Articulation system for commercial road vehicles

An articulation system for interconnecting a first and a second vehicle unit of an articulated road vehicle, the articulation system comprising:

• a central element including a vertical cylinder with left and right arcuate walls extending between two facing openings for permitting passage of persons therethrough;
• and first and second interconnecting structures joined to the central element, the first and second interconnecting structures adapted to be respectively attached to the first vehicle unit and the second vehicle unit on opposed sides of the central element;
• each of said first and second interconnecting structures comprising a pitch joint member and a yaw joint member;
• said pitch joint member comprising a frame perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of a corresponding one of the first and second vehicle units and a pitch hinge mechanism at a floor level to interconnect with the corresponding one of the first and second vehicle units;
• said yaw joint member comprising a frame perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the corresponding one of the first and second vehicle units and left and right arcuate walls juxtaposed to said left and right arcuate walls of the vertical cylinder and rotatable around said vertical cylinder;
• the frame of the pitch joint member and the frame of the yaw joint member being juxtaposed and mechanically linked to jointly form a planar roll joint mechanism.