax-Lmin).
body during normal position.
Compact cylinder ; easier Very high cylinder force. Higher
adaptation. pressure / bigger bore diameter
required.
Cylinder can be Cylinder with Longer stroke
accommodated below the required.
body during normal position.
Very compact and space Very high cylinder and hinge
saving adaptation possible. forces. Higher pressure / bigger
bore diameter required.
Very low force required. Hinge Kinematically not feasible. Lmin <
forces well balanced. (Lmax-Lmin).Cylinder with special
designs (telescopic) may be
required.

Discussion :
It may be noted from the tabulated values that trial-1 and trial-3 ,where the cylinder is
similarly positioned with respect to C.G. and hinge pin, and the end connections are
similar, the variation of cylinder length and cylinder force are also similar. In the same
way, results of trials-2 and trial- 4 indicate similar behaviour. Trial-5 shows a totally
different behaviour due to the extreme positioning of the cylinder.
Close look at the parameter values and the results obtained indicate a need to make
many iterations with several combinations of the values, to obtain a satisfactory result.
It is evident that, unless a very meticulously planned iteration scheme is employed, the
effort required to obtain desired result is enormous.
Some planning can be done. For example, making a preliminary decision about the
maximum length of the cylinder, minimum and maximum cylinder forces, and the
maximum force the hinge pin can sustain will help to evaluate the results quickly.Fig-8,
fig-9a and fig-9b

6
 Resultant Reaction on Resultant Reaction on
Hinge pin vs Height of C.G. Hinge pin vs Height of C.G.
120000 200000
100000

Force ,N →

Force ,N →
150000
80000
60000 100000
40000
50000
20000
0 0
0 500 1000 1500 0 500 1000 1500
Height of C.G. mm → Height of C.G. mm →

Trial-2 Trial-4
Planning the target values Hinge pin force variation
Fig-8 Fig-9a Fig-9b

Conclusion :
1. In a Tipper, dumping of material requires moving the material filled load body from
one position to another position, and hydraulic cylinders are commonly employed for
the same.
2. The main objectives while selecting hydraulic cylinders for a tipper application are :
a) Keeping the maximum length of the hydraulic cylinder as short as possible, and, b)
Keeping the forces- cylinder force and pin force- as low as possible
3. As a first step in the selection process, a range of feasible cylinder lengths fulfilling
minimum functional requirement are determined by kinematic analysis, by iterating
with combinations of different cylinder configurations and design parameters.
4. In the next step evaluation of cylinder force required to move the fully laden load
body is done by static analysis. Iterations are then carried out by changing design
parameter values and cylinder lengths within the range of feasible solutions, and
lowest possible value of cylinder force and hinge pin force are determined.
5. After sufficient number of feasible combinations are generated and evaluated, final
selection can be made on techno-commercial considerations.
6. A systematic study by looking at the trend chart of objective functions helps to reduce
the number of iterations.