Oven Guide Rail Height Adjustment Without Grid Structure

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Solution Overview

Problem

Kitchen and oven guides face challenges in being heat-resistant, compact, and user-friendly, particularly in allowing for easy height adjustment of food carriers within the oven without direct access and without the need for a grid structure that occupies installation space.

Innovation Solution

A device with a guide unit connected to a receiving element that has a protruding pass-through section, allowing for vertical adjustment and locking from outside the oven, eliminating the need for a grid structure and enabling easy height adjustment of push elements like baking trays, even at high temperatures.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If a grid structure is used to attach guide units to the wall section, then the guide units can be securely mounted, but the grid structure occupies installation space and is not height-adjustable

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveheight adjustabilityVSAvoidinstallation space
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSVolume of stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the guide unit from the traditional grid structure attachment method. The guide unit is now mounted directly to the wall section via a receiving element that engages with a wall recess, eliminating the need for a separate grid structure. This allows height adjustment without occupying additional installation space.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces height adjustability through a receiving element with a reach-through section that can be positioned at different heights within the wall recess. The adjusting means allow the receiving element to be moved vertically and locked in place, transforming the static grid structure into a dynamic, adjustable mounting system.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

2Ease of operation

If the guide unit is mounted inside the oven, then it can support sliding elements, but direct access for adjustment is not possible without opening the oven

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveadjustment accessibilityVSAvoidheat exposure
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a reach-through section as an intermediary element that extends from the receiving element through the wall section. This allows adjusting means to be operated from outside the oven, transmitting adjustment forces through the wall without requiring direct access to the interior space, thereby avoiding heat exposure.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent moves the adjustment interface from the interior dimension (inside the oven) to the exterior dimension (outside the oven wall). The reach-through section creates a pathway through the wall thickness, allowing adjustment operations to be performed from the outside dimension without compromising the interior mounting function.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

3Temperature

If the receiving element is made heat-resistant for oven use, then it can withstand high temperatures, but the adjustment mechanism must also be heat-resistant

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveheat resistanceVSAvoidadjustment convenience
Core Design Contradiction:
TemperatureVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent divides the system into two thermal zones: the receiving element and guide unit inside the oven that require heat resistance, and the adjusting means outside the oven that do not require heat resistance. The reach-through section acts as a thermal boundary, allowing the exterior adjustment mechanism to be made of conventional materials while the interior components maintain heat resistance.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentEP3033968B1Oven
Publication Date: 2023.01.25 GRASS GMBH
  • EP3033968B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP3033968B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP3033968B1 patent drawingFigure 5~8

AI summary

A device for guiding a pusher element (12) is proposed which can be slidably accommodated on a wall section (16, 17) by means of the device, the device having a guide unit (24, 25) with guide rails which can be displaced relative to one another. According to the invention, the guide unit (24, 25) is connected to a receiving element (44) of the device, which can be arranged on an inside of the wall section (16, 17), the receiving element having a protruding reach-through section which is used for reaching through a wall recess of the wall section ( 16, 17), adjustment means being provided which access the reach-through section and with which the receiving element (44) with the guide unit (24, 25) attached thereto can be adjusted and locked in the vertical direction.