Adjustable Bracket for Irregular Pool Deck Framing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional deck framing systems face challenges when dealing with irregularly shaped pool perimeters, as commercially available brackets are limited to standard angles, making it difficult to create secure and accurate connections, and the overhanging pool lip poses risks of cracking the deck or inadequate support.
Innovation Solution
A bracket design featuring a thin, rigid body with a brace, ear, and flange, allowing for adjustable and poseable components to accommodate irregular surfaces, providing flexibility in angular orientation and secure attachment to vertical surfaces like pool walls, while minimizing the risk of deck damage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional brackets with standard angles are used, then manufacturing and availability are improved, but adaptability to irregular pool perimeters deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket incorporates a living hinge that allows the brace to be bent to various angles during installation. This dynamic flexibility enables the bracket to adapt to irregular pool perimeters while maintaining standard manufacturing processes for the base component.
Solution Approach 2:
The bracket design allows changing the angular parameter of the brace relative to the flange by bending the living hinge to different degrees. This parameter adjustment enables accommodation of various irregular angles without requiring multiple pre-fabricated bracket types.
2Ease of operation
If anchors are drilled close to the deck surface to accommodate the overhanging pool lip, then installation feasibility is improved, but reliability of support deteriorates due to risk of cracking or failure
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket acts as an intermediary component that distributes the load from the joist across a wider area of the pool wall, rather than concentrating force at a single anchor point near the deck surface. This reduces the risk of cracking while maintaining installation feasibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The bracket's structural design provides beforehand cushioning by creating a load-distributing framework that prevents excessive stress concentration at the anchor points, thereby preventing potential cracking or failure before it occurs.
3Measurement precision
If custom cutting of frame members is performed on-site to accommodate irregular perimeters, then measurement accuracy is improved, but productivity deteriorates due to time consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The adjustable living hinge eliminates the need for precise pre-cutting of frame members at specific angles. Installers can work more quickly by bending the brace to the required angle on-site rather than performing time-consuming custom cuts, while still achieving accurate angular alignment.
Data Source
AI summary
A bracket for hanging a joist with respect to a vertical surface includes a brace having a top, an opposed bottom, a front, and an opposed back. An extends from the back of the brace, proximate the top. A boom, proximate the bottom, extends from the back of the brace to a flange, and a gap is defined between the ear and the flange. The ear and the flange are independently poseable with respect to the brace.