Collapsible Light Control Grid with Tape Spring Frame
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing light control grids for soft boxes face difficulties in attachment and sagging, especially with larger grids, due to the flexible fabric strips and the complexity of L-shaped tape spring frames which can be hard to open and provide inadequate center support.
Innovation Solution
A collapsible light control grid with a flexible outer band and sewn junctions forming pockets for frame members, combined with tape springs inserted into sheaths for bracing, allowing easy expansion into a rectangular shape and improved center support through bracing cross members.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If flexible fabric strips are used for the light control grid, then the grid can be easily attached to the soft box aperture, but the fabric strips deflect or sag once installed
Solution Approach 1:
The frame is divided into multiple L-shaped tape spring members that can be independently inserted into pockets at the corners of the grid. This segmentation allows each frame member to provide localized support where needed while maintaining overall grid stability, preventing the sagging that occurs with continuous flexible fabric strips alone.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention combines flexible fabric strips with semi-rigid L-shaped tape spring frame members to create a composite structure. The fabric provides flexibility for attachment while the tape spring members provide structural support to prevent sagging, resolving the contradiction between ease of attachment and grid stability.
2Stability of the object's composition
If L-shaped tape spring frame members are used to support the grid, then center support is improved, but the frame becomes difficult to open to rectangular configuration
Solution Approach 1:
The L-shaped tape spring members are designed to be dynamically flexible during assembly but statically rigid during use. The tape springs can be easily bent and manipulated to open the frame to a rectangular configuration during setup, then maintain their shape to provide stable center support during operation, resolving the contradiction between ease of opening and center support.
Solution Approach 2:
The tape spring frame members are self-contained units with pockets that automatically receive and secure the light control grid strips. The L-shaped geometry provides self-aligning corners that guide the fabric strips into proper position, reducing the complexity of assembly while maintaining center support.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the tape spring corners are bent to form corners, then the frame can be collapsed, but the corners are difficult to discover and align
Solution Approach 1:
The L-shaped tape spring frame members are provided in contrasting colors that make the corners easily visible and distinguishable during assembly. This color coding helps users quickly locate and align the corners when collapsing or expanding the frame, resolving the contradiction between collapsibility and corner detection.
4Device complexity
If the grid is supported only at the edges, then the frame structure is simple, but the center portion sags especially in large grids
Solution Approach 1:
The frame is segmented into multiple L-shaped tape spring members positioned at strategic locations including corners and center points. This segmentation allows the frame to provide distributed support across the grid surface rather than only at edges, preventing center sagging in large grids while maintaining relatively simple frame structure through modular assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The L-shaped tape spring members extend into the third dimension by bending at right angles, creating vertical support elements that project into the space where the light control grid is installed. This dimensional change allows the frame members to provide center support without adding horizontal complexity to the frame structure.
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 enables easy installation and reduced sagging of light control grids by providing a collapsible and expandable frame with well-defined corners and enhanced center support, facilitating attachment to large soft boxes without collapsing or becoming unwieldy.
Implementation Method 1
The tape springs are metal strips biased to a straight configuration due to being bent about the longitudinal axis, but may be bent or rolled along its length
Data Source
AI summary
A light control grid has a collapsible frame having an outer flexible band with straight sides supported by flexible strips, where each side is sewn to an adjacent side to form an enclosed polygonal perimeter, and the sewn junctions of the adjacent sides form pockets. Intersecting sets of flexible light control strips are sewn by the ends to the inner side of the flexible band to form light channels. A tape spring is inserted into a flexible sheath assembly for each side of the outer band, with each end inserted into the two pockets for that side, where slits near the end of each light control strip provide clearance for the sheath assembly to be inserted therethrough. Optionally a central flexible light control strip is replaced with a bracing cross member extending across the polygonal perimeter.