Remotely Deployed Spike Strip with Retractable Housing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional spike strips pose a significant danger to law enforcement officers during deployment and can be conspicuous, noisy, and difficult to store, while also posing risks to innocent drivers and making it challenging to track fleeing vehicles.
Innovation Solution
A remotely deployable spike strip system with a housing, retractable spikes, and a mover that transitions between closed and open configurations in response to a remote signal, equipped with spike trackers for vehicle location tracking and a warning light for safety, allowing for quiet, inconspicuous deployment and easy storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional spike strips are deployed manually by LEOs beside the road, then the spike strips can be deployed to disable fleeing vehicles, but LEOs are struck by vehicles during deployment and cannot deploy earlier without damaging innocent vehicles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical deployment system with an automated electromagnetic actuation system. Motors driven by batteries automatically deploy the spikes through electromagnetic force, eliminating the need for LEOs to manually throw spike strips and enabling remote deployment from a safe distance.
Solution Approach 2:
The spike strip system performs self-deployment through automated sensors and actuators. The system detects vehicle presence and automatically deploys spikes without human intervention, allowing deployment at optimal moments while protecting LEOs from vehicle contact.
2Reliability
If spike strips are deployed remotely with large moving pieces, then deployment is safer for LEOs, but the large pieces catch the eyes of drivers of fleeing vehicles
Solution Approach 1:
The spike strip is divided into multiple independent modules, each with its own housing and spike array. This segmentation allows the system to maintain a low profile while deployed, as the modular design reduces visual conspicuity compared to a single large moving deployment mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The spikes are nested within housings that can cover them when not in use. The housing structure allows the spikes to be concealed during storage and transport, presenting a low-profile appearance that does not attract the attention of fleeing drivers.
3Reliability
If spike strips are deployed remotely with loud noises, then deployment is safer for LEOs, but the loud noises catch the attention of fleeing drivers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces noisy mechanical deployment mechanisms with quiet electromagnetic motors. The battery-powered motors actuate the spike deployment through electrical energy conversion, eliminating the loud mechanical noises that would alert fleeing drivers to the spike strip's presence.
4Loss of information
If spike strips are left deployed after use, then tracking of fleeing vehicles is facilitated, but the spike strips pose a danger to innocent drivers arriving after the fleeing vehicle
Solution Approach 1:
The spike strip system is designed to be dynamically reconfigurable. After tracking a fleeing vehicle, the system can be remotely commanded to retract or collapse the spikes, transitioning from a deployed hazardous state to a safe storage state while maintaining tracking capability through the attached trackers.
Solution Approach 2:
The system separates the tracking function from the spike deployment function. Trackers remain attached to monitor the fleeing vehicle while the spikes can be retracted or the entire device recovered and stored, eliminating the danger to subsequent innocent drivers while preserving tracking information.
5Length of moving object
If spike strips are stored in vehicle trunks, then portability is maintained, but the spikes snag objects and make safe storage difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The spikes are nested within protective housings that completely enclose them during storage. This nested configuration prevents the spikes from protruding and snagging objects in the vehicle trunk, while the compact housing maintains portability for easy placement in standard vehicle storage compartments.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing structure provides a flexible or compliant outer shell that protects the rigid spikes inside. This shell configuration allows the device to be stored compactly without the spikes exposing to the environment, preventing snagging of other objects during storage and transport.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments are directed toward a spike strip. The spike strip preferably includes a housing, a plurality of spikes disposed in the housing, a door, and a mover. The door is preferably configured to transition between a closed configuration in which the spikes are covered and prevented from puncturing tires of vehicles driving over the spike strip and an open configuration in which the spikes are exposed and allowed to puncture a tire of a vehicle driving over the spike strip. The mover is preferably configured to transition the door from the closed configuration to the open configuration responsive to a signal provided to the spike strip from a remote location.