Cantilevered Electrical Mounting Bracket for Hitch Receiver
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mounting arrangements for electrical connections between towing vehicles and trailers are inconvenient, difficult to access, and lack a cost-effective solution that allows for easy disconnection and reconnection, with existing solutions either being permanent or poorly positioned.
Innovation Solution
A cantilevered mounting bracket is designed to attach to the side of a receiver tube, featuring stamped and bent sheet metal construction with a support arm that positions electrical connections optimally for easy access and disconnection, using bolts to secure it to the tube, allowing for quick installation and removal without drilling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the hanger structure is welded to the hitch cross bar, then the electrical connection is securely fixed, but it cannot be removed or replaced
Solution Approach 1:
The electrical mounting system is divided into separate components: the hitch cross bar, the electrical hanger, and the electrical socket. This segmentation allows the hanger to be independently installed and removed from the cross bar using bolts, providing both secure fixation during use and easy removability when needed, resolving the contradiction between stability and adaptability.
2Device complexity
If the connection is positioned in plane with and underneath the hitch cross-bar, then the structure is simple, but access to connect and disconnect the socket becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The electrical hanger is designed to extend downward from the hitch cross bar, positioning the electrical socket in a lower dimension. This vertical arrangement maintains structural simplicity while significantly improving accessibility, allowing easy connection and disconnection of the socket from below the cross bar, resolving the contradiction between device complexity and ease of operation.
3Ease of manufacture
If the electrical connection projects rearward from the back face of the hitch cross-bar, then mounting is simplified, but the socket plugging direction becomes angled to the towing direction
Solution Approach 1:
The electrical hanger is designed with an asymmetric configuration that extends downward rather than rearward, creating a non-traditional mounting arrangement. This asymmetric design maintains ease of manufacture by bolting to the cross bar while correcting the plugging direction to be more aligned with the towing direction, resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and ease of operation.
4Ease of manufacture
If the electrical socket is hung under the receiver tube, then mounting is achieved, but the location becomes difficult to access and more difficult after hitch ball insertion
Solution Approach 1:
The electrical hanger is extracted from the receiver tube area and repositioned to mount directly to the hitch cross bar. This extraction removes the electrical socket from the difficult-to-access location under the receiver tube and places it in a more accessible position, resolving the contradiction between mounting capability and ease of operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A mounting bracket cantilevers a support arm off the side of a receiver tube of a hitch, using flats on the receiver tube or receiver tube lip to support the cantilevered weight. The support arm is configured to receive and support one or more mating electrical connection structures, with a plug/unplug direction matching the fore/aft direction of the towing vehicle. Flanges of the mounting bracket are pulled toward each other around the receiving tube using mounting bolts which extend on right and left sides of the receiving tube. The mounting bracket is preferably formed from stamped and bent sheet metal.