Energy Conduction Chain Roller Guidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing energy guiding chains with rollers and guide grooves experience increased friction and unsteady movement due to the weight of the upper run, leading to difficult longitudinal movement and undesirable lateral displacement, especially in longer chains.
Innovation Solution
The energy guiding chain features rollers with guide grooves covered by webs between longitudinal slots, allowing the ridges to roll on the webs instead of penetrating the grooves, reducing friction and maintaining guidance through lateral force offset, with optional additional guiding elements like interlocking saw-like structures on transverse webs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the upper run presses its guide rollers with crests into the guide grooves of the lower run rollers, then guidance in the longitudinal direction is achieved, but sliding friction increases making longitudinal movement difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism (the specific geometric configuration of guide grooves with rounded bottoms and flanked ridges) that mediates between the upper and lower runs. This intermediary structure allows the roller crests to engage with the grooves in a way that provides guidance while reducing direct sliding contact, thereby decreasing friction and facilitating longitudinal movement while maintaining guidance stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent modifies the geometric parameters of the guide grooves (rounded bottom, specific flank angles, spacing of flanked ridges) to optimize the interaction between rollers. By changing these parameters, the groove design allows for reduced contact pressure and sliding friction while maintaining effective longitudinal guidance, thus resolving the contradiction between guidance reliability and movement ease.
2Reliability
If the upper run is raised when rollers meet, then guidance occurs, but considerable forces are required resulting in unsteady movement and lateral displacement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the guide groove profile (rounded bottom, specific flank angles) to reduce the lifting force required when rollers meet. This parameter optimization allows the guidance function to be maintained while minimizing the vertical displacement and associated forces, thereby preventing unsteady movement and lateral displacement.
Solution Approach 2:
The rounded bottom of the guide grooves acts as a cushioning element that prepares for and mitigates the impact and lifting forces when rollers meet. This beforehand cushioning design reduces the sudden force requirements and prevents excessive vertical movement, ensuring smoother operation and reducing lateral displacement risks.
3Reliability
If multiple chain links are evenly distributed in longer chains, then coverage is improved, but simultaneous lifting of the upper strand requires powerful drives and causes unsteady movement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the spacing and geometric parameters of the guide grooves along the chain length to distribute the lifting forces more evenly. By carefully designing the groove parameters and spacing, the simultaneous lifting of multiple rollers is minimized, reducing the required drive power while maintaining adequate coverage along the entire chain length.
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 design facilitates smoother longitudinal movement, reduces noise, and ensures reliable guidance without lateral breakouts, requiring less force and minimizing frictional losses.
Implementation Method 1
the crests of the rollers roll on the webs or on the running surfaces without sliding friction occurring between them
Implementation Method 2
without sliding friction occurring between them
Implementation Method 3
interlocking saw-like structures on the outer sides of opposite transverse webs in the lower and upper runs
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to an energy conduction chain for conducting hoses, cables or similar, wherein the upper strand lies on top of the lower strand and rollers (5, 6) are provided on at least some chain links of the upper strand and/or of the lower strand. Said rollers can be rolled on running surfaces (9, 10) provided on the chain links of the opposite strand and have, on their running surface, a plurality of continuous guide grooves which are arranged at a distance from each other. Teeth (13, 14) of the rollers of the opposite strand can engage in said guide grooves. In order to simplify the displacement of the chain, the running surfaces comprise longitudinal slots that are arranged at a distance from each other and that enable the teeth of the running surface profile to pass through, the flanges (17, 18) between the longitudinal slots cover the guide grooves on the side facing the other strand such that the teeth of the rollers of the other strand can roll on the flanges.