Snowplow Blade Breakaway Section for Edge Impact Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Snowplow blades often suffer damage when engaging pathway edges or stationary objects due to their rigid design, leading to structural damage and inefficiencies in plowing operations.
Innovation Solution
A snowplow blade assembly with a break-away section that hinges and detaches when encountering a predetermined shear stress, featuring a wheel roller for rolling advancement and an outer edge recess to avoid collisions, minimizing damage to both the blade and surrounding objects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the snowplow blade is designed with a rigid structure to effectively plow snow and ice, then the plowing efficiency is improved, but the blade suffers structural damage when engaging pathway edges or stationary objects
Solution Approach 1:
The snowplow blade is divided into multiple sections: a fixed portion attached to the vehicle and a break-away section that can detach. This segmentation allows the blade to maintain rigidity for effective plowing while enabling the break-away section to sacrifice itself to protect the main blade structure from damage when encountering obstacles
Solution Approach 2:
The break-away section is designed with specific material properties and structural parameters that allow it to detach under predetermined stress conditions. The section incorporates a shear pin or weak point that fails at a specific force threshold, transforming the blade from a completely rigid structure to one with controlled flexibility and sacrificial elements
2Force
If the snowplow blade maintains full rigidity to push through compacted ice and snow, then the plowing force is improved, but friction and heat generation slow down operations and cause damage
Solution Approach 1:
The break-away section acts as a flexible element that can deform and adapt to pathway edges and stationary objects rather than maintaining rigid contact. This flexibility reduces friction and heat generation during normal operation while still allowing the blade to push through compacted snow and ice when needed
3Quantity of substance
If the snowplow blade is designed as a standard fully rectangular blade to maximize snow removal capacity, then the snow carrying capacity is improved, but the terminal ends forcefully engage pathway edges causing damage
Solution Approach 1:
The rectangular blade is segmented with a break-away section at the terminal end that can detach upon impact with pathway edges or stationary objects. This maintains the overall rectangular shape for maximum snow capacity while protecting against damage to both the blade and surrounding structures
Solution Approach 2:
The break-away section is essentially a removable or sacrificial element taken from the main blade structure. When the terminal end engages a pathway edge, this extracted section detaches, preventing forceful engagement damage while preserving the main blade's snow removal capability
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 break-away section effectively reduces structural damage by pivoting or detaching upon impact, allowing the snowplow blade to roll over obstacles and maintain operation without damaging itself or stationary objects, enhancing plowing efficiency and safety.
Implementation Method 1
The break-away section includes a wheel roller that facilitates rolling advancement of the snowplow blade along or on the pathway edge barrier
Implementation Method 2
A break-away section of the snowplow blade hingedly pivots, and potentially detaches with respect to a remainder of the snowplow blade when a predetermined shear stress from the pathway edge barrier or stationary object is applied
Data Source
AI summary
A snowplow blade assembly provides a snowplow blade that attaches to a vehicle for clearing residue from a pathway. The snowplow blade is configured to minimize structural damage caused by a pathway edge barrier, or a stationary object disposed on, or along, the pathway. A break-away section of the snowplow blade hingedly pivots, and potentially detaches with respect to a remainder of the snowplow blade when a predetermined shear stress from the pathway edge barrier or stationary object is applied. The break-away section includes a wheel roller that facilitates rolling advancement of the snowplow blade along or on the pathway edge barrier. The break-away section also forms an outer edge recess on a first side-blade end of snowplow blade. The outer edge recess is sized to enable passage of stationary objects, which prevents damage to the snowplow blade or stationary objects.