FR3085392A1 - DEVICE AND METHOD FOR MECHANICAL FILLING OF TRENCHES - Google Patents

Abstract

A device is proposed for the mechanical backfilling of trenches or the like, comprising: - a motorized machine (2) of the tractor type with a frame (6), a motor and elements (8) intended to come into contact with the ground, such as wheels or caterpillars, -a first hopper (10) adapted to contain backfilling material arranged on one side of the motorized machine (2) and having an opening in the low position, and - conveying means (14 ) adapted to convey backfilling material located in the first hopper (10) on the opposite side of the motorized machine (2), - guide means (12) arranged downstream of the conveying means (14) capable of converging filler material falling from the conveying means towards a convergence zone.

Description

The present invention relates to a device and a method for the mechanical backfilling of trenches.

The present invention relates to the field of public works. It was carried out in the field of laying pipes in the ground.

To lay buried pipes, a trench should be dug in the ground to lay a pipe there. The term “pipe” is understood here to mean any type of pipe: cables (electric, telephone, fibers, etc.), fluid pipes (gas, drinking water, waste water, etc.) or even sleeves. It is then necessary to backfill the trench by filling it with one or more types of material and, if necessary, finishing with a layer of coating, when the pipe is laid, for example under a roadway.

There are several types of machines that allow trenching to the desired depth. The earth, or other material, is most often removed with a mechanical shovel.

Once the trench has been made, the pipe is laid at the bottom of the trench according to a process which depends on the nature of the pipe. This laying technique is not concerned with the invention, it is not developed here.

Finally, when the pipe is laid, the trench should be backfilled. The material extracted during the construction of the trench, but most often another material, can be used to fill the empty space between the pipe and the ground level. This operation is most often carried out using a mechanical shovel which takes the backfill material (for example on a truck, at the edge of the trench, ...) to deposit it in the trench over the conduct. It can be achieved by directly dumping the material from the truck into the trench. It is then necessary to level the material to bring it to ground level or even slightly below ground level when a coating (tar or other) must be carried out as a finish.

The backfilling (and final coating) operation generally corresponds to the step during the laying of a buried pipe that requires the most time and it is therefore the overall duration of this operation that determines the duration of the construction site. pose.

The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a method and a corresponding device making it possible to backfill a trench or the like more quickly. Advantageously, the method according to the invention will make it possible to increase the level of quality of the fill.

To this end, the present invention provides a device comprising:

- a tractor-type motorized vehicle with a chassis, an engine and elements intended to come into contact with the ground, such as wheels or tracks,

a first hopper adapted to contain a backfill material disposed on one side of the motorized vehicle and having an opening in the low position, and

- Conveying means adapted to convey a backfill material located in the first hopper on the opposite side of the motorized vehicle.

According to the present invention, this device also comprises, for the mechanical backfilling of trenches:

- Guide means arranged downstream of the conveying means able to converge the filling material falling from the conveying means towards a convergence zone.

This device is completely original based on a structure already known to a paver. It is suitable here for mechanical backfilling of trenches. This device allows continuous and not discontinuous backfilling as usually done with a mechanical shovel. The time saved is very noticeable. Ergonomics for the operator is also greatly improved.

The guide means are provided to guide the filling material falling downstream of the conveying means towards a trench. The guidance can be done for example in a substantially vertical direction or in a substantially horizontal direction. In the first case (vertical guiding), the guiding means may comprise a second hopper having an upper opening disposed under one end of the conveying means and a lower opening opening downwards. In the second case (horizontal guidance), the guide means may comprise two arms extending in a substantially horizontal direction and having substantially vertical faces and forming a dihedral. On the same device, one can have both a second hopper and guide arms.

In order to be able to adapt to many situations, the above device can also further comprise means making it possible to vary the height position of the guide means.

In most cases, the trenches are made under a roadway and the device can fill the trench by overlapping it. In certain cases, however, the trench can for example be carried out on the shoulder. It is then advantageous to be able to arrange the guide means in cantilever with respect to the motorized vehicle so that the device can come to fill the trench from the side. For such a case, provision is made for example that the device described above also comprises means making it possible to move the guide means laterally with respect to the direction of movement of the motorized vehicle. To adapt to this lateral movement of the guide means, the conveying means of the device can then advantageously include means making it possible to carry out lateral conveying relative to the direction of movement of the motorized vehicle.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the conveying means comprise for example a first conveying portion mounted on rollers extending between the elements intended to come into contact with a ground and defining a first conveying plane and at least one second conveying portion mounted on rollers extending the first conveying portion defining the first conveying plane, the second conveying portion defining a second conveying plane inclined upward relative to the first conveying plane. The displacement of the backfill material transported by the conveyor means according to the first conveyor plane makes it possible to pass the backfill material from one side to the other of the motorized vehicle while the displacement by the conveyor means according to the second conveying plane makes it possible to “lift” the backfill material in order to bring it above the guide means. The first conveying portion and the second conveying portion can be formed for example by a conveyor belt.

The present invention also provides a method of mechanically backfilling a trench comprising the following steps:

- supply of a motorized vehicle comprising a first hopper on one side of the motorized vehicle, conveyor means making it possible to bring backfilling material from the first hopper to an opposite side of the motorized vehicle,

- coupling to the motorized vehicle of a vehicle containing a filling material,

- filling material filling in the first hopper,

- conveying the filling material from the first hopper to the opposite side of the motorized vehicle,

- displacement of a downstream end of the conveying means substantially above a trench to be backfilled and guiding of the filling material falling from the conveying means towards the trench.

Such a method is particularly suitable for being implemented with a device as described above.

According to a preferred implementation variant of this method, the motorized vehicle moves so that it is in front of the vehicle containing the filling material.

The device described above can be used for the implementation of all the materials coming to fill a trench, from the laying bed to the road surface.

Details and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the description which follows, given with reference to the appended schematic drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a backfill device according to a first embodiment,

FIG. 2 is another perspective view of an alternative embodiment in a first position,

FIG. 3 shows in perspective from a different angle the variant of FIG. 2 in another position,

FIG. 4 is a side view of the variant of FIGS. 2 and 3,

FIG. 5 is a front perspective view corresponding to FIG. 1 for a second embodiment,

FIG. 6 is a view similar to the view in FIG. 2 for an alternative embodiment of this second embodiment,

FIG. 7 is a view similar to the view of FIG. 3 for the alternative embodiment of FIG. 6 in another position, and

FIG. 8 is a side view corresponding to the variant embodiment of the second embodiment of FIGS. 6 and 7.

The device illustrated in the figures is preferably made from a paver, that is to say a public works machine intended to deposit uniformly on a pavement a coating, in particular a bituminous mix.

As a person skilled in the art knows, such a paver includes a device for spreading a coating material, hereinafter called tar, on a pavement. This device, also called an adjustment table, has an elongated shape, is arranged transversely to the roadway and receives tar which is distributed over the adjustment table using for example a worm screw system.

The adjustment table is carried by a motorized wheeled or tracked machine. This motorized vehicle has a control platform on which an operator takes place. In the "normal" direction of travel, that is to say when laying a covering, the adjustment table is at the rear of the machine (to prevent it from rolling on the covering which has just been laid and which is not yet dry).

The tar table is supplied with tar from a "reserve" of tar placed in a hopper located at the front of the machine. A hopper is an open container in the lower part with walls inclined towards an opening and which allows, like a funnel, to store and little by little (depending on the size of the opening in the lower part) a viscous material and / or grainy. The tar is led from the hopper to the adjustment table by a bar conveyor, which extends from an extreme position under the opening of the hopper to the adjustment table. The conveyor is most often arranged under the control platform, between the wheels or tracks of the motorized vehicle.

To place an asphalt on a pavement, a dump truck is placed at the front of the paver (in the direction of travel), the tipper of which is filled with tar. The bucket then gradually pours tar into the hopper of the paver. This tar is conveyed to the adjustment table which deposits it on the road. The rate of advance is given by the paver who pushes the truck which supplies it with tar. When the body of the truck is empty, another similar truck comes to replace it.

The device proposed here uses the structure of a paver, except for its rear part with the adjustment table and the conveying means intended for tar are adapted. The entire rear part of the machine is replaced by one or other of the structures illustrated in the drawing and described in detail below.

Figure 4 shows as a whole a mechanical backfill device. A person skilled in the art who knows the finishers here recognizes a motorized vehicle 2 overhung by a control platform 4. In the nonlimiting embodiment illustrated here, the motorized vehicle 2 comprises a chassis 6 which comes into contact with a ground by the intermediary of tracks 8 and which carries a first hopper 10 arranged here at the rear of the motorized vehicle 2. It seems unnecessary to describe in more detail this paver which is well known to those skilled in the art.

We will consider here that the motorized vehicle 2 moves on a horizontal ground. Relative to the paver from which it is made, the mechanical backfill device is intended in operation to move in the opposite direction. The first hopper 10 is therefore considered now and subsequently in the present description as being at the rear of the mechanical backfilling device (while it was in front of the finisher). The direction of movement of the motorized vehicle naturally defines a longitudinal direction, a transverse direction, a front and a rear of the vehicle. Naturally, an up / down orientation is also defined, the platform being in the high position and the tracks in the low position. These directions, which appear to be fairly intuitive, will be used in the remainder of this description to facilitate understanding thereof.

Figure 1 illustrates the front of the mechanical backfill device according to a first embodiment. This front part essentially comprises a second hopper 12 fed by a conveyor 14.

The second hopper 12 is formed by four sheets welded together. A first sheet 16 is arranged vertically in the transverse position. It is used for the connection of the second hopper 12 with the mechanical backfilling device. Two side plates 18 are attached to the first but are inclined relative to the vertical and a fourth transverse plate 20 is also inclined relative to the vertical. Each of these four sheets has a lower edge and the four edges here form the edges of a lower opening 22. The inclined sheets are inclined so that the upper edges of these four sheets form an opening much larger than the opening lower 22. This produces a double dihedral which guides and converges material falling from the top into the second hopper 12 towards the lower opening 22. The upper edges of the side plates 18 and of the fourth plate 20 are each reinforced by a reinforcement tube 24. There are thus three reinforcement tubes 24 arranged in a U in a substantially horizontal plane. The free ends of the U are fixed (welded) to the first sheet 16 of the second hopper 12. A reinforced hopper structure is thus produced.

The first sheet 16 of the second hopper 12 is mounted on a transverse beam 26. The latter is fixed to the motorized vehicle by means of lateral arms 28: these are arms which are used in the finisher from which the present device is constructed to receive an adjustment table. As can be seen in the figures, these lateral arms 28 are fixed each time by two jacks 30 to the chassis 6 of the motorized vehicle 2. In this way, these arms can be translated upwards and / or downwards with or without combining this translational movement with a rotational movement. We can thus achieve a precise positioning of the second hopper 12. Each end of the lateral arm 28 here receives a plate 32 which is connected by a connecting tube 34 to one end of the transverse beam 26, or near such an end.

In the illustrated embodiment, the second hopper 12 is mounted movable relative to the transverse beam 26. This is an alternative embodiment. The second hopper 12 could be fixed on this beam 26 (or on any other structure making it possible to connect the second hopper to the chassis 6, preferably to the lateral arms 28 originally used to carry an adjustment table). In this embodiment of the movable hopper, the transverse beam 26 forms a guide rail along which the second hopper 12 can translate.

The conveyor 14 is intended to bring backfill material (or other) from the first hopper 10 to the front of the motorized vehicle 2. This conveyor 14 has a first portion which extends substantially horizontally between the tracks 8. This same conveyor 14 has downstream of this first portion a second conveying portion which is inclined upwards. The first portion of the conveyor substantially corresponds to the finisher conveyor which was used to transport the coating material from the first hopper 10 to the adjustment table. This "original" conveyor is extended with the second conveying portion. In addition, while on a finisher the conveyor used is most often a bar conveyor, it is here chosen to have a conveyor belt, more suited to the filling material. The conveyor 14 thus has a first end below the first hopper 10. It then collects the material which falls by gravity out of this first hopper 10. Then, in the case illustrated in FIG. 1, the conveyor 14 leads the material up to the front of the motorized vehicle substantially horizontally (first conveying portion) and brings it (second conveying portion) to above the second hopper 12. It then falls by gravity into it ci and then converges towards the lower opening 22 while being guided by the second hopper 12.

It is noted that the mechanical backfilling device does not have any element coming to take place under the lower opening 22 of the second hopper. The figures illustrate a stiffener 38 disposed transversely in the lower opening 22 to prevent the two lower edges of the side plates 18 of the second hopper 12 from moving apart and then to modify the width (measured transversely) of the lower opening of the second hopper 12. Indeed, this width corresponds to the width of a trench to be backfilled and it is therefore necessary to avoid that under the pressure of the material passing through the second hopper 12. Apart from this stiffener 38, or any other reinforcement structure in place of this stiffener or complementary, it is expected that the material in the second hopper flows freely. There is not, as for the first hopper 10, a conveyor or other element of the mechanical backfill device influencing the flow of material passing through the second hopper 12.

The conveyor 14 is then in the middle position relative to the mechanical backfilling device. The second hopper 12, too, is then preferably also in the middle position.

For certain cases, it may be advantageous not to backfill a trench passing under the backfill device but next to it. This is for example a case where the trench to be backfilled is located next to a roadway. In such a case, Figures 2 and 3 show an advantageous alternative embodiment.

It is proposed here to place an intermediate conveyor 40 between the conveyor 14 and the second hopper 12. This intermediate conveyor 40 is intended to receive the material transported by the conveyor 14 to bring it to the second hopper 12. While the conveyor 14 moves the material in a longitudinal direction, the intermediate conveyor 40 moves the material it receives in a transverse direction.

The intermediate conveyor 40 is composed of a conveyor belt guided and conventionally driven by rollers. It has a first upstream end disposed below the downstream end of the conveyor 14 so that the material conveyed by the conveyor 14 falls by gravity onto the intermediate conveyor 40. This material is then carried to a downstream end of the intermediate conveyor 40 disposed above the second hopper 12, so that the material transported by this intermediate conveyor 40 falls by gravity into the second hopper 12.

Note in Figures 2 and 3 that the second hopper 12 is no longer arranged in the middle position relative to the mechanical backfill device but comes in side overhang. As already explained above, the second hopper 12 is movable in lateral translation relative to the spar 26 which serves as its guide rail.

The intermediate conveyor 40 must adapt to the position of the second hopper 12. For this purpose (FIG. 4), it is mounted on a tube 42 extending transversely under a downstream roller 44 of the conveyor 14, that is to say say below the highest roller of the conveyor 14. The tube 42 is for example mounted on longitudinal arms 46 which support the downstream roller 44. FIG. 4 shows a fixing tab 48 (the other fixing tab being hidden by the latter) which extends vertically from a longitudinal arm 46 downwards. The tube 42 is slidably fixed relative to these fixing lugs 48. The position of the second hopper 12 in FIG. 2 being symmetrical with the position of the second hopper 12 in FIG. 3 relative to a median plane of the device mechanical backfill, and the conveyor 14 being in the middle position relative to the mechanical backfill device, it suffices to slide the tube 42 on one side or the other relative to the longitudinal axis (with the intermediate conveyor 40 ) so that the intermediate conveyor 40 passes from its position illustrated in FIG. 2 to that illustrated in FIG. 3 (or vice versa). The conveying direction of the intermediate conveyor 40 is then modified by changing the direction of rotation of a drive motor of this conveyor.

Figures 5 to 8 show a second embodiment in which the second hopper of the first embodiment is replaced by arms forming a dihedral capable of coming to guide the filling material falling from the conveyor 14 to a trench.

While in the first embodiment the second hopper 12 guides the filling material as it falls from the conveyor (conveyor 14 or intermediate conveyor 40) to make it converge in the trench, it is proposed here to drop the material filling and then guide it to the trench when moving the mechanical backfill. A “horizontal” guidance of the filling material is thus produced while in the first embodiment this guidance was “vertical”.

Figures 5 to 8 thus illustrate, in place of the second hopper 12 of the figure

1, guide means for the filling material capable of scraping the ground on either side of the trench. This guide device here has a U shape. In the illustrated embodiment, it includes a base 50 and two arms 52 which widen out from the base 50 (or which converge towards said base). The base 50 and the two arms are for example made from a cut and folded (or welded) sheet. In operation, the arms 52 and the base 50 are arranged substantially vertically. They each have a lower edge arranged so that the three lower edges are in the same plane, which is substantially horizontal. This plane may be arranged at ground level, or may be slightly offset from the ground.

This horizontal guide device is mounted on the mechanical backfill device in the same manner as is the second hopper 12 in the first embodiment. The base 50 is mounted on the transverse beam 26. The latter is fixed to the motorized vehicle by means of the lateral arms 28 as described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. Each end of the lateral arm 28 here receives a plate 32 which is connected by a connecting tube 34 at one end of the transverse beam 26, or near such an end. It is thus possible to achieve precise positioning of the horizontal guide means.

In FIG. 5, the arms 52 and the base 50 are arranged so that the material transported by the conveyor 14 falls between the arms 52 when it arrives at the downstream end of the conveyor 14. Considering the direction of movement of the mechanical backfill device during backfill, the base 50 is placed behind the arms 52 so that the material which falls between the arms 52 is then pushed by the base 50 into the trench.

As for the first embodiment of Figures 1 to 4, the embodiment illustrated in Figures 5 to 8 provides that the means for guiding the filling material towards the trench, here the arms 52 (the second hopper 12 for the figures 1 to 4) is mounted movable relative to the transverse beam 26. This is also an alternative embodiment. The base 50 and the arms 52 could be fixed on this beam 26 (or on any other structure making it possible to connect them to the chassis 6, preferably to the lateral arms 28 originally used to carry an adjustment table). In this variant embodiment of movable guide means, the transverse beam 26 forms a guide rail along which the arms 52 can translate.

Figures 6 and 7 illustrate two extreme positions that can take the guide arms 52. We find here, as in Figures 2 and 3, the presence of the intermediate conveyor 40. H seems unnecessary to repeat here the description of this intermediate conveyor 40 and the description of the means for moving the guide means.

A mechanical backfilling device described above (first or second embodiment) can be used as indicated below to carry out the backfilling of a trench.

For the first embodiment, a second hopper 12 is chosen so that the dimensions of the lower opening 22 of this hopper are compatible with the width of the trench to be backfilled. The width of the lower opening 22 will preferably be chosen just slightly less than the width of the trench so as, on the one hand, not to put filling material out of the trench during backfilling and, on the other hand , allow to have a uniform backfill over the entire width of the trench. The second hopper 12 is positioned in the middle position (Figure 1) or in the lateral position (Figure 2 or Figure 3) depending on the configuration of the terrain. The device is then ready for use.

For the second embodiment, similarly, the width of the base 50 corresponds to the width of the trench to be backfilled. Here too, as illustrated in FIGS. 5 to 7, several positions are possible for the means for guiding the filling material at the end of conveying.

To fill the first hopper 10, it is proposed to couple, on the side of this first hopper 10, a tipper dump truck so that its grab can pour into the first hopper 10. The material poured into the first hopper 10 then falls by gravity onto the conveyor 14 to take it to the elevated downstream end of the conveyor 14. The backfill material then falls either directly into the second hopper 12 or between the arms 52, or via the conveyor intermediate 40. The lower opening 22 of this second hopper 12 or the base 50 is located just above the trench to be backfilled.

The motorized vehicle 2 moves by adapting its speed to the flow rate of filling material transported by the conveyor 14. Preferably, the motorized vehicle 2 comes to pull the dump truck which supplies it with filling material. In this way, the operator who drives the machine and who is on the control platform 4 sees the trench to be backfilled and can anticipate in the event of a problem.

The mechanical backfilling device described above can also be used to deposit just as well a laying bed, a pipe coating, one or more layers of backfill and / or one or more layers of road finishing (severe cement, asphalt, coated). The process remains the same whatever the need. Between two passages of the backfill device to add a layer of backfill or finish, it will be necessary to provide a compaction step as conventionally carried out.

A device as described above makes it possible to significantly reduce the time to backfill a trench. Each backfill material automatically fills the trench automatically. This significantly improves the quality of the fill.

Very advantageously, the same machine can also be used both for backfilling and for road finishing.

Of course, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and to the variant embodiments mentioned but it relates to all the variant embodiments within the reach of the skilled person within the scope of the claims below.

Claims (11)

1. Device for the mechanical backfilling of trenches or the like, comprising: - a motorized vehicle (2) of the tractor type with a chassis (6), an engine and elements (8) intended to come into contact with a ground, such as wheels or tracks, a first hopper (10) adapted to contain a backfill material arranged on one side of the motorized vehicle (2) and having an opening in the low position, and - conveying means (14) adapted to convey a backfill material located in the first hopper (10) on the opposite side of the motorized vehicle (2), characterized in that it further comprises: guide means (12; 50, 52) arranged downstream of the conveyor means (14) capable of converging filling material falling from the conveyor means towards a convergence zone. 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the guide means comprise a second hopper (12) having an upper opening disposed under one end of the conveying means (14) and a lower opening (22) opening downwards. 3. Device according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the guide means comprise two arms (52) extending in a substantially horizontal direction and having substantially vertical faces and forming a dihedral. 4. Device according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it further comprises means (28, 30) for varying the height position of the guide means (12). 5. Device according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it further comprises means (26) for moving the guide means laterally with respect to the direction of movement of the motorized vehicle (2). 6. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that the conveying means comprise means (40) for carrying out a lateral conveying relative to the direction of movement of the motorized vehicle (2). 7. Device according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the conveying means comprise a first conveying portion mounted on rollers extending between the elements (8) intended to come into contact with a ground and defining a first conveying plane and at least a second conveying portion mounted on rollers (44) extending the first conveying portion defining the first conveying plane, the second conveying portion defining a second conveying plane inclined upward relative to the first conveying plan. 8. Device according to claim 7, characterized in that the first conveying portion and the second conveying portion are formed by a conveyor belt. 9. Method for mechanically backfilling a trench, characterized in that it comprises the following stages: - supply of a motorized vehicle (2) comprising a first hopper (10) on one side of the motorized vehicle, conveying means (14, 40) making it possible to supply backfill material for the first hopper (10 ) to an opposite side of the motorized vehicle, - coupling to the motorized vehicle (2) of a vehicle containing a filling material, - filling material filling in the first hopper (10), - conveying the filling material from the first hopper (10) to the opposite side of the motorized vehicle, - displacement of a downstream end of the conveying means substantially above a trench to be backfilled and guidance of the filling material falling from the conveying means towards the trench. 10. A method of mechanically backfilling a trench according to claim 9, characterized in that the motorized vehicle (2) moves so that it is in front of the vehicle containing the filling material. 11. Method for mechanically backfilling a trench according to one of claims 9 or 10, characterized in that the steps defined in claim 9 are carried out a first time with a first filling material, and in that these same steps are repeated one or more times, for the same trench, after a compaction step, with a similar or different filling material.