Support device for furniture shelves
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing shelf-supporting devices face limitations in mechanical resistance due to miniaturization, which compromises their ability to handle heavy loads while maintaining a reduced aesthetic impact and easy assembly, as the concentration of loads on smaller contact surfaces within the shelf thickness reduces their load-bearing capacity.
Innovation Solution
A shelf-supporting device with a main body having a solid section and projecting elements that distribute load-bearing forces across a thicker area of the shelf, preventing the concentration of stress on thinner sections, and featuring a beveled upper surface to avoid contact with the shelf's internal walls, allowing for optimal force distribution and increased robustness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the shelf-supporting device is miniaturized to reduce aesthetic impact, then the device dimensions and housing seat size are reduced, but the mechanical resistance and load-bearing capacity deteriorate due to concentration of loads on smaller contact surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The device incorporates a solid section with increased local thickness in the area subjected to highest stresses, while other parts of the device can maintain reduced dimensions. This allows the device to be miniaturized overall while preserving mechanical resistance at critical locations where loads are concentrated.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a dimensional variation by creating a solid section with greater thickness in the critical load-bearing area, effectively adding a dimensional feature to a specific zone of the device. This resolves the contradiction by allowing the device to be small in most dimensions while having enhanced thickness where mechanically necessary.
2Area of stationary object
If the device dimensions are reduced to minimize aesthetic impact, then the contact surfaces within the shelf thickness are reduced, but the load distribution capability deteriorates causing stress concentration on thinner shelf sections
Solution Approach 1:
The solid section concentrates the load distribution function in a specific local area of the device where it is most needed. By making this particular section thicker and more substantial, the device can maintain small overall dimensions while still providing adequate load distribution capability through the enhanced local contact surface area.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the device is designed with a housing seat within the shelf thickness, then the device can be reversibly connected to the shelf, but the shelf section at the housing seat location has reduced thickness and becomes a weak point for load bearing
Solution Approach 1:
The device compensates for the weakened shelf section by concentrating its own structural strength in the solid section that interfaces with the shelf. The thicker solid section provides enhanced load-bearing capacity precisely where the shelf is weakened by the housing seat, effectively compensating for the local thickness reduction in the shelf.
Data Source
AI summary
A shelf-supporting device configured to create a reversible connection of a shelf with an opposite shoulder of a piece of furniture includes a shelf bracket having a main body with a shaped profile that includes, on its outer surface, one or more projecting elements extending toward the outside of the main body so as to optimize the load distribution in an area of the shelf of maximum thickness.