Vehicle Clamp With Removable Gusset for Adjustable Pipe Force
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle clamps lack a mechanism to adjust clamping strength effectively for cylindrical members, such as pipes, which can lead to inconsistent securement and potential damage.
Innovation Solution
A clamp design featuring a gusset feature that extends across a receiver defined by an outer receiver member and a body, with an engagement feature that can pivot between engaged and disengaged conditions, and integrally coupled ribs for secure engagement with cylindrical members, allowing for adjustable clamping strength by removing or deforming the gusset feature.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a clamp is designed with a fixed rigid structure, then manufacturing simplicity is improved, but adaptability to different clamping strength requirements deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The clamp body is segmented into multiple functional components: a receiver portion, an engagement feature, and a gusset feature. The gusset feature acts as a removable intermediate element that can be selectively present or absent to adjust clamping strength, dividing the clamp into configurable segments that maintain manufacturing simplicity while enabling adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The clamp design allows parameter changes by selectively removing or deforming the gusset feature. When the gusset feature is present, it provides higher clamping strength; when removed or deformed, it allows lower clamping strength. This parameter change approach maintains a simple fixed structure during manufacturing while enabling adaptability through selective modification of the gusset feature.
2Device complexity
If a clamp uses a simple structure without additional features, then device complexity is reduced, but clamping strength variability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The gusset feature is designed as a removable element that can be extracted from the clamp structure. By taking out the gusset feature selectively, the clamp transitions between high-strength and low-strength configurations. This extraction principle maintains structural simplicity by using a single removable component rather than multiple complex adjustment mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The clamp transitions from a static fixed structure to a dynamic configurable structure through the selective removal or deformation of the gusset feature. This dynamic approach allows the clamp to adapt its clamping strength based on the cylindrical member being secured, maintaining simplicity while enabling variability.
3Reliability
If a clamp is designed for high clamping strength, then securement reliability is improved, but risk of damage to cylindrical members worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The gusset feature is positioned locally within the clamp body to provide enhanced clamping strength only where needed for securement reliability. By concentrating the structural reinforcement in the gusset feature rather than making the entire clamp rigid, the design achieves high reliability when the gusset is present while allowing damage-free securing when the gusset is removed or deformed.
Data Source
AI summary
A clamp includes a body extending between a receiver end and an engagement end, an outer receiver member extending outward from the body to define a receiver proximate to the receiver end between the outer receiver member and the body, an engagement feature coupled to the body proximate the engagement end and configured to be received by the receiver, and a gusset feature coupled to the body and the outer receiver member. The gusset feature extends across the receiver from the outer receiver member to the body.