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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing plug-in connections between frame covers and frame adapters lack sufficient security against twisting and require separate tooling for left-hand and right-hand versions, complicating production and assembly.
Innovation Solution
A U-shaped plug connection design featuring a tongue that inserts into a pocket with a stop and securing lug, where the stop and lug are positioned between delimiting webs to prevent the tongue from being pulled out, ensuring secure attachment and allowing for symmetrical tooling usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional plug-in connection is used between frame cover and frame adapter, then the connection can be established, but the connection is not sufficiently secured against twisting and requires separate tooling for left-hand and right-hand versions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by designing the pocket with a delimiting web that creates an asymmetric internal structure, while the overall plug-in connection remains symmetric in its functionality. The delimiting web positioned between the stop and securing lug creates an asymmetric constraint that prevents twisting movements, thereby resolving the contradiction between maintaining simple symmetric tooling and preventing asymmetric twisting forces.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new dimensional constraint by adding the delimiting web that extends in the thickness direction of the pocket. This third-dimensional element (the web positioned between stop and securing lug) prevents twisting by constraining rotational movement, thereby preventing twisting without complicating the planar tooling design for left and right versions.
2Ease of manufacture
If the plug-in connection is simplified for short frame adapters, then production is simplified, but the connection security against twisting is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the pocket structure by introducing a delimiting web that divides the pocket's internal space. This segmentation creates distinct functional zones: one for the stop and another for the securing lug, with the web itself acting as a structural reinforcement. This segmentation allows the connection to remain simple for short adapters while maintaining high security against twisting through the distributed constraint points.
Solution Approach 2:
The delimiting web acts as an intermediary element between the stop and the securing lug. It transfers and distributes the loads between these two components, preventing twisting forces from concentrating on a single point. This intermediary structure enables short frame adapters to maintain secure connections without requiring complex multi-point attachment mechanisms.
3Manufacturing precision
If separate tooling is used for left-hand and right-hand versions, then the connection can be precisely formed, but production complexity and tool inventory increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent achieves universality by designing the pocket and tongue connection as mirror-symmetric in its overall geometry, allowing the same punching tool to create precise connections for both left-hand and right-hand frame adapters. The delimiting web is positioned to maintain functional symmetry, enabling a single tool set to produce precise connections across all configurations without requiring version-specific tooling.
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 4
AI summary
The invention relates to a bracket sleeve 5, in particular a bracket sleeve with a U-shaped or approximately U-shaped cross-section, comprising at least one bracket adapter 6 on the wall 5a of the bracket sleeve 5, said adapter being connected to the wall by means of at least one plug connection 7. The plug connection 7 consists substantially of a pocket 8 which is provided on the wall and a tongue 9 which can be inserted into said pocket 8 and which runs transverse to the longitudinal extension of the bracket sleeve 5. The tongue 9 lies in the region of a recess 10 of the bracket adapter 6, a first stop and a first securing projection of the recess 10 running transverse to the insertion direction of the tongue. The pocket 8 and the recess 10 are each designed in a mirror-symmetrical manner to the tongue 9 such that the recess 10 is provided with two stops 10a which lie laterally adjacent to the tongue 9 and which rest against the two correspondingly arranged delimiting connecting pieces 8a and 8b of the pocket 8. The recess 10 further has two securing projections 10b which rest against the correspondingly arranged delimiting connecting pieces 8a, 8b of the pocket 8 such that said projections engage behind the connecting pieces.