Slatted Door Impact Resistance via Reinforcement Structure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional slatted doors are vulnerable to damage and disengagement when exposed to impact forces or high pressures, such as those encountered during extreme weather conditions, and increasing slat thickness to enhance strength results in increased weight and cost.
Innovation Solution
A door assembly featuring a flexible, windable door with interconnected slats and a guide rail assembly, where each slat has hook portions forming acute angles with the door's outward face, creating a reinforcement impact distribution structure to secure and redirect impact forces along the slats' length, and optionally incorporating stiffening inserts or force dampening members.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the thickness of the slats is increased to increase the strength of the door, then the door's ability to withstand impact forces is improved, but the weight of the door increases
Solution Approach 1:
The door is divided into multiple interconnected slats rather than a single thick panel. Each slat is thin and lightweight, but the segmented structure with interconnections distributes impact forces across multiple components, achieving high strength without increasing individual slat thickness or overall door weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The door employs a composite structure combining multiple thin slats with interconnection elements (hooks, guides, cables) to create a system with superior strength-to-weight ratio. The composite arrangement of slats, hooks, and tension cables works together to resist impact forces while maintaining lightweight construction.
2Strength
If the thickness of the slats is increased to withstand impact forces, then the door's impact resistance is improved, but the cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The door uses multiple thin, inexpensive slats instead of fewer thick, expensive ones. The segmented design allows standard manufacturing processes for thin materials while the interconnection system provides the necessary impact resistance, reducing overall material costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the critical parameter from slat thickness to slat interconnection geometry. By optimizing the arrangement, number, and configuration of interconnections rather than increasing material thickness, the door achieves high impact resistance with standard-thickness, low-cost slats.
3Device complexity
If conventional hooks are used to connect slats, then the door assembly is simple, but the slats are vulnerable to disengagement under impact forces
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges multiple connection mechanisms into a unified system: hooks provide primary attachment, guide rails provide lateral constraint, and tension cables provide longitudinal restraint. This combined system maintains relative simplicity while dramatically improving connection reliability under impact loads compared to hooks alone.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide rails and tension cables are pre-positioned to provide protective constraints before impact occurs. The guide rails prevent lateral disengagement and the cables maintain tension to keep slats aligned, creating a protective system that prevents disengagement before impact forces can cause failure.
Data Source
AI summary
A slatted door includes a plurality of interengaged slats, and end members arranged at ends of respective slats. The end members and the slats are configured and arranged so that, when the slats are engaged with one another and with respective end members, at least one lateral reinforcement impact distribution structure is formed. The impact distribution structure is configured to absorb, distribute and/or redirect impact force in a direction along the length of the slats.