Rail and Rack with Rail
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing rail and rack storage systems experience significant movement and vibrations due to storage machines moving along rails, causing 'dancing totes' in stiff and light stored goods, primarily due to the immersion of rollers into gaps between rail segments, leading to jerky force transmissions and mechanical loads on the rack.
Innovation Solution
The proposed rail design features angled front face edges, allowing adjacent rails to overlap and reducing the immersion of rollers into gaps, thereby minimizing the introduction of force into the rack and stabilizing the movement of storage machines.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If standard rails with perpendicular front faces are used, then manufacturing and assembly are simple, but rollers immerse into gaps between rails causing vibrations and mechanical loads
Solution Approach 1:
The front face of the rail is designed with an angled configuration instead of a perpendicular cut. The front face forms an angle between 30° and 60° relative to the longitudinal axis of the rail, creating an asymmetric geometry that prevents roller immersion into gaps while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through standard cutting processes.
2Ease of operation
If rails are joined with standard perpendicular cuts, then assembly is straightforward, but gaps between rails cause roller immersion and force transmission into the rack
Solution Approach 1:
The asymmetric angled front face design creates an overlapping configuration when rails are joined, eliminating the traditional gap problem. The angle between 30° and 60° ensures that rollers maintain continuous contact with the rail surface, preventing immersion and ensuring smooth, vibration-free movement of storage machines along the rail.
3Strength
If perpendicular front faces are used on rails, then the structure is simple and rigid, but rollers dip into gaps causing jerky force transmissions
Solution Approach 1:
The angled front face maintains structural rigidity through its geometric configuration while eliminating the gap-induced roller immersion problem. The asymmetric design ensures continuous roller contact, preventing jerky force transmissions and vibrations that would otherwise be generated at rail joints, thus maintaining both strength and smooth operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A rail, in particular for a rack of a rack storage system, wherein the rail extends along a longitudinal axis and the rail has a cross-sectional profile with at least three legs, such that a first of the legs is a guiding surface leg which, together with the longitudinal axis of the rail, spans a guiding surface for a storage machine, a second of the legs is a guiding surface leg which, together with the longitudinal axis of the rail, spans a guiding surface, and a third of the legs is a rack upright leg which, together with the longitudinal axis of the rail, spans a mounting surface for a rack upright. The running surface leg is cut at an front face edge of the rail in a first sectional plane, the first sectional plane being pivoted about a surface normal of the running surface.