Adjustable Overhead Shelving With Telescoping Width and Height
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing storage solutions for homes and buildings lack versatility and adjustability, failing to accommodate various widths and heights of items, particularly for HVAC systems, children's toys, and audio/visual equipment, and do not easily allow for additional shelving or height adjustments.
Innovation Solution
A shelving unit system with adjustable arms and legs that can be attached to steel beams, wood rafters, or joists, featuring telescoping extensions and clearance openings for fasteners, allowing for customizable height and width adjustments, and the ability to add or remove shelves as needed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If fixed shelving units are used, then installation is simple, but adaptability to different widths and heights is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The shelving unit is divided into modular components including adjustable arms with multiple positioning holes, telescoping extension members, and separable connection joints. This segmentation allows independent adjustment of each component to achieve custom width and height configurations while maintaining relatively simple individual part designs.
Solution Approach 2:
The shelving unit incorporates dynamic adjustment mechanisms where arms can be positioned at multiple heights through clearance openings and fasteners, and extension members can be telescoped to varying lengths. This dynamic configurability enables the structure to adapt to different storage needs without requiring a completely different design for each application.
2Adaptability or versatility
If adjustable shelving units are used, then versatility is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The arms, extension members, and connection joints are designed as universal components that can be configured for multiple different storage applications. The same basic components serve both horizontal and vertical adjustment functions, reducing the need for specialized parts for each adjustment direction and thereby limiting the increase in overall complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Telescoping extension members are nested within the arm structures, allowing compact storage when not in use and easy deployment when extension is needed. This nesting approach provides variable width and height capabilities without requiring completely separate extended components, thus controlling the increase in device complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If fixed width shelving is used, then manufacturing is simple, but adaptability to different item sizes is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The design incorporates variable parameters including multiple clearance opening positions on arms, adjustable fastener locations, and telescoping extension lengths. These parameter changes allow a single manufacturing process to produce components that can be configured for different item sizes, avoiding the need to manufacture entirely different shelving units for each application.
Solution Approach 2:
Clearance openings and attachment points are pre-positioned on the arms during manufacturing at standard intervals. This preliminary action during production allows for easy field adjustment to accommodate different item sizes without requiring complex custom manufacturing for each configuration, balancing manufacturing simplicity with end-use adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to shelving systems and methods that are adaptable to a number of applications, including building heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (“HVAC”) systems, shelving units for holding children's games and toys, closet organizers with hangers and shelves, storage systems in a garage or workshop, storage shelves over a garage door, and as a shelving unit for audio and visual equipment. The shelving unit includes a means for attachment to an overhead member, such as a steel beam, wood rafter, wood joist, wood beam, or ceiling, a generally J or L shaped bar, the ability to raise or lower the J or L shaped bar to provide for storage at different heights, an extension member removably coupled to the J or L bar, and wherein the extension member has a length that provides for storage space of different widths. In another aspect, an inverted shelving stand is provided. In still a further aspect, a U shaped swiveling hanging unit is provided.