Blow-Molded Plastic Table Lip Structure for Strength Without Weight
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tables with wooden or metal tabletops are heavy, expensive, and difficult to move and store, while those made of lightweight materials require additional reinforcing members that increase weight and manufacturing costs, and may damage under large loads.
Innovation Solution
A table constructed from molded plastic, specifically blow-molded plastic, with a lip structure that extends along the perimeter, featuring a unitary, one-piece design with integrated structural portions and protruded features to enhance strength and impact resistance, allowing for nesting with adjacent tables to reduce storage height.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional tables use wooden or metal tabletops, then structural strength is improved, but weight increases making the table difficult to move
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from traditional wood or metal to molded plastic, fundamentally altering the weight-strength relationship. The molded plastic tabletop achieves sufficient structural strength while maintaining significantly lower weight, directly resolving the contradiction between strength and mobility
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite construction by integrating reinforcing members within the molded plastic tabletop. This composite approach allows the lightweight plastic material to gain enhanced structural strength from the embedded reinforcements, achieving both low weight and high strength simultaneously
2Weight of moving object
If lightweight materials are used for tabletops, then weight is reduced, but structural strength decreases requiring additional reinforcing members
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the tabletop and reinforcing members into a single integrated molded plastic structure. The reinforcing members are embedded within the tabletop during the molding process, combining the lightweight plastic material with structural reinforcements into one unified component that achieves both weight reduction and strength enhancement
Solution Approach 2:
The patent modifies the physical and mechanical parameters of the plastic material through the molding process, creating a tabletop with optimized density, thickness distribution, and internal reinforcement structure that achieves high strength-to-weight ratio
3Strength
If additional reinforcing members and fasteners are added to lightweight tabletops, then structural strength is improved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple components (tabletop, reinforcing members, and fasteners) into a single molded plastic piece. The integrating structural portions and protruded features are formed directly during the molding process, eliminating the need for separate assembly steps and reducing manufacturing complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs the reinforcement integration during the initial molding process rather than as a subsequent assembly step. The reinforcing members and structural features are built into the tabletop structure beforehand, preventing the need for additional fastening operations and reducing overall manufacturing complexity
4Ease of manufacture
If conventional fasteners are used to connect frame to tabletop, then assembly is achieved, but the fasteners may detach or damage the tabletop under large loads
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the frame connection features directly into the molded plastic tabletop structure. The integrating structural portions and protruded features are formed as integral parts of the tabletop, eliminating separate fasteners and creating a unified connection system that maintains reliability under load
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the vulnerable fastener components from the connection system and replaces them with integrated molded features. By removing the separate fastener elements that can detach or damage the tabletop, the design achieves more reliable connections that are inherently part of the tabletop structure
Data Source
AI summary
A plastic molded lip structure may extend along a perimeter of a planar element and may include an outer wall, an inner wall, structural portions, and protruded features. The outer wall may extend in a normal direction from the planar element. The inner wall may be disposed in an inward direction relative to the outer wall. The structural portions may be disposed along structural sections of the perimeter and may include first portions of the inner wall and of the outer wall. The first portions may be disposed parallel to the inner wall and separated from the first portions by a first distance along the structural sections. The protruded features may be interposed between two structural portions and an inner wall may be separated from second portions of the outer wall by a second distance that is greater than the first distance.