Rotating Wheel Grid Arms for Variable Tire and Track Widths
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle towing systems face challenges in accommodating a wide range of track widths and tire sizes, as conventional wheel grids are not adaptable enough to safely engage and lift tires of varying dimensions without causing damage or requiring complex adjustments.
Innovation Solution
A wheel grid system with a crossbar and L-arms that can rotate into a stowed position, featuring cantilevered crossbar ends and adjustable L-arms with extension members and wheel brace members, allowing for flexible engagement and lifting of tires across different vehicle types, including those with smaller or larger tires and varying track widths.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional wheel grids are used, then they can engage and lift tires, but they cannot accommodate a wide range of track widths and tire sizes
Solution Approach 1:
The L-arms are made rotatable relative to the crossbar, allowing dynamic adjustment of the distance between the crossbar and wheel brace members. This enables the wheel grid to adapt to different track widths and tire sizes by rotating the L-arms to appropriate positions, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and fixed structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The wheel grid is divided into separable components: the crossbar, the L-arms, and the wheel brace members. The L-arms can be independently rotated and positioned, allowing flexible configuration for different vehicle types without requiring complex overall adjustments.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the crossbar and wheel brace members are positioned far apart, then larger track widths can be accommodated, but clearance may be insufficient for smaller tires
Solution Approach 1:
The rotatable L-arms enable dynamic adjustment of the effective distance between the crossbar and wheel brace members. By rotating the L-arms to different angles, the system can reduce this distance for smaller tires (providing proper clearance) or increase it for larger track widths, resolving the length-clearance contradiction.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the geometric parameters of the L-arms through rotation, altering the distance and angle between components. This parameter adjustment allows the same structure to provide appropriate clearance for small tires while maintaining capability for larger track widths.
3Ease of operation
If the wheel grid is fixed in position, then it is stable, but it cannot allow angled engagement or be stored safely when not in use
Solution Approach 1:
The wheel grid is designed with rotatable components (L-arms relative to crossbar, and the entire assembly relative to the boom) that provide stability during operation while enabling angular adjustment for different engagement scenarios. When not in use, the L-arms can be rotated to a stowed position, eliminating safety hazards.
Solution Approach 2:
The L-arms are pre-configured with rotation capability that allows them to be positioned at appropriate angles before engagement. This preliminary angular adjustment facilitates angled engagement of vehicles while maintaining operational stability once positioned.
4Reliability
If the L-arms remain extended during towing, then they can engage tires, but they create safety hazards when not in use
Solution Approach 1:
The L-arms are designed to be rotatable into a stowed position that is flush with or retracted from the vehicle body when not in use. This dynamic positioning eliminates safety hazards from extended components while maintaining reliable engagement capability when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The engagement function is extracted from a fixed extended position to a dynamically adjustable position. The L-arms can be rotated out of the stowed position only when engagement is required, separating the engagement capability from the potential safety hazard of permanently extended components.
Data Source
AI summary
A wheel grid includes a crossbar configured to be coupled to a boom of a tow vehicle and including a distal tip. The wheel grid further includes an L-arm rotatably coupled to the crossbar at a proximal end of the L-arm and configured to rotate from an engaged position to a stowed position. As the L-arm rotates from the engaged position to the stowed position, a distal portion of the L-arm intersects with a vertical line passing through the respective left or right distal tip of the crossbar. In the stowed position, the distal portion of the L-arm is positioned laterally inward relative to the distal tip of the crossbar.