Train Coupler Adapter with Swiveling Safety Bracket
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing train coupler adapters face challenges in efficiently connecting couplers of different geometries, particularly when handling operations need to be performed from the front, and ensuring secure attachment and prevention of decoupling during towing or pushing forces.
Innovation Solution
A train coupler adapter with a swiveling safety bracket and a blocking element that allows easy attachment by creating space for the hook's insertion and limits the swivel angle, ensuring the safety bracket remains in position to prevent decoupling, featuring a front section for coupling with various coupler geometries and a rear section with an opening for the draw hook coupler's tip, along with a remove clamp mechanism to adjust the swivel motion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the safety bracket is fixed rigidly to the rear section, then the structure is simple and stable, but the hook cannot be easily inserted into the opening due to the bracket obstructing the path
Solution Approach 1:
The safety bracket is designed to be movable rather than fixed, allowing it to swing between a retracted position (facilitating hook insertion) and a blocking position (preventing hook removal). This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction between ease of operation and structural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The safety bracket is pre-positioned to automatically retract when the hook is inserted, and then automatically engages to lock the hook in place. This preliminary action eliminates the need for manual intervention during coupling operations.
2Ease of operation
If the safety bracket is allowed to swivel freely, then the hook can be easily inserted, but the bracket cannot prevent the hook from decoupling during towing or pushing forces
Solution Approach 1:
The blocking element is designed to preemptively prevent the safety bracket from swinging too far, thereby ensuring the bracket remains in a position to block the hook's removal path before any decoupling force can act on the system.
Solution Approach 2:
The swivel angle of the safety bracket is constrained within specific limits by the blocking element, changing the parameter of angular movement from unlimited to controlled, which ensures both ease of insertion and prevention of decoupling.
3Reliability
If a blocking element is added to limit the swivel angle of the safety bracket, then the reliability of preventing decoupling is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The blocking element acts as an intermediary mechanism between the safety bracket and the hook, providing the necessary constraint on the bracket's movement without requiring complex control systems or additional active components.
Solution Approach 2:
The blocking element is designed as a separate, modular component that can be independently attached to the rear section, allowing the system to gain the decoupling prevention function without redesigning the entire adapter structure.
4Reliability
If the safety bracket traverses over the opening to prevent decoupling, then the reliability is improved, but the bracket obstructs the path for hook insertion
Solution Approach 1:
The safety bracket transitions from a static obstructing position to a dynamic position that retracts during insertion and then engages to prevent removal. This temporal separation of functions resolves the spatial contradiction between blocking insertion and preventing decoupling.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
The invention relates to a train coupler adapter for connecting a coupler of a first geometry with a draw hook coupler, whereby the adapter has • a front section with an interface suitable to couple with a coupler of a first geometry, • a rear section with an opening suitable for the tip of the hook of the draw hook coupler to be inserted into, • a safety bracket at the rear section that has a traversing section (that is positioned beneath the opening and traverses over the opening), whereby the safety bracket is attached to the rear section in a manner that allows the safety bracket to swivel relative to the rear section, whereby a blocking element is provided that limits the swivel angle of the safety bracket, whereby the blocking element has • a first part that is connected to the safety bracket and • a second part that is connected to a remove clamp, whereby the remove clamp can be moved from a clamping position to a non-clamping position.