Furniture Braking Device Linear Guide Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing braking and/or acceleration devices for movable furniture parts face alignment issues due to assembly tolerances, leading to insufficient or excessive overlap between the activator and driver, which can result in malfunctions, especially in sliding doors guided along a certain tolerance range.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a braking and/or acceleration device with linear guide elements on the housing and activator ensures reliable positioning and alignment, using a web-like guide element on the housing that engages with a channel-shaped receptacle on the activator, allowing for parallel guidance and support during movement, thereby compensating for assembly deviations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the activator and driver are mounted independently on different furniture components, then the device can be installed on various furniture configurations, but assembly tolerances cause insufficient or excessive overlap between the activator and driver leading to malfunctions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces guide elements (guide rail and guide follower) as intermediary components between the activator and driver. These guide elements mediate the relative positioning, ensuring that despite independent mounting on different furniture components, the activator and driver maintain proper alignment and overlap throughout the movement range, thus resolving the contradiction between installation flexibility and operational reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The guide elements are designed to dynamically adapt to position deviations caused by assembly tolerances. The guide follower moves along the guide rail, automatically adjusting the relative position of the activator and driver during operation, allowing the system to maintain reliable engagement despite initial mounting variations
2Reliability
If guide elements are added to align the housing and activator, then reliable positioning is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning function is segmented into separate guide elements (guide rail on housing, guide follower on activator) that can be independently designed and manufactured. This segmentation allows for standardized, simple components that achieve complex alignment functionality without requiring a completely redesigned integrated structure
Solution Approach 2:
The guide elements serve as simple intermediary components that provide alignment without adding significant complexity. The guide rail and guide follower are designed as straightforward mechanical features (such as grooves and protrusions) that enable precise positioning through basic geometric constraints rather than complex mechanisms
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
This solution ensures reliable functioning and proper alignment of the braking and/or acceleration device, ensuring smooth operation even with assembly tolerances, by providing stable guidance and precise positioning of the activator relative to the driver across the entire movement range.
Implementation Method 1
a driver (11) movable along a guide track between two end positions, wherein the driver (11) is connected to a damper (12) that slows down the movement of the driver (11) in one direction
Implementation Method 2
a first guide element (15) on the housing (10) and a second guide element (23) on the activator (20), which are guided linearly relative to one another
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
A braking and/or acceleration device (7) for movable furniture parts (3, 4) comprises a housing (10) that can be fixed to a first furniture part, on which a driver (11) is movable along a guide track between two end positions, wherein the driver (11) is connected to a damper (12) that decelerates the movement of the driver (11) in one direction, and an activator (20) that can be fixed to a second furniture part and which can be brought into engagement with the driver (11) via a contact section in order to decelerate a relative movement of the second furniture part to the first furniture part, wherein a first guide element (15) is provided on the housing (10) and a second guide element (23) is provided on the activator (20), which are guided linearly relative to each other.The braking and/or acceleration device (7) is preferably used in a piece of furniture (1) with sliding doors (3, 4), wherein the braking and/or acceleration device (7) can be easily mounted using a method according to the invention.