Gutter System Segmentation for Maintenance-Friendly Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing channel systems for draining liquids in building floors are difficult to maintain, as replacing individual components often requires significant work and involves removing parts of the floor, making it hard to replace or repair the channel body without disrupting the sealing connection to the building's structure.
Innovation Solution
The channel system incorporates elongated sealing elements that extend parallel to the support profiles, allowing for a tight connection to the building's sealing system without being directly integrated with the channel body, enabling the channel body to be removed and replaced without damaging the sealing connection, and using pressure profiles to ensure a compressive force is maintained for sealing engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the channel body is directly integrated with the sealing connection to the building structure, then the sealing reliability is improved, but the ease of repair deteriorates because replacing the channel body requires disrupting the sealing connection and removing parts of the floor
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into separate functional components: the channel body and the sealing connection are decoupled. The support profiles with integrated sealing elements remain fixed to the building structure, while the channel body can be independently removed and replaced without affecting the sealing connection.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing function is extracted from the channel body and transferred to separate support profiles. This allows the sealing connection to remain intact in the building structure while the channel body is removed for replacement, solving the contradiction between maintaining reliable sealing and enabling easy repair.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the channel body is firmly fixed to ensure stability, then the stability of the object's composition is improved, but the ease of operation deteriorates because the channel body cannot be easily removed for maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The channel system is segmented into permanently fixed support profiles and removable channel bodies. The support profiles with sealing elements provide stable anchoring to the building structure, while the channel bodies can be easily detached and replaced for maintenance without compromising the overall system stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The support profiles act as an intermediary element between the building structure and the channel body. They provide stable mounting points while allowing the channel body to be independently removed, thus mediating between the need for stability and the need for ease of maintenance.
3Reliability
If extensive floor intervention is performed to replace the channel body, then the reliability of the sealing connection is maintained, but the loss of time and productivity increases due to the extensive work required
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the channel system into fixed support profiles and removable channel bodies, the maintenance process is simplified to only requiring removal of the channel body, while the sealing connection through the support profiles remains intact and requires no intervention, thus maintaining reliability while dramatically improving maintenance speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing connection is preliminarily established through the support profiles during initial installation. This preliminary sealing action remains valid throughout the system's operation, allowing future maintenance of the channel body to proceed without needing to re-establish sealing connections, thereby maintaining reliability while reducing maintenance time.
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 allows for easy maintenance and replacement of the channel body without disrupting the sealing connection to the building, reducing the need for extensive floor intervention and simplifying the process of reconnecting the channel system.
Implementation Method 1
the flanges are pressed against a corresponding surface of an upper end face of the respective associated support profile by means of at least one pressure profile
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a gutter system (1) for catching a liquid, which gutter system is inserted into a floor (4) of a construction, said gutter system comprising two elongate supporting profiled elements (2) which lie opposite each other, jointly define a gutter space (3) therebetween and each laterally delimit the floor (4) from the gutter space (3), and comprising a U-shaped gutter body (5) which extends between the supporting profiled elements (2) such that the gutter body bridges the gutter space (3), wherein a longitudinal axis (6) of the gutter body (5) extends parallel to longitudinal axes (7) of the supporting profiled elements (2), wherein the gutter body (5) has two flanges (8), each of which extends from one of the two upper ends (9) of the rest of the gutter body (5) and is associated with one of the supporting profiled elements (2), wherein each flange (8) is pressed against a corresponding surface of an upper end face (11) of the associated supporting profiled element (2) by means of a pressing profiled element (10) in such a way that the flange (8) and the associated supporting profiled element (2) are at least indirectly in sealing contact with each other. In order to provide a gutter system that is more maintenance-friendly than the prior art, according to the invention, two elongate sealing elements (12) extend parallel to the supporting profiled elements (2) and are each associated with one of the supporting profiled elements (2), each sealing element (12) is in sealing contact with the surface of the upper end face (11) of the associated supporting profiled element (2), and the sealing elements (12) are led to a side (13) of the supporting profiled elements (2) facing away from the gutter body (5) such that the gutter system (1) can be connected to a sealing system of the construction on the two sides (13) of the gutter system facing away from the gutter body (5) by means of the sealing elements (12).