TRACKED VEHICLES STEERING MECHANISM

Introduction: Tracked vehicles are superior to wheeled vehicles for covering rough terrain. In a manner of speaking, tracks allow Tanks and construction vehicles to carry their own road wherever they go. The large surface area of the tracks distributes the weight of the vehicle better than steel or rubber tyres on an equivalent vehicle, enabling a continuous tracked vehicle to traverse soft ground with less likelihood of becoming stuck due to sinking. Need of Steering mechanism for tracked vehicle: Tracked vehicles required special mechanisms to steer, this mechanism allows to steer a tracked vehicle like a regular car, one motor drives it forward/backward, and the other makes it turn. It can be used as an advantage, by using a more powerful motor to drive, and a less powerful one to steer. An unique feature of a subtractor is the possibility to use both motors at once

Existing mechanism: Dual Drive: The simplest way to achieve this is to drive each track with a separate power source. The earliest tracked vehicles, operated on this principle. Drawbacks: It requires two engines Complexity, and require more maintenance Its difficult to drive in a straight line

Clutch-Brake Steering: In Clutch-Brake system output of a single power source drives both tracks directly. Since they are physically connected to each other, the tracks must turn at the same speed and the vehicle will travel in a straight line. To allow for turns, each track can be disconnected from the engine with a clutch, allowing that track to slow and the vehicle to turn fairly. A brake allows the disengaged track to be slowed to tighten the turn, even to the point of stopping the track so the vehicle turns in a very tight radius.

Drawbacks: Braking one track slows the vehicle, and wastes a large portion of the power produced by the engine to be converted into heat It is also a bit unpredictable in steering

Geared Steering

In this design, a single engine is connected to the tracks through separate transmissions, and the vehicle is steered by selecting different gears for each track. For example, driving the left track in 1st gear and the right track in 2nd gear would result in the left track turning more slowly and a left turn.

Drawbacks: This system requires great driver skill, but is efficient and not terribly complex The vehicle cannot be steered while in 1st gear

Purposed mechanism
The purpose mechanism consists of two sets of epicyclic gear, one power source drives the vehicle in straight line, and other used to turn. The input for one track is given forward while other side is given reverse to the respective epicyclic gear on either side which results in turning of vehicle. Epicyclic gears maintains a constant relative motion between two tracks. Steering radius a can be controlled by controlling steering input power source. This mechanism gives possibilities of neutral turn.

In this mechanism the relative motion between tracks can be controlled easily No power is lost while steering of vehicle Simpler in construction Easy to control.