One-Piece Plinth with Flexible Lips for Hygienic Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing baseboards in industrial settings, particularly in the food industry, face issues with ineffective sealing due to irregularities in walls and floors, retention areas that promote microorganism growth, and aesthetically unpleasing designs with grooves that complicate cleaning and hygiene.
Innovation Solution
A device featuring a one-piece hard profile with inclined flexible lips, elastically deformable foam strips for fixing and sealing, and a connector system with a clip-on cover element, designed to absorb shocks and irregularities while ensuring tight sealing and easy maintenance, eliminating retention zones and grooves.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional baseboards with hollow zones and removable covers are used, then the baseboards provide shock resistance and structural protection, but they create retention areas that promote microorganism growth and deteriorate hygiene
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the hollow zone and removable cover from the baseboard structure. The profile is designed as a solid one-piece element without internal cavities, thereby removing the retention areas where water and microorganisms could accumulate, while preserving the external protective function
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses foam strips with closed-cell structure for fixing and sealing. These foam materials provide shock absorption and irregularity compensation through their cellular structure, while the closed cells prevent water penetration and microorganism growth, resolving the contradiction between mechanical cushioning and hygiene
2Ease of manufacture
If baseboards have grooves and removable covers for fixing mechanisms, then they provide structural attachment capability, but they create additional retention areas that are difficult to clean and compromise aesthetics
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the fixing mechanism directly into the solid profile structure. Foam strips with adhesive are integrated into the profile design, eliminating the need for separate hollow zones and removable covers. This integration maintains attachment functionality while creating a smooth, continuous surface that is easy to clean and aesthetically pleasing
Solution Approach 2:
The invention removes grooves and separate cover elements from the baseboard design. The fixing system is implemented through foam strips applied to the solid profile, eliminating crevices and discrete components that would create retention areas and complicate cleaning
3Strength
If rigid fixing methods are used to secure baseboards to walls, then strong mechanical attachment is achieved, but the baseboards cannot adapt to wall irregularities and are susceptible to shock damage
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the mechanical parameters of the fixing system by using foam strips with viscoelastic properties. These foam elements can deform and adapt to wall irregularities while maintaining strong attachment through adhesive bonding, providing both flexibility for adaptation and strength for secure fixation
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses composite fixing elements combining foam material with adhesive. The foam provides shock absorption and adaptability to irregularities, while the adhesive ensures strong mechanical attachment to the wall, creating a hybrid fixing system that achieves both flexibility and strength
4Object-affected harmful factors
If smooth front faces without sharp corners are used, then hygiene is improved by eliminating retention areas, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies curved transitions and rounded edges to the profile geometry, eliminating sharp corners that create retention areas. The smooth, continuous curved surfaces prevent water and microorganism accumulation while being compatible with standard extrusion manufacturing processes for plastic profiles
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides effective sealing, shock resistance, and improved aesthetics by reducing retention areas and humidity stagnation, enhancing hygiene and ease of cleaning while maintaining a smooth, seamless appearance.
Implementation Method 1
elastically deformable fixing means, fixed to said rear face and arranged to ensure the fixing of the plinth along the base of the wall, and making it possible, on the one hand, to mechanically absorb shocks and thus limit damage to said front face
Implementation Method 2
elastically deformable fixing means, fixed to said rear face and arranged to ensure the fixing of the plinth along the base of the wall, and making it possible, on the other hand, to absorb the irregularities of said wall
Implementation Method 3
two flexible lips originating from said front face and extending in an inclined manner towards the rear face of the profile respectively along the upper and lower longitudinal edges of said profile
Implementation Method 4
the fastening means comprise a strip of foam provided on each of its two vertical longitudinal faces with an adhesive and glued to the upper part of the vertical part of the rear face of the profile thanks to the adhesive of the face vertical longitudinal face of the foam strip, the adhesive affixed to the vertical longitudinal face of the foam strip allowing the plinth to be fixed to the base of the wall
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a device (1) for protecting the base of a wall (3) where it joins the floor (4), characterised in that it comprises: a skirting board (2) comprising a hard, one-piece profile having at least one smooth front face, and two flexible lips extending from said front face in an inclined manner towards the rear face of said profile respectively along the upper and lower longitudinal edges of said profile; fixing means attached between said rear face for ensuring the fixing of the skirting board (2) along the base of the wall (2); and complementary sealing means attached to said rear face.