Angled-Cut Guide Rail Design to Reduce Roller Immersion and Vibration
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing running rails in storage systems experience dynamic vibrations and horizontal forces due to the immersion of rollers into gaps between rail segments, leading to 'dancing totes' and mechanical stress on stored goods and shelves, caused by tolerances in rail and shelf constructions.
Innovation Solution
The design of running rails with angled front edges, where the cutting plane is pivoted about the surface normal, allows adjacent rails to overlap, reducing the gap and ensuring rollers rest on both surfaces, minimizing immersion and subsequent forces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If standardized guide rails with perpendicular cuts are used, then manufacturing and assembly are simplified, but gaps of 6-12mm form at joints causing roller immersion and dynamic vibrations
Solution Approach 1:
The guide rail ends are cut at an angle (e.g., 45 degrees) relative to the rail axis instead of perpendicular to it. This asymmetric cut allows the roller to transition smoothly from one rail segment to the next without falling into the gap, as the angled surface guides the roller along the rail rather than allowing vertical drop into the joint gap.
Solution Approach 2:
The angled cut is prepared in advance on the rail ends before assembly. This preliminary shaping of the rail ends ensures that when rails are joined, the roller automatically follows the angled transition surface, preventing gap immersion without requiring additional components or adjustments during operation.
2Manufacturing precision
If rail joint gaps are reduced through tighter tolerances, then roller immersion is minimized, but manufacturing cost and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of requiring precise perpendicular alignment and minimal gaps through tight tolerances, the asymmetric angled cut provides a geometric solution that accommodates normal manufacturing tolerances. The angled surface inherently guides the roller through the joint, making the system robust to variations in rail length and positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The cut angle parameter (e.g., 45 degrees) is changed from the conventional perpendicular (90 degrees) configuration. This parameter change transforms the joint geometry to prevent gap immersion, converting a precision-critical interface into a tolerance-friendly connection that achieves the same functional goal through geometric design rather than dimensional control.
3Reliability
If angled front edges are implemented on guide rails, then roller immersion into gaps is prevented, but rail manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The asymmetric angled cut replaces the symmetric perpendicular cut. While the cutting process becomes slightly more complex, the angle can be set on standard cutting equipment, and the resulting geometry provides self-guiding functionality that eliminates the need for additional precision components or assembly adjustments.
Solution Approach 2:
The cutting angle parameter is modified from 90 degrees to an angled value (e.g., 45 degrees). This single parameter change in the cutting process achieves the functional improvement of preventing roller immersion, and the angled cut can be produced using conventional machining or sawing operations with appropriate tool setup.
Data Source
Figure 1a~1b
Figure 2a
Figure 2b
AI summary
A guide rail, in particular for a rack in a rack storage system, wherein the guide rail extends along a longitudinal axis and has a cross-sectional profile with at least three legs, such that a first leg is a running surface leg which, together with the longitudinal axis of the guide rail, forms a running surface for a storage machine, a second leg is a guide surface leg which, together with the longitudinal axis of the guide rail, forms a guide surface, and a third leg is a rack upright leg which, together with the longitudinal axis of the guide rail, forms a mounting surface for a rack upright. The running surface leg is cut at an end edge of the guide rail in a first section plane, wherein the first section plane is pivoted about a surface normal of the running surface.