Helical Scale Alignment Device for Tractor Rope Winding
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Streamlined tractor ropes used for submersible bodies face issues with scale misalignment and damage during winding on a winch, leading to hindered winding and potential scale breakage, especially when links between scales are broken or damaged.
Innovation Solution
A device with a beveled front face and a cavity with counter-rotational helical curves ensures the correct orientation and alignment of scales, guiding them to maintain desired positioning during winding, using a fixing arm and grooved rolling bearing for secure alignment and pressure control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If scales are mounted to move about the rope and joined to rotate relative to each other, then the rope can be streamlined with natural orientation in water current, but the link between scales may break causing misalignment and damage during winding
Solution Approach 1:
A guide device with a cavity and helical curves acts as an intermediary between the scales and the winding drum. This mediator forces misaligned scales to realign themselves as they pass through the constrained path, correcting orientation without requiring intact links between scales.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide device performs preliminary realignment of scales before they reach the winding drum. By forcing scales through the helical curve path in advance, the system prevents misalignment issues during the actual winding process, even when scale links are damaged.
2Adaptability or versatility
If scales are allowed to rotate freely about the rope, then they can adapt to water current direction, but they cannot maintain correct orientation when wound on the drum
Solution Approach 1:
The guide device serves as a mediator that temporarily constrains scale rotation. As scales pass through the guide's helical path, their freedom to rotate is temporarily restricted, forcing them into the correct orientation before they are laid on the drum.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide device applies localized constraint only at the critical point where scales transition to the drum. The helical curves create a specific zone of orientation control without affecting the scales' ability to rotate freely elsewhere in the water.
3Manufacturing precision
If scales are constrained to maintain fixed orientation, then they align correctly on the drum, but they cannot adapt to water current direction
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically switches between two states: free rotation in water for adaptability, and constrained rotation in the guide device for precision. The guide temporarily overrides the scales' natural freedom to rotate, imposing correct orientation only during the critical winding transition.
Solution Approach 2:
Scales experience periodic constraint as they pass through the guide device during winding. Each scale undergoes a brief period of forced orientation correction, then returns to free rotation state once laid on the drum, creating a rhythmic pattern of constraint and freedom.
4Productivity
If damaged scales are allowed to wind freely, then the winding process continues, but misaligned scales cause hindered winding and scale breakage
Solution Approach 1:
The guide device mediates between damaged scales and the winding drum, preventing direct contact between misaligned scales and the drum surface. This intermediary constraint allows continuous winding operation while protecting both scales and drum from damage.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide device provides beforehand protection by realigning scales before they can cause damage during winding. It cushions against potential scale breakage and winding failures by correcting orientation issues in advance, allowing uninterrupted winding operation.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
The present invention relates to a means for mutually aligning the scales of a rope streamlined by means of scales articulated to rotate about its axis, the alignment being necessary to enable such a rope to be wound onto the drum of a winch. It mainly consists of a device presenting a bevelled front face and comprising a cavity extending from front to rear, inside which passes the rope before it is wound. The cavity presents a longitudinal opening with two lateral edges, each edge following, from front to back, a profile in helical form, the two helices being coaxial to each other and with the axis of symmetry of the cavity. The wall of the cavity is also configured so as to follow the cross-sectional profile of the scale all along its path in the device. The device is arranged relative to the drum on which the rope is wound so that, given the length of the edges of the opening, regardless of the orientation of a scale on entering the device, the latter, on exiting, assumes the desired orientation, in the alignment of the adjacent scales. The invention applies notably to the systems for handling tractor ropes streamlined by means of scales, used on a ship to pull a submersible body cast off at sea.