Strip End Cap Keyhole Assembly for Removable Band Packages
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing strip packages for household appliances are complex to modify, with difficult removal and addition of individual strips, susceptibility to tilting and pivoting, and inadequate connections between strips and end caps leading to visual defects.
Innovation Solution
The strip end caps feature a keyhole bore with a central screw guide and lateral through-holes, guide pins for vertical alignment, and hooks or snap connections for secure positioning, along with leaf springs for tension maintenance, allowing for easy strip removal and reinsertion without loosening the screw and preventing relative movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a screw connects all strips and the control panel, then the strip package is firmly connected to the control panel, but the removal and addition of individual strips becomes very complex requiring loosening the screw nut and screw
Solution Approach 1:
The keyhole bore is segmented into two functional parts: a central screw guide for maintaining connection and a lateral through-hole for screw passage during removal. This segmentation allows the screw connection to serve dual purposes - securing the strip package while enabling individual strip removal without complete disassembly
Solution Approach 2:
The keyhole bore acts as an intermediary structure between the screw and the strip end cap. It mediates between the need for firm connection (through the central screw guide) and the need for easy removal (through the lateral through-hole), allowing the screw to transition between locked and removed states without requiring nut loosening
2Ease of manufacture
If strips are pushed laterally into guides for mounting, then the strip package can be connected to the control panel, but the screw heads tilt in the guide causing misalignment
Solution Approach 1:
The central screw guide in the keyhole bore provides self-alignment functionality. As strips are pushed into guides during assembly, the screw automatically centers itself in the keyhole bore through the constrained geometry of the screw guide, eliminating the need for separate alignment operations and preventing screw head tilting
3Ease of operation
If the connection between strips and strip end caps is simple, then assembly is easy, but the connection is inadequate causing strip end caps to be displaced and causing visual defects
Solution Approach 1:
The keyhole bore has an asymmetric geometry with a narrow central screw guide and a wider lateral through-hole. This asymmetric design provides both easy assembly (screw passes through the larger through-hole) and reliable connection (screw is constrained by the narrower screw guide), preventing strip end cap displacement while maintaining assembly simplicity
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
The package has a strip end cap (3) arranged at strips. The strip end cap and/or the strips are connected with each other and with an operating panel of a household appliance by a common screw. The screw penetrates through the end cap and/or the strips. The end cap includes keyhole slots (5), which include a central screw guide (6) and through holes (7) that are arranged lateral to the central screw guide. A diameter of the through holes is larger than that of a screw head of the screw. A guiding pin (8) points in a direction of the adjacent end cap.