Underground Pole Support System with Rotating Rollers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for placing structures underground, such as sport and play equipment, face safety concerns due to the tilting of poles caused by installation tolerances, which can lead to instability and increased horizontal movement of the structure above ground.
Innovation Solution
A system featuring a pole with a receiving space equipped with spaced-apart pole holders and rollers with rotatable contact surfaces, allowing for easy alignment and secure positioning of the pole, with optional elastic properties to accommodate various pole cross-sections and sizes, ensuring stable orientation and easy insertion/withdrawal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the lower part of the pole is placed in the receiving space with tolerance to simplify insertion, then the insertion process is easier, but the pole develops tilting freedom and becomes unstable
Solution Approach 1:
Rollers are introduced as intermediary elements between the pole and the receiving space. The rollers engage with the pole surface and rotate to guide insertion, while the pole holders spaced apart in the longitudinal direction constrain the pole's orientation. This mediator system allows easy insertion while preventing tilting, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and reliability.
2Length of moving object
If the pole is made longer to increase structure height, then the structure is more prominent, but the horizontal swing distance increases and safety decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The rollers act as intermediaries that maintain constant contact with the pole during insertion and operation. By rotating smoothly, they prevent the pole from swinging horizontally even when the pole is long. The spaced-apart pole holders further constrain the pole's movement, eliminating the harmful horizontal swing while allowing the pole to be as long as needed for structural prominence.
3Reliability
If the receiving space is designed with a fixed tight fit to prevent tilting, then stability is improved, but the insertion and removal process becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The pole holders are designed to be movable rather than fixed, allowing them to adapt during insertion and removal. The rollers can rotate and move within the pole holders to accommodate the pole's movement. This dynamic design provides stable constraint during operation while enabling easy insertion and removal, resolving the contradiction between reliability and ease of operation.
4Device complexity
If the pole holder uses a simple cylindrical shape to reduce complexity, then the structure is simpler, but it cannot accommodate poles of various cross-sectional shapes
Solution Approach 1:
The pole holders incorporate rollers with adjustable parameters, including movable positioning and variable contact surface geometries. The rollers can be positioned at different locations and orientations to accommodate various pole cross-sectional shapes. This parameter flexibility allows a single pole holder design to work with different pole types while maintaining structural simplicity, resolving the contradiction between device complexity and adaptability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system ensures the pole is securely directed and easily installed/removed, enhancing safety and stability by minimizing frictional forces and accommodating different pole shapes, thus preventing tilting and ensuring the structure remains upright and stable.
Implementation Method 1
the second pole holder determines a passageway for the pole and comprises one or more rollers, which one or more rollers have contact surfaces for making contact with the pole and which are rotatable around their respective rotational central axes
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 2
AI summary
A system for placing of structures on an underground, comprising a pole for supporting the structure and an elongate receiving space taken up in the underground, in particular an elongate receiving space with a vertical-directional component, in particular a substantially vertically directed receiving space, for receiving a lower part of the pole, whereby the receiving space has a central axis and is provided with a first pole holder and a second pole holder which are spaced apart (as seen) in the direction of the central axis, whereby the second pole holder lies above the first pole holder and the first and second pole holders are furnished in accordance with the pole for keeping the pole in the desired orientation, whereby the second pole holder determines a passageway for the pole and comprises one or more rollers, which one or more rollers have contact surfaces for making contact with the pole and which are rotatable around their respective rotational central axes that lie in a respective plane that lies transversally with respect to the central axis of the receiving space.