Connecting elements for connecting side or front wall to bottom of drawers

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Solution Overview

Problem

The existing connection arrangements for drawer walls and floors are complex to assemble and often result in gaps between the connected parts, making it difficult to achieve precise alignment and secure fixation.

Innovation Solution

A connection arrangement featuring a base part with a holding plate and assembly elements, including a second assembly element with inclined shaft walls and side walls, which allows for easy insertion and fixation on the drawer floor, minimizing gaps and enabling adjustment between the drawers, with optional elastic areas for misalignment compensation and reversible design for easy disassembly.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the drawer front is pressed manually onto the drawer base for correct fixing, then the fixation is secured, but the assembly process becomes complex and time-consuming

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvefixation reliabilityVSAvoidassembly complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The base part is divided into a holding plate and a mounting element that can be assembled separately. The mounting element with its shaft and inclined walls can be pre-assembled and then easily inserted into the holding plate, simplifying the overall assembly process while maintaining secure fixation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The mounting element is pre-positioned with the drawer bottom before being inserted into the holding plate. This preliminary positioning ensures correct alignment and reduces the complexity of the final assembly step, as the components are already in their approximate final positions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If a mounting element connected to a base part via a flexible tab is manually inserted into the shaft, then the connecting arrangement is fixed, but the assembly process becomes complex

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveconnecting arrangement fixationVSAvoidassembly ease
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

Instead of inserting the mounting element into the shaft from the top, the mounting element is inserted from the bottom upward through the shaft. This inverted insertion method allows for easier alignment and insertion while maintaining secure fixation, as the inclined walls guide the mounting element into place.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

3Manufacturing precision

If the shaft walls and side walls of the mounting element are aligned at an acute angle, then the drawer wall can be pulled towards the drawer bottom to minimize gaps, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvegap minimizationVSAvoidmanufacturing complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The shaft walls and side walls of the mounting element are designed with a specific acute angle relationship. This angular parameter allows the mounting element to be inserted and simultaneously pull the drawer wall towards the drawer bottom, minimizing gaps. The acute angle geometry converts the insertion force into a pulling action that closes gaps automatically.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

4Adaptability or versatility

If the width of the shaft is greater than the width of the second mounting element, then later adjustment of drawer parts is enabled, but the structural stability decreases

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveadjustabilityVSAvoidstructural stability
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSStability of the object's composition

Solution Approach 1:

The shaft is designed with an asymmetric cross-section (T-shaped when viewed in plan) where the width in one direction is greater than the width of the mounting element, while the width in the perpendicular direction provides structural support. This asymmetric design enables lateral adjustment in the wider dimension while maintaining structural stability through the narrower dimension and the T-shaped reinforcement.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #4Asymmetry

Data Source

PatentEP4355173B1Connecting elements for connecting side or front wall to bottom of drawers
Publication Date: 2025.01.29 PAUL HETTICH GMBH & CO KG
  • EP4355173B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP4355173B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP4355173B1 patent drawingFigure 5~6

AI summary

A connecting arrangement (1) for connecting a drawer wall (10), in particular a front drawer panel, to a drawer base (11) such that displacement of the two drawer parts in relation to one another is prevented along at least a first directional axis (x) and is possible to a limited extent along at least a second directional axis (z) has a main part (2) with a retaining plate (5) and at least a first installation element (4) for fixing the main part (2) on the drawer wall (10) and also a second installation element (3), which can be inserted into a cavity (51) in the retaining plate (5) of the main part (2) and can be fixed on the drawer base (11), wherein the second installation element (3) has a through-bore (38) for receiving a fixing means, in particular a screw (9), a spring pin, a dowel pin, a rivet or the like, by way of which the second installation element (3) can be fixed on the drawer base (11), wherein walls (52, 53) of the cavity (51), which are located opposite one another and are oriented parallel to one another, and side walls (33, 34) of the second installation element (3), which can be guided along said cavity walls, are inclined at an acute angle or are oriented in arcuate form in relation to the through-bore (38) of the second installation element (3). A description is also given of a drawer.