Adjustable Architectural Wall for Raised Floor Anchoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Securing architectural walls in indoor environments with raised floors and suspended ceilings is challenging due to insufficient structural support, making it difficult to perfectly align channels or walls, leading to issues with anchoring and stability.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an adjustment mechanism that allows architectural walls to be selectively adjusted relative to the floor and ceiling, ensuring secure vertical positioning and eliminating side-to-side movement, using mechanisms such as screws, nuts, and support members to align and secure the walls within channels or tracks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If architectural walls are anchored directly to raised floors and suspended ceilings, then structural support is provided, but sufficient anchoring strength and alignment precision cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces channels as intermediary elements between the architectural wall and the permanent structure (floor/ceiling). These channels serve as mediators that provide both structural support and alignment adjustment capabilities, resolving the contradiction between anchoring strength and alignment precision by decoupling these two functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The adjustment mechanism within the channels allows for dynamic positioning of the architectural wall during installation. This dynamic capability enables precise alignment to be achieved even when the permanent structure has alignment variations, while still maintaining strong anchoring through the channel system.
2Strength
If channels are cut out or attached to floor and ceiling for wall anchoring, then structural support is provided, but perfect alignment of channels or walls becomes difficult or impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The channel system incorporates an adjustment mechanism that allows for dynamic alignment correction during installation. This enables the channels to be aligned precisely with the architectural wall even if the initial positioning relative to the permanent structure is not perfect, thereby resolving the alignment difficulty while maintaining structural support.
Solution Approach 2:
The system separates the anchoring function (provided by the channel attached to permanent structure) from the alignment function (provided by the adjustment mechanism). This segmentation allows each component to optimize its specific function without compromising the other.
3Ease of manufacture
If raised floors and suspended ceilings are used to hide infrastructure, then aesthetic improvement is achieved, but sufficient structural support for wall anchoring is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The channel acts as an intermediary that transfers the anchoring load from the architectural wall through the raised floor or suspended ceiling to the permanent structure beneath. This allows the aesthetic benefits of raised floors and suspended ceilings to be maintained while still achieving adequate structural support for wall anchoring.
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatus, systems, and methods for constructing and installing architectural walls that are secured to a floor and/or a ceiling and that that include an adjustment mechanism. The adjustment mechanism may allow the architectural wall to be selectively adjusted horizontally relative to the floor and/or ceiling so that a vertical positioning of the wall may be achieved. The adjustment mechanism may also allow the architectural wall to fit securely to a floor and/or ceiling.