Runner Sleeve with Variable Slot Width for Angled Bracket Passage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing runners with guide cables face difficulties in passing supporting brackets at angles due to the locking effect of fall protection lines, leading to detachment hazards and operational challenges.
Innovation Solution
The runner design features a sleeve with a narrower middle section longitudinal slot than the housing, allowing for free rotation and angled passage over supporting brackets, with tapered slots and a transverse slot mechanism to prevent detachment, and an anchoring device with a coupling member for secure attachment to the guide cable.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the longitudinal slot in the sleeve has the same width as in the housing, then the runner can be easily fitted to the guide cable, but the runner cannot pass supporting brackets when at an angle due to the locking effect of the fall protection line
Solution Approach 1:
The longitudinal slot in the sleeve has a narrower middle section and wider ends, creating different local qualities within the same slot. The narrower middle section prevents detachment by maintaining contact with the guide cable, while the wider ends enable angular passage by allowing the sleeve to rotate past supporting brackets.
Solution Approach 2:
The variable width of the longitudinal slot creates a dynamic interaction with the guide cable. As the runner approaches a supporting bracket at an angle, the wider ends allow rotation, and as the runner aligns with the cable, the narrower middle section engages to lock the position and prevent detachment.
2Reliability
If the fall protection line is coupled to the runner, then the runner is secured to the guide cable, but the runner becomes difficult to position correctly when passing supporting brackets at angles
Solution Approach 1:
The fall protection line interacts differently with different parts of the longitudinal slot. The narrower middle section provides a reliable locking point that secures the runner to the guide cable, while the wider ends provide clearance that allows the runner to be positioned at angles when passing supporting brackets.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the longitudinal slot width exceeds the guide cable diameter, then the runner can be fitted perpendicular to the guide cable, but the runner cannot be locked securely after rotation
Solution Approach 1:
The longitudinal slot has different widths at different locations: the wider ends allow perpendicular fitting and angular passage, while the narrower middle section provides a secure locking position that prevents detachment when the runner is in its normal operating position along the guide cable.
Data Source
AI summary
A runner 7 has a housing 21 with two runner wheels 23 attached to the housing. The housing includes a sleeve 25 that can freely turn around the longitudinal axis 27 in a channel 29 present in the housing. The sleeve constitutes an elongated guide opening by which the runner can be moved over the guide cable.Longitudinal slots extending in axial direction are present in the walls 21A, 25A of the channel 29 and of the sleeve 25. Each slot has a middle section 31A, 33A.The width 34 of the middle section 33A of the longitudinal slot in the sleeve is smaller than the width 32 of the middle section 31A of the longitudinal slot in the housing, and, furthermore, the width 34 of the middle section 33A of the slot 33 in the sleeve is smaller than the diameter of the guide cable 3 the runner 7 is suitable for.