Air nozzle with spring element inserted into a receiving space of a lamella
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing air nozzles with pivotably mounted slats suffer from fluctuating operating forces due to tolerance issues and material expansion, leading to operational discomfort characterized by snagging, jamming, and excessive play.
Innovation Solution
An air nozzle design where a slat is pivotably mounted via two bearing pins with a receiving space for a guide pin, acted upon by a spring force, generating a sliding guide and frictional contact on one side, ensuring constant operating force regardless of slat length or material expansion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If spring elements are used to generate operating force on the slat, then the slat can be automatically returned to initial position, but the operating force fluctuates due to tolerance and thermal expansion
Solution Approach 1:
A friction element is introduced as an intermediary component between the slat and the spring element. The friction element absorbs the fluctuations in operating force caused by tolerance variations and thermal expansion, providing a stable and consistent operating force to the slat while allowing the spring element to maintain its return function.
Solution Approach 2:
The friction element is designed with specific friction characteristics that can be adjusted through material selection and surface treatment. By controlling the friction coefficient and contact pressure, the system compensates for variations in spring force due to temperature and tolerance, maintaining constant operating force on the slat.
2Reliability
If friction elements are added to dampen spring force fluctuations, then operating force constancy improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The friction element is integrated with existing components of the air nozzle system, such as the housing or mounting structure, rather than being a completely separate component. This merging approach adds the necessary friction-based damping function while minimizing the increase in overall device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The friction element utilizes the natural friction between surfaces that already exist in the bearing pins and mounting interfaces. By optimizing these existing surface interactions, the system achieves force fluctuation damping without requiring additional active control mechanisms or complex components.
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
The solution ensures a constant and stable operating force, reducing operational discomfort by isolating the force generation on one side of the slat, thus minimizing the impact of tolerance and length changes, resulting in improved ease of use and reduced snagging and jamming.
Implementation Method 1
the operational force is generated by a spring element (6) acting on a sliding element (4) which is inserted into a receiving space (7) integrated into the slat (2)
Implementation Method 2
the sliding element (4) has at least one friction surface (4b) in its region positioned outside the slat (2), which forms a frictional contact (R1) with the outside of a wall (1) of the air nozzle when the slat (2) is pivoted
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to an air nozzle with a lamella (2) which is mounted pivotably about a rotation axis (9) in the air nozzle by means of two bearing pins (3) arranged on opposite end faces (8a, 8b) of the lamella (2). A receiving space (7) integrated into the lamella (2) is provided in the region of a first end face (8a) of the lamella (2), a guide pin (4a) of a slide element (4) is inserted into the receiving space (7), the guide pin (4a) and the receiving space (7) form a slide guide, the guide pin (4a) is displaceable within the receiving space (7) parallel to the rotation axis (9), the slide element (4) is acted on within the receiving space (7) by a spring force exerted by a spring element (6), and the slide element (4) has at least one friction surface (4b) in its region positioned outside the lamella (2), which friction surface faces the first end face (8a) of the lamella (2) and, when the lamella (2) is pivoted, forms a first friction contact (R1) with an outer wall of the air nozzle on account of the spring force.