Rotating Circular Floor System for Accessible Dwelling Layouts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing solutions for accommodating individuals with reduced mobility in homes, such as wheelchair-accessible designs, often fail to adequately address the challenge of navigating between functional spaces like kitchens, bathrooms, and toilets without significant difficulty, as they require movement between rooms and may not be suitable for severe disabilities.
Innovation Solution
A rotating equipment system is integrated into a living room, featuring a circular floor that rotates around a vertical axis, supporting multiple functional spaces, with a central evacuation duct and radial pipes for waste management, allowing easy access to all spaces without changing levels, facilitated by a rotation mechanism including an electric motor and belt or rack transmission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If traditional room-by-room layout is used, then structural simplicity is maintained, but travel distance for persons with reduced mobility increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple functional spaces (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room) onto a single rotating circular floor platform. This consolidation reduces the travel distance between functional areas from meters of hallway navigation to mere steps across the rotating platform, directly addressing the mobility challenge while accepting the complexity of the rotation mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The circular floor is designed to rotate dynamically around a vertical axis, allowing the functional spaces to be repositioned relative to the entrance and to each other. This dynamic reconfiguration enables persons with reduced mobility to access different functional areas with minimal movement, transforming the static floor plan into an adaptable system that responds to user needs.
2Ease of operation
If rotational mechanism is added to reduce travel distance, then accessibility improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex manual rotation mechanisms with an electric motor-driven system. The motor, coupled with transmission elements (belt or rack), automates the rotation of the circular floor, making the system easy to operate for persons with reduced mobility while consolidating the mechanical complexity into a standardized motor assembly rather than complex manual linkages.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces intermediate transmission elements (belt or rack) between the electric motor and the circular floor rotation system. These intermediaries translate the motor's rotational output into the desired floor rotation, allowing for speed control and torque multiplication while isolating the complexity of the transmission mechanism from both the motor and the floor structure.
3Length of moving object
If circular rotating floor is implemented, then travel distance decreases, but drainage system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent positions the drainage system at the central axis of rotation, which remains stationary relative to the rotating circular floor. By locating the main drainage connection point at the rotation center, the system maintains a constant gravitational reference point for waste flow, allowing drainage pipes to be routed through the rotation mechanism without creating complex flexible connections or elevation changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses the central rotation axis as an intermediary structure that carries the drainage connection. The vertical axis of rotation serves as a fixed reference point through which drainage pipes can pass, isolating the rotating functional spaces from the stationary drainage system and simplifying the connection geometry despite the rotational movement.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a rotating equipment system (2) intended to be integrated into a living room (1) comprising a circular floor (3) rotating about a vertical axis of rotation and supporting equipment to constitute at least three functional spaces (5, 6, 7, 8), said circular floor (3) being intended to be flush with a complementary floor (1c) of the living room (1), a central drain duct (10), rotationally fixed to the circular floor (3), said central drain duct (10) passing through the circular floor (3) and being intended to be connected via a rotating link to a sanitary manifold (14), at least one radial drain pipe (18) arranged under/in the circular floor (3), rotationally fixed to said circular floor (3) and passing through it with one end,one other end of the radial drain pipe (18) opening into the central drain duct (10) under the upper face of said circular floor (3), and a rotation mechanism (15) ensuring the rotational movement of the system.