Collapsible Disc Flanges With Living Hinges and Friction Retention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing collapsible accessories with sliding arms lack efficient mechanisms for controlled collapse and expansion, often resulting in structural damage and limited durability due to inadequate flexible connections and frictional retention.
Innovation Solution
The use of flexible flanges with bulbous tips and living hinges formed from thinned plastic, which connect top and bottom discs via sliding hinges, allowing for repeated bending and rotation to control the insertion and withdrawal of flanges into portals, maintaining structural integrity and resilience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If traditional rigid connections are used to connect top and bottom discs, then structural strength is improved, but the ability to repeatedly expand and collapse without structural damage deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses flexible flanges made from thinned plastic material that can repeatedly bend and return to their original shape. These flexible flanges connect the top and bottom discs, allowing the structure to expand and collapse repeatedly without permanent deformation or structural damage, thus resolving the contradiction between structural strength and durability through repeated motion.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the connection material by using thinned plastic material with controlled flexibility. The thinned material has sufficient flexibility to bend repeatedly while maintaining enough strength to connect the discs, enabling the structure to withstand repeated expansion and collapse cycles without failure.
2Ease of operation
If sliding arms are used for collapse mechanism, then ease of operation is improved, but structural damage and limited durability occur due to inadequate flexible connections
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible flanges replace traditional rigid sliding arm connections with flexible plastic elements that can bend and return to their original shape. This flexible connection maintains ease of operation for the collapse mechanism while preventing structural damage and improving durability through repeated use.
3Ease of operation
If frictional retention is used to hold flanges in place, then ease of operation is improved, but structural integrity deteriorates due to inadequate retention
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible flanges maintain structural integrity through their inherent flexibility and resilience. The thinned plastic material provides sufficient frictional retention to hold the flanges in place during operation while maintaining the structural integrity needed to prevent damage during repeated expansion and collapse cycles.
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
Enables reliable and durable collapsible discs that can repeatedly expand and collapse without structural damage, utilizing frictional retention and flexible connections to maintain disc alignment and stability through rotational motion.
Implementation Method 1
A flexure bearing which is flexible (changeable angle) and connects two rigid elements together in a way in which the rigid pieces can repeatedly (1000+ times) bend relative to one another and remain connected
Implementation Method 2
Living hinges of embodiments of the disclosed technology are formed from thinned plastic material between disc and a part of a rotating hinge
Implementation Method 3
utilizing frictional retention and flexible connections to maintain disc alignment and stability through rotational motion
Data Source
AI summary
Collapsible discs move towards or away from each other in embodiments of the disclosed technology by changing the angle of flanges which connect the two discs together. The flanges connect to each respective disc by way of one a fixed connection to one disc and a slidable connection to the other. The flanges slide into portals in the bottom disc and then extend along and into a hollow space therein the bottom disc. The flanges have a tip or multiple tips which is/are wider than a rest of an elongated length thereof which frictionally holds the flanges, and therefore, the discs in places until the discs are rotated causing the flanges to be pulled out from or pushed into the portals. This, in turn, causes the discs to move closer together or become further apart in embodiments of the disclosed technology.