Retractable Wheel Assembly for Compact Fold-Out Trailers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Trailers with large travel profiles are inefficient in terms of fuel consumption and storage, and they pose challenges in terms of environmental impact and ease of transportation and storage.
Innovation Solution
A fold-out trailer design featuring a trailer frame with a hitch, pivotally supported primary platforms that can be extended upright, and a retractable wheel assembly that adjusts the distance between wheel assemblies from an extended to a retracted position, allowing for a compact travel profile and an expanded living/storage area.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of moving object
If the trailer is designed with a large travel profile to provide adequate living and storage space, then the living and storage area is improved, but fuel consumption increases and storage becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The wheel assembly is designed to be dynamically adjustable between extended and retracted positions. The supports can slide along the stationary support base to change the distance between wheel assemblies, allowing the trailer to adapt its profile from large (when wheels are extended for living/storage use) to compact (when wheels are retracted for travel), thereby resolving the contradiction between living space and fuel efficiency
2Area of moving object
If the trailer is designed with a large travel profile to provide adequate living and storage space, then the living and storage area is improved, but storage and transportation become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The retractable wheel assembly allows the trailer to dynamically change its overall dimensions. When the supports slide to bring wheel assemblies closer together, the trailer achieves a compact profile that is easier to store and transport, while maintaining the capability to extend to a large profile when needed for living and storage functions
3Stability of the object's composition
If the wheel assemblies are positioned far apart to provide adequate support for the expanded trailer, then structural stability is improved, but the travel profile becomes larger and less fuel efficient
Solution Approach 1:
The distance between wheel assemblies is made dynamically adjustable through the retractable support mechanism. The supports can slide along the stationary support base to adjust the spacing between wheel assemblies, allowing the trailer to optimize the distance for structural stability when expanded and minimize the distance for fuel-efficient travel when contracted
Data Source
AI summary
A trailer includes a trailer frame having a hitch. A stationary support base is joined to the trailer frame. Two supports are slidably guided on the support base toward and away from each other. A wheel assembly is mounted to an end of each of the supports remote from the other support such that a distance between the wheel assemblies varies with movement of the supports on the support base. A locking device selectively locks each support to the support base in a first position where the wheel assemblies are furthest from each other and a second position where the wheel assemblies are closer to each other.