Wood Armrest Core Assembly for Low-Waste, Crack-Resistant Joining
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional wooden armrests made from a single piece of timber are wasteful and prone to breaking due to differential deformation from temperature changes between the armrest body and veneer layers, which are made of different materials, leading to structural weakness and reduced service life.
Innovation Solution
The armrest is manufactured by bonding multiple core sections made from waste pieces of high-quality wood, with serrated coupling faces and planar engaging faces, allowing for adhesive bonding and minimizing visible coupling edges, ensuring uniform material characteristics and enhanced structural integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If conventional armrests are made from a single piece of timber, then structural integrity is maintained, but material waste increases and resource efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The armrest is divided into multiple segments (first armrest section, second armrest section, third armrest section) that are bonded together using serrated coupling faces. This segmentation allows utilization of smaller wood pieces instead of requiring a single large timber, reducing material waste while maintaining structural integrity through the interlocking serrated design.
Solution Approach 2:
The armrest combines multiple wood pieces with different characteristics into a composite structure. The serrated coupling faces create a composite joint that distributes stress across multiple bonding points, allowing the assembly to achieve structural integrity comparable to or exceeding that of solid timber while using fewer resources.
2Shape
If veneer layers made of different wood material are bonded to the armrest body, then aesthetic appearance is improved, but structural reliability deteriorates due to differential deformation from temperature changes
Solution Approach 1:
The serrated coupling faces are designed with uniform geometry and bonding characteristics, ensuring homogeneous stress distribution across all joint interfaces. This homogeneity prevents stress concentration at any single bonding point, reducing the risk of failure due to differential thermal deformation between different wood materials.
Solution Approach 2:
By segmenting the armrest into multiple sections with serrated coupling faces, the structure can accommodate differential expansion and contraction of different wood materials. The segmented design with multiple bonding points allows each section to respond independently to temperature changes, preventing catastrophic failure while maintaining aesthetic appearance.
3Productivity
If multiple wood pieces are bonded together to form the armrest, then material utilization efficiency is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases due to the need for precise coupling face machining
Solution Approach 1:
The armrest is segmented into standardized sections with identical or similar serrated coupling face designs. This standardization allows for modular manufacturing where the same machining processes and tooling can be reused across multiple components, reducing the overall manufacturing complexity despite the increased number of parts.
Solution Approach 2:
The serrated coupling faces are designed to be self-aligning and self-locating during assembly. The interlocking geometry of the serrations guides the positioning of adjacent sections, reducing the need for complex alignment procedures and specialized assembly equipment, thereby lowering manufacturing complexity while maintaining high material utilization efficiency.
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
This method reduces material waste, enhances structural strength, and prolongs the service life of the armrest by using waste wood pieces and minimizing deformation due to temperature changes, while maintaining an aesthetically pleasing appearance.
Implementation Method 1
The plurality of core sections are bonded together to form a core by applying adhesive to the serrated coupling faces to bond the two adjacent ends respectively of the two adjacent core sections
Implementation Method 2
The first engaging faces of two adjacent upper boards are bonded together, leaving an unobvious rectilinear coupling edge. The second engaging faces of two adjacent lateral boards bonded together, leaving an unobvious rectilinear coupling edge
Implementation Method 3
The armrest is liable to break at the gluing section between the armrest body and the veneer layers due to different deformation resulting from temperature change
Data Source
AI summary
A method for manufacturing an armrest includes making a plurality of core sections. Each core section is formed by bonding a plurality of waste pieces of high-quality wood together. Each of two adjacent ends respectively of two adjacent core sections is machined to provide a serrated coupling face having a plurality of grooves and a plurality of protrusions. The core sections are bonded together to form a core having a desired length by applying adhesive to the serrated coupling faces. A plurality of upper boards made of the same material as the core is bonded to a top side of the core. A plurality of lateral boards made of the same material as the core is bonded to each of two lateral sides of the core.