Underground Water Socket Cover With Ergonomic Lifting Protrusions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing underground water socket arrangements are susceptible to ingress of unwanted foreign elements when not in use, leading to potential contamination and damage of internal components, and lack ergonomic designs that prevent finger injuries during cover operation.
Innovation Solution
A cover with an extension featuring protrusions that allows ergonomic lifting using a watering component, coupled with automatic closure to prevent foreign element ingress and minimize finger injuries.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a cover is added to prevent foreign element ingress, then protection of internal components is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cover is designed as a separate, removable component that can be independently installed and removed, allowing the protection function to be added without permanently complicating the overall device structure. The cover segments the protected interior space from the external environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The cover is extracted as a distinct protective element that can be separately manufactured and installed, rather than integrating protection features directly into the socket body. This allows the protection mechanism to be added or removed independently.
2Ease of manufacture
If a traditional cover design is used, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but ease of operation deteriorates due to finger injury risk
Solution Approach 1:
The lifting protrusions act as intermediary elements between the operator's fingers and the cover body. These protrusions provide a safe interface for applying lifting force, mediating the interaction to prevent direct finger contact with hazardous edges or surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The cover design incorporates self-contained lifting protrusions that automatically provide the necessary gripping surfaces, eliminating the need for external tools or complex mechanical lifting mechanisms. The structure serves its own operation needs through the integrated protrusions.
3Device complexity
If the cover is designed without lifting protrusions, then manufacturing complexity is reduced, but ease of operation worsens due to difficulty in lifting
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than making the entire cover complex, lifting protrusions are added only at specific local positions where lifting force needs to be applied. This localized addition provides ergonomic benefits without requiring complex mechanisms throughout the entire cover structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of designing a complex mechanism to lift the cover, the solution inverts the approach by adding simple protrusions that allow the cover to be lifted directly by hand. The simple geometric features enable easy operation without complex mechanical systems.
Data Source
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AI summary
An underground water socket arrangement (100) includes a water socket (110) which is embedded in the ground (G) and a cover (160) operatively coupled with the water socket (110). The cover (160) includes an extension (162) to allow displacement of the cover (160) from a closed state (PI) of the cover (160) to an open state (P2) of the cover (160) such that in the open state (P2) of the cover (160), the cover (160) provides an access to an interior of the water socket (110). The underground water socket arrangement (100) is characterized in that the extension (162) includes a first protrusion (163) and a second protrusion (164) spaced apart from each other and extending away from the cover (160).