Sun Shade Guide Rail Assembly for Adaptive Sun Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional shading devices, such as umbrellas and awnings, face challenges in maneuverability and limited shading regions due to their fixed shapes, making it difficult to provide shade in all areas throughout the day as the sun's position changes.
Innovation Solution
A sun shade with a movable cover and guide rail assembly that allows angular movement along a track, supported by a fixed bracket, enabling the cover to be extended and retracted in multiple positions, providing greater degrees of freedom and accommodating different sun positions throughout the day and year, with both manual and automated operation options.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional shading devices use a fixed shape and predetermined shading area, then the device structure is simple, but the device has limited maneuverability and cannot provide shade in all regions throughout the day
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the shading device movable and adjustable rather than fixed. The cover can be repositioned along angular tracks in both vertical and horizontal planes, allowing the shading area to dynamically follow the sun's movement throughout the day and year, thereby resolving the contradiction between adaptability and structural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces multi-dimensional movement capability by allowing the cover to move along angular tracks in both vertical and horizontal planes. This two-dimensional adjustment capability enables the shading device to cover various regions throughout the day, transforming a statically simple structure into a dynamically versatile system.
2Ease of operation
If conventional shading devices have a fixed shape, then the device is easy to manufacture, but the device challenges maneuverability and cannot accommodate changing sun positions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the shading device into movable components (cover, guide rail assembly, support bracket) that can independently adjust along different axes. This segmentation enables easy maneuverability and repositioning while maintaining relatively simple individual component fabrication, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and ease of manufacture.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the cover is made extendable and retractable along a plane, then the shading area can be adjusted for different sun positions, but the device complexity increases with multiple engagement points and paths of movement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses angular tracks with curved geometries that guide the cover's movement along predefined paths. These curved engagement mechanisms allow the cover to extend and retract while following arc-shaped trajectories, providing versatile shading position adjustment through geometric constraints rather than complex mechanical actuators.
Data Source
AI summary
A sun shade includes a cover that is extendable and retractable, a guide rail assembly that is engageable with the cover and defines a first path of movement via a first movable engagement point between the cover and the guide rail assembly, and a support bracket that is engageable with the guide rail assembly and arranged at a lower position relative to the cover. The support bracket defines a second path of movement for the guide rail assembly with the cover via a second movable engagement point between the guide rail assembly and the support bracket.