Sliding Door Guide Rail with Pivoting Diverter for Stable Transfer
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing guide rails for sliding doors, particularly in furniture, lack stability in guiding and transferring the sliding doors between open and closed positions, leading to instability and potential misalignment.
Innovation Solution
A guide rail design featuring guide rollers with parallel axes of rotation to pivot axes, a switch element that divides the guide channel into sections, and spring elements to maintain stable positions, ensuring smooth transitions and secure holding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a guide rail uses a simple guide channel structure, then the device complexity is reduced, but the stability and reliability of guiding the sliding door deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The guide channel is segmented into multiple sections (first guide channel section, second guide channel section, third guide channel section) with different functions. Each section provides specific guidance for different phases of the sliding door movement, ensuring stable guidance throughout the entire travel path while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
Solution Approach 2:
A transfer element is introduced as an intermediary component between the guide channel and the sliding door. This transfer element facilitates the stable transfer of the sliding door from one guide channel section to another, improving reliability without significantly increasing the complexity of the guide rail structure itself.
2Ease of operation
If the guide channel is continuous without divisions, then the ease of operation is improved, but the manufacturing precision and alignment stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The guide channel is divided into multiple precisely manufactured sections that can be manufactured and assembled separately. Each section can be precision-manufactured to specific tolerances, and when assembled, they form a continuous guidance path that maintains alignment stability while allowing for easier operation through modular construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the need for a single complex precision-manufactured continuous guide channel with a system of multiple simpler guide channel sections connected by transfer elements. This substitution allows for easier manufacturing and assembly while maintaining the precision and alignment stability needed for smooth sliding door operation.
3Reliability
If switch elements are added to divide the guide channel, then the reliability of position control is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide channel is segmented into distinct sections (first, second, and third guide channel sections) that correspond to different positions of the sliding door. This segmentation provides inherent position control by physically guiding the sliding door through specific paths for opening, closing, and intermediate positions, improving reliability without requiring additional complex switching mechanisms.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design provides stable guidance and secure transfer of sliding doors, maintaining alignment and reducing misalignment issues, enhancing the functionality and reliability of sliding door systems.
Implementation Method 1
a spring element which acts on the switch element and causes the switch element to be movable between the open position and the closed position
Implementation Method 2
The axis of rotation of the guide roller can be arranged parallel to the pivot axis of the switch element
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The present invention relates to a guide rail for a sliding door (2) with a guide element (3) comprising: a guide channel (7) which extends along the centre axis (L_7) and in which the guide element (3) of the sliding door (2) can be guided, a holding portion (15), a diverter element (19) which can be pivoted about a pivot axis (L_S) into an open position and into a closed position, wherein the diverter element (19) divides the guide channel (7) into a first channel region and a second channel region in the open position, wherein the first channel region is connected to the holding portion (15) in such a way that the guide element (3) of the sliding door (2) can be transferred from the first channel region into the holding portion (15), and the diverter element (19) releases the guide channel (7) in the closed position in such a way that the first channel region is connected to the second channel region.