Bracket Barrier Extender With Sliding Constraints for Animal Containment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Domestic animals can escape outdoor enclosures by climbing over boundaries, posing health risks and disease transmission, and existing bracket assemblies are inadequate in preventing such escapes.
Innovation Solution
An extender for a bracket assembly that includes an elongate planar face with upstanding walls and constraints to slidingly receive and constrain a barrier portion, allowing the bracket to be extended and adapted for various enclosure shapes, supported by an alignment adaptor for rotational attachment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a standard bracket assembly is used, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but it cannot be adapted to various enclosure shapes and sizes
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket assembly is divided into separate components: a standard bracket and an extender. The extender can be attached to the bracket to modify its length and configuration, allowing the same basic bracket design to serve multiple enclosure shapes and sizes without redesigning the entire assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The extender incorporates a sliding barrier portion with constraints that allow movement and adjustment. This dynamic structure enables the bracket assembly to be configured for different enclosure geometries while maintaining structural integrity through the constrained sliding mechanism.
2Reliability
If the barrier portion is extended to prevent animal escapes, then the containment security is improved, but the bracket assembly becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The barrier function is segmented into the standard bracket and the separate extender component. This allows the extension of barrier length for improved security while keeping the base bracket design simple and the added complexity isolated to the optional extender attachment.
Solution Approach 2:
The extender attaches to the standard bracket, with the sliding barrier portion nested within the extender structure. The constraints are positioned to receive and guide the barrier portion, creating a nested arrangement that provides extended containment security without requiring a completely new complex design.
Data Source
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AI summary
An extender (100) for a barrier portion (202) of a bracket (200), the bracket (200) comprising a mounting portion (201) and the barrier portion (202), the barrier portion (202) being inclined relative to the mounting portion (201), wherein the extender (100) comprises an elongate planar face (101) having a length measured in a first direction (x) and a width measured in a second direction (y) perpendicular to the first direction (x), wherein the elongate planar face (101) has a perimeter having two opposing long edges and two opposing short edges; a wall (102), upstanding from the planar face (101) in a third direction (z) perpendicular to the first direction (x) and the second direction (y), extending along the two long edges and one of the two short edges, wherein the wall (102) has a perimeter having two opposing long edges and one short edge; first constraints (104) comprising a plurality of tabs which extend from the long edges of the wall (102) parallel to the elongate planar face (101); and a second constraint (105) comprising a tab which extends from the planar face (101) in the third direction (z), wherein the two opposing long edges of the wall (102), the planar face (101) and the first constraints (104) are mutually arranged to slidingly receive and constrain the barrier portion (202) of the bracket (200) between the two opposing long edges of the wall (102), the planar face (101) and the first constraints (104), and wherein the second constraint (105) is positioned to abut an end of the barrier portion (202), distal from the mounting portion (201) when the barrier portion (202) is slidingly received between the two opposing long edges of the wall (102), the planar face (101) and the first constraints (104), wherein a portion of the planar face (101) extends beyond the end of the barrier portion (202).