Furniture Motion Damper With Variable Gap Damping Profile
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing furniture damping devices provide inconsistent damping forces throughout the movement path, leading to varying closing times and undesirable performance with different loads, as the damping force remains constant regardless of the furniture's mass or speed.
Innovation Solution
A damping device with a housing that divides the displacement space into partial volumes, where the cross-sectional area of the gap between the piston and inner wall sections changes, allowing for a variable damping characteristic. The gap area reduces as the piston moves, increasing the damping force towards the end of the movement, ensuring consistent damping across different masses and speeds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a constant gap area is provided between the piston means and inner wall sections throughout the displacement path, then the device structure is simple, but the damping force remains constant leading to inconsistent damping performance
Solution Approach 1:
The inner wall sections are designed with different gap areas at different positions along the displacement path. The gap area is larger at the beginning of the displacement path and progressively smaller towards the end, creating locally varied damping characteristics that ensure consistent damping performance throughout the entire movement
Solution Approach 2:
The damping device transitions from a static constant-gap design to a dynamic variable-gap design where the gap area changes continuously with the piston's displacement position, allowing the damping force to adapt to different stages of movement and maintain performance consistency
2Device complexity
If the same damping force is applied throughout the entire displacement path, then the device structure is simple, but the closing time varies with different masses and loads
Solution Approach 1:
Different sections of the displacement path have different gap areas, creating locally optimized damping forces. The larger gap area at the beginning provides lower damping for initial movement, while the smaller gap area at the end provides higher damping for final positioning, ensuring consistent closing time regardless of load
Solution Approach 2:
The gap area parameter is varied along the displacement path, changing from larger to smaller values. This parameter change creates a progressive damping effect that compensates for different masses and loads, maintaining consistent closing time performance
3Ease of manufacture
If a constant inner diameter housing is used, then the manufacturing is easier, but the damping characteristic cannot be optimized across different displacement positions
Solution Approach 1:
The housing inner wall is designed with sections of different diameters rather than a uniform constant diameter. Each section is optimized for its specific displacement range, providing locally tailored damping characteristics while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through standardized machining processes
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 design maintains a consistent damping effect and closing time regardless of the furniture's mass or load, providing a pleasant user experience by ensuring the furniture part can safely reach a closed position without excessive damping errors.
Implementation Method 1
a fluid such as. B. air or oil in the internal volume provides resistance to a piston center displacement, which occurs in particular due to the movement coupling with the coupled furniture part, in the movement damping
Implementation Method 2
The piston means are braked by the fluid to be displaced by the piston means in the internal volume, so that movement of the piston means is only possible in accordance with the amount of fluid that is displaced by the piston means during their movement
Data Source
Figure 1~4
Figure 5~7
Figure 8~10
AI summary
A device for damping the movement of a furniture part that can be moved relative to a furniture body is proposed, comprising a housing (1) which encloses a displacement space (4) that is acted upon by a fluid and in which piston means that can be coupled to the furniture part are displaceably guided, with the movement damping of the furniture part with a displacement movement of the piston means in a first displacement direction relative to the housing (1) and thereby a part of the fluid via a gap area between the piston means and inner wall sections (5-7) of the housing (1) from a first partial volume of the displacement space into a second partial volume of the displacement space, the division of the displacement space into the two partial volumes being determined by the displacement position of the piston means. According to the invention, in a region of the displacement space (4) in which the piston means (26) move past the inner wall sections (5-7) of the housing (1), the inner wall sections (6) are designed in such a way that the total cross-sectional area of the gap region through which the fluid can flow between the inner wall sections (6) of the housing (1) and the piston means in a considered cross-section is variable depending on the displacement position of the piston means in the displacement space (4).