Sliding Door Roller Guide with Toggle Lever for Narrow Niche Assembly

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Solution Overview

Problem

The existing sliding door roller guide systems face challenges in assembly, particularly when trying to install heavy sliding doors in narrow spaces, as the rear door overlaps with the front door, making it difficult to set up furniture in niches with small distances between side panels and walls, and require significant design and manufacturing effort.

Innovation Solution

A sliding door roller guide with a bracket-style holder and a toggle lever mechanism, featuring a guide roller that is spring-loaded and form-fitting, allowing direct front-side assembly and easy installation by pivoting lever arms to secure the guide roller into the guide rail, with a slot and stop system to limit pivoting path and prevent misalignment.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of manufacture

If the rear door is installed first in the overlapping area, then the sliding door can be assembled, but the front door must protrude laterally over the side wall during assembly, making it impossible to set up furniture in narrow niches

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveAssembly feasibilityVSAvoidInstallation space requirement
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of manufactureVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The guide roller is designed with a lever system that allows it to dynamically change its position. During assembly, the roller can be moved laterally outward to clear the overlapping door area, then returned to its normal guiding position once the door is installed, enabling front-side assembly without lateral protrusion

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The lever system acts as an intermediary mechanism between the guide roller and the door edge. By actuating the lever, the roller is temporarily displaced to an intermediate position that facilitates assembly, then returns to its functional position to guide the door along the rail

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Ease of operation

If additional spring components are added to enable direct front-side assembly, then assembly becomes possible, but the design and manufacturing effort increases significantly

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveAssembly methodVSAvoidDesign effort
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The lever system is designed to be manually actuated by the installer during assembly, using the installer's own hand force to displace the roller. This eliminates the need for additional powered spring components or complex mechanical assistance systems

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The lever system changes the positional parameter of the guide roller temporarily during assembly. By pivoting the lever, the roller moves from its normal position to an assembly position, then returns automatically or manually, achieving the assembly function without adding permanent complex components

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

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

Enables straightforward assembly of sliding doors directly at the front, allowing for the installation of sliding-door cabinets in narrow niches with reduced design and manufacturing effort, and facilitates the use of heavy sliding doors by ensuring secure engagement with the guide rail.

Implementation Method 1

Spring elements are provided for this purpose, by means of which a change in length in the extended position is buffered, as it were, in relation to an angular position as occurs when the lever arms are pivoted from a position of non-use into a position of use.

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectSpring: Spring

Data Source

PatentEP2625362B1Sliding door roller guide, and arrangement of a sliding door roller guide on a piece of furniture
Publication Date: 2016.08.17 HETTICH HEINZE GMBH & CO KG
  • EP2625362B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP2625362B1 patent drawingFigure 2a~2b
  • EP2625362B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A sliding door roller guide comprising a guiding roller (11) that is pivotably fixed to a support (7) is designed such that the guiding roller (11) is mounted on a lever system (10) which is connected to the support (7) and which is held in a spring-loaded and/or form-fitting manner in a functional end position.