Adjustable Glass Windscreen With Lateral Panel Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional glass windscreens are difficult to install, prone to misalignment, and lack adjustability, making removal and replacement challenging and dangerous.
Innovation Solution
An adjustable glass windscreen system with an elongate shoe and glass adjustment block, using bolts for lateral adjustment and securement bolts to align and secure glass panels, allowing installation and replacement from the inside.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If glass panels are secured in place with epoxy or grout poured-in-place in the shoe, then the glass panels are firmly fixed, but installation becomes difficult and removal or replacement becomes very difficult and dangerous
Solution Approach 1:
The shoe is divided into multiple adjustable segments with individual adjustment mechanisms. Each glass panel can be independently positioned and secured without affecting other panels, allowing for easy removal and replacement while maintaining firm fixation during operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The shoe incorporates dynamic adjustment mechanisms that allow the position of glass panels to be modified after installation. This enables installation from one side only, and facilitates future removal or replacement without dangerous disassembly of the entire structure.
2Length of moving object
If the height of glass panels is increased to six feet or more for observation decks, then unobstructed views and wind protection are improved, but misalignments along the top edges are amplified due to machining tolerances
Solution Approach 1:
The shoe includes adjustment mechanisms that allow post-installation modification of glass panel positions. This compensates for accumulated misalignments in tall structures by enabling fine-tuning of each panel's position after installation, maintaining aesthetic precision despite the height amplifying tolerance errors.
3Ease of repair
If adjustment mechanisms are added to allow removal and replacement of glass panels, then ease of maintenance is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The adjustment mechanism is segmented into simple, modular components integrated into the shoe structure. Each adjustment element is independent and straightforward, avoiding complex systems while still enabling easy removal and replacement of glass panels.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Facilitates easy, safe, and adjustable installation of heavy glass panels, eliminating the need for volatile adhesives and simplifying panel replacement.
Implementation Method 1
The adjustment cantilevers the glass panel about the buffer pads along the inside top edges of the opposing inner and outer shoe walls, and amplifies the adjustment upward along the glass panel to its distal upper edge.
Data Source
AI summary
An adjustable glass windscreen system including an elongate shoe secured atop a supporting surface with inner and outer vertical shoe walls journaled into a baseplate to define a track. A glass adjustment block is seated within the track of the shoe, likewise a three-walled open-top framing member defining a track. A glass panel is seated in the glass adjustment block. The width of the adjustment block is less than the track of the shoe to allow lateral adjustment. Buffer pads line the inside top edges of the opposing inner and outer shoe walls. Adjustment bolts are threaded through the inner and outer shoe walls and penetrate the bottom base of the glass adjustment block for back-and-forth adjustment thereof, and hence the glass panel seated therein. This cantilevers the glass panel about the buffer pads and amplifies the adjustment upward to the upper edge of the glass panel.