Boat Anchorage Assembly with Helical Guide Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Anchorage assemblies for high-speed boats face issues with hydrodynamic profile disruption and unsafe, precise recovery of anchors, leading to potential damage and complex manufacturing processes.
Innovation Solution
An anchorage assembly with a shaft and fluke designed for precise orientation during lifting, featuring a conveyance portion with helical grooves and an engagement element that ensures aligned and secure rotation within a containment body, allowing for easy assembly and disassembly, and minimizing wear and complexity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the anchor is housed within a containment peak on the hull side, then the anchor can be stored and recovered, but the hydrodynamic profile of the hull is interrupted, making it unsuitable for high-speed boats
Solution Approach 1:
The anchor assembly is nested within the hull structure itself, with the containment body integrated into the hull's internal space. The shaft moves between a lowered operational position and a raised stowed position within the hull, eliminating the need for external containment peaks that disrupt the hydrodynamic profile.
2Ease of operation
If the shaft diameter is reduced to allow passage through the containment body, then the anchor can be recovered, but the shaft becomes tilted during lifting, causing damage risk and jamming
Solution Approach 1:
The conveyance portion with helical grooves is provided in advance on the shaft, designed to engage with the engagement element before lifting begins. This preliminary configuration ensures that the shaft is properly guided and oriented from the start of the lifting operation, preventing tilt and misalignment throughout the recovery process.
Solution Approach 2:
The engagement element acts as an intermediary between the shaft and the containment body, transferring force and guidance through the conveyance portion. This intermediary mechanism ensures proper force distribution and alignment, preventing direct impact and tilt that would occur with simple radial projection.
3Manufacturing precision
If helical ribs are welded onto the containment body to guide the shaft, then orientation control is improved, but the manufacturing complexity and assembly time increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The guidance function is segmented into separate components: the conveyance portion with helical grooves on the shaft and the corresponding engagement element on the containment body. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured independently using simpler processes, then assembled together, reducing overall manufacturing complexity while maintaining precise orientation control.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of providing guide ribs on the stationary containment body, the guidance features (helical grooves) are provided on the moving shaft itself. This inversion simplifies the containment body manufacturing while achieving the same orientation control function through the interaction between the shaft's conveyance portion and the engagement element.
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 3A~5
AI summary
Anchorage assembly for a boat comprising an anchor (2), provided with a shaft (21) and a fluke (22), and an elongated containment body (3), internally delimiting a channel (30), within which the shaft (21) of the anchor (2) is susceptible of sliding. The shaft (21) is movable between a lowered position, in which it is placed outside the containment body (3) and is free to rotate and a raised position, in which it is placed inside the containment body (3), with a predefined orientation with respect to the containment body (3) and is substantially prevented from rotating. The anchorage assembly also comprises guide means (4), configured for guiding the shaft (21) from the lowered position to the raised position, and comprising at least one conveyance portion (41), made on the shaft (21) and provided with two slides (410) which are extended with helical first grooves (411) in circumferentially opposite senses from a common upper deflection end (41') to a common lower connection end (41"). The guide means (4) also comprises at least one guide portion (42), made on the shaft (21) and provided with a guide track (420) which is extended with a second groove (421), and at least one engagement element (43) fixed to the containment body (3) and projecting inside the channel (30). The engagement element (43) is configured for interfering at least with the conveyance portion (41) and rotating the shaft (21) in the predefined orientation, in which at least part of the engagement element (43) is inserted in the second groove (421) in order to stably retain said shaft (21) in said predefined orientation.