Rotating Rope Rolls for Playground Image Creation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing playground equipment with decorative elements like colouring walls and tic-tac-toe games are cumbersome, expensive, and difficult to retrofit, lacking variety and safety features for users, especially children.
Innovation Solution
A playground equipment design featuring an array structure of networked ropes with securely attachable rolls that can be coloured and rotated, allowing users to create images, and incorporating a scaffold structure for easy mounting, with adaptable roll arrays for varied use and safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If rolls are attached to the array structure of networked ropes, then users can create images and engage in interactive play, but users may get their fingers pinched between the roll and rope when rotating the roll
Solution Approach 1:
A safety element is introduced as an intermediary component between the roll and the rope. This safety element prevents direct contact between the user's fingers and the pinching zone, allowing the roll to rotate freely while blocking the harmful effect of finger pinching. The safety element acts as a mediator that permits useful motion while preventing injury.
2Adaptability or versatility
If decorative elements like colouring walls and tic-tac-toe games are added to playground equipment, then variety and user engagement are improved, but the equipment becomes cumbersome, expensive, and difficult to retrofit
Solution Approach 1:
The playground equipment is divided into modular components: the array structure of networked ropes serves as the base framework, while rolls with images are separate attachable elements. This segmentation allows the rolls to be independently mounted on the rope array without requiring complex integration, enabling easy retrofitting and configuration changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The array structure of networked ropes serves multiple functions: it provides the structural framework for the playground equipment and simultaneously serves as the mounting system for the rolls. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate mounting structures, reducing overall complexity while maintaining versatility.
3Ease of operation
If rolls are allowed to rotate freely on the rope, then user interaction is improved, but the roll may displace along the axis of the rope causing safety issues
Solution Approach 1:
The safety element serves as a mediator that permits rotational motion while preventing axial displacement. It is positioned between the user and the roll-rope interface, allowing the roll to rotate for interactive play while blocking the roll from moving along the rope axis, thus maintaining positional stability.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5
AI summary
A playground equipment (1) comprising an array structure (5) of networked ropes (10, 20) arranged in a rectangular array of parallelly arranged first ropes (10) and intersecting second ropes (20) and one or more rolls (30) connected to a first rope (10), between two neighbouring second ropes (20) wherein each roll (30) comprises - an inner clamping part (40) configured for non-slideable fixation to the respective first rope (10), and - an outer part (50) attachable to the inner clamping part wherein the inner clamping part (40) and the outer part (50) are in non-slideable connection relative to each other and wherein the outer part (50) is rotatable relative to the inner clamping part (40).