Initial Investigations Into the Dynamics of Cutting Brushes for Sweeping

Cutting brushes are used at relatively low speeds by various municipal vehicles and in particular road sweeping units. As the name suggests such brushes are designed to “cut” through debris, especially compacted sand or similar matter. The main deflection plane of a bristle (or tine) is along the mount radius, making the tines very stiff in the direction of rotation, hence the cutting action when the brush is rotated. Exploring the literature shows that very little is known, or understood, about the operation of brushes for mechanical sweeping. In this paper a pseudo-static discretized model is developed to investigate the deformations and forces acting on brushes during ideal operation of a horizontal brush on a flat plane. Due to the numerous different sweeper brushes on the market, one common configuration is used as the basis of the model and the paper will detail only the characteristics of this brush. The brush to be investigated is a “cutting brush,” introduced above, where the tines can only deflect along the mount radius. Having developed a model it is used to predict the forces and torques generated within a horizontally rotating brush. The influence of centrifugal force is analyzed although transient effects are neglected and steady state conditions assumed. The predictions of the model are compared to practical results taken from a test rig and the validity of the model is discussed. Agreement between the model and the practical results will be shown to be good, considering the complexities and practical realities involved in analyzing any system which is friction dependent.