Open Plenum Utility Channel with Indexing Formations
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Solution Overview
Problem
Open plenum areas in buildings without continuous ceilings require a support system for utility wires and cables that is easy to assemble, concealable, and adaptable to various grid shapes and sizes.
Innovation Solution
A suspended utility channel system with closely spaced indexing formations and accessory components like splices, end connectors, end clips, and hanger clips that allow for quick and accurate assembly into rectangular grids, enabling flexible configuration and concealment of wires and cables.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If traditional utility support systems are used in open plenum areas, then wires and cables can be supported, but the system is difficult to assemble and lacks flexibility in configuration
Solution Approach 1:
The utility channel system is divided into modular segments with standardized indexing formations at regular intervals. These segments can be easily connected using accessory components like splices and end connectors, enabling quick assembly while allowing flexible configuration of rectangular grids in various sizes and shapes.
Solution Approach 2:
The indexing formations serve multiple functions: they provide attachment points for hanger clips to suspend channels, enable precise alignment when joining channel segments, and allow for easy termination with end clips. This multi-functional design simplifies the overall system while enhancing both ease of assembly and configurability.
2Ease of operation
If wires and cables are concealed using traditional methods, then they are hidden from sight, but the installation process requires threading wires through complex structures
Solution Approach 1:
The wire installation process is simplified by extracting the threading operation entirely. Wires and cables are simply laid into the open top of the channels rather than being threaded through or under clips, eliminating the complex threading operation while maintaining effective concealment from below.
Solution Approach 2:
The channel design provides a three-dimensional space with an open top that allows wires to be placed from above. This dimensional approach enables easy wire installation by simply dropping or laying wires into the channel, rather than attempting to thread them through horizontal or vertical barriers.
3Adaptability or versatility
If fixed grid dimensions are used, then manufacturing is simplified, but the system cannot adapt to different architectural requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The grid system is designed to be dynamically configurable rather than fixed. The modular channel segments with standardized indexing formations can be arranged in rectangular grids of essentially limitless shapes and proportions, allowing the system to adapt to various architectural requirements while maintaining manufacturing simplicity through standardization.
Data Source
AI summary
A utility channel comprising a plurality of channels and accessory components, the channels having a rectangular cross section with a bottom wall and horizontally spaced parallel sidewalls extending upwardly from lateral edges of the bottom wall, opposed inturned flanges at upper edges of the sidewalls, the flanges having notches open at flange edges distal from a respective sidewall, in alignment with the notches of the opposed flange and uniformly spaced along the length of the channel, the accessory components in the channel interior space engage the flanges to maintain their assembled position in the channel interior space.