How do you retract seat belts after a 15-second delay, when there is no available power to incorporate a digital or electronic timer into the design?
One manufacturer of a strap to hold wheelchairs firmly in place needed to answer that question and found that a mechanical solution was the best approach with no power needed.
By incorporating ACE shock absorbers into the design, the desired 15-second delay was successfully introduced simply by slowing down the response to the seat belts being released.
This allows for a single central release lever to retract both wheelchair straps when pushed in a specific direction.
In turn, this engages the ACE shock absorber, which acts as a mechanical delay to prevent the seat belts from retracting until 15 seconds have elapsed.
After this time, and once the shock absorber has stopped resisting the motion, the belts are able to retract back to their secure starting position as desired.
The system is an example of how mechanical motion control components can serve as elegant solutions to problems where active or electronic parts needing power cannot be used.
Indeed, often the mechanical solution is the best even where a power source is available, as robust and durable motion control devices can typically last over many thousands of operations with minimal maintenance.
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