Spring-Biased Telescopic Support Pole for Boat Cover Tension
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current mechanisms for securing boat covers during transportation often lead to excessive wear and tear and potential damage due to violent flapping in high winds, with a risk of the cover detaching and posing hazards to vehicles and the boat itself.
Innovation Solution
An adjustable, spring-biased support pole system with telescoping rod sections and a pivotable base, featuring a spring for vertical adjustment and a locking mechanism to maintain cover tension, allowing for height adjustment and pivotability to counteract wind forces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a rigid support pole is used to maintain cover tension, then the cover remains stable, but the pole may break under high wind loads
Solution Approach 1:
The support pole incorporates a telescoping mechanism with multiple sections that can extend and retract, transforming the rigid structure into a dynamic one. This allows the pole to flex and adapt to wind loads, preventing breakage while maintaining cover tension through controlled extension and retraction of the telescoping sections.
Solution Approach 2:
The pole's length parameter is made variable through the telescoping mechanism, allowing it to adjust its effective length in response to wind forces. By changing the extended or retracted state of the telescoping sections, the pole can modulate its rigidity and stress distribution, maintaining reliability under varying load conditions.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the support pole is made adjustable in height, then it can adapt to various boat sizes and conditions, but the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The support pole uses a telescoping design where multiple rod sections are nested within each other. The inner sections can slide within outer sections, creating a compact adjustable structure. This nesting arrangement provides height adjustability while minimizing the pole's stored volume and reducing structural complexity compared to alternative extension mechanisms.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a spring mechanism is added to the support pole, then it can absorb wind forces and reduce cover flapping, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
A spring mechanism is integrated into the telescoping pole structure to provide preemptive cushioning against wind forces. The spring is positioned to compress when wind loads apply force to the pole, absorbing shock and reducing the transmission of violent forces to the cover and boat. This cushioning effect prevents cover flapping and potential damage while using a relatively simple spring element rather than a complex damping system.
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 support pole effectively reduces cover flapping and maintains tension during transport, preventing damage to the cover and boat while ensuring safety by adapting to various conditions and preventing debris from flying off.
Implementation Method 1
A spring is positioned between the telescoping connection of a first support rod section and a second support rod section, such that the spring controls vertical movement of the second support rod section with respect to the first support rod section and biases a force applied to the second support rod section
Data Source
AI summary
A spring-biased support pole 10 for supporting a boat cover 40 over a boat during transport of the boat as well as docking of the boat. The support pole comprises a base 14 and a support rod system 100 connected to the base. The support rod system comprises at least two support rod sections 110, 120 that are telescopically connected to one another and a spring 20. The spring is positioned between the telescoping connection of a first support rod section and a second support rod section, such that the spring controls vertical movement of the second support rod section with respect to the first support rod section and provides a biasing force that is applied to the second support rod section and to the cover supported by the support pole.