Vehicle-Pulled Snow Scraper With Adjustable Width and Winch Tilt
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing snow removal solutions are expensive and labor-intensive, failing to provide an efficient and affordable method for homeowners to clear large amounts of snow from driveways and walkways.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle-pulled snow scraper system with adjustable width and length, featuring a snow scraper assembly with a hitch receiver bar, stabilizer bars, and a winch for height adjustment, designed to be affordable and easy to use, allowing for efficient snow removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If expensive motorized snow blowers are used, then snow removal efficiency is improved, but cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The snow scraper is divided into separate modular components including a blade assembly, support legs with casters, and adjustable width mechanisms. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured independently at lower cost while maintaining overall functionality, resolving the contradiction between efficiency and cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The scraper utilizes the vehicle's existing motion and pulling capacity rather than requiring a dedicated motorized snow blower engine. The passive design leverages the vehicle's kinetic energy to drive snow removal, eliminating the need for expensive motorized components while maintaining productivity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If fixed-width snow scrapers are used, then manufacturing is simplified, but adaptability to different driveway widths is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The support legs incorporate telescopic or adjustable mechanisms that allow the width of the scraper to be dynamically changed based on driveway dimensions. This dynamic adjustability provides versatility without requiring completely different scraper designs for each width, balancing adaptability with manageable complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The scraper width parameter can be changed by adjusting the spread between support legs or changing blade orientation angles. This parameter adjustability allows a single scraper design to serve multiple driveway widths, achieving versatility without proportionally increasing structural complexity.
3Productivity
If heavy-duty industrial snowplows are used, then snow removal capability is improved, but portability and ease of storage deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The scraper incorporates casters or wheeled support legs that counteract the weight of the blade assembly. This allows a heavy-duty capable scraper to be easily attached to and detached from vehicles, and stored in compact spaces, resolving the contradiction between snow removal capability and portability.
Solution Approach 2:
The scraper design transitions from a permanently mounted heavy plow to a portable attachment that can be quickly connected and disconnected. The ability to fold or collapse the support legs reduces the storage footprint from a large fixed structure to a compact portable unit, maintaining productivity while improving ease of operation.
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 system effectively reduces the time and labor required for snow removal, providing a cost-effective solution for homeowners by allowing for adjustable angles and widths, and incorporating impact springs for shock absorption.
Implementation Method 1
incorporating impact springs for shock absorption
Data Source
AI summary
The vehicle pulled snow scraper system is an adjustable width snow blade having a pivotally attached blade in which the forward-backward tilt of the blade is adjusted via the winch. The forward-backward tilt function also may raise and lower the bottom edge of the blade in relation to the ground surface. The invention has a two piece hitch receiver bar having two different diameters of tubing, with an impact spring between the tubes to absorb impacts when the blade catches an immovable object. The outside edges of the blade assembly extend outward to greatly increase the width of the snow plow blade as desired by the user.