Collapsible Mattress Foundation Using Slidable Panel Connections
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional bed and mattress foundations are large and bulky, making them difficult to store and move due to their inability to collapse sufficiently for transportation and storage.
Innovation Solution
A collapsible bed foundation design featuring detachable and slidably interconnected panels, allowing for easy assembly and disassembly without tools, using sliding mechanisms such as elongated slots and protruding elements, enabling the foundation to be compacted into small components for storage and expanded for use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional foundations are made large and bulky to provide adequate support, then structural strength is improved, but ease of storage and transportation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The foundation is divided into multiple detachable panels that can be separated into individual components for storage and reassembled into a complete foundation structure for use. This segmentation allows the foundation to transition between a compact stored state and a fully functional deployed state, resolving the contradiction between storage convenience and structural strength.
2Volume of moving object
If foundations are designed to collapse for storage, then ease of storage is improved, but assembly complexity worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The foundation employs dynamic connection mechanisms that allow panels to be easily attached and detached. The connections transition between locked and unlocked states, enabling simple assembly and disassembly operations. This dynamic design reduces assembly complexity while maintaining the collapsible functionality needed for compact storage.
3Ease of operation
If detachable connections are used to enable disassembly, then ease of operation is improved, but structural stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The connection mechanisms are pre-configured with alignment features and engagement paths that guide the assembly process. The protrusions and recesses are designed to automatically align panels during assembly, ensuring proper positioning and stable connections without requiring complex adjustment procedures. This preliminary design of connection geometry maintains structural stability while preserving ease of operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A mattress foundation includes: a head end panel assembly; a foot end panel assembly; a left side panel assembly; and a right side panel assembly, all slidably attaching to each other using sliding mechanisms. At least one of the sliding mechanisms includes an elongated slot and an elongated protruding element that fits within the elongated slot. A horizontal cross-section of the elongated slot and/or the elongated protruding element includes thin elongated flexible arms, attached at their proximal ends to a common surface, but otherwise extending away from such common surface and separated from each other. When viewed from the horizontal cross-section, the average thickness of the thin elongated flexible arms is substantially less than the length of the thin elongated flexible arms.