Quick Disconnect Coupler With Damped Lock Actuator
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing quick disconnect couplers for manufacturing equipment are often costly and difficult to operate, requiring significant time and effort to reconfigure without compromising accuracy and precision.
Innovation Solution
A modular tooling receiver with a lock actuator and biasing elements that allows for quick and secure connection and disconnection of tooling, utilizing a piston and engaging members within a cylindrical housing, and a damper to control motion, enabling easy alignment and locking mechanisms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional fasteners are used to connect tooling to manufacturing equipment, then the connection is secure and reliable, but the time and effort needed to reconfigure the equipment increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling system is divided into two separate parts: a coupler attached to the tooling and a receiver attached to the manufacturing equipment. This segmentation allows the tooling to be quickly detached and reattached without dealing with multiple fasteners, significantly reducing reconfiguration time while maintaining connection reliability through the dedicated coupling interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The coupler and receiver are pre-configured with alignment features and locking mechanisms that automatically engage when the parts are brought together. This preliminary preparation of the coupling components eliminates the need for manual alignment and fastening operations during reconfiguration, reducing time loss while ensuring reliable connection.
2Manufacturing precision
If complex alignment and locking structures are incorporated into quick disconnect couplers, then connection accuracy and precision are maintained, but the device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The coupler and receiver feature asymmetric geometry with specific engagement surfaces and locking protrusions that provide unique alignment pathways. This asymmetric design ensures precise positioning and orientation during connection without requiring complex alignment procedures or multiple adjustment mechanisms, maintaining manufacturing precision while controlling device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The coupling system incorporates self-aligning features and self-locking mechanisms that automatically engage and secure the connection when the coupler and receiver are brought together. These self-service features eliminate the need for complex manual alignment procedures or additional locking operations, maintaining connection accuracy while simplifying the overall device structure.
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
Facilitates rapid and precise reconfiguration of manufacturing equipment by providing a cost-effective, simple-to-operate quick disconnect system that maintains accuracy and precision, reducing the time needed for tooling changes.
Implementation Method 1
A first biasing element biases the lock actuator toward the first position
Implementation Method 2
A damper controls a rate of motion of the lock actuator from the second position toward the first position
Data Source
AI summary
A modular tooling receiver that includes a wall having a port that extends through it, an engaging member that is movably disposed in the port, and a lock actuator that is disposed on a first side of the wall. The lock actuator is moveable between a first position in which the lock actuator urges the engaging member in a first direction defined from the first side of the wall to a second side of the wall and a second position wherein the lock actuator permits the engaging member to move in a second direction defined from the second side of the wall to the first side of the wall. A first biasing element biases the lock actuator toward the first position. A damper controls a rate of motion of the lock actuator from the second position toward the first position.