Gravity-Lowered Vehicle Arresting Net with Sliding Weights
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current non-lethal vehicle arresting systems are either expensive to install, require excavation of roadways, or pose safety risks due to the use of spikes and manual positioning, and lack the ability to efficiently stop vehicles directly on a roadway without causing harm to occupants or extensive damage.
Innovation Solution
A gravity-lowered net system with upright supports and sliding weights that can be easily deployed by activating a reversible winch, incorporating energy absorbers to enhance the net's energy absorption capabilities, allowing for safe and efficient vehicle arrestment without the need for permanent installations or hazardous materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a solid barrier is used to stop an overrunning vehicle, then the vehicle can be stopped effectively, but it may cause lethal injuries to occupants and extensive damage to the vehicle
Solution Approach 1:
The net uses deformable materials with specific compressive strength parameters that allow it to stop vehicles effectively while absorbing kinetic energy to prevent lethal injuries. The material properties are carefully selected to balance stopping power with occupant safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The arresting net employs composite material structures that combine high strength with energy-absorbing characteristics, allowing simultaneous achievement of reliable vehicle stopping and reduced harm to occupants through controlled deformation.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If crushable barriers are used to safely stop vehicles, then occupant safety is improved, but the systems become permanent, expensive to install and maintain, and limited to road edge locations
Solution Approach 1:
The net system transitions from static permanent barriers to a dynamic deployable structure that can be raised and lowered as needed. This allows the safety benefits of crushable barriers to be achieved without permanent installation, reducing complexity and enabling deployment across highways rather than only at road edges.
Solution Approach 2:
The system divides the barrier function into modular components that can be independently deployed and retracted, allowing flexible placement and reducing installation complexity compared to permanent continuous barriers.
3Ease of manufacture
If spike strips are used to stop vehicles, then the system remains portable and inexpensive, but the driver could continue to drive on steel rims and the vehicle is not physically arrested
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the portable net structure with integrated energy absorbers and anchoring mechanisms, merging multiple functions into a single system that maintains portability while achieving reliable vehicle arrestment through physical entanglement and energy absorption rather than relying solely on tire puncture.
4Reliability
If barbed spikes with tangled net are used to prevent vehicle motion, then vehicle arrestment is achieved, but the system requires manual positioning and poses safety risks to personnel and pedestrians
Solution Approach 1:
The net system incorporates automatic deployment and anchoring mechanisms that eliminate the need for manual positioning by personnel. The system self-activates to arrest the vehicle, reducing safety risks to operators and pedestrians while maintaining reliable vehicle arrestment capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The design extracts the hazardous barbed spikes from the system, replacing them with a cleaner net structure that achieves vehicle arrestment through entanglement and energy absorption alone, eliminating safety risks to personnel and pedestrians while maintaining effectiveness.
5Adaptability or versatility
If in-ground nets installed in excavated slots are used, then the net can be raised when appropriate, but the installation is expensive and time consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses dynamic support structures that allow the net to be raised and lowered without permanent ground installation. This maintains the adaptability benefit of positionable nets while eliminating the expensive and time-consuming excavation required by in-ground installations.
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 system provides a cost-effective, safe, and efficient means to stop vehicles directly on a roadway, minimizing damage and risk to occupants, while being easily deployable and retractable for repeated use, suitable for various high-security applications.
Implementation Method 1
a gravity-lowered net that is housed above the surface onto which it is to be used, and is lowered by sliding weights that position the net to the correct height for use
Implementation Method 2
one or more energy absorber elements associated with the net, which help enhance the energy absorptive capabilities of the net
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments of the invention provide a gravity-lowered net that is housed above the surface onto which it is to be used, and is lowered by sliding weights that position the net to the correct height for use. Certain embodiments of the nets may be provided with one or more energy absorber elements associated with the net, which help enhance the energy absorptive capabilities of the net.