Skip Pan Bridge Rotation With Hydraulic Balance Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing material handling methods, such as using grapples and cable cranes, are unsafe, inefficient, and environmentally unfriendly, particularly when handling loose materials like steel scrap, with issues including material spillage and unbalanced loading.
Innovation Solution
A skip pan with a rotatable base and hydraulic actuation system that maintains balance during handling and unloading, utilizing a bridge connection and hydraulic cylinders to counteract tilting, allowing for safe and efficient material transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a grapple is used to handle loose materials, then the handling speed is improved, but materials can be dropped from between the fingers resulting in spillage
Solution Approach 1:
The grapple is divided into multiple fingers that can independently move and adapt to the material being handled. This segmentation allows the fingers to conform to irregular shapes while maintaining secure grip, preventing material drop-off during transport
Solution Approach 2:
The grapple fingers are designed with dynamic movement capability, allowing them to open and close around the material. This dynamic action enables secure grasping during lifting and automatic release during dumping, improving handling speed while preventing spillage through controlled motion
2Object-generated harmful factors
If a pan is used to collect materials and lifted using cables, then material spillage is reduced, but the system becomes unsafe due to unbalanced loading and fragile cable equilibrium
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates sensors that detect the distribution and weight of materials in the pan, providing real-time feedback to the control system. This feedback enables automatic adjustment of cable tensions and pan positioning to maintain balance, ensuring safe operation while preventing spillage
Solution Approach 2:
The manual cable-based lifting system is replaced with an automated mechanical system featuring motorized pan tilting and cable tensioning mechanisms. This substitution eliminates the fragile equilibrium of manual cable systems by providing active control and stabilization, improving safety while maintaining spillage prevention
3Productivity
If a grapple is used, then handling speed is improved, but the volume to be handled is relatively limited
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the advantages of both grapple and pan systems by combining the rapid grasping capability of grapple fingers with the large capacity of a pan structure. The fingers secure the material at the front while the pan provides extensive volume for bulk material storage, achieving both high speed and large volume handling
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 skip pan ensures safe, fast, and eco-friendly material handling by maintaining horizontal balance, reducing spillage, and optimizing volume utilization, thus enhancing operational efficiency and reducing environmental impact.
Implementation Method 1
an actuator to provide an adaptable inclination of the base of the skip pan with respect to the bridge to keep the base balanced when the connecting portion is tilted
Data Source
AI summary
A skip pan for handling materials comprising a base of the skip pan for containing the materials. The bridge has two arms (left, right) for connecting to the base and, at an upper end thereof, a connecting portion for connecting to an arm of a material handler for displacement of the skip pan, wherein the connecting portion is rotatable along a vertical axis thereof to provide a spinning movement to the bridge. The bridge is used for holding the base and thereby transmit the spinning movement to the base of the skip pan. An actuator comprises a left hydraulic cylinder on a left side of the bridge, and a right hydraulic cylinder on a right side of the bridge to keep the base of the skip pan balanced when the connecting portion is tilted by the arm of the material handler.