Cable Tray Chute Elongated Bar Locking Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cable tray trunking systems face challenges in efficient end-to-end joining, particularly when supporting large-diameter electrical cables, due to manufacturing tolerances and the difficulty in aligning and locking adjacent ends, leading to potential misalignment and increased stock management complexities.
Innovation Solution
A cable tray trunking design featuring elongated bars on its sides that act as locks, allowing for effective engagement and locking with an identical trunking end, ensuring secure coupling and easy assembly by interacting with longitudinal wires, thereby ensuring effective locking and stability under varying loads.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If fishplates are used to join adjacent ends of two chutes, then the chutes can be maintained end to end, but the fishplates must be transported separately to the site in sufficient quantity, requiring stock management and inducing loss risk
Solution Approach 1:
The joining function is merged into the chute structure itself through the elongated bars that are integral to the chute ends. These bars protrude from the chute and engage with corresponding slots in adjacent chutes, eliminating the need for separate fishplate components and their associated stock management.
Solution Approach 2:
The joining function is extracted from the chute body and implemented as separate elongated bars attached to the chute ends. This allows the bars to be focused specifically on the joining function while the main chute structure remains simple and modular.
2Ease of manufacture
If transverse wires are arranged close together to form a slot for receiving a transverse wire from the opposite end, then the ends can be engaged, but the relative immobilization is based on wire diameter and slot width which can vary due to manufacturing tolerances
Solution Approach 1:
The joining mechanism uses elongated bars with specific dimensional parameters (length, width, thickness) that are optimized to engage with slots in adjacent chutes. The bar length is specifically designed to extend beyond the chute end face, and the cross-sectional dimensions are chosen to provide adequate engagement without requiring tight manufacturing tolerances on the wire diameters.
Solution Approach 2:
The elongated bars act as intermediary elements between the two chute structures. Rather than relying on direct wire-to-wire engagement, the bars provide a mediating interface that accommodates manufacturing variations in wire dimensions while ensuring reliable connection.
3Device complexity
If the jointing of two trunkings is based on wire diameter and slot width, then the structure remains simple, but the jointing cannot be guaranteed when supporting relatively large weight
Solution Approach 1:
The elongated bars are pre-positioned on the chute ends during manufacturing, protruding beyond the end face. This preliminary positioning ensures that when chutes are brought together for assembly, the bars are already in place to guide and secure the connection, providing immediate structural integrity without requiring complex assembly procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The joining function is segmented from the main chute structure and implemented as separate elongated bars. This segmentation allows the bars to be specifically optimized for the joining function (protruding length, cross-sectional dimensions) while the main chute structure remains simple and modular.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
This cable tray (2) for a cable raceway (1) comprises longitudinal wires (4) and transverse wires (6A, 6B) welded into a lattice that defines a base (21) of the tray and two sides (23, 25) extending on either side of this base. This tray is provided, along a longitudinal axis (X2), with a first end (22) and a second end (24) such that the first end can be engaged and received in the second end (24') of an identical tray (2'). The first end (22) has, on the outside of each of its sides (23, 25), at least one elongated bar (8) whose longitudinal axis is parallel to the longitudinal axis (X2) of the tray.