Spindle-Shaped Cover Support Structure for Material Savings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing support structures for covers that can be inserted into the ground, such as manhole covers and surface drainage channels, require significant material consumption to achieve stability, leading to high costs.
Innovation Solution
A support structure with a spindle-shaped design in a horizontal section, featuring a thickness that increases and then decreases symmetrically to minimize tensile stress, allowing for material savings while maintaining stability, and is preferably formed as an integral cast part, like spherulitic cast iron, with divergent side surfaces and constant draft angles for optimal production.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional uniform thickness support structures are used, then stability is achieved, but material consumption is high
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure implements variable thickness distribution where the thickness varies along the longitudinal axis, being greater at the ends and smaller in the middle section. This local differentiation allows each region to have the minimum necessary thickness for its specific load conditions, reducing overall material consumption while maintaining stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the geometric parameter of thickness from a constant value to a variable value along the length of the support. By optimizing the thickness distribution pattern (greater at ends, smaller in middle), the structure achieves the required stability with reduced material quantity.
2Quantity of substance
If support thickness is reduced to save material, then material consumption decreases, but stability is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than uniformly reducing thickness, the invention applies local quality by maintaining greater thickness at the support ends where loads are applied and connected, while reducing thickness only in the middle section where bending moments are lower. This ensures stability is maintained at critical locations while saving material in non-critical areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The support features rounded transitions and curved profiles instead of sharp corners or abrupt thickness changes. The smooth curvature distribution optimizes stress flow and prevents stress concentration, allowing the reduced-thickness middle section to maintain adequate stability while reducing material consumption.
3Quantity of substance
If variable thickness design is implemented, then material consumption is reduced, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The variable thickness profile is achieved through smooth curved transitions rather than complex geometric forms. The rounded profile can be directly formed using conventional casting or extrusion processes, avoiding the need for complex multi-step manufacturing operations or assembly of multiple components.
Solution Approach 2:
The thickness variation follows a simple, continuous functional pattern (greater at ends, smaller in middle) that can be easily defined in manufacturing templates or CAD models. This regular parameter change pattern simplifies tooling design and production control compared to arbitrary complex profiles.
4Ease of manufacture
If uniform thickness is used, then manufacturing is simple, but material consumption is high
Solution Approach 1:
The invention maintains manufacturing simplicity by using a continuous variable thickness profile that can be formed in one operation, rather than assembling multiple uniform sections. The smooth curvature pattern is easily definable in manufacturing processes, achieving material savings without significantly complicating production.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a support structure of a cover of a structure capable of being inserted into the ground, for example of a shaft or a channel, wherein the cover (10) comprises a traversable surface (11) and the support structure (20) extends downwards under said cover into the structure and comprises beam-shaped supports (21-23) such that their under support side (24) facing away from the surface (11) experiences a tensile stress when the surface (11) is loaded. The invention is further characterized in that between two areas (A, A′) a thickness (D) of the carriers with minimum tensile stress is configured substantially symmetrically in an increasing manner up to a maximum value and then, in turn, in a decreasing manner to form a ball shape when viewing the cover from below.