Nut Restrainer With Lateral Nut Shift for One-Sided Steel Bolting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current nut restrainers in the construction industry face challenges in compatibility with standard hardware and practices, particularly in allowing one-sided installation of high-strength bolted connections without compromising load-carrying capacity or installation tolerances, due to issues like non-concentric bolt insertion and adherence to prescriptive building codes.
Innovation Solution
A nut restrainer design featuring a cavity with deformable or removable centering elements that allows lateral movement of the nut to accommodate non-concentric bolt insertion, while being affixed to a substrate plate to prevent nut escape and maintain direct contact between the nut and bolt, ensuring compatibility with standard hardware and practices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a nut restrainer is designed to allow lateral movement of the nut to accommodate non-concentric bolt insertion, then installation tolerances are improved, but the device complexity increases due to deformable or removable centering elements
Solution Approach 1:
The nut restrainer incorporates deformable centering elements that dynamically adjust during bolt insertion. These elements can elastically deform or be temporarily removed to accommodate non-concentric bolt insertion, then return to their original position to center the nut. This dynamic behavior allows the restrainer to adapt to installation tolerances without requiring complex adjustable mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The centering elements change their physical parameters (shape, position, or presence) during the installation process. They deform or are removed to increase lateral clearance for non-concentric bolts, then restore their original state to maintain nut centering. This parameter change allows the same component to serve multiple functions across different installation stages.
2Reliability
If the nut restrainer is affixed to the substrate plate to prevent nut escape, then reliability is improved, but the installation time increases due to additional affixing steps
Solution Approach 1:
The nut restrainer is affixed to the substrate plate before nut installation, establishing a reliable connection in advance. This preliminary action ensures the restrainer is securely positioned to prevent nut escape during the subsequent installation steps, eliminating the need for time-consuming adjustments or reinforcements during the actual bolting process.
3Ease of manufacture
If standard hardware and practices are used, then ease of manufacture is improved, but the ability to accommodate one-sided installation is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The nut restrainer serves multiple functions: it centers the nut, prevents nut escape, and accommodates non-concentric bolt insertion. By integrating these functions into a single component that can be affixed to the substrate plate, the design enables one-sided installation while maintaining compatibility with standard nuts and bolts, thus achieving both ease of manufacture and adaptability.
4Productivity
If welding is used to attach the nut to the inaccessible side, then installation speed is improved, but compliance with building codes is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The nut restrainer acts as an intermediary device that enables one-sided installation without requiring welding of the nut itself. By providing a separate affixing mechanism for the restrainer to the substrate plate, the solution achieves installation speed improvements while maintaining code compliance, as the nut remains unwelded and can be properly installed from the accessible side.
Data Source
AI summary
In accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention, nut restrainers and methods of use are presented, particularly as they apply to high-strength bolted connections for steel structures. Nut restrainers may define a cavity that accepts insertion of a nut, and may include deformable or removable centering elements that allow the nut to move laterally to accept a bolt that is inserted non-concentrically with the nut restrainer, and may comprise a mobile central portion and a rigid outer portion; A method of positioning a nut restrainer concentric with a bolt hole accurate to within the radial tolerance of the bolt hole.