Telescopic Guide for Manual Wood Decay Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for assessing the condition of wood, particularly tree trunks, are either invasive or provide inaccurate quantitative assessments, as they rely on drill resistance measurements that are difficult to standardize and require additional recording devices.
Innovation Solution
A hand-held testing instrument with a telescoping guiding device and a drill needle that records resistance to axial penetration, allowing users to assess material conditions through varying feed rates and torque changes without electronic or mechanical recorders, using a simple scale for depth measurement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If drill core samples are taken to detect decay inside the trunk, then the accuracy of detecting internal wood conditions is improved, but the invasiveness and potential damage to the tree increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts only the essential measurement function from the invasive drill core sampling method. Instead of removing material, a minimal drill needle penetrates the surface and measures resistance during rotation, extracting sufficient information about internal wood conditions without significant material removal or tree damage.
Solution Approach 2:
The drill needle acts as an intermediary element that transmits rotational motion from the drive unit through the wood surface to detect internal conditions. The needle's rotation and resistance measurement provide indirect information about decay and density without requiring direct contact with or removal of internal wood material.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If drill resistance measurement is performed with a drill needle penetrating into the wood, then the invasiveness is reduced compared to core sampling, but the quantitative assessment capability deteriorates due to difficulty in obtaining standardized measurements
Solution Approach 1:
The invention incorporates feedback by measuring the resistance encountered during drill needle rotation and using this information to assess wood density and decay. The drive unit's power consumption and rotational characteristics provide continuous feedback about the material being penetrated, enabling quantitative assessment without invasive core sampling.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the mechanical core sampling system with a rotational drill needle system that measures resistance during rotation. Instead of extracting physical samples, the system substitutes mechanical rotation and resistance measurement to obtain quantitative data about wood internal conditions with minimal invasiveness.
3Measurement precision
If a separate drive unit with multiple components is used for drill resistance measurement, then the guidance and measurement capability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the drive unit, drill needle guidance, and resistance measurement functions into a single integrated handheld device. The drive unit directly rotates the drill needle while simultaneously measuring resistance, combining multiple functions that would otherwise require separate components into one unified system for practical field use.
Solution Approach 2:
The handheld device is designed with multi-functionality, serving as both the drive unit and measurement instrument. The same mechanical components that drive the drill needle also provide the guidance and resistance measurement capabilities, making the device universally applicable for various wood condition assessments without requiring additional specialized equipment.
4Ease of operation
If the drill needle is advanced evenly during penetration, then the simplicity of operation is maintained, but the ability to detect material condition changes deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies dynamics by allowing the drill needle advancement speed to vary dynamically based on material resistance. Instead of uniform advancement, the system adapts the penetration speed to the encountered material conditions, enabling detection of decay and density changes while maintaining operational simplicity through automatic adaptation.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides an instrument and a method for examining the condition of column-shaped or cylindrical sections of objects. It comprises a drive device having a drill chuck, which holds a drill needle that can be driven by the drive device, and a guiding device for guided insertion of the drill needle into the object to be examined. The guiding device is a telescopic tube that comprises a shorter inner tube section that is arranged in a longer outer tube section such that it is axially displaceable, and has a longitudinally arranged measuring scale on its outer circumference. The telescopic tube is placed on the drive device in non-rotating manner via the inner tube section. The inner and the outer tube sections have guiding means for centrally-axially guiding the drill needle, which extends in central-axial direction from the drill chuck through the inner tube section and through the outer tube section. When the inner tube section is being inserted into the outer tube section, the drill needle can be driven into the object to be examined in a manner guided by the guiding means.