Pivoting Frontal Safety Guard for High-Clearance Vehicles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vehicles with high ground clearances, such as school buses, pose a risk of running over individuals or inanimate objects due to insufficient safety guards, leading to potential injuries and damage.
Innovation Solution
A frontal safety guard is mounted to and extends downward from the vehicle's bumper, featuring a central guard portion and side extensions that pivot to engage objects, providing a cushioning effect and minimizing damage, with additional safety features like sensors and quick-release mechanisms for easy detachment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If a high ground clearance is used for the vehicle, then the vehicle can traverse rough terrain and obstacles more effectively, but the risk of running over individuals or objects increases due to the larger gap between the bumper and the support surface
Solution Approach 1:
The safety guard is divided into a central guard portion and multiple side extensions that can pivot independently. Each segment can move separately to engage objects at different positions, providing comprehensive protection across the high ground clearance gap while maintaining the vehicle's traversal capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The side extensions are mounted for pivotal movement, allowing them to dynamically adjust their position. When the vehicle moves forward, the extensions can pivot to engage objects or individuals in the path, and return to a retracted position when not needed, thus providing protection without permanently obstructing the vehicle's path.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a rigid safety guard is used to prevent objects from going under the vehicle, then protection is provided, but the guard may suffer undue damage when encountering heavy or fixed objects
Solution Approach 1:
The central guard portion and side extensions are mounted to pivot relative to the bumper and to each other. This dynamic mounting allows the guard to flex and absorb impact forces when encountering heavy or fixed objects, preventing undue damage while maintaining protection capability for lighter objects and individuals.
Solution Approach 2:
The pivotal mounting arrangement provides a cushioning effect by allowing the guard to yield slightly upon impact. This beforehand cushioning mechanism absorbs shock forces, protecting both the guard structure and the objects it is designed to protect from severe damage during encounters with heavy or fixed objects.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If side extensions are added to cover the area beyond the vehicle body, then protection against individuals slipping and falling is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The safety guard is segmented into a central portion and multiple side extensions that can be independently mounted and adjusted. This segmentation allows the side extensions to be added only where needed to cover the area beyond the vehicle body, providing enhanced protection without unnecessarily complicating the entire guard structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The side extensions serve multiple functions: they protect individuals who slip and fall, engage inanimate objects beyond the vehicle body, and can be adjusted to accommodate different vehicle configurations. This multi-functionality justifies the added complexity by providing comprehensive protection across various hazard scenarios.
4Stability of the object's composition
If the safety guard is firmly fixed to the bumper, then structural stability is maintained, but ease of removal and reattachment is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The pivotal mounting arrangement provides a dynamic balance between stability and ease of operation. The guard is securely attached during normal operation to provide stable protection, but can be readily removed or adjusted by simply detaching the pivotal connections, avoiding the need for permanent fixed mounting that would complicate removal and reattachment.
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 safety guard effectively prevents objects from being run over by the vehicle, reducing injuries and damage while allowing for easy removal and reattachment, enhancing safety and operational efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
the entire frontal safety guard can pivot, generally about a first axis and against a biasing force, relative to the bumper if the safety guard engages an extremely heavy or fixed object
Implementation Method 2
The frontal guard is actually biased against rearward pivotal movement about a substantially horizontal axis, thereby establishing a dampening effect which not only enhances safety for the individual by providing a certain degree of cushioning but also minimizes damage to the frontal safety guard
Implementation Method 3
The frontal safety guard includes side extensions which can pivot against biasing forces about respective second and third axes, such as axes extending substantially perpendicular to the first axis, relative to both the central guard portion and the bumper
Data Source
AI summary
A frontal safety guard which functions to prevent objects lying in the path of a vehicle, such as a school bus, from entering beneath the vehicle for safety purposes includes a central guard portion hingedly connected to the bumper such that the central guard portion can pivot, against a biasing force, relative to the bumper, and side extensions hingedly interconnected to and extending laterally from opposing end portions of the central guard portion such that the side extensions can pivot in unison with the central guard portion relative to the bumper and also individually pivot relative to both the bumper and the central guard portion.