C-Shaped Tool Head Web Openings to Stop Cracks and Cut Weight
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tool heads are heavy and prone to detachment due to cracking, posing safety risks when they reach the end of their service life.
Innovation Solution
Manufacture the tool head's head body using a metal casting process, incorporating through openings in the connecting web to intercept cracks and reduce weight, ensuring stability and safety by preventing parts from detaching.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If the tool head is manufactured using conventional forging process, then the structural strength is maintained, but the weight is excessive and manufacturing cost is high
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting web is segmented by introducing through openings that divide the continuous material into separate sections. This segmentation reduces the overall material volume and weight of the tool head while maintaining structural integrity through the distributed opening design that intercepts crack propagation paths
Solution Approach 2:
The connecting web is designed with a porous structure containing multiple through openings. This porous design reduces material usage and weight while the strategically positioned openings serve to intercept cracks, preventing complete structural failure and maintaining adequate strength
2Reliability
If the connecting web is made solid without through openings, then the structural integrity is maintained, but the weight increases and crack propagation cannot be intercepted
Solution Approach 1:
Through openings are pre-positioned in the connecting web at strategic locations where cracks are most likely to propagate. This preliminary structural feature intercepts cracks before they can traverse the entire connecting web, preventing catastrophic failure and enhancing operational safety
Solution Approach 2:
The connecting web incorporates a porous structure with multiple through openings that reduce material volume and weight. The porous design maintains reliability by using the openings as crack interception points, preventing complete structural failure while reducing overall weight
3Weight of moving object
If through openings are introduced in the connecting web, then weight is reduced and cracks are intercepted, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The formation of through openings and the casting process are merged into a single manufacturing step. The head body is cast as an integrated component with through openings already formed, eliminating the need for separate post-processing operations to create the openings and reducing overall manufacturing complexity
Data Source
AI summary
A tool head is provided for a hydraulically actuatable tool. The tool head has an essentially C-shaped head body with two C-legs, and a connecting web connecting the C-legs. Each C-leg has a tool carrier for receiving a tool part. The second tool carrier is mounted to be displaceable to the first tool carrier from a first starting position remote from the first tool carrier while traversing a device jaw of the C-shaped head body into a final working position adjacent to the first tool carrier. The connecting web has several through openings lying one behind the other along the longitudinal axis and are separated by a material bracing. The through openings follow an arched shape of the connecting web, and not a line parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tool head.