Quick Connect Nut with C-Shaped Retainer for Rapid Rod Engagement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional screw nuts are cumbersome to connect and disconnect from threaded rods, requiring cumbersome clockwise or counterclockwise rotation.
Innovation Solution
A quick connect nut design featuring a body with first and second locking parts and a flexible C-shaped retainer, allowing for rapid connection and disconnection by expanding outwardly to accommodate or release the threaded rod, utilizing a clamping tool and inner threads for secure engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a conventional screw nut is used to connect with a threaded rod, then secure threading connection is achieved, but troublesome rotation operation and time-consuming connection/disconnection occur
Solution Approach 1:
The nut employs a dynamic expansion mechanism where the body expands outwardly to engage the threaded rod and contracts to release it. This dynamic transformation from compact to expanded state enables quick connection without rotation, and quick disconnection by simply releasing the expansion force, solving the time-consuming operation problem of conventional nuts.
Solution Approach 2:
The nut body is divided into multiple locking parts (first locking part and second locking part) that can move independently during expansion and contraction. This segmentation allows the nut to expand outwardly to engage the threaded rod securely while maintaining the ability to contract for quick release, eliminating the need for rotational operations.
2Ease of operation
If the nut expands outwardly to accommodate the threaded rod, then quick connection is achieved, but secure locking mechanism is required
Solution Approach 1:
The nut incorporates protrusions and notches that are pre-positioned to engage with each other during the expansion process. As the nut body expands outwardly to accommodate the threaded rod, these preliminary-positioned locking features automatically engage to secure the connection, ensuring reliability without requiring additional locking steps.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking mechanism is self-activating through the expansion motion itself. When the nut expands outwardly to engage the threaded rod, the relative movement between locking parts automatically causes protrusions to engage with notches, creating a secure locked state without external intervention. The system locks itself through its own operational motion.
3Reliability
If multiple locking parts with protrusions and notches are used, then secure locking is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The locking parts feature asymmetric protrusions and notches with specific geometries (e.g., arcuate shapes, tilted faces) that enable reliable engagement in one direction while allowing easy release in the opposite direction. This asymmetric design achieves secure locking through simple geometric features rather than complex mechanisms, maintaining structural simplicity while ensuring reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking, expanding, and guiding functions are merged into the same structural features of the locking parts. The protrusions and notches simultaneously provide locking engagement, guide the expansion motion, and maintain alignment between locking parts. This functional merging reduces the need for separate components, thereby reducing overall device complexity while maintaining secure locking.
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
Enables quick and secure attachment and detachment of the nut from the threaded rod, reducing operational complexity and time, while maintaining secure threading.
Implementation Method 1
a flexible C-shaped retainer, wherein the flexible C-shaped retainer is retained in the first peripheral groove and the second peripheral groove so as to lock the first locking part with the second locking part
Data Source
AI summary
A quick connect nut contains: a body including a first locking part, a second locking part, and a flexible C-shaped retainer. The first locking part includes a first forcing face, a first tilted face, a first peripheral groove, a first semicircular orifice having first inner threads, at least one first protrusion, and at least one first arcuate notch. The second locking part includes a second forcing face, a second tilted face, a second peripheral groove, a second semicircular orifice having second inner threads, at least one second protrusion, at least one second arcuate notch, and a second through hole. When the first and second locking parts lock together, an angle is defined between the first and second tilted faces so that a width of an expanding opening between the first and second locking parts is more than an outer diameter of the threaded rod.