Multi-step Stand Segment Interlocking Crossbeam Connection
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing grandstand systems face challenges in safety, ease of assembly, and structural stability due to suboptimal connections between lateral truss beams and crossbeams, which increases the risk of assembly errors and requires complex configuration options.
Innovation Solution
A grandstand segment design featuring step girders and crossbeams with projections that penetrate each other for a positive connection in all directions, allowing for easy assembly and disassembly without tools, and secure stacking and storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If adapter pieces are used to connect lateral truss beams and cross beams with multiple configuration options for height adjustment, then flexibility in grandstand step height is improved, but structural stability and assembly safety deteriorate due to suboptimal connections and high risk of assembly errors
Solution Approach 1:
The connection system is segmented into distinct functional elements: connection elements with engagement projections on the cross beams, and corresponding receptacles in the step girders. This segmentation allows for standardized, pre-configured connection points that maintain structural integrity while enabling height adjustment through selection of different connection locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The connection elements are designed with self-aligning features where the engagement projections automatically guide into the receptacles during assembly. The form-fit connection provides inherent stability without requiring complex adjustment procedures or specialized tools, allowing assembly personnel to safely connect components through straightforward insertion movements.
2Adaptability or versatility
If complex configuration options are provided for height adjustment, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases making assembly more error-prone
Solution Approach 1:
The connection elements serve multiple functions: they provide structural connection, enable height adjustment, and guide assembly alignment. Each cross beam can be connected to step girders at multiple predetermined locations along its length, providing height variability without requiring different types of connection mechanisms for each configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
Height adjustment is achieved by changing the positional parameter of connection points along the cross beam rather than by altering the fundamental connection mechanism. The engagement projections can be positioned at various locations on the cross beam to achieve different step heights, maintaining simple assembly procedures while providing adaptability.
3Ease of operation
If detachable connections with multiple configuration options are used, then ease of assembly and disassembly is improved, but structural stability deteriorates due to suboptimal connection design
Solution Approach 1:
The engagement projections are inserted into receptacles that provide form-fit containment, creating a nested connection structure. The projection fits within the receptacle volume, providing stable mechanical interlocking that resists both separation forces and rotational moments while maintaining easy assembly through simple insertion movements.
Solution Approach 2:
The connection design transitions from simple point-to-point attachment to multi-dimensional engagement where projections extend in multiple directions from the cross beam and engage with corresponding receptacle features. This creates form-fit connections that provide stability in both vertical and horizontal directions, enhancing angular rigidity while maintaining detachability.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to a multi-step stand segment (1) consisting of structural elements (2, 3, 4) connected to each other in such a way that the structural elements can be disassembled, comprising two step supports (2), which are connected to each other by means of a plurality of crossbeams (3), and floor plates (4), which span regions formed between the step supports (2) and the crossbeams (3). The crossbeams (3) form the end faces of the respective stand steps and laterally adjoin the step supports (2) by means of the ends of the crossbeams. The step supports (2) and the crossbeams (3) penetrate each other in this adjoining region, an interlocking engagement thus being formed between the crossbeam (3) and the step support (2) in the direction of gravity and in all horizontal directions in each case. The crossbeams (3) and the step supports (2) are designed in such a way that each connection therebetween can be established during the assembly of the stand segment (1) by inserting protrusions (5a, 5b) formed on the crossbeams (3) into receptacles (6a, 6b) formed on the step supports (2) and can be undone during the disassembly by removal in the opposite direction.