Electrical Floor Box Cover with Slotted Locking Mechanism
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional floor covers for electrical floor boxes have a high number of components, leading to high labor and tooling costs, making customization and low-volume production costly, and they often cannot accommodate design features like overhangs due to the limitations of die-casting processes.
Innovation Solution
A floor cover design comprising a lid and base ring with slotted portions and locking mechanisms that allow for customizable production using fewer components, enabling economic manufacturing and accommodating various orientations, along with a method of transforming two-dimensional images into three-dimensional models for additive manufacturing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple die-casted parts are used for floor covers, then basic function geometry and UL listed geometries are achieved, but labor costs and tooling costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple die-casted parts into a single integrated floor cover component. The unified design maintains all necessary functional geometries and UL listed requirements while eliminating the need for assembly of multiple separate parts, thereby reducing both labor costs and tooling costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The single integrated floor cover design serves multiple functions that previously required separate components. The unified structure incorporates all necessary functional elements, allowing one component to perform the roles of multiple parts while reducing overall complexity.
2Manufacturing precision
If die-casting process is used for floor covers, then basic functional geometry is achieved, but customization for architectural styles and functional patterns becomes cost prohibitive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables customization by allowing changes in design parameters such as architectural styles and functional patterns without requiring new die-casting tools. The single integrated design can be adapted through parameter modifications rather than requiring entirely new tooling setups.
3Productivity
If batch processes such as die-casting are used, then production efficiency is improved, but setup times increase and low-volume production becomes costly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent reduces setup time by eliminating the need for complex multi-part tooling setups. The single integrated component requires simpler tooling that can be configured more quickly, allowing for more flexible production scheduling and making low-volume production more economically viable.
4Productivity
If die-casting process is used, then mass production capability is achieved, but certain design features such as overhangs cannot be accommodated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent overcomes die-casting limitations by using alternative manufacturing approaches that can produce complex geometries including overhangs. The single integrated design allows for greater freedom in choosing manufacturing processes that can accommodate features not possible with traditional die-casting.
Data Source
AI summary
A floor cover assembly for a floor box assembly that includes a lid and a base ring. The base ring can have a slotted portion that is sized to accommodate at least partial slideable displacement of the lid, and which includes an opening that extends through the base ring. The lid or the base ring can include a plurality of locking tabs, and the other of the lid and the base ring can include a plurality of lock grooves. The locking tabs can each comprise an overhang that are sized to be received in an open end of a mating lock groove. The lock grooves can be shaped to accommodate displacement of the plurality of locking tabs within the mating lock groove, such as in connection with a slide-and-lock attachment. The lid can also be manufactured to include a lid cover having a three-dimensional image.