Thin Cantilevered Bracket Design for Stable Modular Storage Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cantilevered brackets in modular storage systems are aesthetically unpleasing and lack stability, often requiring wider designs to prevent swinging, limiting the ability to connect multiple brackets to the same standard.
Innovation Solution
The use of thin cantilevered brackets with a connection interface that includes rearward extensions to prevent pivoting and translation, allowing multiple brackets to be connected to the same vertical standard, maintaining rigidity and aesthetics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If conventional cantilevered brackets use pairs of horizontally displaced hooks to stabilize the bracket, then the bracket stability is improved, but the bracket width increases and aesthetics deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the stabilizing function from the horizontal displacement of hooks and relocates it to the vertical plane by using one hook above the other. This separation of the stabilizing function from the horizontal dimension allows the bracket to be stabilized without increasing its width, thus resolving the contradiction between stability and aesthetics.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions the hook arrangement from a horizontal configuration (side-by-side) to a vertical configuration (one above the other). This dimensional change allows the bracket to achieve stability through vertical spacing rather than horizontal displacement, reducing the bracket's width while maintaining stability.
2Stability of the object's composition
If conventional brackets use wider construction to prevent swinging, then bracket stability is improved, but the ability to connect multiple brackets to the same standard deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
By arranging hooks vertically instead of horizontally, the patent enables multiple brackets to be connected to the same standard at different vertical positions. This vertical stacking of hooks allows multiple brackets to share the same standard without requiring excessive horizontal space, thus improving adaptability while maintaining stability.
3Shape
If thin cantilevered brackets are used to improve aesthetics, then bracket width is reduced, but bracket stability deteriorates due to swinging tendency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the stabilizing function from the bracket's width and attributes it to the vertical spacing between hooks. This allows the bracket to be thin and aesthetically pleasing while still achieving stability through the carefully spaced vertical hook arrangement that prevents swinging.
4Device complexity
If single hook connection is used to reduce bracket complexity, then device complexity is reduced, but bracket stability deteriorates due to swinging
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses vertical spacing between two hooks to achieve stability that would otherwise require horizontal separation. This vertical arrangement maintains relative structural simplicity while preventing bracket swinging, thus resolving the contradiction between device complexity and stability.
Data Source
AI summary
A storage system in which storage components are connected in a cantilevered fashion to vertical standard uses thin cantilevered brackets support storage components. Despite the tendency of such brackets to swing when attached to the vertical standard, the cantilevered brackets are constructed and support the storage components in a sturdy and aesthetically pleasing manner. A thin cantilevered bracket made from a single, flat piece of metal oriented vertically and projecting from a connection interface includes a ledge extending from its side surface below a top edge of the bracket to support one end of a shelf or other planar member forming a storage component. A thin cantilevered bracket with an offset projection that attaches to an inside surface of a side panel of an enclosure that allows the side panel to align with the bracket connection interface.