Roller Conduit Guide for Bend Radius and Twist Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conduit laying machines often damage conduits due to frictional forces and excessive bending when laying multiple conduits, such as triplex electrical cables, as current guides are not effective in preventing twisting and bending beyond a safe radius.
Innovation Solution
A conduit guide with laterally spaced walls and longitudinally spaced roller sets, including upper bow rollers and lower flat rollers, that guide conduits through adjustable roller gaps to maintain an arcuate path within the minimum bend radius, using resilient biasing elements to adjust and prevent damage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conduit is guided through a channel with arcuate floor where conduit slides, then the conduit can be directed downward into vertical orientation, but frictional forces and large conduit movement result in high potential for damage due to over-bending, abrasion and twisting
Solution Approach 1:
Rollers are introduced as intermediary elements between the conduit and the guide structure. The rollers support the conduit and reduce frictional contact, allowing the conduit to be guided from horizontal to vertical orientation with minimal friction and movement damage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional sliding mechanical contact system with a rolling contact system. By substituting sliding friction with rolling friction through the roller mechanism, the harmful frictional forces and abrasion are significantly reduced.
2Productivity
If multiple conduits are laid through the same conduit feed passage, then productivity is improved, but the conduits may twist and bend beyond safe radius without proper configuration control
Solution Approach 1:
The guide structure provides different local support characteristics for different parts of the conduit bundle. The rollers are positioned and dimensioned to provide appropriate support at specific locations, maintaining the triangular configuration and preventing twisting while allowing multiple conduits to be laid simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The roller spacing and positioning are designed to dynamically accommodate the conduit configuration during the laying process. The guide structure adapts to maintain the triangular arrangement of multiple conduits as they are fed through the passage, ensuring bend radius requirements are met throughout the operation.
3Device complexity
If fixed roller gap spacing is used in conduit guide, then device complexity is reduced, but the guide cannot accommodate different conduit diameters
Solution Approach 1:
The roller gap spacing is made adjustable rather than fixed, allowing the guide to adapt to different conduit diameters. This dynamic adjustment capability enables the same guide structure to accommodate various conduit sizes while maintaining proper support and configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The physical parameter of roller gap spacing can be changed to accommodate different conduit diameters. By allowing adjustment of this parameter, the guide becomes versatile enough to handle multiple conduit sizes without requiring different guide structures for each diameter.
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 conduit guide reduces the risk of damage by maintaining conduits in a triangular configuration, preventing twisting and excessive bending, while being adjustable for different diameters, thus effectively laying multiple conduits without kinking or entangling.
Implementation Method 1
at least one roller gap adjuster comprising at least one resilient biasing element that permits increasing the spacings of the roller gaps while biasing the spacings of the roller gaps toward fixed minimum spacings of the roller gaps
Data Source
AI summary
A conduit guide for a conduit laying machine has an arcuate channel and at least two longitudinally spaced apart roller sets rotatably mounted in the channel. Each roller set has an upper bow roller and at least two longitudinally spaced apart lower flat rollers, each roller set having a roller gap between the upper and lower rollers. The arcuate path has a radius that is equal to or greater than a minimum bend radius for the conduit. At least one roller gap adjuster has at least one resilient biasing element that permits increasing the spacings of the roller gaps while biasing the spacings of the roller gaps toward fixed minimum spacings. The guide reduces damage and/or twisting of conduits during a conduit laying operation, especially when laying multiple conduits (e.g., triplex electrical cable) from the same conduit feed passage.