Two-Way Push-Pull Chain With Elongated Pin Holes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional two-way push-pull chains fail to simultaneously mesh with a sprocket's outer peripheral surface while allowing free bending and push the chain's end portion to a desired position without buckling.
Innovation Solution
A two-way push-pull chain design featuring link members with elongated pin holes and fixing holes, allowing adjacent link members to expand and contract, enabling free bending and secure engagement with the sprocket, while preventing buckling by using projected and recessed portions for engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the block chain is structured to mesh with the outer peripheral surface of the sprocket by being bent around the pin, then the chain can engage with the sprocket, but the chain may be spaced apart from the guide portion and buckled when pressed from both ends, preventing movement to the desired position
Solution Approach 1:
The pin hole configuration allows the chain to dynamically adjust its geometry: one pin hole is elongated while the other is circular, enabling the pin to move within the elongated hole to accommodate bending when meshing with the sprocket, while maintaining structural stability when pressed along the guide portion
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the geometric parameters of the pin holes from identical circular holes to one elongated and one circular hole, allowing the chain to have different effective lengths in different directions, thus achieving both bending adaptability and push stability
2Device complexity
If the chain is made bendable in only one direction by causing a projecting piece of the link member to abut against adjacent link members, then the chain structure is simplified, but the chain cannot mesh with the outer peripheral surface of the sprocket by bending freely and may be buckled in the opposite direction
Solution Approach 1:
The asymmetric pin hole design (one elongated, one circular) creates a dynamic structure that can bend in multiple directions when needed for sprocket meshing, while still providing directional stability when pressed along the guide, avoiding the limitation of single-direction bending
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces asymmetry in the pin hole configuration where one pin hole is elongated and the other is circular, creating different mechanical behaviors in different directions, allowing free bending for sprocket engagement while preventing buckling in the opposite direction
Data Source
AI summary
A link member includes a first pin hole, a second pin hole, a first engaging portion, and a second engaging portion. The second pin hole is an elongated hole extending in a longitudinal direction of a two-way push-pull chain. The pin is movably inserted into the second pin hole and fixed to the first pin hole. With the pin being movably inserted into the second pin hole, adjacent link members are expandable and contractible relative to each other by a length. The length is greater than a length of a portion where the first engaging portion contacts the second engaging portion in a state where the adjacent link members are contracted relative to each other.