Hollow desk panel
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hollow table tops with embedded metal frames lack protection for the joint between the top and bottom plates, leading to potential finger injuries and cloth damage due to exposed vertical flanges, and the frames only provide structural enhancement without safeguarding the connection points.
Innovation Solution
A hollow table top design featuring a metal frame with a protruding portion that crimps upwardly to cover the joint between the top and bottom plates, ensuring the frame extends beyond the plates' edges and is detachably locked, preventing finger and cloth entrapment and enhancing structural stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If vertical flanges are used to cover the metal frame, then the frame is protected and the structure is complete, but fingers or clothes may be caught or clamped by the vertical flanges causing safety hazards
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using vertical flanges that extend upward from the metal frame (conventional design), the patent inverts the design by making the protective edge horizontal and extending outward from the frame. This inversion eliminates the trapping hazard while maintaining protective coverage of the joint between top and bottom plates.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the harmful vertical flange element from the design while retaining the essential protective function. The protective edge is separated from the vertical flange configuration and reconfigured as a horizontal extension that covers the joint without creating trapping hazards.
2Device complexity
If the joint between top plate and bottom plate is exposed, then the structure is simple, but the connecting points are not protected leading to potential injuries
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a protective edge as an intermediary element between the metal frame and the external environment. This protective edge extends horizontally from the frame to cover the joint area, acting as a mediator that protects the connecting points without requiring complex structural modifications to the plate assembly.
3Strength
If the metal frame is embedded only for strength enhancement, then the structure is stable, but it cannot protect the connecting points of the plates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the metal frame multi-functional by adding the protective edge extension. The frame now serves both its original function of providing structural strength and stability, and a new function of protecting the joint between plates. This universal design eliminates the need for separate protective elements while enhancing safety.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
Disclosed is a hollow desk panel, the desk panel (1) comprising one upper panel (11) and one lower bottom plate (12) which are stacked together, a metal frame (13) being provided at an edge of a bottom face of a table plate, an upper panel side edge (113) extending downwards being provided at an edge of the upper panel (11), the metal frame (13) facing towards a protrusion in the horizontal direction, and the protrusion being able to protect a joint between the upper panel (11) and the lower bottom plate (12). An outer edge of the desk panel (1) has a double-layered visual sense, giving a strong stereoscopic sense.