Escalator Handrail Thermoplastic Elastomer Grip
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Solution Overview
Problem
Handrails for escalators and moving walkways face challenges in maintaining dimensional stability, abrasion resistance, and flexibility under dynamic loads and environmental conditions, with existing materials often requiring additional reinforcement and experiencing issues with heat generation and jamming.
Innovation Solution
A handrail design featuring a thermoplastic elastomer grip piece with a specific ratio of soft to hard segments, combined with a sliding layer of woven fabric with warp and weft threads of varying rigidity, providing improved tactile properties, strength, and dimensional stability without additional reinforcing elements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional materials like natural rubber or SBR are used for the handrail grip piece, then good tactile properties are achieved, but the handrail experiences high heat generation and dimensional instability under dynamic loads
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses thermoplastic elastomer as a composite material that combines the tactile properties of traditional rubber with improved dimensional stability. The thermoplastic elastomer maintains flexibility and comfort while resisting heat generation and maintaining its shape under dynamic loads, thus resolving the contradiction between tactile properties and dimensional stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the material parameters by selecting specific thermoplastic elastomer compositions with controlled soft and hard segment ratios. This parameter optimization allows the material to achieve both good tactile properties and high dimensional stability, eliminating the need for additional reinforcement while maintaining performance under dynamic conditions.
2Reliability
If reinforcement inserts like fabric cords are added to increase dimensional stability, then the handrail retains its cross-sectional shape better, but the device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the parameters of the thermoplastic elastomer itself, specifically the ratio of soft to hard segments, to achieve dimensional stability intrinsically. This eliminates the need for additional reinforcement inserts, thereby reducing structural complexity while maintaining or improving dimensional stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and removes the need for separate reinforcement inserts by incorporating the reinforcement function directly into the thermoplastic elastomer material itself. The material's inherent properties provide the necessary structural stability without requiring additional components, thus simplifying the overall device structure.
3Reliability
If the handrail is made from harder thermoplastic material to increase shape retention, then dimensional stability improves, but flexibility and adaptability under dynamic loads decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent carefully adjusts the hardness parameter of the thermoplastic elastomer by controlling the soft and hard segment composition. This optimized parameter selection enables the material to maintain sufficient shape retention while preserving the flexibility needed for dynamic operations, resolving the contradiction between shape retention and flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs thermoplastic elastomer as a composite material that inherently combines rigid and flexible characteristics. The material's molecular structure provides both shape retention capability and flexibility for dynamic loading, eliminating the need to trade one property for the other through material selection.
4Ease of manufacture
If existing handrail materials are used, then manufacturing processes are well-established, but abrasion resistance and service life are insufficient under frequent bending and environmental exposure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes thermoplastic elastomer, a material that is both easily manufacturable and highly durable. The material's resistance to abrasion and ability to withstand frequent bending cycles significantly extends service life while maintaining compatibility with existing manufacturing processes, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and duration of action.
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 achieves high service life, low temperature-dependent length change, enhanced wear resistance, and improved rigidity and flexibility, ensuring the handrail can withstand frequent bending and environmental exposures while maintaining structural integrity.
Implementation Method 1
a grip piece (2) made of a thermoplastic elastomer in which the ratio of the proportions of soft segments to hard segments is selected
Implementation Method 2
a sliding layer (4) which is formed from a woven fabric with warp threads (12) and weft threads (13)
Data Source
AI summary
The invention encompasses a handrail for escalators or moving walkways that includes a grip piece of a thermoplastic elastomer including soft segments and hard segments and optionally a sliding layer arranged on the underside of the grip piece relative to the mounting orientation of the handrail. A ratio of the proportions of the soft segments to the hard segments is selected from a range with a lower limit of 1:1 and an upper limit of 9:1, or, in a variation, from a range with a lower limit of 1.5:1 and an upper limit of 6:1, or, in another variation, from a range with a lower limit of 2.5:1 and an upper limit of 4:1.