Sanitary Unit Frame with Angled Corner Connectors
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for attaching sanitary units to building walls, particularly those with a cavity and a front wall, require precise miter-cut metal tubes and expensive machinery, leading to complex and costly frame construction.
Innovation Solution
A device featuring a frame made from a single profile tube with angled corners and connecting pieces that span the tube sections, allowing for simple production and stabilization, enabling cost-effective attachment to walls with or without a cavity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If metal tubes are miter-cut and joined to form frames, then structural stability is improved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase due to requiring expensive machinery and extensive rework
Solution Approach 1:
The frame is divided into modular components: a base frame structure and separate corner connectors. The corner connectors are pre-formed with angled surfaces that match the frame sections, allowing simple assembly without complex miter-cutting operations. This segmentation enables standardized production of frame components that can be easily assembled together.
Solution Approach 2:
The corner connectors are pre-formed with the required angular geometries before assembly. The angled surfaces on the corner connectors are prepared in advance to match the frame sections, eliminating the need for on-site miter-cutting and rework. This preliminary preparation simplifies the overall manufacturing process while maintaining structural integrity.
2Stability of the object's composition
If metal tubes are miter-cut and joined to form frames, then structural stability is improved, but production cost increases due to expensive machinery and rework requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The frame system is segmented into a base frame and separate corner connector components. The corner connectors are manufactured as standardized parts with pre-formed angular surfaces, eliminating the need for expensive miter-cutting machinery and reducing rework requirements. This modular approach lowers production costs while maintaining structural stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The corner connectors are designed as simple, inexpensive components that can be easily manufactured and replaced if needed. By using basic geometric forms and standard manufacturing processes for these connectors, the overall production cost is reduced compared to custom-miter-cut metal tube solutions.
3Ease of operation
If corner connectors are inserted into profile tubes to form frame corners, then ease of assembly is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase for the corner connectors
Solution Approach 1:
The corner connectors are designed with localized angular surfaces that match the frame sections at specific locations. The precision requirements are concentrated only in these local angular surfaces rather than the entire connector component. This allows simple manufacturing of the bulk connector while maintaining high precision only where needed for assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The angular surfaces on the corner connectors are pre-formed with precise geometries during the connector manufacturing process. This preliminary preparation ensures that the connectors assemble easily with the frame sections without requiring high-precision machining during final assembly. The precision is built into the connectors themselves rather than requiring precision during assembly.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
Device (1) for attaching a sanitary unit to a fastening element (10), comprising a frame (2) formed with at least one profile tube (3) and having at least one frame corner (4) at which the profile tube (3) is partially cut through, wherein a connecting piece (5) is provided at the frame corner (4) which spans sections (12, 13, 14) of the at least one profile tube (3) adjacent to the at least one frame corner (4).