Heavy-Duty Trailer Slider Box Frame Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional slider box designs for heavy-duty vehicles are excessively heavy due to the use of steel, which limits payload capacity and increases the risk of buckling under lateral and longitudinal loads, especially during sharp turns.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates main members with spaced apart parallel vertical walls, hanger supports with vertical webs, and a U-shaped channel to allow for thinner walls and the removal of additional cross brace members, distributing loads efficiently and reducing weight while maintaining structural integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional steel main members and cross members are used in slider box design, then strength and buckling resistance are improved, but weight increases excessively
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the main members by introducing parallel vertical walls with specific spacing and alignment features. This parameter change allows for thinner wall thickness while maintaining buckling resistance, directly resolving the contradiction between strength and weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite structural design by combining main members with parallel vertical walls, cross members with vertical webs, and diagonal bracing elements. This composite approach creates a lightweight truss-like structure that achieves high strength-to-weight ratio, resolving the contradiction between buckling resistance and weight.
2Strength
If additional cross brace members are added to strengthen the slider box, then buckling resistance is improved, but device complexity and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by concentrating bracing elements only where needed - specifically at regions subject to highest lateral and longitudinal loads. This localized approach provides necessary buckling resistance without adding complexity throughout the entire structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the bracing function into specific diagonal members connected at strategic locations between the parallel vertical walls. This segmentation allows each bracing element to efficiently handle specific load components, reducing overall structural complexity while maintaining strength.
3Weight of moving object
If wall thickness is reduced to decrease weight, then slider box weight decreases, but buckling resistance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent moves from considering only wall thickness as the strength parameter to incorporating the third dimension of vertical wall spacing and alignment. The parallel vertical walls create a dimensional framework that provides buckling resistance through geometric configuration rather than relying solely on material thickness, enabling weight reduction without strength loss.
Data Source
AI summary
A frame for a heavy-duty vehicle trailer includes a pair of elongated, spaced-apart parallel main members, each one having a pair of spaced apart parallel vertical walls. At least one cross member extends between and attaches to the main members, and includes a pair of spaced apart parallel transversely-extending vertical walls. Each one of a first pair of hangers includes a pair of spaced-apart parallel vertical walls that generally align and attach to the main member vertical walls. Each hanger includes a hanger support having a pair of spaced apart parallel vertical webs integrally formed with a diagonally extending side member. The hanger support attaches to the inboard hanger wall and also to the cross member. The frame reduces weight and provides improved reaction of longitudinal and side loads, yet still efficiently reacts vertical and racking loads imparted on the frame during operation of the vehicle.