Wire Guide Ring Curved Aperture Prevents Tangling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Dispensing coiled wire from containers often results in tangling and kinking due to the sharp edges of existing payout rings, leading to defects and costly downtime.
Innovation Solution
A wire guiding device with a planar base and a sloped wire guide portion, featuring protrusions that create an interference fit with the container to prevent the wire from rising and tangling, and a smooth transition surface to facilitate unwinding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a planar payout ring with a sharp aperture edge is used to guide wire during unwinding, then the wire is contained and guided through the aperture, but the wire breaks due to the sharp edge contact
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the sharp planar aperture edge with a curved, rounded surface. The wire guide portion extends from the base portion and terminates at an aperture with a curved surface that provides a gradual transition for the wire, eliminating the sharp edge that caused breaking. This curvature allows the wire to flow smoothly through the aperture without stress concentration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent modifies the geometric parameters of the wire guide aperture, specifically changing from a sharp edge geometry to a curved surface geometry. The aperture is spaced axially apart from the base portion, creating a gradual transition zone that changes the wire's path smoothly rather than abruptly, thereby reducing stress and preventing breakage.
2Productivity
If multiple loops of wire are drawn from the top of the coil simultaneously, then wire dispensing speed increases, but the wire entangles and forms knots
Solution Approach 1:
The wire guiding device acts as an intermediary between the coiled wire and the dispensing process. The curved surface and aperture geometry control and regulate the wire's emergence from the coil, ensuring that wire is drawn uniformly one loop at a time rather than multiple loops simultaneously, thus preventing entanglement while maintaining steady dispensing.
Solution Approach 2:
The wire guide portion with its curved surface prepares the wire path in advance before the wire reaches the aperture. By establishing a predetermined curved trajectory, the device ensures that wire loops are formed and guided in a controlled sequence, preventing the simultaneous drawing of multiple loops that would cause tangling.
3Ease of operation
If the aperture in the payout ring is smaller than the inner diameter of the coiled wire bundle, then the wire is contained and guided, but the wire breaks over the sharp edge
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the sharp aperture edge with a curved, rounded surface that provides a gradual transition for the wire. The wire guide portion terminates at an aperture with a curved surface that eliminates the sharp edge contact point, allowing the wire to flow smoothly through the constrained aperture without stress concentration that would cause breaking.
4Reliability
If the payout ring is placed inside the container on top of the coil, then the wire is contained during unwinding, but the planar nature causes the wire to break over the sharp edge
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the planar payout ring by adding a wire guide portion with a curved surface that terminates at the aperture. This curved surface replaces the sharp edge of the planar structure, providing a gradual transition that contains and guides the wire while eliminating the stress concentration that causes breaking.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 2A
AI summary
A wire guiding device (1) includes a base (3) and a guide portion (10) for streamlining the flow of coiled wire from a storage container (15). Side walls (22) may be included to bridge the distance between the device and the storage container (15) to prevent wire from rising upward around the outside of the wire guiding device (1 ). As the amount of wire in the bin decreases, the wire guiding device will float downward maintaining constant downward pressure on the coil of wire. Wire in the storage container will therefore be drawn out in a smooth manner limiting or substantially preventing tangles. Protrusions (23) may also be formed around the peripheral edge (5) of the wire guiding device (1 ) for preventing the wire from rising up and over the wire guiding device.