Shower Board with Grooved Breaking Points for On-Site Size Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current shower boards lack variability in size and geometry to accommodate different customer wishes and structural conditions, leading to inefficiencies in production and material usage.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating predetermined breaking points in the form of elongated grooves on the underside of the shower board, allowing for on-site reduction in size or shape modification while maintaining the drain opening functionality, and using a flexible planar element for sealing and dimensional stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If shower boards are manufactured with fixed sizes and geometries, then production is simplified and costs are reduced, but adaptability to different customer wishes and structural conditions deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The shower board is provided with predetermined breaking points in the form of elongated grooves that divide the board into separable sections. These grooves are positioned such that breaking at these points maintains the integrity of the drain opening and waterproofing layer, allowing the board to be divided into smaller functional units on-site to match various spatial requirements without needing to produce multiple fixed-size variants.
Solution Approach 2:
The shower board transitions from a fixed, static design to a dynamic, adaptable configuration through the inclusion of breaking points. The board can be transformed from its original size and shape into smaller configurations depending on installation needs, enabling a single standardized product to serve multiple dimensional requirements while maintaining structural functionality.
2Adaptability or versatility
If shower boards are produced in multiple sizes and geometries, then adaptability improves, but production costs and material waste increase
Solution Approach 1:
By providing predetermined breaking points, the system allows a single large shower board to be segmented into smaller units on-site, eliminating the need to produce and transport multiple pre-cut sizes. This reduces material waste from unsold or unused smaller board variants while still providing size adaptability through controlled breaking at the grooves.
Solution Approach 2:
A single standardized shower board design with breaking points serves multiple functions: it can be installed as a complete board or broken into smaller sections depending on the installation space. This universal design eliminates the need for multiple specialized products, reducing production complexity and material waste from manufacturing various size variants.
3Reliability
If the shower board thickness is reduced in the drain area to create gradient, then drainage functionality improves, but structural strength deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The shower board features variable thickness with a gradient toward the drain opening, creating thinner sections for optimal drainage flow and thicker sections in peripheral areas for structural strength. This local differentiation of thickness allows the board to simultaneously achieve effective drainage in the drain area while maintaining overall structural integrity through thicker supporting regions.
Data Source
Figure 1A~3B
Figure 4~5
AI summary
The invention relates to a shower board for manufacturing a shower floor, comprising a plate-shaped element of thickness Dx,y with a top surface 3 and a bottom surface 3, and a drain opening 4. A drain area is incorporated into the top surface 3, sloping towards the drain opening 4. Two grooves 5, in the form of elongated recesses projecting into the shower board 1, are formed in the bottom surface 6. These grooves are arranged between the drain opening 4 and at least one of the side edges 2 of the shower board 1, each groove 5 having a length LN1, LN2 and a depth HN1, HN2. The depths HN1, HN2 at each point of the respective groove 5 are less than the minimum thickness Dx,y of the shower board 1 along that groove 5. At least one flexible, planar element 7 is arranged and fixed on the top surface 3 in the area above the grooves 5.