Multi-Track Guide Arrangement for Air Vent Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing guide arrangements for converting rotary movement into linear movement, such as those used in air vent systems, require complex designs and additional components like torsion springs and carriage systems, making them cumbersome and noisy, with limited flexibility in reaching individual guide tracks.
Innovation Solution
A guide arrangement with a plurality of guide tracks and transitions that allow stepwise displacement of a guide element without additional elements, using gently sloping ramps and deflection surfaces to prevent return to previous tracks, eliminating the need for torsion springs and reducing noise through rounded transitions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a guide arrangement uses additional components like torsion springs and carriage systems to enable step-by-step displacement, then the guide element can be displaced through multiple guide tracks, but the device complexity increases and noise is generated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the torsion spring and carriage system from the guide arrangement, eliminating these additional components that caused complexity. The guide element is designed to engage directly with the guide tracks through its geometry, allowing step-by-step displacement without auxiliary mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide element's own geometry is designed to interact with the guide tracks, allowing it to automatically engage and disengage from individual tracks through its movement. The guide element serves its own guidance function through its shape rather than requiring external guidance mechanisms.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a guide arrangement uses additional components like torsion springs and carriage systems, then the guide element can be displaced through multiple guide tracks, but the noise increases due to the complex mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the carriage system and torsion spring that were sources of noise in the prior art. The simplified direct engagement between the guide element and guide tracks reduces mechanical noise by removing intermediate components with moving parts.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the guide element is designed to return to previous guide tracks, then flexibility is improved, but the ability to maintain position in current track is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The guide tracks are designed with asymmetric profiles where each track has a specific geometric shape that complements the guide element. The guide element's geometry is asymmetric relative to the tracks, allowing it to engage firmly in the current track while preventing automatic return to previous tracks. This asymmetric design provides both flexibility to move between tracks and reliability to maintain position.
Data Source
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AI summary
A guide arrangement with several guide tracks (10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24; 26) is described, which run at different levels and are arranged offset from each other in a plane. A guide cam (30) is formed between the guide tracks (10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24; 26), and the guide tracks (10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24; 26) rise towards the guide cam (30). Adjacent guideways (10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24; 26) have different levels at the transition (32) between the individual guideways (10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24; 26), with one guideway (10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24; 26) towering above an adjacent guideway (10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24; 26).