Half Shell Element Guide and Detent Hook Assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
The production of hollow bodies using closed or open half shell elements is either laborious and expensive due to blow molding or inefficient due to reduced displacement volume and uncontrolled concrete volume with injection molding, respectively.
Innovation Solution
A half shell element design that allows easy handling and connection without complementary elements, using guides, detent hooks, and clips for secure stacking and assembly, enabling efficient production and transportation with thinner walls, and adaptable for various shapes and sizes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If closed hollow bodies are produced using blow molding process, then the hollow bodies are sealed and stable, but the production becomes laborious and expensive, and thicker wall thicknesses are required
Solution Approach 1:
The hollow body is divided into two separate half-shells that are joined together, allowing each half-shell to be produced independently using injection molding. This segmentation enables simpler manufacturing while maintaining the sealed structure through the joining mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
A joining mechanism acts as an intermediary between the two half-shells, connecting them to form a sealed hollow body. This intermediary structure enables the assembly of simple molded pieces into a functional sealed unit without requiring complex blow molding processes.
2Ease of manufacture
If downwardly open half shells are produced by injection molding, then production becomes simpler and more cost-effective, but the displacement volume is reduced by inflowing concrete and the concrete volume cannot be exactly determined
Solution Approach 1:
The half-shells are designed with asymmetric joining features (such as protrusions and recesses or interlocking mechanisms) that ensure proper orientation and precise positioning during assembly. This asymmetric design guarantees that the half-shells connect in a specific manner, maintaining the intended displacement volume and enabling accurate concrete volume control.
3Ease of operation
If complementary elements are used for connection, then the hollow bodies can be assembled, but mistakes occur and anomalous numbers of elements can be delivered, leading to time loss and additional costs
Solution Approach 1:
The joining mechanism integrates connection and alignment functions into a single unified structure. The interlocking features simultaneously ensure proper positioning, orientation, and connection of the half-shells, eliminating the need for separate complementary elements and reducing assembly errors.
4Stability of the object's composition
If thicker wall thicknesses are used in blow molded hollow bodies, then the structures are more stable, but the hollow bodies become unnecessarily heavy and expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The half-shells are designed with locally optimized wall thicknesses that provide sufficient structural stability at critical areas while maintaining thinner walls in less stressed regions. This non-uniform thickness distribution reduces overall weight while preserving necessary strength and stability.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention concerns a half shell element (10) for the production of a hollow body with an identical further half shell element (10), with at least one guide (20 . . . 20′″) for the further element (10), which is constructed in the region of a first half periphery (11) of its encircling edge (12), so that the further element (10) can be pushed onto the half shell element (10) from the second half periphery (11′) of the edge (12) lying opposite this first half periphery (11) and guided on the edge (12) and held in a final position. The hollow bodies which are thus produced can be both inserted into steel cages and also connected with each other via bars and built into concrete layers.