Foldable Tent Structure with Pivot Joints for Wind Stability
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tent structures face challenges in achieving quick and easy deployment, easy folding, compact storage, and transport, while also ensuring good wind resistance, with current solutions either having complex assembly or poor wind stability.
Innovation Solution
A collapsible tent structure composed of curved half-hoops connected in a radiating arrangement, with pivotally mounted branches and spacers for stability, and a flexible or rigid retaining element forming the base, allowing for easy assembly and compact storage without a central mast, and featuring hinges for efficient folding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If interlocking tubular structures of independent rectilinear segments are used, then the tent is compact for storage and transport, but the assembly is tedious and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The tent structure is designed with pre-assembled units (floor mat with attached hoops already connected to uprights) that can be deployed as complete modules. This preliminary assembly of components resolves the contradiction by reducing on-site assembly time while maintaining compact storage through the folded configuration of the pre-assembled units.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple components are merged into integrated assemblies: the floor mat is permanently attached to the hoops, which are connected to the uprights with pivot joints. This merging creates self-contained deployable units that eliminate the need for separate assembly steps, thus reducing assembly time while preserving storage compactness.
2Productivity
If flexible hoops threaded into sheaths are used, then the assembly speed is very high, but the folding is complex and difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The structure employs dynamic pivot joints at the uprights that allow the hoops to rotate and fold neatly against the uprights. This dynamic mechanism enables rapid assembly through simple rotational motion while facilitating easy folding and compact storage, resolving the contradiction between assembly speed and folding ease.
3Productivity
If self-deploying tents with flexible arch structure are used, then the assembly speed is very high, but the minimum storage configuration is circular shape which obstructs transport
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible arch structure incorporates dynamic folding mechanisms that allow the circular arches to collapse into linear configurations. The pivot joints enable the arches to fold flat against each other, transforming from a circular storage footprint to a compact linear bundle, thus resolving the contradiction between rapid self-deployment and compact transport storage.
4Ease of operation
If uprights curved in upper part and mounted for rotation around common vertical axis are used, then the frame can be assembled easily, but the wind stability is very poor
Solution Approach 1:
The structure uses asymmetric bracing elements and non-uniform distribution of hoops around the central axis. This asymmetric configuration creates aerodynamic stability and prevents the structure from rotating or toppling in wind, while maintaining easy assembly through the modular nature of the components. The asymmetric design resolves the contradiction between assembly ease and wind stability.
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 structure enables rapid deployment, easy folding, and compact storage, while providing excellent wind resistance and stability, with the ability to fold into a small size for convenient transport, surpassing the limitations of existing tent designs.
Implementation Method 1
the distal ends of the branches of the half-hoops, called pivoting half-hoops, being pivotally mounted on a pair of connecting plates, arranged at the top of the structure, around separate vertical axes of rotation
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The structure has a set of half-hoops (2), each comprising lower and upper sections (3, 4) divided into branches separated from each other toward distal ends of the branches and isolately maintained so as to form upper and lower arches (5, 6). Spacers (7) are placed between connection plates according to rotation axes (A1-A4) so as to isolately maintain the half-hoops. Each of the lower sections is prolonged in lower part by a retaining element retaining lower ends relative to each other at deployed state, where the lower sections form a base of the reinforcement to rest on the ground. An independent claim is also included for a tent.