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EP-4735708-A1 - ANCHOR ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF ABSORBING A FALL OF A USER

EP4735708A1EP 4735708 A1EP4735708 A1EP 4735708A1EP-4735708-A1

Abstract

The invention relates to an anchor assembly, particularly for a fall protection system, the anchor assembly comprising at least one fixation means for connection to at least one substructure, at least one energy absorber having at least one elongate absorber element at least indirectly connectable to the substructure and/or the fixation means at a first end of the energy absorber and/or absorber element and at least one guide element at least indirectly connectable to at least one first connection element located at a second end of the energy absorber located opposite the first end, wherein the absorber element is at least partly reaching through at least one opening comprised by the guide element wherein the guide element is connectable to the fixation means and/or the substructure and/or rests at least indirectly on the fixation means and/or the substructure as well as a method of absorbing a fall of a user.

Inventors

  • WEBER, WOLFGANG
  • FISCHER, PAUL
  • HOLTKAMP, Eric

Assignees

  • MSA Europe GmbH

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20240627

Claims (17)

  1. 1. An anchor assembly (114), particularly for a fall protection system (100), the anchor assembly (114) comprising at least one fixation means (124) for connection to at least one substructure (106), at least one energy absorber (126) having at least one elongate absorber element (130) at least indirectly connectable to the substructure (106) and/or the fixation means (124) at a first end (118, 132) of the energy absorber (126) and/or absorber element (130) and at least one guide element (138) at least indirectly connectable to at least one first connection element (122) located at a second end (120) of the energy absorber (126) located opposite the first end (118) of the energy absorber (126), wherein the absorber element (130) is at least partly reaching through at least one opening (144) comprised by the guide element (138) wherein the guide element (138) is connectable to the fixation means (124) and/or the substructure (106) and/or rests at least indirectly on the fixation means (124) and/or the substructure (106).
  2. 2. The anchor assembly according to claim 1, wherein the fixation means comprises at least one base plate (124), at least one connector for connecting to at least one post, to the substructure, to a load bearing structure, to a bottom fix structure and /or to a top fix structure.
  3. 3. The anchor assembly according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the absorber element comprises at least partly at least one elastic element, at least one at least partly wound and/or rolled-up element, at least one plastically deformable element, at least one spring, at least one spiral element (130), at least one coil element, at least one coil spring, at least one plastic material, at least one metal material, at least one plastically deformable material and/or at least one elastomeric material.
  4. 4. The anchor assembly according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the absorber element (130) comprises at least one stop element (136) to restrict a movement of the absorber element (130) through the opening (144) of the guide element (138) and or a travel of the guide element (138) along the absorber element (130), wherein preferably the stop element (136) has at least one outer dimension being greater than the inner dimension of the opening (144).
  5. 5. The anchor assembly according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the guide element (138) comprises at least one pair of guide plates (140a, 140b) wherein the opening is at least partly formed by at least one gap (144) between the guide plates (140a, 140b).
  6. 6. The anchor assembly according to claim 5, wherein the guide element (138) comprises at least one distance holder (142) located at least partly between the guide plates (140a, 140b).
  7. 7. The anchor assembly according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the guide element (138) comprises at least one roller element (146), optionally allowing a gliding of the absorber element (130) along the roller element (146), wherein the roller element (146) is preferably in work relationship with, at least partly comprised by, connected to and/or located at the distance holder (142).
  8. 8. The anchor assembly according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the guide element (138) is detachably connectable and/or, preferably detachably, connected to the fixation means (124) and/or the substructure (106).
  9. 9. The anchor assembly according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the guide element (138) rests on and/or is connected to the fixation means (124) and/or the substructure (106) via at least one, in particular radial symmetric, reinforcing and/or centering element (148), in particular at least partly comprising at least one disk, at least one washer, at least on spacer element, at least one eyebolt and/or at least one sleeve, wherein preferably the first end (132) of the absorber element (130) reaches through the reinforcing and/or centering element (148).
  10. 10. The anchor assembly according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the guide element (138) has at least partly in at least one first area a form being complementary to a form of a second area of the fixation means (124), of the substructure (106) and/or of the reinforcing and/or centering element (148), in particular the first area and the second area form a force fit and/or form fit connection, at least one tongue-and-groove connection, at least one clip connection, at least one latch connection and/or at least one snap-in connection.
  11. 11. The anchor assembly according to claim 10, wherein the guide element (138) comprises at least one recess (150) and the reinforcing and/or centering element (148) comprises at least one, preferably radial symmetric, extension (152), at least partly reaching into the recess (150) of the guide element (138) and/or the reinforcing and/or centering element comprises at least one recess and the reinforcing and/or centering element comprises at least one, preferably radial symmetric, extension, at least partly reaching into the recess of the reinforcing and/or centering element.
  12. 12. The anchor assembly according to one of the claims 9 to 11, wherein the reinforcing and/or centering element (148) comprises at least one elastic material, at least on plastic material, at least one metal material and/or at least one composite material.
  13. 13. Anchor assembly according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the first connection element (122) is, directly or indirectly, connectable to at least one lifeline, at least one horizontal lifeline, at least one lanyard (106), at least on personal fall limiter, and/or at least one a safety harness (112), optionally worn by a user (102).
  14. 14. Anchor assembly according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the substructure (106) comprises at least partly and/or is formed by at least one support structure, at least one roof, at least one rail system, preferably at least partly comprised by and/or connected to the support structure, at least one load bearing structure, at least one indoor inventory and/or at least one high bay storage.
  15. 15. Method of absorbing a fall of a user (102) connected to an anchor assembly (114), in particular an anchor assembly (114) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the anchor assembly (114) comprises at least one energy absorber (126) having at least one elongate absorber element (130) at least indirectly connectable to a substructure (106) and/or a fixation means (124) at a first end (118, 132) of the energy absorber (126) and/or the absorber element (130) and at least one guide element (148) at least indirectly connectable to at least one first connection element (122) located at a second end (120) of the energy absorber (126) located opposite the first end (118) of the energy absorber (126) and having at least one opening (144) through which the absorber element (130) reaches at least partly, wherein in case of a fall event the guide element (148) is disconnected from the fixation means (124) and/or the substructure (106) and/or the resting support of the guide element (138) on the fixation means (124) and/or the substructure (106) is dissolved and the guide element (138) travels along the absorber element (130).
  16. 16. Method according to claim 15, wherein during a travel of the guide element (138) the absorber element (130) is deformed, optionally elastically, plastically and/or permanently deformed.
  17. 17. Method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the travel of the guide element (138) along the absorber element (130) is restricted by at least one stop element (136), optionally at least partly comprised by and/or connected to the absorber element (130).

Description

ANCHOR ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF ABSORBING A FALL OF A USER SPECIFICATION The present disclosure relates to an anchor assembly, in particular to an anchor assembly used in fall protection applications and a method of absorbing a fall of a user. In certain situations, it is desired for an operative to work at height, for example, on the roof surface of a building. An example of an anchor fitted to a building is disclosed in, for example, DE 10 132 297 Al which details a roof anchor for attachment to a standing seam roof of a building having struts that articulate about a threaded pin which is secured by a bolt. A similar device is disclosed in DE 20 2007 013 157 Ul. Furthermore from WO 2022/167788 Al and GB 2 362 448 A generic anchor assemblies are known. Such anchor assemblies can in particular be installed on a roof structure to prevent the roof structure in the moment of a user’s fall from too high loads and simultaneously connects the users securely to the roof. For this purpose a horizontal lifeline can be connected to an energy absorber of the anchor system. The energy absorber has a defined pre-tension and/or resistance to ensure that in a fall event, i.e. when forces above a first threshold are introduced into the anchor system, the user is effectively protected from unintended high forces and stresses that might cause injuries up to death in a fall event. In particular the energy absorber ensures that the fall is absorbed with moderate forces acting on the falling user. It is important to ensure that the energy absorber effectively absorbs a fall of a user. In known anchor systems the problem exists that the absorption capacities of the anchor assembly and/or the energy absorber are depending on the direction into which the fall is occurring relative to the anchor assembly and/or the energy absorber. It is thus the object of the claimed subject matter to further develop the known anchor systems to overcome the before described disadvantages, in particular to ensure that the energy absorber has the ability to absorb falling forces uniformly around its circumference, i.e. that the falling force is absorbed uniformly irrespective into which direction the fall is occurring around the circumference of the anchor assembly. According to a first aspect this problem is solved by an anchor assembly, particularly for a fall protection system, the anchor assembly comprising at least one fixation means for connection to at least one substructure, at least one energy absorber having at least one elongate absorber element at least indirectly connectable to the substructure and/or the fixation means at a first end of the energy absorber and/or absorber element and at least one guide element at least indirectly connectable to at least one first connection element located at a second end of the energy absorber located opposite the first end of the energy absorber, wherein the absorber element is at least partly reaching through at least one opening comprised by the guide element wherein the guide element is connectable to the fixation means and/or the substructure and/or rests at least indirectly on the fixation means and/or the substructure. For the anchor assembly it is proposed that the fixation means comprises at least one base plate, at least one connector for connecting to at least one post, to the substructure, to a load bearing structure, to a bottom fix structure and /or to a top fix. Furthermore an anchor assembly can be characterized in that the absorber element comprises at least partly at least one elastic element, at least one at least partly wound and/or rolled-up element, at least one plastically deformable element, at least one spring, at least one spiral element, at least one coil element, at least one coil spring, at least one plastic material, at least one metal material, at least one plastically deformable material and/or at least one elastomeric material. It is also proposed that the absorber element comprises at least one stop element to restrict a movement of the absorber element through the opening of the guide element and or a travel of the guide element along the absorber element, wherein preferably the stop element has at least one outer dimension being greater than the inner dimension of the opening. Alternatively or additionally it is proposed that the guide element comprises at least one pair of guide plates wherein the opening is at least partly formed by at least one gap between the guide plates. For the before described embodiment it is preferred that the guide element comprises at least one distance holder located at least partly between the guide plates. The anchor assembly can be further characterized in that the guide element comprises at least one roller element, optionally allowing a gliding of the absorber element along the roller element, wherein the roller element is preferably in work relationship with, at least partly comprised by, connected to and/or located at the dista