Foldable Spring-Loaded Wheels for Obstacle Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing transport solutions for heavy loads, such as torpedoes, face challenges in navigating obstacles like coamings on ships or railroad tracks, requiring lifting or building ramps, which expend potential energy and are inefficient.
Innovation Solution
A trolley with foldable, spring-loaded wheels that can pivot around an axis of rotation, allowing the wheels to fold out of the way when encountering an obstacle and return to their original position, enabling level transport without lifting the load.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If lifting gear or ramps are used to transport heavy loads over obstacles, then the load can be moved over the obstacle, but potential energy is expended and the process becomes inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The wheels are designed to be foldable rather than fixed, allowing them to dynamically change their position from a vertical orientation (for stable rolling) to a folded orientation (for clearing obstacles). This dynamic adaptation eliminates the need for lifting the load or building ramps, thereby avoiding additional energy expenditure while maintaining transport efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The wheel configuration parameter is changed from fixed to variable. By allowing the wheels to fold forward, the system changes its geometric parameters to adapt to obstacle conditions, enabling the trolley to maintain level transport without energy-consuming lifting operations.
2Productivity
If the wheels are made foldable to enable level transport over obstacles, then energy expenditure is reduced, but the stability of the trolley under heavy loads may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The folding mechanism is designed to be dynamic rather than static, allowing the wheels to remain stable in their vertical position during normal operation and only fold forward when encountering obstacles. This dynamic behavior maintains stability under heavy loads while enabling level transport over obstacles.
Solution Approach 2:
The wheel assembly is segmented into foldable components that can independently adjust their position. Each wheel can be controlled to fold or remain stationary, allowing the trolley to maintain stability on stable ground while adapting to obstacles as needed.
3Stability of the object's composition
If spring-loaded retaining devices are used to hold wheels in position, then the wheels remain stable during transport, but the mechanism becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The spring-loaded retaining devices are designed to automatically engage and disengage based on the forces applied to the wheels. When the wheel encounters an obstacle and experiences sufficient force, the retaining device automatically releases, allowing the wheel to fold forward without requiring external control mechanisms, thereby limiting the increase in complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Complex control systems are replaced with simple spring-based mechanical retaining devices that use elastic potential energy to hold the wheels in position and automatic force-based release mechanisms. This substitution provides adequate stability while keeping the mechanism relatively simple and reliable.
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
Enables stable and efficient transport of heavy loads over obstacles without the need for lifting, with adjustable spring force for adaptability and optimized wheel design for ease of movement and stability.
Implementation Method 1
The folding device has at least one spring and a retaining device, the retaining device being movable. The retaining device is pressed in the direction of the axis of rotation by the at least one spring.
Implementation Method 2
If this force exceeds a limit determined by the spring force, the raised connecting device can be disengaged from the recess of the retaining device, thus folding the wheel down. Once behind the obstacle, the spring returns the wheel to its original position.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
The present invention relates to a transport trolley (10) for transporting heavy loads over obstacles (90). The wheels of the transport trolley (10) are pivotably mounted.