Meter Box Cover Pivotal Door Casting Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing access doors for meter boxes, such as water meter boxes, face challenges in cost-effective manufacturing and smooth pivoting due to the need for post-casting drilling or machining, which increases production costs and complexity.
Innovation Solution
The access door and panel are designed with integral features that allow for pivotal coupling without cores in the manufacturing mold, using a pin element that extends through axially-aligned openings and notches, facilitating pivoting while eliminating the need for post-casting modifications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If post-casting drilling or machining is performed to create pivot openings, then the access door can be properly coupled to the panel, but manufacturing costs and production complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The mold cavity is designed with core elements that pre-form the pivot openings and hinge features during the casting process itself. This preliminary action eliminates the need for post-casting drilling or machining, as the openings are created in advance during molding, thereby reducing manufacturing costs while ensuring proper coupling reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the formation of pivot openings with the main casting process by integrating core elements into the mold cavity. This merging of operations allows the openings to be created simultaneously with the panel body, eliminating separate post-processing steps and reducing overall manufacturing complexity
2Manufacturing precision
If post-casting drilling or machining is performed, then accurate pivot openings can be created, but production time and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The mold cores are precisely positioned and designed to form pivot openings with accurate dimensions and locations during the casting process. This preliminary formation ensures manufacturing precision is achieved in the molding stage itself, eliminating the need for subsequent machining operations that would consume additional production time
Solution Approach 2:
The casting process itself serves to create the pivot openings through the mold cavity design. The molten material fills the cavity around the cores, automatically forming the openings with the required precision. This self-service approach integrates the opening creation function into the main casting operation, significantly improving production efficiency
3Stability of the object's composition
If the access door is rigidly coupled to the panel, then structural stability is improved, but pivoting motion is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling system is segmented into a pivot opening in the panel and a corresponding pivot element on the access door. This segmentation allows the door to rotate freely around the pivot axis while the pivot opening provides structural support. The separation of the rotation function from the support function enables both smooth pivoting and structural stability to coexist
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the coupling parameter from rigid fixed-position connection to rotational connection around a pivot axis. By modifying the coupling geometry to include a pivot opening and pivot element, the system transitions from a static rigid connection to a dynamic rotational connection, enabling smooth pivoting motion while maintaining structural integrity through the pivot support
Data Source
AI summary
A panel, such as a water meter box cover or another type of meter box cover, according to which an access door is hingedly or pivotally coupled to the panel.