Angled Plate Mount With Anti-Rotation Locking for Frame Joints
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Solution Overview
Problem
Structural frames in automation equipment, buildings, and furniture often experience loosening of nut and bolt combinations due to vibration and environmental factors, leading to compromised integrity and alignment issues.
Innovation Solution
A mount system that mechanically interlocks a plate to a frame member using a cylindrical head with a tapered portion and flange, along with a bolt and nut combination, providing a clamping force to maintain connection and prevent rotational movement, while allowing for angular interconnection of frame members.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If nut and bolt combinations are used to secure frame members together, then the frame members can be easily assembled, but the connection loosens over time due to vibration and environmental factors
Solution Approach 1:
The connection system is divided into multiple functional segments: the mount body provides structural support, the clamp arm provides adjustable clamping force, the bolt provides secure fastening, and the washer distributes load. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function optimally, preventing loosening while maintaining ease of assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The mount is pre-configured with the clamp arm, bolt, and washer in specific positions and orientations before installation. The clamp arm is pre-positioned to engage with the frame member, and the bolt is pre-threaded into the mount body. This preliminary preparation ensures that when the mount is installed, the connection is immediately secure and resistant to loosening from vibration.
2Ease of operation
If traditional mounting methods are used, then installation is simple, but alignment and connection integrity are compromised due to rotation and loosening
Solution Approach 1:
The mount design incorporates self-aligning features where the clamp arm automatically positions itself against the frame member surface, and the bolt threads self-engage with the mount body. The washer self-distributes the clamping force across the contact surface. This self-service mechanism ensures precise alignment without requiring complex adjustment procedures, maintaining both installation simplicity and alignment precision.
3Reliability
If a rigid fixed connection is used to prevent loosening, then connection stability is improved, but adaptability to different angles and configurations is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The mount incorporates a dynamic clamp arm that can be positioned at various angles and secured at each position. The clamp arm can be adjusted to different orientations before being clamped down by the bolt, allowing the mount to adapt to various angular configurations. Once clamped, the connection becomes rigid and stable, preventing loosening while maintaining angular adaptability during the installation process.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution effectively maintains the connection between plate and frame members during repeated use, preventing loosening and ensuring alignment, and allows for easy and versatile mechanical interlocking of multiple frame members at desired angles.
Implementation Method 1
The outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical head including a tapered portion frictionally engageable with the inner surface of the plate
Implementation Method 2
Threading the bolt into the nut exerts a clamping force on the plate between the flange and the frame member
Data Source
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AI summary
A mount is provided for mounting a plate to a frame assembly. The mount includes a generally cylindrical head extendable through an aperture the plate and having an upper surface, a lower face, an outer peripheral surface, and an alignment structure receivable in a slot of the frame member of the frame assembly. The cylindrical head includes a bolt- receiving bore extending through the cylindrical head along a bore axis at an acute angle to the upper face that is adapted to receive a bolt therethrough, A flange extends radially extending from the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical head. The flange has a diameter greater than the diameter of at least a portion of the aperture through the plate. Tightening of the bolt captures the plate between the flange and the frame member.