Modular Pet Assembly with Stackable Frames and Flexible Sheets
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pet furniture lacks structures for long-term engagement, fails to support larger pets, and occupies excessive space, leading to boredom and messes, especially in small living spaces.
Innovation Solution
A modular pet recreational assembly featuring stackable frames with multifunctional support dowels and a reconfigurable flexible sheet that can form ramps, walls, and floors, supporting pets up to 30 pounds, allowing for customizable play structures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional pet furniture is designed with fixed structures, then it provides limited play options, but it occupies large space and cannot be reconfigured
Solution Approach 1:
The pet furniture is divided into separate modular components including frames, shelves, ramps, and hideouts that can be independently arranged and reconfigured. This segmentation allows the furniture to adapt to different space constraints while providing varied play options, as components can be stacked, connected, or positioned in multiple configurations within a smaller footprint.
Solution Approach 2:
The furniture incorporates adjustable and movable elements such as reconfigurable shelves, movable ramps, and adjustable frame connections that allow the structure to be dynamically rearranged. This enables the same set of components to provide different play experiences over time while maintaining a compact storage profile when not in use.
2Area of stationary object
If pet furniture is designed to be compact, then it saves space, but it lacks sufficient structures for long-term engagement and climbing
Solution Approach 1:
The furniture design incorporates nested structures where smaller components fit within or between larger ones, such as hideouts positioned within frame structures, shelves nested between vertical supports, and collapsible ramps that tuck into the overall assembly. This nesting approach maximizes vertical and horizontal space utilization while creating multiple levels and zones for extended pet engagement.
Solution Approach 2:
The furniture utilizes vertical dimension extensively through multi-level stacking of frames and shelves, creating a three-dimensional play structure that engages pets vertically rather than requiring extensive horizontal space. This vertical arrangement provides climbing opportunities and multiple play zones within a compact floor footprint.
3Ease of manufacture
If pet furniture is designed with simple structures, then it is easy to manufacture, but it fails to support larger pets weighing up to 30 pounds
Solution Approach 1:
The furniture combines multiple structural elements into integrated components, such as merging the frame structure with shelf supports, integrating ramp attachments into the frame, and combining hideout enclosures with the overall framework. This merging maintains manufacturing simplicity through standardized components while distributing weight loads across the entire structure to support pets up to 30 pounds.
Solution Approach 2:
The furniture employs universal connection points and standardized attachment mechanisms that allow the same structural components to serve multiple functions - frames provide both structural support and mounting surfaces, shelves serve as both platforms and weight-bearing elements, and ramps function as both access points and structural connectors. This multi-functionality maintains design simplicity while ensuring adequate strength through proper material selection and structural geometry.
Data Source
AI summary
A modular pet recreational assembly includes at least a frame, which may include a first frame having a first vertical wall and a second vertical wall opposite the first vertical wall. Multifunctional support dowels may connect first vertical wall to second vertical wall. One or more shelves may protrude beyond first vertical wall and second vertical wall. A sheet of flexible material may be incorporated, with a first end secured to the at least a frame and a second end secured to the at least a frame. The sheet of flexible material, shelf, and/or first or second vertical wall may have one or more openings sized to permit passage of a small animal such as a cat.