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"Instead of installing the load wheel directly on the car body, connect the load wheel and the car body with a swing arm that can move freely, and then connect the support point of the swing arm to the coil spring, and use the spring to provide support for the car body, so that there is a suitable suspension system." Jochen said here, and the technician over there kept his head down and took notes.

The suspension method mentioned by Jochen is independent coil spring suspension, and the reason why this suspension method was chosen is because it is relatively simple to implement and has more room for future development.

There are three main types of tank suspension in World War II, free-standing, balanced, and torsional bar. The independent type and the balanced type are divided into spring type and leaf spring type according to the different structures to achieve cushioning, and can continue to be subdivided according to the specific installation method.

The famous Christie suspension system is a kind of independent coil spring suspension, but because the diameter of the current tractor load wheels is small, the number is large, and the travel of the connected coil spring is not too long, so it has a considerable difference in nature from the Christie suspension that has high pass guò and is suitable for fast tanks, and is more similar to the small independent coil spring suspension of the Churchill infantry tank in nature.

However, this suspension method has no intention of having more room for development, and most of the leaf spring suspensions are balanced, and no independent leaf spring suspension has ever been seen except for the independent special guy of the No. II tank. Therefore, the speed of the tank will increase in the future, and the small independent coil spring suspension can be directly turned into a Christie suspension, and the two are essentially the same thing.

As for the problem of Christie's suspension occupying space in the car, it is only reflected in the Soviet BT fast tank and T-34, and the British Crusader, Cromwell, Comet and other cruiser tanks use Christie's suspension variant, and the suspension is directly installed on the outside of the car, so as not to affect the interior space.

Such an outboard arrangement was also used in the late 20th and early 21st centuries on the Merkava family of tanks. And there is another advantage of the external installation, that is, it is easy to disassemble and replace, which is conducive to battlefield maintenance, of course, this also has the disadvantage of being easy to be hit, but on the whole, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

As for being more space-saving. It is also the most classic torsion bar suspension, Jochen does not want to use it, but the problem of elasticity and strength of the torsion bar is really difficult to solve, even during World War II, the early torsion bar of the KV-1 will break the fault, and the early German army of the No. III tank has not responded very well to its torsion bar suspension. Coupled with the inconvenience of maintenance, Jochen decided not to consider it.

Jochen's requirements for driving ability are not low, and the suspension system is only one part of improving driving ability. The ability to cross trenches and obstacles is also very important: "I am very dissatisfied with the driving ability of the current tank, and I require the tank to reach 1.5 meters of trench crossing capacity and 1.2 meters of obstacle crossing ability, because there is no country where the army dug trenches only 1 meter wide and the breast wall is only 0.5 meters high. ”

However, in this way, the track grounding length must reach more than 4.5 meters to ensure sufficient trench crossing capacity, and the current test vehicle needs to be improved to increase the track grounding length by more than 50%. The entire operational structure needs to be stretched by more than 70 per cent, which is not possible. And in this way, the length increases. The weight of the hull will also increase dramatically, and considering the installation of weapons and personnel, it may be difficult to increase the driving speed even if we replace it with a more powerful engine. Jochen's request was so unacceptable to everyone that it was almost deliberately difficult.

As Jochen requested. The current test car is much longer, and it is obviously impossible to improve it on the existing basis.

"Then redesign a new one, now this car is essentially nothing more than an armored tractor, although you have no previous experience with tracked vehicles, I can understand that it is based on a tractor. But in the end, this is a combat vehicle for the Army, and your design should be designed to meet the needs of the Army as the highest priority. ”

That's what the request was, but Jochen wasn't sure how the designers would solve the problem, and for the same problem, the British used a reference to the mega-wheeler, and then came up with a diamond-shaped tank like the Mark-I and over-the-top tracks.

Now that the German Army has begun to study tanks, it seems that they still have to guide them in a normal direction, and no matter how they can't follow the evil path of the British, they must at least develop something like the FT-17 Renault.

It seems that when I go back, I will have to try again the cartographic skills I learned at the Kiel Naval Academy, and by then I have not done this for a long time. But for later, we have to continue to make things difficult for these poor technicians.

"Also, I remember that diesel engines are now quite widely used in tractors, right? Why not choose a more torsional diesel engine and choose a gasoline engine? Yochen asked.

"Your Majesty, because our cars, motorcycles and airships all use gasoline engines, so from the perspective of fuel consumption and maintenance, we think that the use of gasoline engines is more conducive to logistics."

Jochen was stunned by this answer, Diesel engines were superior to gasoline engines on tractors, so since Augsburg-Nuremberg Maschinenfabrik AG produced 60 horsepower diesel engines, diesel engines began to be widely used in tractors. It stands to reason that this thing that was changed from a tractor should also use a diesel engine.

I didn't expect to choose the gasoline engine for this reason, think about it carefully, the army's choice can not be said to be wrong, now agriculture and the navy are the main users of diesel, the army has always been a big user of gasoline, as the army, with their own already familiar with the gasoline engine obviously take less risk.

The working principle of diesel engine and gasoline engine is different, the structure is different, and the oil used is also different, so if the diesel engine is used, the maintenance soldiers have to learn the maintenance of the engine that they are not familiar with, and the logistics must prepare different oil supply systems, which is indeed a troublesome thing.

However, Jochen still decided to say two words: "However, the diesel engine has strong torque, low fuel consumption, and more importantly, it is not easy to volatilize and not easy to ignite, and it is still very important for combat weapons to be safe and reliable. ”

At present, Jochen is not ready to force the army to use diesel engines, because this is, after all, a big problem involving the entire logistics adjustment. However, let them try the diesel engine first to feel its advantages of safety and reliability, and when the technology is more mature and reliable, the diesel engine has a huge advantage that can make the army change its mind.

That is the range, the diesel safety feature allows the tank to carry an external fuel tank in combat, so that the combat vehicle can travel a much longer range, for this ability is difficult for the German Army, which has been well researched and prepared to implement the Schlieffen plan.

But this advantage is useless to say now, what do you expect to drive long distances on this thing that will break the chain on this half-meter-high obstacle?

So for the engine, Jochen decided not to do more entanglement, after all, the problem of the walking part is a technical problem, the technology is in place, it is still easy to solve, but the problem of thinking is not so easy to correct, so it is necessary to forcibly twist them back from the beginning.

"I have a bit of an opinion about the firepower configuration, you put a part like a battleship's gun on the side of the hull, so that the side of the hull will protrude a large piece, right? I don't think it's a good idea to increase the width of the car, which makes it inconvenient to transport, and it also increases the weight. Jochen said.

"Your Majesty, but without the gun carriers on both sides, we can't keep the armored vehicle against the enemy on both sides, which would expose it to danger." This time it was Schlieffen himself who spoke, for whom the army needed a mobile fortress with perfect firepower, so it was indispensable to ensure lateral firepower.

"Leave the problem on the side to the infantry, Alfred, even if I don't sit in it, I know that this kind of vehicle has a limited field of view from the outside, and if the field of vision is limited, it will lead to some dangers that the crew inside cannot see, and the infantry outside is to help it solve the invisible danger.

The front of the hull is equipped with a spherical machine gun mount, and an MG3 can suppress the infantry in front, and as for the sides, it will be left to the infantry to solve. Therefore, the weight saved by the removal of the gun profiles on both sides was used to strengthen the frontal armor, which was where it was attacked the most. Now the thickness of 15 mm is probably not enough to stop our 12.7 mm machine gun cartridges, right?

Ensuring its protection allows it to survive longer on the battlefield and provide support to infantry for longer, so sacrificing some of its firepower is acceptable. I want this thing to have at least frontal armor thick enough to block direct fire from a 37mm field gun, right?

We don't need a Land Cruiser, Alfred, and we have to make the right trade-offs. A mobile artillery that can attack with the infantry is the value of this equipment, and the ......"

Joechen suddenly froze, obviously thinking of something, and the sudden interruption of his speech made everyone's eyes focus on their emperor, but no one dared to make a sound, for fear of interrupting Jochen's train of thought.

Jochen's jamming was due to the fact that the definition of "mobile artillery attacking with the infantry" reminded him of another type of armored vehicle that was different from the tank, and seemed to be more suitable for the battlefield of World War I than the tank. (A good event for pie in the sky, cool mobile phones are waiting for you!) Follow from ~ Dian/Chinese network public account (WeChat add friends - add public account - enter ddxiaoshuo), participate now! Everyone has a prize, now pay attention to ddxiaoshuo WeChat public account! (To be continued......)