Electric Shelf with Linear Drive for Vertical Space Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing shelves, particularly ceiling types, face instability and difficulty in installation, leading to insecurity and increased costs, while fixed shelves struggle to balance ease of access and space usage.
Innovation Solution
An electric shelf design featuring a column-mounted slidable component with a linear driving device, allowing vertical movement and reducing friction forces, enhancing stability and ease of installation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If a ceiling type shelf is used with pulley and motor to achieve rising and declining, then the shelf can be raised to save home space, but the structure becomes complex and installation becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex pulley system from the design and replaces it with a linear driving device that directly moves the shelf board component along the column. This eliminates the need for ropes, pulleys, and multiple fixing positions, significantly simplifying the structure while maintaining the space-saving raising function.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical pulley system with a linear driving device that uses a motor to directly drive the shelf board component vertically along the column. This substitution simplifies the mechanical structure, reduces installation complexity, and improves operational reliability.
2Volume of moving object
If a ceiling type shelf is used with pulley and motor, then the shelf can be raised to save home space, but installation costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the complex pulley system and multiple rope-fixing positions required in traditional ceiling shelves, replacing them with a simplified linear driving device mounted on a single column. This reduction in components and installation steps directly lowers installation costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The linear driving device is designed to be self-contained, with the motor integrated into the column structure. This self-service design reduces the need for complex installation procedures and external support structures, thereby reducing installation costs.
3Volume of moving object
If a ceiling type shelf is used with pulley and motor, then the shelf can be raised to save home space, but instability during rising or declining causes the shelf to waggle and results in insecurity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the unstable pulley and rope system with a linear driving device that guides the shelf board component along a fixed column. This direct guidance mechanism eliminates lateral movement and waggle, ensuring stable and secure operation during rising and declining.
Solution Approach 2:
The linear driving device acts as an intermediary between the motor and the shelf board component, providing controlled and stable movement. The fixed column serves as a rigid intermediary that constrains the shelf board component to vertical motion only, preventing instability and waggle.
4Ease of operation
If a fixed shelf is mounted at a lower height for easier access, then ease of access is improved, but more usable home space is occupied
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the fixed shelf into a dynamic structure that can move vertically along the column. The shelf board component can be positioned at different heights as needed, allowing users to access items easily when lowered and save space when raised, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of access and space occupation.
5Volume of moving object
If a fixed shelf is mounted at a higher height to save home space, then space occupation is reduced, but difficulty in accessing placed items increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables the shelf board component to move dynamically between high and low positions. When space needs to be saved, the shelf is raised to a high position; when items need to be accessed, the shelf is lowered to an accessible position. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction between space occupation and ease of access.
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
The electric shelf provides a safer, more stable, and space-efficient solution for accessing items, reducing installation complexity and costs while ensuring secure operation.
Implementation Method 1
a linear driving device connected to the slidable component and the column to actuate the slidable component to move relative to the column
Data Source
AI summary
An electric shelf which has at least one column to be installed on a wall, a slidable component arranged on the column to slide along the column vertically, at least one layer of shelf board component connected to the slidable component to move simultaneously with the slidable component, and a linear driving device connected to the slidable component and the column to actuate the slidable component to move relative to the column. Advantages of the present disclosure compared to prior arts include a simpler structure and less space occupied by the shelf board component.