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Traditionally, the truck has the disadvantages of loading and unloading goods. Therefore, a tailgate mechanism is installed at the rear of the truck to load and unload goods. The tailgate mechanism of the truck has two motions, one is vertical lifting, and the other is rotating over. For heavy truck, double power sources (2 hydraulic cylinders or 4 hydraulic cylinders) are used to drive the tailgate lift and rotate. For light truck, single power source (1 hydraulic cylinder) is used to drive the tailgate lift and rotate. Due to the high manufacturing and maintenance costs of the hydraulic cylinder, how to improve the load capacity, increase stability, and reduce the producing cost and maintenance costs by using electric cylinders is a worthy study.
The purpose of the manuscript is to propose an innovative and practical truck tailgate mechanism with lifting and turning functions. First, analyze the existing truck tailgate mechanisms and their related patents, conclude their disadvantages which can be used as the reference for the design of truck tailgate mechanism. It is hoped that the structure of truck tailgate mechanism is simple and solid, the lifting and rotating functions are driven lightly and easily. According to the existing truck tailgate mechanisms, the design requirements and constraints are identified. Then, based on the design requirements, the innovative design of the truck tailgate mechanism with lifting and rotating functions is carried out. By using computer-aided software (SolidWorks and Inspire), the dimensional synthesis and motion simulation are accomplished, and its displacement, velocity, acceleration, and driving forces are calculated to ensure the safety and stability of manufacturing and operations. Finally, the engineering design and prototype manufacture of the truck tailgate mechanism with electric cylinder are carried out.
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