Conical Bolt Alignment Tool for Storage Rack Base Installation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The installation of large and heavy storage racks often damages fixed-in-ground anchor bolts due to misalignment and heavy weight, leading to costly repairs or replacements, and requires inefficient and time-consuming alignment processes.
Innovation Solution
An alignment tool with a conical or tapered shape and a cylindrical body is used to guide the anchor bolt holes of the storage rack base plate over the anchor bolts, protecting the bolts from damage and simplifying the alignment process by sliding or screwing over the anchor bolts, allowing precise alignment without direct contact that could damage the bolt tips.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the storage rack base plate is directly lowered onto the anchor bolts without alignment guidance, then the installation process is simpler, but the anchor bolts are easily damaged due to misalignment and heavy weight
Solution Approach 1:
The alignment tool serves as an intermediary device between the storage rack base plate and the anchor bolts. It features a guiding structure with openings that align with the anchor bolt positions, allowing the heavy base plate to be lowered safely while the alignment tool prevents direct contact and potential damage to the bolts. The tool is removed after alignment is achieved.
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment tool is positioned on the anchor bolts before the base plate is lowered. This preliminary positioning establishes the correct alignment of the base plate holes with the anchor bolts, preventing misalignment damage during the subsequent lowering operation. The tool prepares the installation site in advance to ensure proper alignment.
2Reliability
If multiple holes on the base plate are aligned with multiple corresponding bolts simultaneously, then the anchoring is more secure, but the process becomes very time consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The alignment tool combines multiple alignment functions into a single device. It features multiple openings arranged to correspond with multiple anchor bolt positions simultaneously, allowing all holes to be aligned in one operation rather than requiring separate alignment procedures for each bolt. This merges the alignment task into a unified, efficient process.
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment tool pre-establishes the correct positions of all anchor bolts relative to the base plate before the lowering operation begins. By positioning the tool with its multiple openings aligned with all bolt locations, it prepares the entire alignment configuration in advance, enabling simultaneous alignment of multiple holes without time-consuming sequential adjustments.
3Manufacturing precision
If the holes on the base plate are only slightly larger than the diameter of the anchor bolts, then the fit is tighter and more secure, but the bolts are more easily damaged during installation
Solution Approach 1:
The alignment tool acts as a protective intermediary that prevents direct contact between the heavy base plate and the anchor bolts during the lowering operation. The tool's openings guide the bolts through the holes without the base plate edges directly contacting and potentially damaging the bolt surfaces, even though the holes are only slightly larger than the bolt diameter for a tight fit.
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment tool provides protective cushioning for the anchor bolts before the base plate is lowered. By positioning the tool over the bolts first, it creates a protective barrier that prevents direct impact and friction between the heavy base plate and the delicate bolt surfaces during the critical alignment and lowering phase.
Data Source
AI summary
An alignment tool and method that is easy to use during the installation of a base of a commercial storage rack over bolts extending up from a warehouse floor. The alignment tool comprises a cylindrical body having a first conically shaped upper end and a second lower end having a bolt receiving hollow opening therein. The opening extends up into said cylindrical body along a longitudinal axis of the body. The method includes placing the opening down over the bolts, with the conical top facing up, to protect the bolts and align the base as it is lowered over the bolts. The alignment tool can be easily removed, prior to bolting the base to the floor, such as with a removal tool through a hole in the alignment tool.