Foldable Urinal Screen With Segmented Protrusions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing urinal screens fail to effectively prevent urine splashing onto users due to their rigid design, inability to conform to various urinal shapes, and reliance on protrusions that increase odor and cleaning frequency, while also requiring multiple designs for different urinal configurations.
Innovation Solution
A urinal screen with a foldable design featuring a honeycomb webbing structure, perforations, and adjustable protrusions that can be separated into an anti-splash body and base, allowing it to fit various urinal shapes and cover a substantial surface area, while allowing urine to flow towards the drain without splashing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a rigid urinal screen design is used, then the screen maintains structural stability, but it cannot conform to various urinal shapes and sizes
Solution Approach 1:
The urinal screen incorporates foldable portions that allow the structure to dynamically adjust its shape and configuration. The screen can be folded or bent to conform to different urinal basin shapes, sizes, and angles, while maintaining structural integrity through controlled folding mechanisms at specific joints.
Solution Approach 2:
The screen is divided into multiple segments or panels connected by fold lines, allowing each segment to be independently positioned and angled. This segmentation enables the screen to adapt to various urinal configurations while maintaining overall structural stability through the interconnected segments.
2Reliability
If protrusions are densely compacted to prevent splashing, then urine stream is broken up effectively, but odor increases and cleaning frequency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The screen utilizes a porous or honeycomb-like structure with numerous small openings distributed across its surface. This porous design allows urine to pass through while effectively breaking up the stream and preventing splashing, while the open structure reduces odor retention compared to densely compacted protrusions and facilitates easier cleaning.
Solution Approach 2:
The screen features varying densities of protrusions or porous structures in different regions, with higher density areas positioned where urine stream impact is most intense and lower density areas in regions where splashing is less of a concern, optimizing anti-splash effectiveness while minimizing odor and cleaning requirements.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple urinal screen designs are manufactured for different urinal shapes, then adaptability to various configurations is improved, but manufacturing complexity and inventory requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The screen is designed as a universal, one-size-fits-all product with foldable portions that can be configured to fit multiple urinal shapes, sizes, and styles. This single multi-functional design eliminates the need to manufacture and stock multiple different screen models, reducing manufacturing complexity and inventory requirements while maintaining broad adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The foldable portions enable a single screen design to dynamically adapt its shape and dimensions to match different urinal configurations, replacing the need for multiple static designs. The screen can be folded, bent, or adjusted to conform to various basin shapes, making one design equivalent to multiple specialized designs.
4Adaptability or versatility
If a foldable urinal screen is used, then adaptability to different urinal shapes is improved, but the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The foldable screen is segmented into multiple panels connected at fold lines, with each segment being relatively simple in structure. This segmentation allows the screen to achieve complex adaptive shapes through the arrangement of simple segments, reducing the overall structural complexity compared to a monolithic foldable design.
Solution Approach 2:
The screen utilizes thin, flexible material for the foldable portions that can be easily bent and shaped without requiring complex internal support structures. This thin-film approach achieves adaptability to different urinal shapes while minimizing structural complexity, as the flexibility of the material itself provides the necessary adaptability without additional mechanical components.
Data Source
AI summary
A urinal screen device includes a body portion having one or more fold lines to allow the urinal screen, or a base portion of the urinal screen that sits in the urinal basin, to bend so as allow maximal coverage of the basin without compromising functionality. The fold lines are created by regions that lack the protrusions formed on body of the urinal screen to break up fluid streams and prevent back splash. The regions lacking protrusion allow the body to bend easier because there are no protrusions being forced against each other along the fold line.