Flush mount register with a removable damper box mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ventilation heating and cooling systems face challenges in matching register grills with flooring, as manufacturers offer limited styles, making custom matching impractical, expensive, and time-consuming, especially with variations in flooring materials like wood or tile, leading to inconsistencies in appearance.
Innovation Solution
A flush mount register system comprising a subfloor frame, removable damper box mechanism, and adjustable floor substrate frame and tray, allowing customization to fit various flooring thicknesses and materials, with components designed to be lower than industry standards to fit within standard vents, enabling easy access and maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If custom register grills are manufactured to match flooring, then appearance matching is improved, but manufacturing cost and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a camera to capture images of the flooring material and displays them on a screen, allowing the register grill design to be copied from the actual flooring appearance. This eliminates the need for physical custom manufacturing while achieving exact appearance matching.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is designed to work with various types of flooring materials (wood, tile, laminate) by capturing and displaying their images, making a single universal device capable of matching multiple flooring types without requiring custom manufacturing for each type.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple custom register grill styles are produced, then appearance matching options are improved, but inventory complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of manufacturing and storing multiple physical grill styles, the system captures images of various flooring types and displays them on a screen. This virtual library of flooring appearances provides unlimited matching options without requiring physical inventory of each style.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the approach from physical variety to digital variety by using image display technology. The same physical grill can adapt to match different flooring appearances by displaying different images, effectively changing the appearance parameter without physical modification.
3Ease of manufacture
If standard height components are used, then component availability is improved, but fit within standard vents is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the height parameter of the register grill components to be lower than standard heights. This parameter change allows the components to fit within standard vent openings while still using commercially available materials and manufacturing processes.
Data Source
AI summary
A flush mount register for use within a vent opening in a flooring, the flush mount register comprising: a subfloor frame secured to a subfloor, wherein the subfloor supports flooring; a damper box mechanism supported by the subfloor frame; a floor substrate frame and a floor substrate tray secured and nested within the floor substrate frame and having a gap defined between the floor substrate frame and the floor substrate tray, and wherein the floor substrate frame is supported by the damper box mechanism; and wherein the floor substrate tray receives a flooring substrate, and wherein the floor substrate frame and the floor substrate tray are removable to permit access to the damper box mechanism.