Embossed Angled Lip Disc for Ripple-Free Blade Carrier Balance
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing blade carriers with bent outer lips for rotary cutters suffer from a ripple effect due to excess material distribution, leading to rotational imbalance and excessive vibration, necessitating secondary processes to achieve balance.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an embossed pattern on the outer lip during the bending process, where letters or designs are stamped at specific heights and spacings, absorbs excess material, reducing the ripple effect and eliminating the need for additional balancing processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the outer lip is bent upwardly at an angle to add strength and protect components, then the structural strength and protection capability are improved, but the circumference of the outer rim becomes shorter creating a ripple effect that causes rotational imbalance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by intentionally creating an asymmetric distribution of embossed features around the circumferential lip. The embossed letters, numbers, or design elements are positioned at specific locations rather than uniformly distributed, which allows the excess material to be absorbed in a controlled asymmetric pattern that maintains rotational balance while preserving the strength benefits of the bent lip structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the lip by embossing features with specific heights (approximately 1/10 of an inch) and spacing (about 1/3 inch apart) into the bent lip structure. This parameter modification allows the material to be redistributed and absorbed within the embossed portions, eliminating the ripple effect that would otherwise cause rotational imbalance while maintaining the structural integrity provided by the bent lip.
2Reliability
If the outer lip is bent upwardly to protect shaft and mounting hardware, then the protection capability is improved, but excessive material creates ripple effect requiring secondary balancing processes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the lip bending operation with the embossing operation into a single integrated process. By combining these two operations, the excess material is absorbed during the bending process itself through the embossed features, eliminating the need for separate secondary balancing processes and reducing overall device complexity while maintaining protection capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The embossed features on the lip serve a dual function: they provide the desired protective structure and simultaneously absorb the excess material that would cause ripple effect. The structure serves itself by incorporating the material absorption function directly into the protective lip structure, eliminating the need for additional corrective processes.
3Manufacturing precision
If embossed pattern is added to absorb excess material, then the ripple effect is reduced, but additional manufacturing steps are required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the embossing operation with the lip bending operation into a single integrated manufacturing step. The die used for bending the lip simultaneously creates the embossed letters, numbers, or design elements, so no separate embossing process is required. This merging maintains manufacturing precision by eliminating ripple effect while preserving ease of manufacture by avoiding additional manufacturing steps.
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
This approach effectively eliminates over 75% to 95% of the ripple effect, ensuring the blade carrier is sufficiently balanced without additional processing, thereby reducing vibration and extending the life of the cutter components.
Implementation Method 1
The disc is then inserted into a press whereby an outer lip is bent angularly relative to the center disc. However, when performing the bending operation, the press includes a die which embosses a pattern of embossed items onto the outer lip.
Data Source
AI summary
In order to provide a balanced bent lip disc, the applicant routinely had issues with rippling at an outer circumference edge of the lip. Due to the geometries involved in a 3½ inch disc bent to provide an outer lip of ½ inch at 45 degrees, 0.1145 of excess circumference is created thereby providing a ripple effect. The applicant discovered that simultaneously embossing the lip while bending the lip could reduce this rippling effect (and the outer circumference at the edge) by at least 75 if not 90 or 95% of a non-embossed lip bent in the same manner.