Rear Load Carrier Coupling Guide Device
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Solution Overview
Problem
Rear load carrier couplings face challenges in providing a compact and safe operation, with existing designs often requiring significant user effort and lacking precise control for attaching and detaching from a motor vehicle trailer hitch, leading to potential static overdetermination and unfavorable clamping behavior.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a guide device with a link track that restricts free angular adjustability between open and clamped positions, ensuring forced guidance of clamping parts relative to each other based on the pivoting angle of the coupling member, allowing for easy alignment with the coupling ball and minimizing frictional losses, while maintaining a compact structure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the clamping parts are allowed to adjust freely between open and clamping positions, then the alignment with the coupling ball is flexible, but static overdetermination occurs leading to unfavorable clamping behavior
Solution Approach 1:
The guide device changes the degree of freedom parameter of the clamping parts. During the transition from open to clamping position, the guide device constrains the movement path, reducing the degrees of freedom to prevent static overdetermination. Once in the clamping position, the constraint is released, allowing natural alignment with the coupling ball.
2Loss of energy
If the guide device restricts angular adjustability of clamping parts, then forced guidance is achieved reducing frictional losses, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide device acts as an intermediary mechanism between the clamping parts and the coupling ball. It provides forced guidance during the transition phase, ensuring optimal alignment and minimizing frictional losses. The guide device is designed with simple geometric features (guide surfaces and link tracks) that minimize added complexity while achieving the desired effect.
3Manufacturing precision
If the clamping parts are forced guided during transition, then operational precision is improved, but ease of operation decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide device is designed to work passively with the natural movement of the clamping parts. The guide surfaces and link tracks are shaped to automatically guide the clamping parts through the correct path during transition, without requiring additional user effort or active control. The user simply operates the clamping mechanism, and the guide device self-adjusts to provide precise positioning.
Data Source
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AI summary
The tail load carrier coupling (10) has a clamping device (18), two clamping units (20,22) and a coupling element (70). The former coupling arm has a moving arm (26), which is connected with the coupling element by a rotating axle (100) in a rotating manner and extends along a clamping area (25) to side of latter clamping unit opposite to the clamping area.