Open Web Grid Runner with Parallel Chords
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Solution Overview
Problem
The commercial construction industry faces challenges in reducing material consumption and environmental impact in suspended ceiling grid construction, particularly in achieving cost-effective production while maintaining structural integrity.
Innovation Solution
A grid runner with a parallel chord truss and open web design, utilizing metal or non-conductive plastic web plates, which are fixed to the chords through integral stitching or lancing, allowing for flexible material selection and significant material savings while enhancing torsional strength.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If conventional solid web grid runners are used, then structural strength is maintained, but material consumption increases and cost rises
Solution Approach 1:
The grid runner employs an open web design where the web portion is not solid but contains spaced transverse ribs creating open spaces. This porous structure reduces material consumption by approximately 25% compared to conventional solid web grid runners while maintaining adequate structural strength for supporting ceiling tiles and drywall panels through the distributed rib configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The web structure is segmented into multiple transverse ribs spaced at intervals rather than forming a continuous solid web. This segmentation allows the structure to maintain strength through distributed support while reducing overall material usage, as the ribs are positioned to provide structural reinforcement only where needed for load bearing.
2Ease of manufacture
If material consumption is reduced, then cost and environmental impact decrease, but structural integrity may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The grid runner structure applies local quality by concentrating material in specific areas where structural reinforcement is needed (flanges, folds, and transverse ribs) while using less material in areas where full density is not required (open web spaces). This localized material distribution maintains structural integrity at critical load-bearing points while reducing overall material consumption and production cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The grid runner utilizes composite construction combining different metal materials with varying properties. The flanges and ribs may use different gauge thicknesses and material compositions optimized for their specific functional requirements, allowing cost-effective material selection that maintains structural integrity without unnecessary material usage throughout the entire component.
3Quantity of substance
If open web design is implemented, then material usage decreases, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The manufacturing process merges multiple operations into integrated steps. The web ribs are formed as integral parts of the grid runner during the same roll-forming process that creates the flanges and chords, rather than being added as separate components. This integration reduces manufacturing complexity despite the open web design, as the same forming tools and processes accomplish multiple structural features in sequence.
Solution Approach 2:
The roll-forming equipment used to manufacture the grid runner performs multiple functions: forming the parallel chords, creating the flanges, and shaping the transverse ribs of the open web structure all in a single continuous process. This multi-functionality of the manufacturing equipment reduces overall process complexity despite the intricate open web geometry, as one universal forming system handles all structural elements.
Data Source
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AI summary
A suspended ceiling grid runner comprising separate parallel upper and lower chords, a plurality of identical web plates fixed between the chords and the plates having a height less than the height of the grid runner and a width, the chords being made of roll- formed sheet metal strips and symmetrical about a vertical plane, the chordal strips each having marginal sections folded parallel to one another and on opposite sides of the vertical plane, the web plates including vertical slots for receiving connectors of cross runners, the web plates being spaced at regular centers along the grid runner with a distance that is a small fraction of the nominal length of the grid runner, the gaps between adjacent web plates being longer than the height of the grid runner.