Skeleton Frame Cooling System Debris Ingress
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooling systems for working machines in airborne debris environments are heavy, costly, and complex, with a high risk of airborne debris ingress due to the structural reliance on a thick skin for support, which complicates manufacturing and reduces efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A cooling system design featuring a skeleton frame made from a stronger material to support the cooling core, combined with a lighter, more easily formable outer skin that seals the interior without seams or breaks, reducing weight, cost, and complexity while inhibiting debris ingress.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a thick skin is used to support the cooling core, then structural strength is improved, but weight and material cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure is segmented into two distinct components: a skeleton frame made of heavy-duty material for structural support, and a thin skin made of lightweight material for enclosure. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function, resolving the contradiction between strength and weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling system housing uses composite construction combining a metal skeleton frame with a polymer or thin metal skin. This composite approach allows the strong skeleton to bear structural loads while the lightweight skin provides enclosure, achieving both strength and weight reduction.
2Strength
If a thick skin is used to support the cooling core, then structural strength is improved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Dividing the housing into a skeleton frame and skin allows each part to be manufactured separately using appropriate processes (e.g., welding or bolting for the frame, stamping or molding for the skin), then assembled together. This reduces manufacturing complexity compared to forming a single thick-walled structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The composite construction enables each material to be manufactured using its optimal process - the metal frame can be welded or bolted together from standard sections, while the skin can be stamped or molded, simplifying overall manufacturing compared to a monolithic thick structure.
3Ease of manufacture
If seams or breaks are present in the skin, then ease of fabrication is improved, but debris ingress increases
Solution Approach 1:
The skeleton frame acts as an intermediary structure that provides the primary sealing barrier against debris. The thin skin can be discontinuous or have seams for ease of fabrication, but the rigid frame maintains the sealed enclosure and prevents debris ingress at critical locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The thin skin, potentially made of flexible or formable material, can be fabricated with seams or breaks for ease of manufacturing while the overall sealed enclosure is maintained through the skeleton frame structure, allowing deformation without compromising the debris barrier function.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution results in a lighter, less costly cooling system with reduced manufacturing complexity and enhanced performance by minimizing debris entry, thus improving the cooling efficiency and overall operational effectiveness in harsh environments.
Implementation Method 1
cooling cores that cool various fluids used by the machine
Data Source
Figure 1A~3
Figure 4~5
Figure 6A
AI summary
A cooling system may include a skeleton frame having a central opening to receive and frame at least one cooling core. The skeleton frame has an interior to contain at least one conduit through which at least one fluid to be cooled may flow to the at least one cooling core. The cooling system may further include a skin wrapping over and about the skeleton frame to seal the interior of the skeleton frame.