Tracking Gate for Extended Tanker Safety Cage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fall protection cages for tanker trucks are inefficient as they require time-consuming movement between hatches, and their extended length creates a safety hazard when accessing multiple hatches simultaneously.
Innovation Solution
A tracking gate system integrated with an extended safety cage that can be adjusted to accommodate multiple hatches, ensuring safe access by limiting the user's accessible area to the size of the hatches, preventing falls into voids and allowing for use with both large and small tankers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If an extended fall protection cage is used to cover multiple hatches, then productivity is improved by allowing simultaneous access to multiple hatches, but the cage length extends further than the tank creating a safety hazard where workers may fall into the void
Solution Approach 1:
The tracking gate is designed as a movable barrier that can dynamically adjust its position along the extended cage to match the actual tank length. This dynamic adjustment allows the cage to maintain its extended capability for accessing multiple hatches while the tracking gate continuously adapts to prevent access to the hazardous void area beyond the tank.
Solution Approach 2:
The tracking gate acts as an intermediary safety mechanism between the worker and the hazardous void. It provides a controllable boundary that limits worker access to only the safe area encompassing the hatches, while allowing the extended cage structure to remain in place for productivity benefits.
2Reliability
If a standard-sized fall protection cage is used, then safety is improved by limiting access area, but productivity deteriorates as the worker must move the cage between hatches
Solution Approach 1:
The fall protection system is segmented into two functional components: an extended cage structure that provides comprehensive coverage for multiple hatches, and a movable tracking gate that segments the accessible area to match the actual tank boundaries. This segmentation allows each component to fulfill its specific function optimally.
Solution Approach 2:
The tracking gate transforms the static limited-access cage into a dynamic system that can expand its effective coverage area. By moving the tracking gate along the extended cage, the system adapts to accommodate multiple hatches simultaneously while maintaining safety boundaries.
3Ease of operation
If the fall protection cage is extended to cover all hatches simultaneously, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity increases due to the need for tracking gate mechanism
Solution Approach 1:
The tracking gate mechanism is designed to be manually operable by the worker itself, without requiring complex automated control systems. The worker can easily move the tracking gate along the cage to adjust the accessible area, making the system self-servicing and minimizing added complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for providing safe access to a top of a mobile container. The mobile container has a top, a longitudinal dimension, and a plurality of hatches arrayed along the longitudinal dimension on the top. The apparatus has a raised platform and an extended cage attached to the raised platform wherein the extended cage extends along the longitudinal dimension. A tracking gate, attached to the extended cage, is adapted to vary an effective interior size of the extended cage.