Guide Rail Connector for Precise Ratchet Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Multipart rail-like profiles with longitudinal ratchets or toothed rack compartments face imprecise transitions between elements, leading to interruptions or vehicle falls, due to the complexity of requiring extremely accurate cutting and joining for precise equidistant spacing.
Innovation Solution
A connecting element with pattern elements, such as hole patterns or cams, is used to align and securely join rail-like profile elements, ensuring continuous equidistant spacing of ratchets or toothed rack compartments by using rivets or screws, which provides a strong and precise connection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If individual profile elements are cut off to ensure correct transition, then transition precision is improved, but cutting equipment complexity and joining complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a connecting element as an intermediary component between profile elements. This connecting element features a continuous hole pattern that serves as a mediator to align and connect multiple profile elements, ensuring precise transition of the ratchet compartment without requiring extremely accurate cutting equipment. The connecting element absorbs the alignment requirements, making the joining process simpler while maintaining high precision.
2Stability of the object's composition
If individual profile elements are joined with high precision, then transition smoothness is improved, but joining complexity increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting element acts as a mediator that pre-establishes the correct geometric relationship between profile elements. Its continuous hole pattern is designed to align with the hole patterns on adjacent profile elements, guiding their relative positions automatically. This reduces the complexity of the joining operation while ensuring smooth transition, as the connecting element itself carries the alignment information.
Solution Approach 2:
The connecting element is designed in advance with a continuous hole pattern that encodes the correct alignment and spacing information. This preliminary preparation of alignment data in the connecting element's geometry allows for simple joining operations while achieving high transition smoothness, as the alignment requirements are built into the connecting element rather than requiring complex real-time adjustment during joining.
3Manufacturing precision
If pattern elements are continuous over the connecting element, then ratchet spacing equidistance is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the rail system into separate manufacturable components: profile elements and a connecting element. The continuous hole pattern is segmented across these components, with each piece having its own hole pattern that aligns with others. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured independently with standard precision, while the assembled continuous pattern ensures equidistant ratchet spacing, reducing overall manufacturing complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A multipart rail-like profile comprises at least two or more joinable or insertable profile elements (1), having at least one ratchet (5), a toothed rack compartment, or codings extending in the longitudinal direction. In addition, pattern elements (11) having equidistantly spaced elements (13), which are coupled to the ratchet or toothed rack partitioning, are provided in at least one wall of each profile element (1). For connecting the joinable or insertable profile elements (1), a connecting element (21) having a further wall (23) is provided for adjoining the wall of each profile element, having further, longitudinally extending pattern elements (25) which are congruent with the pattern elements (11), the elements (27) of which have matching spacing.