Resilient Roller Assembly for Livestock Bruising Prevention
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Pre-harvest bruising in livestock occurs due to stress and collisions during sorting, moving, and transporting, leading to tissue damage and financial losses for the livestock industry.
Innovation Solution
A roller assembly is designed for use in livestock trailers, featuring a central shaft with resilient rollers that extend into or are tangent to passageways, providing a cushioning effect to prevent impacts and bruising.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If livestock are moved through narrow passageways and loaded onto trailers, then transportation efficiency is improved, but tissue damage and bruising increase due to collisions with structures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces resilient rollers as intermediary elements positioned between the livestock and the fixed structures (doorframes, walls, ramps). These rollers act as mediators that absorb impact forces through their resilient material properties, preventing direct transmission of harmful forces to the livestock tissue while maintaining the necessary structural boundaries for efficient animal movement.
Solution Approach 2:
The resilient rollers are pre-installed at strategic locations where collisions are most likely to occur (doorframes, interior walls, ramp edges). This beforehand cushioning approach positions protective elements in advance at potential impact zones, ensuring that when livestock do collide with these structures during loading and transport, the damage is minimized by the pre-positioned resilient barriers.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If resilient rollers are installed at doorframes and interior structures, then impact protection is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The resilient rollers are designed as simple, inexpensive components that can be easily replaced if needed. Each roller consists of basic elements (shaft, resilient material, mounting brackets) that are straightforward to manufacture and install. This approach allows for protection without requiring complex, expensive systems, aligning with the principle of using simple, cost-effective solutions that can be readily replaced rather than designing for long-term durability of complex mechanisms.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If rollers extend into passageways to maximize protection, then bruising prevention is improved, but obstruction of animal flow increases
Solution Approach 1:
The resilient rollers are strategically positioned to extend only partially into the passageway—specifically to the point where they provide maximum protection without creating significant obstructions. The placement is optimized for each location (doorframes, interior walls, ramp edges) to provide localized protection exactly where impact risks are highest, while maintaining adequate clearance for livestock to move through the passageways efficiently.
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
The roller assembly effectively reduces pre-harvest bruising by absorbing impact forces and diverting livestock away from obstructions, thereby minimizing tissue damage and associated financial losses.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of resilient rollers rotatable about the longitudinal axis
Data Source
AI summary
A roller assembly for preventing bruising in livestock includes a central shaft having a longitudinal axis, a plurality of resilient rollers rotatable about the longitudinal axis, an end bracket rotatably connected to a first end of the central shaft, and an intermediate bracket connected to the central shaft between two of the resilient rollers. The end bracket extends from the central shaft and is configured for attachment to a structure such that the plurality of resilient rollers extends into or is tangent to a passageway defined by the structure.