Towbar Wobble Bearing Path Control for Height Maintenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing trailer couplings face challenges in achieving optimal pivoting movements under unfavorable space conditions, particularly in terms of maintaining a prescribed minimum height of the coupling ball in the operating position while allowing for a higher rest position, and vice versa.
Innovation Solution
The wobble bearing is designed with a shaft that is pivotally and axially displaceable, where the path control of the ball rod bearing head causes the shaft to shift, allowing the ball rod to assume a higher operating position while maintaining advantages of pivoting about a continuously changing pivot axis, and the attachment is designed with a spherically curved surface and a ball rod bearing head with convex and concave areas for positive locking, enabling sufficient displacement and rotation-proof fixing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the ball rod is designed to pivot about a single fixed axis, then the pivoting movement is simple and predictable, but the coupling ball cannot maintain prescribed minimum height under unfavorable space conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by transitioning from a fixed single-axis pivot to a dynamically changing pivot axis. The wobble bearing with path control enables the pivot axis to continuously change in space during pivoting movement, allowing the coupling ball to maintain prescribed minimum height while accommodating unfavorable space conditions. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction between reliability and device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dimensionality change by moving from one-dimensional rotation about a fixed axis to three-dimensional movement about a continuously changing axis. The wobble bearing mechanism introduces additional spatial dimensions to the pivoting motion, enabling the coupling ball to maintain height requirements while adapting to space constraints that would be impossible with simple single-axis rotation.
2Reliability
If the ball rod bearing head is firmly fixed to the attachment, then rotation-proof fixing is achieved, but the pivoting movement and axial displacement are restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The wobble bearing with path control implements dynamics by allowing the ball rod bearing head to pivot and axially displace while maintaining rotation-proof fixing. The mechanism dynamically adjusts the position and orientation of the bearing head during operation, enabling both reliable fixing and free pivoting movement through controlled changes in the pivot axis position.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies parameter changes by allowing the pivot axis position and orientation to change continuously during pivoting movement. The wobble bearing mechanism modifies the spatial parameters of the rotation axis dynamically, enabling the system to maintain rotation-proof fixing while achieving the required pivoting freedom and axial displacement.
3Volume of moving object
If the spherically curved surfaces have small radii, then the attachment and ball rod bearing head fit closely in limited space, but the stroke of the ball rod during pivoting is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this contradiction through dynamics by using a wobble bearing with path control that allows the pivot axis to change position in space. This dynamic mechanism enables sufficient ball rod stroke to be achieved even with compact spherically curved surfaces, as the changing pivot axis effectively amplifies the movement range within limited space.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention applies dimensionality change by introducing a wobble bearing mechanism that adds spatial complexity to the pivoting motion. This enables the ball rod to achieve greater effective stroke through three-dimensional movement about a changing axis, rather than simple rotation, thereby achieving sufficient travel distance within compact dimensions.
Data Source
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AI summary
The trailer hitch (1) has a swash bearing with a shaft, on which the ball rod bearing head (4) is supported in pivoting and axially relocating manner. The shaft is relocatably guided in a crank of the concave attachment (5). The contouring system of the ball rod bearing head causes the displacement of the shaft from the one end position into the other end position in the crank by pivoting the ball rod (3).