The design of wheel retraction function of amphibious vehicle

In order to reduce bow wave loss of wheels to enhance amphibious vehicle’s speed when sailing in water, wheels retraction scheme was designed. Hydraulic forces acted on teeth-shaft couplings to produce moment, which drove upper arms to revolve up around pins, and wheels move up accordingly. Displacements of spring and absorber upper ends were restricted to ensure fixedness by guide way. To avoid length intervene when retracting wheels, drive shafts were divided into two parts, and connected with each other by spline. Invalidation function operation was controlled by sensor to ensured security and stability when vehicle traveling over land. Resistance of body in water were simulated by Fluent, results show that resistance can be reduced by 30% after wheels are retracted-Cit is proved that the scheme of reducing resistance by retracting wheels is feasible.