Soft Support Bands for Fall Protection Impact Dissipation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fall protection systems in metal building construction fail to effectively catch and support workers who fall from elevated heights, particularly at the edges of building bays, leading to potential injuries and non-compliance with safety standards.
Innovation Solution
A passive fall protection system comprising a suspension fabric supported by a grid-work of softer, more extensible longitudinal and lateral support bands, which dissipate the impact force by elongating and distributing it to the roof structural members, ensuring the system can catch and hold falling loads across the entire bay.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a passive fall protection system uses traditional hard support bands, then the system structure is rigid and stable, but the system fails to effectively dissipate impact force from falling workers, particularly at edge locations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the support bands by specifying Rockwell B hardness of 64 to 79 and tensile strength of 60 to 90 ksi, creating bands that are softer and more extensible than traditional hard bands. This parameter change enables the bands to elongate and dissipate impact force from falling workers more effectively, resolving the contradiction between structural rigidity and impact force dissipation.
Solution Approach 2:
The softer support bands with specific hardness and tensile strength properties provide beforehand cushioning by elastically deforming under impact loads. The bands are designed to absorb and dissipate impact force through their extensibility, cushioning the effect of falling workers before they can cause damage, thereby improving fall protection effectiveness.
2Strength
If the support bands are made softer and more extensible, then the system can dissipate impact force better, but the bands may deform excessively under load
Solution Approach 1:
The patent precisely controls the parameters of the support bands, specifying Rockwell B hardness of 64 to 79 and tensile strength of 60 to 90 ksi. These parameter specifications ensure the bands are soft enough to dissipate impact force through elastic deformation while maintaining sufficient structural integrity to prevent excessive deformation, thus resolving the contradiction between impact dissipation and deformation control.
Solution Approach 2:
The support bands are made from composite material properties combining specific hardness and tensile strength characteristics. This composite approach allows the bands to exhibit both the softness needed for impact dissipation and the strength needed to control deformation, balancing the competing requirements.
3Reliability
If the fall protection system uses a grid-work of support bands with specific material properties, then the system meets safety standards, but the manufacturing and installation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent specifies particular material parameters (Rockwell B hardness of 64 to 79, tensile strength of 60 to 90 ksi) for the support bands. By standardizing these parameters, the manufacturing process becomes more controlled and predictable, facilitating easier production and installation while ensuring safety standard compliance, thus reducing the complexity burden.
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 catches and supports falling workers anywhere in the bay, meeting governmental safety standards and reducing the risk of injuries and compliance issues, while also functioning as part of the building's insulation system.
Implementation Method 1
a 400 pound weight is dropped onto the fall protection system under stated conditions to determine whether a given system meets the required safety standards
Implementation Method 2
the bands experience a higher level of permanent deformation, by elongation, as the bands receive the impact force
Data Source
AI summary
This invention provides fall protection systems, in metal building construction, and methods of installing such systems. A given such system comprises a suspension fabric, supported by a grid-work of longitudinal and lateral support bands. At least one of the lateral support bands is a relatively softer steel having greater elongation properties, while having lower yield and tensile strengths. The balanced properties better distribute the force of a falling object to the respective members of the fall protection system so as to limit the force which must be tolerated by the suspension fabric, such that the system can catch and hold a dropped test load, or a worker falling onto such system, without catastrophic failure of the suspension fabric.