Cooktop Mounting Frame Spacers for Precise Worktop Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooktop designs face challenges with force transmission through decorative frames, leading to wear and reduced lifetime, complex and costly assembly, and difficulty in maintaining uniform spacing, which results in undesired temperature stresses on the worktop.
Innovation Solution
The use of distance elements, preferably angled and made of plastic, to position the cooktop accurately within the worktop recess, absorbing forces and reducing wear by acting as both spacers and supports, ensuring precise positioning and minimizing contact between the decorative frame and the worktop.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the cooking surface is supported directly on the worktop, then the structure is simple, but the height above worktop level is limited and positioning precision is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces distance elements as intermediary components between the cooktop and worktop. These elements serve as mediators that simultaneously provide positioning precision and force transmission, resolving the contradiction between structural simplicity and positioning precision by adding a specialized intermediate component.
Solution Approach 2:
The support structure is segmented into distinct functional components: distance elements for positioning and mounting frame for structural support. This segmentation allows each component to optimize its specific function, with distance elements providing precise positioning while maintaining overall structural simplicity.
2Stability of the object's composition
If profiles are glued underneath the glass ceramic for support, then positioning stability is improved, but assembly complexity and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the positioning and support functions into integrated distance elements that combine spacer and support features. This consolidation eliminates the need for separate alignment profiles and adhesive applications, reducing assembly complexity while maintaining positioning stability through the monolithic distance element design.
Solution Approach 2:
The distance elements serve multiple functions simultaneously: they act as spacers for positioning, supports for load bearing, and alignment guides during installation. This multi-functionality replaces the multi-component system of profiles and adhesives with a single universal component, simplifying assembly while ensuring positioning stability.
3Length of stationary object
If separate distance pieces are used between worktop and cooktop housing, then spacing is maintained, but assembly complexity increases and force transmission is inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the spacing and force transmission functions into the integrated distance elements. These elements maintain the required spacing while providing direct force transmission paths, eliminating the need for separate distance pieces and reducing assembly complexity through functional consolidation.
4Strength
If forces are transmitted through the decorative frame to the worktop, then structural connection is achieved, but wear increases and joint lifetime is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the force transmission function from the decorative frame and relocates it to the mounting frame and distance elements. This separation removes the harmful force transmission path through the decorative frame, preserving its aesthetic function while extending joint lifetime by directing forces through more durable structural components.
Solution Approach 2:
The mounting frame and distance elements serve as intermediary structures that bear and transmit forces away from the decorative frame. These intermediaries protect the decorative frame from mechanical stresses, reducing wear on glued joints and extending the overall system lifetime while maintaining structural connection.
5Length of stationary object
If the cooktop is positioned closely to the worktop, then installation height is reduced, but temperature stresses on the worktop increase
Solution Approach 1:
The distance elements serve as thermal intermediaries that maintain a protective gap between the cooktop and worktop. This intermediary spacing prevents direct thermal contact, reducing temperature stresses on the worktop while the compact design of the distance elements minimizes the impact on overall installation height.
Data Source
AI summary
An arrangement with a worktop and a cooktop with a cooking surface, a mounting frame and a decorative frame, which is arranged in a recess in the worktop, with the distance elements, embodied for relative positioning of the cooktop in relation to the recess and on which the cooktop rests, being arranged between the cooktop and the worktop.