Drawer Guide Coupling Mechanism for Compact Tool-Free Installation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing furniture movement influencing devices are cumbersome to install, require significant space, and lack efficient coupling mechanisms, leading to difficulties in maintaining reliable kinematics and withstanding mechanical loading over time.
Innovation Solution
A device with a movement-influencing unit featuring a coupling element and coupling means that can be displaced translatorily, establishing a predeterminable coupling force, allowing for easy installation, removal, and operation while maintaining a compact design, utilizing guide arrangements and clip-in mechanisms for precise positioning and force fitting connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If traditional coupling mechanisms are used in furniture movement devices, then the device can withstand mechanical loading, but the device becomes cumbersome to install and requires significant space
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into separate modular components: a movement-influencing unit with coupling means and a coupling element. These segments can be independently manufactured and assembled, simplifying installation while maintaining structural integrity and mechanical loading capacity through standardized connection interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The coupling means are accommodated within an installation housing that integrates with the movement-influencing unit. This nested arrangement allows the coupling mechanism to be compactly housed within the existing device structure, reducing overall space requirements while preserving the coupling strength needed to withstand mechanical loads.
2Strength
If traditional coupling mechanisms are used in furniture movement devices, then the device can withstand mechanical loading, but the device requires significant space
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling means are nested within the installation housing, which is integrated into the movement-influencing unit. This compact nested configuration minimizes the volume occupied by the coupling mechanism while maintaining the structural strength required to withstand mechanical loading during furniture part movement.
Solution Approach 2:
The coupling means and installation housing are merged into an integrated movement-influencing unit. This consolidation eliminates the need for separate coupling mechanism housings, reducing the overall device volume while maintaining the necessary mechanical strength through unified structural design.
3Reliability
If complex coupling mechanisms are used, then reliable kinematics can be maintained, but the device is difficult to install and remove
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling system is segmented into standardized coupling means and coupling element with complementary connection interfaces. This segmentation enables simple tool-free assembly and disassembly operations while maintaining reliable kinematics through precision-engineered connection geometries that ensure consistent movement behavior.
Solution Approach 2:
The coupling mechanism is designed to be self-aligning and self-securing through its geometric connection interfaces. The coupling means and coupling element automatically orient and lock together during simple insertion movements, eliminating the need for complex alignment procedures or additional fastening operations, thereby ensuring reliable kinematics through precise self-positioning.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple individual elements are used for touch-latch or pressure-type means, then the device can influence furniture movement, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple individual elements for touch-latch or pressure-type movement influence are merged into a single integrated movement-influencing unit. This consolidation maintains the versatility of influencing furniture part movement through touch or pressure while reducing the number of separate components, simplifying both the device structure and installation process.
Solution Approach 2:
The movement-influencing unit is designed with universal functionality to provide touch-latch, pressure-type, and movement damping effects through its integrated coupling means. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for separate individual elements for each type of movement influence, reducing component count while maintaining adaptability across different furniture movement applications.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention proposes a device for influencing the movement of furniture parts (1, 2) which can be moved relative to one another, having a movement-influencing unit which comprises an installation housing, in which movement-influencing coupling means are accommodated such that they can be displaced at least in a translatory manner, and having a coupling element, to which the coupling means are connected in the operating state. In order to provide a device which is of space-saving construction and is comparatively straight-forward to install, the movement-influencing unit is designed such that, by virute of a relative movement between the coupling means and the coupling element in a displacement direction of the coupling means, the coupling means can be coupled to the coupling element to produce a connection which has a predeterminable coupling force. Also proposed are a drawer guide and a production method.