Wedge Connecting Elements for Gapless Panel Assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing components, such as panel-shaped ceiling elements, often have residual stresses and curved or twisted shapes, leading to gaps and requiring mechanical clamping devices for assembly, which is time-consuming and prone to gaps forming during connection.
Innovation Solution
The use of connecting elements with widening ribs that engage undercut recesses in the surfaces of the pieces, allowing for pretensioning of the pieces to ensure gapless alignment, even if they are warped or have residual stresses, without the need for separate clamping devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional mechanical clamping devices and screws are used to connect pieces, then the pieces can be held together, but gaps form between the pieces and the assembly process becomes time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting element is divided into two separate parts that can be independently inserted into the recesses of the two pieces. This segmentation allows each part to be inserted separately and then locked together, enabling gapless connection without time-consuming mechanical clamping and screwing operations
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the traditional mechanical clamping device and screw system with a wedge-based locking mechanism. The wedge-shaped connecting elements are inserted into undercut recesses, where they expand to lock the pieces together, eliminating the need for separate clamping devices and reducing assembly time
2Adaptability or versatility
If pieces with residual stresses and curved shapes are connected using traditional methods, then connection is possible, but gaps inevitably form between the pieces
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting elements are designed with wedge geometry that allows them to accommodate variations in piece alignment and curvature. By changing the geometric parameters of the wedge shape and the undercut recess, the system can adapt to pieces with residual stresses and curved shapes while maintaining gapless surface alignment
Solution Approach 2:
The connecting elements are pre-formed with wedge geometry and undercut recesses that are designed to compensate for expected warping and curvature in the pieces. This preliminary design allows the pieces to be connected in their natural warped state without requiring pre-flattening or precise alignment, preventing gap formation despite the pieces' irregular shapes
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 the connection of warped or stressed pieces to form a seamless component, preventing gaps over the entire length, and allows for the alignment of panel-shaped ceiling elements without the use of mechanical clamping devices, improving assembly efficiency and aesthetic integrity.
Implementation Method 1
Each connecting element consists of two wedge-shaped parts that adjoin one another over a wedge surface
Data Source
AI summary
A component having at least two parts which contact one another via their narrow faces, includes multiple connection elements which pretension the parts with respect to one another. The connection elements are accommodated in recesses formed as undercuts in the parts. The recesses are aligned transversely to the longitudinal extension of the narrow faces of the parts, the openings of the recesses being open towards the narrow faces of the parts. The connection elements are respectively formed of two wedge-shaped pieces arranged in a diametrically opposed manner. When the pieces of the connection elements are accommodated completely in the recesses, the ribs of the connection elements completely fill out the recesses, so that the parts are pretensioned with respect to one another, and a gap is prevented from forming between the parts or the closing of a previously present gap is achieved.