Design and Strength Analysis of a New Construction of a Sweeper with an Independent Surface Copying System Dedicated to Small Loaders and Front Loaders

Abstract

Most enterprises and farms have paved parking lots, yards, warehouses, or sidewalks that need to be cleaned or cleaned. There are many sweepers available on the Polish and European markets, but there is still a lack of a solution that would be mounted on pallet forks and would have an independent copying system to support sweeping surfaces with different inclinations. The aim of the work was to develop a conceptual design for a new sweeper equipped with an independent surface copying system dedicated to small loaders and front loaders, as a well as strength analysis of the main frame. The conceptual design included an analysis of available solutions, development of a 3D CAD model of the new sweeper, and a detailed strength analysis of the sweeper’s main frame using the finite element method (FEM). The sweeper model was made in the Autodesk Inventor program, while the FEM strength analysis was made in the Siemens NX program. The designed frame model did not have nodes in which the stresses would be greater than 25% of the allowable stress in the material structure and 33% of the maximum allowable stress in the structure of the joints. The sweeper developed new design fulfills all the assumed functions and has a good chance of application.