Cable Guide Link Frame Groove Design for Mold Complexity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cable protection and guide devices face issues with molding accuracy and cost due to the complexity of molding molds when using injection-molded synthetic resin, and the snap mechanism's engagement pawls are difficult to remove, leading to wear and reduced endurance.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves using rectangular link frame bodies with connecting pins and pin holes, and providing link disconnection preventing groove or cutaway portions on the connecting plates to maintain connection stability during linear and bending movements, allowing for easy assembly and reduced molding complexity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If engagement pawls are formed on both sides of ends of the connecting rod to prevent link disconnection, then connection reliability is improved, but the molding mold becomes complicated and wear increases
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting rod is divided into multiple parts: the main body and separate engagement pawls. This segmentation allows the pawls to be formed as integral parts of the connecting rod through injection molding, eliminating the need for complex mold mechanisms while maintaining connection reliability. The pawls are designed as protrusions that engage with corresponding grooves in the link plates.
Solution Approach 2:
The engagement pawls are merged with the connecting rod as a single injection-molded component. This combining approach simplifies the molding process by forming both the connecting rod body and the engagement pawls in one operation, reducing mold complexity and avoiding the need for separate assembly steps while ensuring reliable connection between link plates.
2Ease of manufacture
If engagement pawls are forcibly pulled out from the molding mold, then the connecting rod can be removed from the mold, but the molding mold wears and molding accuracy decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The engagement pawls are designed with preliminary geometric features that facilitate easy mold release. The pawls are formed with appropriate draft angles and surface finishes during the injection molding process, allowing the connecting rod to be easily ejected from the mold without forcing or excessive wear, thereby maintaining molding accuracy over extended mold life.
3Ease of manufacture
If the connecting rod is injection-molded with synthetic resin, then manufacturing cost is reduced, but the engagement pawl becomes difficult to remove from the mold
Solution Approach 1:
The geometric parameters of the engagement pawls are optimized for injection molding. The pawls are designed with appropriate dimensions, draft angles, and material flow characteristics that enable easy mold release. The connecting rod is molded from synthetic resin with these optimized parameters, achieving low manufacturing cost while avoiding mold release difficulties through proper design of the pawl geometry.
Data Source
AI summary
To provide a cable or the like protection and guide device in which even if link frame bodies receive torsion and deflection during a linear movement or a bending movement, a mutual connection can be reliably maintained and a connection and assembly operation for the link frame bodies is easy and a stable molding accuracy and a small cost load on a molding mold can be obtained. In a cable or the like protection and guide device 100 in which a large number of rectangular link frame bodies 110 each comprising a pair of spaced link plates 111, 111, and connecting plates 112, 112 bridged the pair of link plates 111, 111 respectively are articulately connected to each other, when said link frame bodies 110 are connected to each other in a linear state, a link disconnection preventing groove portion 111g engaged with an inner circumferential side edge 111h of the link plate 111 is provided on the both left and right ends 112a, 112a of the connecting plate bridged over the bending inner circumferential side of said link frame body 110, respectively, and when said link frame bodies 110 are connected to each other in a bending state, a link disconnection preventing cutaway portion 111k engaged with an inner circumferential side edge 111h of the link plate 111 is provided on the both left and right ends 112a, 112a of the connecting plate bridged over the bending inner circumferential side of said link frame body 110, respectively.