KRUPAJAL

ENGINEERING COLLEGE
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Certificate
This is to certify that the work in Seminar
entitled Backhoe Loadersubmitted
by sunil Kumar bearing Regd no
0701223345, is a record of work done in
Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirement For
Award Bachelor Of Technology in
Mechanical Engineering

s s pati
_______________________________________________________________

SEMINAR CO-ORDINATOR
DEPARTMENT

PROF A.K. BEHERA

________ ______________________________________________________________

HEAD OF THE

CATERPILLAR BACKHOE
LOADER
CONSTRUCTION VEHICLE
[Pick the date]
VIKASH KUMAR
0501227421
8th SEMESTER
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

CONTENT:
INTRODUCTION
PRINCIPLE OF WORKING
HYDROULIC VALVES
HYDROULICS IN BACKHOE
HYDROULICS IN LOADER
INSIDE A BACKHOE LOADER
OPERATING A BACKHOE LOADER
ATTACHING DIFFERENT TOOLS
THE REASON THAT WE USE A BACKHOE
LOADER
REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION
A backhoe loader is an interesting invention because it is actually three
pieces of construction equipment combined into one unit. A backhoe
loader is:

A tractor
A loader

A backhoe

Each piece of equipment is suited to a particular sort of work. On a typical

construction site, the backhoe operator usually uses all three components
to get the job done.

TRACTOR
The core structure of a backhoe loader is the tractor. Just like the tractors that
farmers use in their fields, the backhoe tractor is designed to move easily over
all kinds of rough terrain. It has a powerful, turbocharged diesel engine, large,
rugged tires and a cab with basic steering controls (a steering wheel, brakes,
etc.). Backhoe cabs are either completely enclosed or have an open canopy
structure to give the operator protection.

LOADER
The loader can do several different things. In many applications, you use it
like a big, powerful dustpan or coffee scoop. You usually don't dig with it;
you mostly use it to pick up and carry large amounts of loose material. It's
also used to smooth things over like a butter knife, or to push dirt like a
plow. The operator controls the loader while driving the tractor.

BACKHOE
The backhoe is the main tool of the backhoe loader. It's used to dig up hard,
compact material, usually earth, or to lift heavy loads, such as a sewer box. It
can lift this material and drop it in a pile to the side of the hole.

Basically, the backhoe is a big, extremely powerful version of your arm or

finger. It has three segments:

The boom
The stick

The bucket

This arrangement is very similar to your arm. Your arm has three
segments -- your upper arm, forearm and hand.
The backhoe segments are connected by three joints, comparable to
your wrist, elbow and shoulder. The backhoe moves in pretty much the
same way as your arm. In a Caterpillar backhoe, the boom is bent
upward to make it easier to dig with obstacles in the way. This design also
provides extra space for the bucket when the operator curls it in with a full
load.
The backhoe can dig all sorts of holes, but is especially suited for digging
ditches. To use the backhoe, the operator has to park the tractor and turn
the seat around.
So what do the tractor, loader and backhoe have to do with each other?
The tractor component is for moving the other two components from
place to place, and the operator also maneuvers it when using the loader.
The loader and backhoe components are a natural combination for all
sorts of jobs. When you dig up a lot of dirt to make a ditch or any other
sort of hole, you generally need a loader to either move the dirt out of the
area or to fill the dirt back in once you've got the pipes, power lines, etc.
in position. The most common application for a backhoe loader is this
basic job -- digging a trench with the backhoe and then back-filling it
with the loader.

THE STABILIZER LEG

The other appendages you'll typically notice on a backhoe loader are the
two stabilizer legs just behind the rear wheels. These legs are crucial to
backhoe operation because they take the brunt of the weight when a
backhoe is digging. Without the stabilizer legs, the weight of a heavy load
or the downward force of digging into the ground would strain the wheels
and tires, and the whole tractor would bounce constantly. The stabilizers
keep the tractor steady, minimizing the jostling effect of digging with the
backhoe. They also secure the tractor so that it won't slip into the ditch or
hole.
The stabilizer legs have two types of "shoes," so that they can be planted
securely on both dirt and pavement. The grouser shoe side digs into the
dirt for a better grip, but would tear up the pavement if you were to use it
on a road. For a good grip on asphalt, the operator simply flips the
rubber-padded shoe into position.

PRINCIPLE OF WORKING
If you've ever watched a backhoe at work, you know that it is an
extraordinarily powerful tool. An experienced operator can dig a 5-footdeep, 10-foot-long ditch in less than 15 minutes. Just think how long it
would take you to do that with only a shovel! Amazingly, all of this work is
done with hydraulics -- pumping liquid to move pistons.
The concept of hydraulic machinery may seem pretty bizarre -- how can
pumping liquid give you such power? -- but it's actually very simple. First,
let's look at the basic idea of a hydraulic system, and then we'll see how a
backhoe uses these systems to dig and load such huge amounts of dirt.
Hydraulic systems simply transmit forces from point to point through fluid.
Most systems use an incompressible fluid, a fluid that is as dense as it
can get. This sort of fluid transmits nearly all of the original force instead
of absorbing some of it. The most commonly used incompressible fluid in
hydraulic machinery is oil.
In the very simple hydraulic machine shown below, the operator pushes
on the oil with one piston so that the oil pushes on another piston, raising
it up.

Because the second piston has a larger diameter than the first piston,
the second piston moves a shorter distance but pushes up with greater
force.
The basic concept at work is a trade between distance and force. The
work you do in pressing down on the piston on the left has two
components -- the amount of force you apply and how far you push the
piston. This pushes down a certain amount of fluid. Since the fluid is
incompressible, it can't absorb the force you apply, so it pushes up on the
piston on the right. The fluid has the same pressure (pounds per square
inch) at every point in the system. Since the pressure at the piston on the
right is working on a larger area, that piston pushes upward with a greater
force.
It's pretty easy to figure out the exact multiplication factor. Assume
that the piston on the left has a 2-inch diameter (1-inch radius), while the
piston on the right has a 6-inch diameter (3-inch radius). The area of each
piston is Pi * r . The area of the left piston is therefore 3.14 (3.14 * 1 ),
while the area of the piston on the right is 28.26 (3.14 x 3 ). The piston on
the right is nine times larger than the piston on the left. This means that
any force applied to the left-hand piston will be nine times greater on the
right-hand piston. So, in the illustration above, the 100-pound downward
force applied to the left piston creates a 900-pound upward force on the
right piston. But, in keeping with the force-distance trade-off, you've
moved the left-hand piston 9 inches and raised the right-hand piston only
1 inch.
2

HYDROULIC VALVES
With our very simple hydraulic machine, we pushed down on some oil with
one piston and that oil pushed up a larger piston, thereby multiplying the
force of our effort. This sort of hydraulic mechanism is great for systems
where you need to apply a force very briefly, every once in a while -- a
brake system, for example. But in a piece of equipment such as a
backhoe, you're always moving pistons, so you need constant oil
pressure.
In a backhoe, this pressure comes from an oil pump that is powered by a
diesel engine. The pump does the same sort of thing as the narrow piston
we saw in the earlier example. It applies a lesser force to the oil at a high
rate of speed, generating enough pressure to move another piston more
slowly but with greater force. The pump keeps a steady supply of highpressure oil flowing to a valve block system, which directs the pressure's
force.

So, the powerful pistons in a backhoe are actually moved by the same forces
that we saw working in the simple hydraulic design. There are some significant
differences in how the two systems operate, however. The simple piston we
looked at could only apply multiplied force in one direction. If you pushed down
on the narrower piston, the wider piston moved up with greater force. But for a
backhoe to dig, its arms have to be able to move in different directions. To
move this way, the pistons must be able to push and pullIf we were to cut open
one of the piston cylinders from a backhoe, you would see something like this:

You can see that the piston rod that extends outside the cylinder is
actually moved by a piston head inside the cylinder. There is fluid on both
sides of this piston head, fed by two different hoses. If the force is greater
on the blue side, the piston will move to the left, and if it is greater on the
orange side, the piston will move to the right. So all you have to do to
change the direction of force is stop pumping oil to one side and start
pumping it to the other. This sort of piston cylinder is commonly called a
hydraulic ram. A backhoe loader uses something called a spool valve to
direct oil to either side of a ram

The pump takes oil from a tank and pumps it through a hose to the spool
valve. When the operator moves the controls to change the direction of
the backhoe, the spool valve changes its configuration so that the highpressure oil goes to the other side of the ram. As the high-pressure oil
pushes on one side, the low-pressure oil is forced through a different hose,
back to the oil tank.
The operator manipulates this valve block with joysticks in the backhoe
cab. In some backhoes, control sticks are directly attached to different
spool valves, acting as a lever to move the spool directly.
In other backhoes, the joysticks operate hydraulic pistons that control
the movement of the spool valves. When you move the joystick in a
certain direction, it presses down on a particular piston. This piston
pushes oil through a hose to move the spool valve controlling a particular
hydraulic ram. By moving different spools, you extend or retract different
hydraulic pistons. In the next couple of sections, we'll look at the
arrangement of these pistons, and see how their applied forces translate
into fluid movement in the backhoe and loader.

HYDROULICS IN THE BACKHOE

Now we've seen how the backhoe's valve system can move hydraulic pistons in
two directions with great force. But how do equipment designers use this
technology to create such powerful digging machines?

Let's go back to the idea of a backhoe being a huge, powerful version of a

human arm. We compared the steel segments -- the boom, the stick and
the bucket -- to three pieces of your arm, similarly connected by three
joints. It's obvious that your arm wouldn't be quite as useful without
muscles -- your muscles provide the force that actually pulls the various
segments of your arm toward and away from each other. The cylinders in
a backhoe serve the same function. All of the segments are hinged
together and each cylinder can either pull a connected segment closer or
push it away.
Each cylinder piston is controlled by its own spool valve. When you dig
with a backhoe, you're actually controlling at least four individual spools
(which move four different pistons). In the animation below, you can see
how an operator activates some of these different pistons together to dig
with the backhoe.

The backhoe also has two hydraulic pistons near the base of the boom
arm. The boom arm is connected to the tractor with a swing casting so
that these pistons can swing the backhoe arm from side to side. They are
synchronized so that when you push with one, the other pulls. In many
European backhoes, the boom is attached to a side-shift mechanism, a
bracket that can move the entire backhoe arm horizontally on the tractor.
This lets the operator dig in spaces where it would be very difficult to
maneuver the entire tractor into a good working position.
One of the most significant variables in backhoe performance is dig
depth. This is simply a rating of how deep the backhoe arm can dig.
Typically, dig depth is somewhere between 12 and 16 feet (3 to 5 m).
Many backhoes have an extendible stick that lets them increase this dig
depth a few feet when needed. Most backhoe jobs don't require operators
to dig ditches and holes more than 10-feet deep, but the dig depth is still
a useful measure because it also indicates how far out the backhoe can
reach.
Another important rating is horsepower. If you've read How Horsepower
Works, then you know that horsepower is a measure of how much work
something can do in a certain amount of time. A backhoe horsepower
rating tells you how much power the engine provides for all of the systems
in the backhoe, which gives you an idea of what the backhoe is capable of.
Backhoe models with greater dig depth usually have more horsepower.
Increasing both of these factors expands the backhoe's abilities. Backhoes
designed for residential construction applications -- such as digging
foundations, grading, and digging ditches for sewer and utility lines -generally have a 14- to 16-foot dig depth and 70 to 85 horsepower.
Backhoes designed for heavier industrial and commercial applications -such as road and bridge maintenance or large-scale construction -- have a
dig depth greater than 17 feet (5 m) and at least 100 horsepower.
Backhoes also have breakout force ratings. Breakout force describes the
maximum force that the arm can apply on a load. It's measured by how
hard the end of the bucket can push, but all of the hydraulic rams on the
arm contribute to the total force. Backhoes also have stick lift and boom
lift ratings, which tell you the maximum weight the stick and the boom
can lift individually when the hydraulic rams are pushing with full force.
This is another measure of a backhoe's general capacity, and is especially
useful for contractors who plan to use the backhoe as a sort of crane for
lifting heavy loads. The backhoe in the pictures above has a 14,712-lb
(65.4-kN) breakout force, a 6,250-lb (2,830-kg) stick lift capacity and a
3,940-lb (1,787-kg) boom lift capacity.

HYDROULICS IN THE LOADER

We've mostly focused on the backhoe here, but the loader is also driven
by hydraulics. Its hydraulic rams are configured in a slightly different way
-- they work as pairs. The rams lift the bucket in exactly the same way
you would lift a heavy box -- you grab both sides and lift with both arms.
The valve system pumps the same amount of oil to each ram in the pair
so that they move in unison. This stabilizes the loader bucket.
Caterpillar has two types of loaders on its backhoes -- a single tilt
(yellow) and a parallel lift (black). Both types use a piston pair to lift the
loader arms. This piston pair is attached to the tractor and the arms
holding the bucket. The pistons extend to raise the arms and retract to
lower them. Parallel-lift loaders use a second pair of rams attached to the
loader arms and the bucket itself. These rams extend to dump the bucket
and retract to tilt it back up. Single-tilt loaders do this with only one
central ram.
Parallel-lift loaders have an eight-bar-linkage design that improves
loading performance. In this system, different sets of bars in the loader
are connected in such a way that the bucket doesn't tip as it rises.
Basically, the two main sets of parallel bars that hold the bucket move
together so that they keep the bucket level with the ground. Without
parallel lift, the loader would be something like a seesaw with a crate
nailed to one end. If you filled the crate with oranges when the see-saw
was level, a lot of them would fall out when you tilted the seesaw up. A
parallel-lift system allows for more efficient loading because it keeps more
of the material in the bucket as it lifts.

Another cool function in some backhoe loaders is a technology called ride

control. Carrying a full load with a backhoe loader makes for a fairly
bumpy ride because the wheel base is so small compared to the total
inertia of the equipment and the load -- the weight on one end rocks the
whole structure back and forth. To make the ride a bit smoother, backhoes
with ride control use the loader lift hydraulics as a shock-absorber system.
Basically, as the bucket bounces, it pushes down on the oil in the
hydraulic cylinders. The oil flows to another piston cylinder, the
accumulator, which has compressed nitrogen gas on the other side.
Unlike oil, this nitrogen gas can be compressed, so it acts like a spring -when the incompressible oil from the loader rams pushes down on one
side of the piston, the gas compresses a little before pushing back up on
the piston.
With just this mechanism, the oil would simply be pushed back and forth,
so the bucket would keep bouncing. To create a smooth ride, the ride
control system has to absorb some of that energy as the oil flows. The
damping mechanism that accomplishes this is a small orifice in the hose
carrying the oil from the lift ram to the ride control accumulator. With each
bounce of the loader bucket, oil is squeezed through this small opening.
The energy expended to force the oil through the opening is converted
into heat. This energy loss essentially absorbs the bouncing energy,
making for a smoother ride.
Like backhoe arms, loaders are rated by their breakout force. This rating
tells you the maximum force the loader's hydraulic rams can apply to the
front bucket, which gives you an idea of how well a loader will be able to
push and lift a load.

INSIDE A BACKHOE LOADER

As you've seen, backhoe loaders are filled with hydraulic valves and
cylinders. In addition, backhoe loaders have all sorts of things you would
find in any tractor, car or truck. In this section, we'll look at some of the
components that make a backhoe work.
The cutaway drawing below shows many of the major components of a
Caterpillar backhoe loader

All backhoe loaders have a set of standard components.

An engine - In a typical backhoe loader, the tractor, loader and backhoe

are all powered by a diesel engine. The Caterpillar 80-horsepower 3054
engine below has a 4-cylinder, 4-stroke, direct-injection design. It also
features a dry-type, radial-seal two-stage air filter and a thermal
starting aid that allows the engine to start up even at -20 degrees
Fahrenheit (-29 C). The basic del is naturally aspirated, but some
Caterpillar backhoes have a turbocharged

A transmission - To apply the engine power to the tractor and the

backhoe and loader hydraulic systems, you need a transmission. A
backhoe transmission does the same basic job as the transmission in your
car -- it lets the operator switch between gears, go forward or in reverse
and use engine power efficiently. Backhoe loaders come with either
automatic or manual transmissions. The Caterpillar power-shuttle
transmission below provides four speeds, as well as forward and
backward. It has forward and reverse hydraulically shifted shuttle clutches,
which let the operator change direction and travel speed on the go. It also
has a torque converter that enables maximum power efficiency.

Axles - The wheels in a backhoe loader are turned by axles. The

Caterpillar standard rear axle shown below has a special enclosed design
that protects it from the elements. This lets the backhoe operate reliably,
even in extremely harsh environments.

Brakes - Just like your car, backhoe loaders need brakes in order to stop
moving. Caterpillar backhoes use hydraulically-actuated, self-adjusting
disc brakes to stop the tractor. They have a separate parking brake that
the operator applies with a hand lever.

These components, as well as all the other backhoe parts we've looked at
in this article, are all assembled on a sturdy steel frame

OPERATING THE BACKHOE

LOADER
When you stop and think about all the different moving parts in a backhoe
loader, it seems unbelievable that you need only one person at the controls. As
we saw in the last two sections, the backhoe arm swivels on four different hinges
(some bucket designs have five) and the loader moves on two to three hinges.
Additionally, the operator controls the stabilizer arms and moves the tractor
around while loading. How does one person do all of this?

The main controls for a Caterpillar backhoe are two computer-style

joysticks. Here are the functions of the joysticks:

The joystick on the left moves the boom and swings the entire
backhoe from side to side.
The joystick on the right moves the stick and the bucket.

Pulling the joystick toward you moves the boom or the stick closer
to you, and pushing the joystick away moves the boom or stick
farther out.

Pushing the left-hand joystick to the left swings the entire backhoe
to the left, and pushing the joystick to the right swings the arm to
the right.

Pushing the right-hand joystick to the left scoops the bucket in, and
pushing it to the right dumps the bucket out.

Operating the loader is relatively simple because it only dumps, raises and
lowers. The main loader control is a joystick on the right-hand side of the
operator. If you pull the joystick back toward you, the first set of hydraulic
rams push out to lift the arms up. When you push it away from you, the
arms lower. To dump out the bucket, you move the joystick to the right. To
scoop the bucket in, you move the joystick to the left.
So the loader is pretty easy to learn compared to the backhoe. To get
much use out of it, however, you have to be able to operate it while
moving the tractor around the site. The tractor basically handles like a car,
with a steering wheel, accelerator, brake pedal and gear shift. The loader
and the tractor are powered by the same engine, which has a variable
speed control. For an extra boost in loader force, the operator can put
the tractor in neutral so that most of the engine's power goes directly to
the hydraulic system.

ATTACHING DIFFERENT TOOLS

Some backhoe-loaders let you connect a wide variety of tools to either the
backhoe stick or the loader in place of the standard buckets. Caterpillar
backhoe-loaders have an integrated toolcarrier (IT) that hooks up very
easily to a number of compatible components. Different tools include
specialized buckets, street sweepers and pallet forks.
The backhoe arm also connects very easily to different tools. As you can
see in the video below, the operator must secure the tool to the backhoe
stick with a connecting pin. All sorts of tools are available, including:

Hydraulic hammers for breaking up asphalt

Augers for digging circular holes

Asphalt grinders for milling the surface of the road

Grapples for gripping and pulling rooted material (such as tree

stumps)

BACKHOE TOOLS

THE REASON THAT WE USE A

BACKHOE LOADER
Backhoes have been around more than 40 years, and they've gotten even
more popular in the last decade. Caterpillar has sold more than 100,000
backhoes since 1985. The main reason we see backhoes at work all the
time is that digging and moving dirt is a big part of a lot of different
projects. For example, you need to dig ditches to lay pipes and
underground cable, set up foundations for buildings and create drainage
systems. There are a number of tools that do this sort of work, often more
efficiently than a backhoe, but many construction crews use a backhoe
instead because of a number of factors.
For one thing, backhoes are remarkably compact when compared to
large, specialized equipment such as excavators. They can move around
all sorts of construction sites and you can take them on the road. Miniloaders and backhoe units are actually smaller than a typical backhoe
loader, but if a contractor needs to dig and load, it's usually better to have
both units in one. It saves a lot of time because the operator doesn't have
to switch between two different pieces of equipment.
The backhoe is also popular simply because of its amazing capacities.
The Caterpillar backhoe loader in the picture above has a huge amount of
power. Its backhoe can dig with 15,200 pounds (67.6 kN) of force and can
reach more than 25.9 feet (7.9 meters) away. The loader can lift loads up
to 8,760 pounds (3,970 kg) and can hold 1.75 cubic yards (1.3 cubic
meters) of dirt in its standard bucket. The backhoe and loader
components don't have quite as much power as larger equipment, but
they do very well, even with fairly difficult jobs.
A construction crew that does all sorts of different work will usually buy a
backhoe rather than more efficient specialized equipment because the
backhoe performs well in a wide variety of situations. For small to medium
digging jobs, a backhoe is certainly sufficient. And as we'll see later on,
some backhoe models do a lot more than just digging and loading.

REFERENCES
www.wikipadia.com
www.google.com
www.howstuffworks.com
SHAWAK NANAWATI TECHNICAL INSTITUTE,
JAMSHEDPUR
TELCON