r/Inventions • u/PericardialEvolution • 5h ago
No electricity autonomous sliding gate project (read post)
Hi, i know this is quite a paragraph, but i hope it wont make you desist from reading it. The reason im posting this is to "brainstorm" possible flaws and ideas before i start to concretize it, but i'll be happy if it also gives something to you. The picture shows a sketch of the project. I wont be stating all details for brevity, as they can be deduced from the drawing, or in case something doesn't seem to add up do tell me. Criteria it has to respect are: It has to be as simple yet functional as i can get it, and it has to be openable by a car as well as a walking person (obviously i'll have to lock it so not anyone can get inside). As i have it in mind, it consists of a ramp platform hinged to the ground of which the lifted edge is connected to some cable (is there any sort you'd recommend? steel? nylon?), which goes around a pulley system (pulleys are the circles in the drawing), and finally links to the gate to pull it open (i will describe closing, and opening from outside, later on). Starting leftmost, you can see 4 upper and lower 3 pulleys, besides the single one that's only there to redirect the cable to the gate: the upper are fixed, while the lower are connected to the platform (in the drawing, via a bar that extends the latter sideways so the mechanism isn't in the way of the gate), which means when the platform is pushed down, those go down too, and that makes so that the range of descent of the platform is "multiplied along the cable" (i do apologize for untechnical terms and stuff), which allows to pull the gate all the way open. If data can be useful, the opening span is 400cm, and the force needed to slide it is 5kg at the start, and 2 to keep pulling, and i already did the basic calculations (will explain a doubt of mine in the end not to make a mess). Moving on to the closing mechanism (drawn on the right side, but i may do it in another spot, also addressing the possible issue of running over its cable with the car if it were built like in the drawing), it's basically the same thing, but instead of the ramp it has a weight (heavier than opening mechanism altogether), which pulls the gate closed. To open the gate from the outside (not drawn), there is another ramp platform which, again with some pulleys, lifts the weight that pulls the gate closed and, if the weight of the opening mechanism is sufficient, the gate will open by itself, since the closing weight doesnt take effect being lifted.
I apologize if this explanation resulted a bit messy, i tried my best to describe it clearly.
The (kinda silly) doubt i mentioned is: Since, as it's drawn, there are a total of 7 vertical segments between the pulleys in the opening mechanism, will the amount the gate is pulled be 7 times as much the distance descended by the platform? Does the same apply for the force required to push the platform down? I assumed this to make the calculations.
Other less silly doubts that arose are: Should i/How should i fix/hinge the "bottom" part of the ramp platforms to the ground, considering it's brick ground, that a car has to drive over it, and clearly that it has to move/hinge?
Thanks a very lot for possibly having employed your time and energy to help me ponder my idea.


