Underfloor Vehicle Lifting Platform With Plug-Connected Canister
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing lifting canisters for vehicles are expensive due to the use of stainless steel, complicated design, and difficult to transport and install.
Innovation Solution
A lifting platform with a canister design that uses a plug system to connect a stainless steel frame to a galvanized body, allowing for separate manufacturing and assembly, reducing costs and simplifying installation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the entire canister is made of stainless steel to ensure robustness and aesthetic appeal, then durability and appearance are improved, but manufacturing cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different material qualities to different parts of the canister: the frame (visible external parts) is made of stainless steel for aesthetic appeal and durability, while the body (internal structure) is made of galvanized material for cost-effectiveness and corrosion resistance. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction by applying expensive material only where visually required and durable material only where functionally required.
Solution Approach 2:
The canister uses a composite construction combining stainless steel frame with galvanized body, connected through a plug system. This composite approach allows each material to contribute its strengths: stainless steel provides aesthetic appeal and structural integrity for visible parts, while galvanized material provides cost-effective corrosion resistance for the body, overall reducing manufacturing cost while maintaining necessary durability.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the canister is designed as a single integrated unit, then structural integrity is improved, but transportability and installation ease deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The canister is divided into separate modular components: a frame assembly and a body assembly, connected through a plug system. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured, transported, and installed independently, improving transportability and installation ease while maintaining structural integrity through the robust plug connection system that ensures stable assembly.
3Strength
If welding is used to connect the frame and body, then structural strength is improved, but corrosion resistance of the galvanized body deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a plug system as an intermediary connection method between the frame and body, replacing direct welding. This plug system provides sufficient structural strength for assembly while avoiding the harmful thermal and chemical effects of welding that would damage the hot-dip galvanized coating on the body, thereby preserving corrosion resistance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the thermal/chemical welding process with a mechanical plug connection system. This substitution maintains the necessary structural strength for assembling the canister while avoiding the detrimental effects of welding on the galvanized coating, thus preserving the corrosion resistance of the body.
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 1C
AI summary
An underfloor lifting platform (1) for lifting vehicles comprises: a canister (200), configured to be arranged underground to define an inground environment; a plate (300), couplable with the canister (200) so to close the inground environment and to be flush with the floor (F); a first and a second cylinder piston units (400A, 400B), operatively arranged within the canister (200) and being movable along a vertical direction (V), wherein the canister (200) includes: a body (20), surrounding the inground environment, extending in the vertical direction (V) between a first edge (20A), proximal to the plate (300), and a second edge (20B), opposite to the first edge (20A), and defining a supporting surface for supporting the plate (300); a frame (22), made of stainless steel, connected to the body (20) at the first edge (20A) of the body (20), the frame (22) having an outer perimeter that is flush with the floor (F) and surrounds the plate (300), the frame (22) is removably connected to the body (20) through a plug system (23).