Pivotable Ice Removal Blade Assembly for Snow Plows
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Solution Overview
Problem
Snow removal vehicles face difficulties in clearing icy roads due to uneven surfaces, which can cause vehicle shocks and slow down the clearing process, and the use of salt or sand for de-icing increases maintenance costs.
Innovation Solution
An ice removal blade assembly for vehicles, featuring a support member, pivotable suspension member, blade mounts, and removable blade members with a lower cutting edge, allowing for adaptive ice scraping and reduced impact on uneven surfaces, along with a suspension limiter to control pivoting and abutments to limit blade mount pivoting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a snow removal vehicle uses a conventional snow plow on uneven icy roads, then it can clear snow, but the vehicle experiences impact shocks and slows down
Solution Approach 1:
The ice removal blade assembly incorporates a suspension member with pivotable blade mounts that allow the cutting edges to dynamically adjust their position and orientation in response to uneven road surfaces. This dynamic adaptation eliminates impact shocks while maintaining continuous ice scraping contact, enabling the vehicle to operate smoothly at higher speeds without compromising snow clearing productivity.
2Reliability
If salt or sand is spread on roads to reduce slippery conditions, then de-icing effectiveness improves, but maintenance costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The ice removal blade assembly mechanically extracts and removes ice from the road surface through scraping action, replacing the chemical de-icing method of spreading salt or sand. This mechanical ice removal approach achieves equivalent de-icing effectiveness without incurring the recurring material costs of salt and sand application, thereby reducing maintenance expenses while maintaining road safety.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the blade assembly uses a fixed rigid structure, then it is simple and robust, but it cannot adapt to uneven road profiles
Solution Approach 1:
The blade assembly is segmented into multiple independent blade mounts, each capable of pivoting about its own axis. This segmentation allows each blade mount to independently adapt to local variations in road profile, providing superior adaptability to uneven surfaces. The modular segmented structure achieves this adaptability while maintaining reasonable overall complexity through standardized pivot mechanisms and blade mount designs.
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 ice removal blade assembly effectively scrapes ice from roads, reducing vehicle shocks and maintenance costs by allowing the blade members to adapt to road profiles, improving operational efficiency and reducing the need for de-icing materials like salt and sand.
Implementation Method 1
each removable blade member of the plurality of removable blade members having a lower cutting edge configured to scrape ice on a ground surface on which the vehicle travels
Data Source
AI summary
An ice removal blade assembly for a vehicle includes: a support member configured to be affixed to a snow plow of the vehicle; a suspension member pivotably connected to the support member, the suspension member being pivotable about a suspension pivot axis; a plurality of blade mounts pivotably connected to the suspension member, the blade mounts being laterally spaced from one another, each blade mount of the plurality of blade mounts being pivotable about a respective blade mount pivot axis, the blade mount pivot axes of the blade mounts extending generally parallel to the suspension pivot axis; and a plurality of removable blade members affixed to respective ones of the blade mounts so as to pivot together therewith about the blade pivot axes. Each removable blade member has a lower cutting edge configured to scrape ice on a ground surface on which the vehicle travels.