Drainage Channel with Adjustable Flanges for Floor Height Flexibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing drainage systems face challenges such as the need for full waterproofing, increased stock requirements due to varying floor finishes, and inflexibility in changing floor specifications, leading to potential water damage and costly reworking when floor heights change.
Innovation Solution
A drainage channel with upwardly open design and adjustable planar flanges that secure to the floor and walls without subfloor support, allowing for flexible installation and adjustment to match different floor heights, and can be manufactured in standard lengths with adjustable grate heights.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a premade drainage channel is used, then installation is simplified, but significant bracing is required underneath at precise depth
Solution Approach 1:
The drainage channel incorporates an adjustable depth mechanism that allows the channel depth to be modified after installation. This dynamic adjustment capability eliminates the need for precise pre-determined bracing depth, as the channel can be adapted to match the actual floor height and tile thickness variations without requiring complex underlying support structures at specific depths.
2Manufacturing precision
If the channel depth is fixed to match a specific floor height, then the channel can be installed, but changing the floor specification requires significant reworking
Solution Approach 1:
The channel includes an adjustable depth feature that allows modification of the channel's vertical dimension after installation. This enables the system to adapt to different floor specifications and tile thicknesses without requiring complete removal and reinstallation, providing flexibility for future renovations or specification changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The drainage channel system allows for parameter changes in depth and bracing configuration. The adjustable depth mechanism and flexible bracing system enable the channel to be reconfigured to match different floor heights and specifications, eliminating the need for significant reworking when floor parameters change.
3Adaptability or versatility
If different heights of covering are provided for varying floor finishes, then all floor specifications can be accommodated, but more stock of drains must be held
Solution Approach 1:
The drainage channel is designed as a universal product that can accommodate multiple floor specifications through its adjustable depth mechanism. Instead of manufacturing and stocking multiple fixed-depth channel variants, a single adjustable channel design can serve all floor finish requirements, significantly reducing inventory complexity and stock requirements while maintaining versatility.
Data Source
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AI summary
Disclosed is a drainage channel adapted to receive fluid from a building floor and drain it to a waste outlet. The channel has an upwardly open channel with a lower most floor portion and about the floor portion are sides to fluidly enclose and define the channel. On an upper most periphery of the channel a first one of the sides has a substantially planar flange extending outwardly therefrom, and on the upper most periphery a second one of the sides has a substantially planar flange extending outwardly or upwardly therefrom. There is a waste aperture in the floor portion to allow draining of the fluid from the channel to the waste outlet. A grate is supported from the floor portion via upstands unitary with, and extending from, a lower portion of the grate, the grate is adjusted in height via a height of the upstands to have an upper surface of the grate substantially at a desired height relative an upper surface of a finishing of the building floor. The channel can be substantially located within an aperture in the building floor and the substantially planar flange(s) extending outwardly can be secured to an upper presenting surface of the floor, and the substantially planar flange extending upwardly can be secured to an upward surface of a channel surrounding wall, to hold the drainage channel in place, such that a drainage channel can be located in the building floor for removal of fluid therefrom.