Elastic Curtain Glider for Rail Insertion Without Exit Openings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing curtain gliders can only be inserted and removed from curtain rails at the ends or through widened exit openings, which limits the curtain path and complicates the installation and removal process.
Innovation Solution
A curtain glider design with a sliding head having outward protruding sliding wings and guide lips, allowing for easy insertion and removal from below without requiring a widened opening, utilizing flexible arms or torsion bars for deformation to fit through standard openings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the sliding head width is greater than the longitudinal slot width, then the curtain glider can be securely guided in the groove, but the curtain glider cannot be removed from the curtain rail without a widened exit opening
Solution Approach 1:
The guide lips are designed as elastic elements that can dynamically change their position. During insertion, they are pressed inward by the pressing element to clear the edge webs. During normal operation, they protrude to provide guiding security. During removal, they are pressed inward again to allow the sliding head to pass through. This dynamic behavior resolves the contradiction between needing protruding guide lips for security and needing them retracted for easy removal.
Solution Approach 2:
A pressing element is introduced as an intermediary tool to temporarily deform the guide lips during insertion and removal operations. This pressing element applies force to the guide lips, causing them to elastically deform inward, allowing the sliding head to pass through the opening without requiring a permanently widened slot. The intermediary enables the operation without permanently altering the structure.
2Ease of operation
If a widened exit opening is provided for removal, then the curtain glider can be easily removed, but the curtain running path is shortened
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of a statically widened opening, the guide lips provide dynamic clearance during removal operations. When the pressing element acts on the guide lips, they deform inward to create temporary clearance for the sliding head to pass through. After removal, the guide lips return to their original position, maintaining the full curtain running path length without any permanent shortening.
Solution Approach 2:
The effective width of the opening is changed temporarily through elastic deformation of the guide lips. During removal, the guide lips are pressed inward, changing the opening width parameter from its normal value to a larger value that accommodates the sliding head. This parameter change is temporary and reversible, avoiding permanent structural modification that would shorten the curtain path.
3Ease of operation
If the guide lips are pressed inward for insertion, then the sliding head can be inserted from below, but the guide lips must be sufficiently elastic
Solution Approach 1:
The guide lips are designed with specific elastic parameters that allow them to be pressed inward during insertion and removal while maintaining sufficient rigidity during normal operation. The material properties and geometric dimensions are selected to achieve the required balance: the guide lips have enough elasticity to deform under the pressing element's force, but enough rigidity to provide stable guiding when in their normal protruding position.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide lips transition between two states: a rigid protruding state during normal operation for stable guiding, and a flexible retracted state during insertion/removal when pressed by the pressing element. This dynamic state change allows the guide lips to fulfill both requirements: providing guiding security during operation and allowing easy insertion/removal when actuated.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables easy and efficient insertion and removal of curtain gliders from curtain rails without shortening the curtain path, facilitating assembly and disassembly while maintaining the rail's integrity.
Implementation Method 1
sufficient room for movement between the longitudinal center plane of the curtain glider and the respective guide lips for elastic deformation of these guide lips in the direction of the longitudinal center plane
Implementation Method 2
the sliding head can be easily inserted from below through the opening of the curtain rail into the longitudinal groove. The moveable guide lips also allow the sliding head to be removed from the longitudinal groove.
Implementation Method 3
flexible arms, spring arms or torsion bars can be provided between the web and the guide lips, which allow the guide lips to be pressed against the web and/or deformed in the direction of the longitudinal center plane during assembly or disassembly of the curtain glider and, on the other hand, after assembly or dismantling, move the guide lips back to their original position due to the spring force of the spring arms or the torsional force of the torsion bars.
Data Source
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AI summary
The curtain slider (20) has a slide head (21) insertable in a longitudinal groove (11) of a curtain rail (10). A slide vane (26,27) is equipped with a guide lip (28,29), where multiple guide lips protrude from an opening (12) of the curtain rail by the insertion of the slide head. A sufficient movement space (33) is formed between a longitudinal center plane (M) and the respective guide lips.