Folding Table With Enveloping Tabletop for Minimal Storage Space
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional folding tables occupy the same space when folded and unfolded, lack portability, and have inadequate stability and bearing ability due to reliance on legs for support.
Innovation Solution
A folding table design featuring a tabletop with movable panels and telescopic legs that fold into a long strip shape, providing minimal storage space and enhanced stability and bearing capacity when unfolded, utilizing a combination of pivots, beams, and telescopic rods for support and stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the folding table is designed with conventional legs gathered at the bottom portion of the tabletop, then the structure is simple, but the width of the tabletop when folded remains the same as when unfolded, resulting in large occupied space and poor portability
Solution Approach 1:
The tabletop is divided into multiple segments including a first table panel, a second table panel, and a third table panel that can fold relative to each other. The support structure is also segmented into multiple support bars that can be folded or extended independently. This segmentation allows the table to compact into a smaller volume when folded while maintaining structural simplicity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The support bars are designed to nest within each other when folded, with the first support bar, second support bar, and third support bar capable of being stored within the tabletop structure. This nesting mechanism significantly reduces the occupied space when the table is in its folded state, transforming it into a compact portable form.
2Device complexity
If the folding table uses only legs for support when unfolded, then the structure is simple, but the stability and bearing ability are inadequate
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure employs dynamic elements including telescopic support bars that can extend and retract, and folding support bars that can adjust their configuration. The first support bar includes a telescopic rod that can extend to provide additional support length, and the second and third support bars can fold to adjust the table's stability. These dynamic adjustments allow the table to achieve optimal stability and bearing ability when unfolded while maintaining simplicity when folded.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the folding table uses telescopic rods and folding mechanisms, then the stability and bearing ability are improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple functions into integrated components. The support bars combine both support and folding functions in a single structure, with the first support bar integrating the telescopic rod mechanism directly into the support function. The connection between the table panels and support bars is merged through pivots and joints that allow both the tabletop folding and support bar folding to occur through coordinated movement, reducing the need for separate complex mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The support bars are designed with multi-functionality, serving both as structural support elements and as folding mechanisms. The telescopic rods provide both extension for stability and retraction for compact storage. The pivots and joints in the support structure serve dual purposes of maintaining stability when unfolded and enabling folding when collapsed, reducing overall device complexity through universal components.
Data Source
AI summary
A folding table includes a tabletop, a left folding mechanism, a left table leg, a right folding mechanism and a right table leg. The folding table is foldable by coordination of the tabletop, the left folding mechanism, the left table leg, the right folding mechanism and the right table leg. Once folded, the tabletop envelops the left folding mechanism, the left table leg, the right folding mechanism and the right table leg, such that the folding table appears as a long stripe shape and has a rectangular cross section, providing effects of a minimal occupied space and ease of portability when folded, and better stability and a bearing ability when unfolded.