Modular Playground Bracket Assembly for Safer Expansion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional playgrounds are costly to produce and difficult to expand or modify, with complex assembly processes and safety concerns due to protruding fastening mechanisms, limiting their adaptability to different user groups and increasing production costs.
Innovation Solution
A modular playground design featuring circular pillars and standardized brackets with a curved contact face and radial boring for secure attachment, allowing for easy assembly and expansion with a reduced number of components, enhancing safety by minimizing protruding parts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional playgrounds use multiple different components and attachment means for different user groups, then adaptability to different user needs is improved, but device complexity and production costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by designing a single standardized bracket with a curved contact face and radial boring that can attach playground elements to pillars of different diameters. This universal bracket design eliminates the need for multiple specialized brackets for different user groups, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining adaptability through flexible configuration of the same component.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes by varying the orientation and position of the radial boring in the standardized bracket to accommodate different attachment requirements. By changing the angular position and depth of the boring rather than creating entirely different bracket designs, the system achieves adaptability for different user groups without increasing the number of component types.
2Adaptability or versatility
If traditional playgrounds use multiple different components and attachment means, then adaptability to different user groups is improved, but ease of manufacture deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The standardized bracket serves multiple functions across different playground configurations and user groups, allowing manufacturers to produce a single component type in large quantities. This universality simplifies the manufacturing process, reduces tooling requirements, and lowers production costs compared to manufacturing multiple specialized bracket variants.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the functionality of multiple specialized brackets into a single standardized bracket design. By combining the attachment capabilities for different pillar diameters and element types into one universal component, the manufacturing process is simplified and economies of scale are achieved, thereby improving ease of manufacture.
3Adaptability or versatility
If traditional playgrounds use complex assembly processes with many different attachment means, then adaptability is improved, but productivity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The standardized bracket with its universal attachment capability allows workers to use the same component and fastening procedure for all playground elements regardless of user group requirements. This eliminates the need to switch between different bracket types during assembly, significantly improving productivity while maintaining the flexibility to configure playgrounds for different user groups.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the bracket into modular components including the curved contact face portion and the radial boring portion, allowing for standardized mass production of these segments. This segmentation enables rapid assembly since pre-fabricated standardized brackets can be quickly installed without complex field modifications, thereby improving productivity.
4Ease of operation
If traditional attachment means protrude from the pillar, then ease of installation is improved, but safety deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the nesting principle by placing the fastening members and attachment mechanisms inside the pillar structure rather than having them protrude outward. The radial boring allows fasteners to be inserted from the exterior and anchored within the pillar, nesting the potentially hazardous components inside the safe, enclosed pillar volume while maintaining ease of installation from the outside.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the protruding attachment elements from the exterior surface of the pillar and relocates them to the interior. By taking out the hazardous protruding fasteners and repositioning them inside the pillar through radial borings, the design maintains installation accessibility while eliminating safety hazards associated with exterior protrusions.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a playground comprising a number of pillars of a circular cross sectional area, and a series of playground elements including floor panels and side panels, and a series of brackets for attachment of the playground elements to the pillars. The brackets comprise an element coupling portion adapted to be fastened to a playground element and a pillar coupling portion adapted to be fastened to a side portion of a pillar. Here, the pillar coupling portion comprising a contact face curved to lie against pillar and a boring for receiving a fastening member which is oriented such that the bracket when fastened to the pillar is attached by the fastening member inserted from the bracket and into the pillar in a radial direction of the pillar. The series of brackets comprises brackets with element coupling portions adapted to be fastened to each of the playground elements in the series of playground elements, and all the brackets in the series comprise essentially identical pillar coupling portions such that all the brackets are adapted to be attached to the pillars in the same way. The invention also relates to a method of assembling such a playground. The series of playground elements may include floor panels, side panels, a series of bars of predefined diameters and chains.