Vertical Cutter With Sliding Guides For Cable Burial
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing machines are insufficient for automatically burying electrical cables around obstacles like wells or trees, requiring manual intervention to ensure accurate delimitation of lawn mower robot operation areas, as they cannot simultaneously bury two contiguous cable portions in the same trench.
Innovation Solution
The machine is enhanced with sliding guides that protrude symmetrically on either side of the vertical cutter, allowing lateral engagement and burial of an above-ground cable portion during the return leg, alongside the buried cable, using a C-shaped profile and a pivoted arm for easy insertion and retention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If the machine follows the outside margin to bury cable, then the cable burial is automated, but the machine cannot accurately delimit regions around obstacles without manual intervention
Solution Approach 1:
The cable path is segmented into two separate portions: a first portion buried in the ground and a second portion above ground. This segmentation allows the machine to automatically bury the first portion while leaving the second portion for later engagement, enabling accurate delimitation around obstacles without manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The machine performs preliminary burial of the first cable portion along the outside margin before encountering obstacles. This preliminary action creates a foundation that enables subsequent automatic engagement and burial of the second cable portion, achieving complete automated delimitation.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the machine buries cable along curved paths, then the cable follows the perimeter, but signal interference occurs when two cable portions are not extremely close
Solution Approach 1:
The solution transitions from a two-dimensional planar burial to a three-dimensional configuration by placing the second cable portion above ground rather than burying it. This dimensional change allows the two cable portions to be extremely close in space (within a few centimeters) while following curved paths, ensuring signal cancellation without requiring manual positioning.
3Productivity
If the machine uses a vertical cutter to excavate trench, then the trench is created for cable burial, but the machine cannot engage above-ground cable portion automatically
Solution Approach 1:
A sliding guide acts as an intermediary mechanism between the vertical cutter and the above-ground cable portion. The sliding guide protrudes from the fin and receives the cable portion, automatically guiding it into the trench as the machine moves forward, thereby maintaining high productivity while simplifying the engagement operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The sliding guide is designed to automatically engage the above-ground cable portion without manual intervention. As the machine moves forward, the sliding guide self-service engages and guides the cable into the trench, eliminating the need for separate manual engagement operations.
Data Source
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AI summary
A vertical cutter for a machine that can move on wheels, comprising a motorized cutter (1) which can rotate with respect to its own vertical axis, means (2) for containing transmission elements which are integral with the cutter (1), supporting means (3) for means (4) for feeding and dispensing wire or cable (5) which can rotate freely about the axis of the cutter (1), and a roller (6) having a horizontal axis for the adjustment of a height of the cutter (1) with respect to a walking surface and therefore of a depth of a trench generated by it, and for covering the trench with an adjacent soil displaced by the cutter (1) and accumulated in the vicinity of the trench, the wire or cable (5) being accommodated and conveyed by the machine, further comprising, at the sides of an assembly constituted by containment means (2) of the transmission elements which are integral with the cutter (1) and by supporting means (3) for means (4) for feeding and dispensing a cable (5), two sliding guides (10), which can rotate freely about the axis of the cutter (1), for the guidance and conveyance of an additional cable that is already placed on the ground, the guides having a C-shaped transverse profile for the lateral accommodation of a portion of the additional cable that is inserted beforehand in a component such as a spiral (10S) which is integral with each respective sliding guide (10).