Breakable Tab Tulip for Roller Shutter Guide

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing rolling shutter installations require significant dismantling to replace worn-out tulips, which wear out over time, leading to inefficiencies and increased maintenance costs.

Innovation Solution

A tulip design with a breakable tab that allows for independent fixation to the lower board of the trunk, enabling adjustment and easy replacement without disassembling the entire mechanism, and adaptable to various trunk types and thicknesses.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of repair

If the tulip is fixed to the box using traditional embedding methods, then the tulip provides stable guidance for the screen, but replacing the tulip requires dismantling the entire mechanism supporting the winding tube

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveEase of replacing the tulipVSAvoidComplexity of dismantling the mechanism
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of repairVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The tulip is divided into separable components: a body portion and a leg portion with a breakable tab. The tab can be broken to detach the leg from the body, allowing the tulip to be removed without dismantling the entire mechanism. This segmentation enables easy replacement while maintaining stable installation during use.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The breakable tab is extracted as a separate functional element that enables detachment. By breaking the tab, the leg is extracted from the body, allowing the tulip to be removed from the lower board without affecting the mechanism supporting the winding tube.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

2Adaptability or versatility

If the tulip is designed with fixed positioning, then the installation is simple, but the tulip cannot adapt to various thicknesses of protective screen and different box types

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveAdaptability to various trunk types and screen thicknessesVSAvoidEase of manufacturing the tulip
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The tab is designed to be breakable, allowing the position of the internal pad to be adjusted along the adjustment axis by breaking the tab at different locations. This dynamic adjustment capability enables adaptation to various screen thicknesses and box types while maintaining a simple, standardized tulip design that is easy to manufacture.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

3Ease of operation

If the tulip uses a standardized fixing method, then manufacturing is simplified, but the tulip cannot be easily adjusted to accommodate different screen thicknesses

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveEase of adjusting the tulip positionVSAvoidComplexity of the fixing mechanism
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The tab is designed as a disposable, breakable element that can be easily broken by hand without tools. This simple, low-cost feature enables easy adjustment of the tulip position for different screen thicknesses while keeping the overall fixing mechanism simple and standardized.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #27Cheap short-living objects (Disposable)

Data Source

PatentEP4159969B1Guide inlet for a screen, in particular a roller shutter, and associated protective installation
Publication Date: 2024.08.21 ZURFLUH FELLER SA
  • EP4159969B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4159969B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4159969B1 patent drawingFigure 3a~3b

AI summary

This tulip (100) for guiding a screen (40) of a protection installation, in particular a roller shutter, includes an internal portion (120) with a fixing part (124), configured to be assembled to a box (20) of the protection installation, and an internal pad (122), configured to guide the screen along a guide plane (P26) when an internal face (42A) of the screen slides on this internal pad. Advantageously, the fastening portion includes a tab (132), which extends along an adjustment axis orthogonal to the guide plane and which is configured to be fixed to an internal surface (28A) of a lower board (24A) of the chest, and at least one breakable element (134A; 134B) which extends the tab along the adjustment axis, each breakable element being configured to adjust the internal pad into position along the adjustment axis relative to a front edge (25A) of the lower board when the tab is fixed to the lower board.