Press-Fit Bracket for Remote Rodent Trap Monitoring
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing rodent management systems in large commercial and industrial settings require frequent labor-intensive monitoring of humane capture traps, which is costly and inefficient, and retrofitting with remote monitoring systems often involves complex installation processes and additional hardware, compromising trap integrity.
Innovation Solution
A retrofitting method using a bracket with a downwardly extending lip, made of 24 gauge galvanized steel, is press-fitted between the one-way entry corridors of conventional capture-and-release traps to secure a smart-sensor, allowing for remote monitoring without the need for physical fasteners, enabling detection of rodents and reducing labor costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a divider is attached to the trap entrance using fasteners (nails, screws, pins, glues, pastes, Velcro snaps, magnets), then rodents can be detected by the sensor in retro-fit traps, but the installation process becomes complicated and additional fastener hardware is required
Solution Approach 1:
The divider and mounting function are merged into a single integrated bracket component. The bracket includes both the divider structure for rodent detection and the mounting features (lips, flanges) for attachment to the trap entrance, eliminating the need for separate fasteners and simplifying installation to a single press-fit operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The bracket acts as an intermediary component that bridges the sensor and the trap structure. It provides both the detection surface for rodent contact and the mechanical interface for mounting, serving as a mediator that combines detection and installation functions in one element.
2Ease of manufacture
If magnets are used to attach the divider, then installation is simplified, but the divider may be compromised by the rodent
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket uses curved press-fit surfaces and lips that conform to the trap entrance geometry, creating a secure mechanical interlock that resists rodent forces. The curved mounting lips engage with the trap structure to provide stable attachment without magnetic components.
3Extent of automation
If conventional traps are replaced with smart-sensor traps, then remote monitoring is achieved, but the cost of replacing all existing traps increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket is designed with pre-formed press-fit lips and mounting features that enable direct installation onto existing trap structures. The preliminary design of the bracket includes integrated mounting capabilities that allow retrofitting without modifying the original trap, preserving existing trap inventory while adding smart monitoring functionality.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for converting a conventional manually monitored capture-and-release rodent trap of a type having a box-shaped container with opposed one-way entry corridors communicating with a capture chamber into a remotely-monitored rodent trap. In one aspect, the method includes attaching a smart-sensor to the lid of the trap and press-fitting a bracket having a rodent opening into the space between the one-way entry corridors such that the rodent opening in the bracket restricts movement of a rodent into the capture chamber to a pathway in sufficient proximity for detection by the smart-sensor and signaling to a remote monitoring location.