Aircraft Luggage Bin Cable Guide Arrangement

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Solution Overview

Problem

Aircraft luggage bins face challenges in securely guiding cables into their interior, making them susceptible to faults and damage due to improper bending radii and movement during the pivoting of the shell relative to the housing.

Innovation Solution

A cable guide arrangement featuring a shaft bearing element and a shaft element with a central opening, accompanied by a cable guide element with a first guide portion for deflecting the cable with a defined bending radius and a second guide portion for coaxial guidance, ensuring secure and fault-resistant cable routing within the luggage bin.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Device complexity

If a cable is guided through a simple opening in the shaft element, then the cable routing is simple, but the cable is susceptible to damage due to improper bending radii and movement during pivoting

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecable guide arrangementVSAvoidcable guidance
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a cable guide element as an intermediary component between the cable and the shaft element. This guide element includes a guide portion that actively manages the cable path, ensuring proper bending radius and preventing cable damage during shell pivoting. The guide element mediates the interaction between the moving shell and the stationary cable, resolving the contradiction between simple routing and reliable cable protection.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Ease of operation

If the shell is made pivotable for easy loading, then ease of operation is improved, but cable damage risk increases due to movement during pivoting

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveloading operationVSAvoidcable damage
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The cable guide element is pre-installed and positioned in the shaft element before the shell begins to pivot. This preliminary arrangement ensures that the cable path is pre-defined and protected against the harmful effects of pivoting movement. The guide element is already in place to prevent cable damage before the damaging motion occurs, resolving the contradiction between easy loading operation and cable protection.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Ease of manufacture

If the cable is guided radially into the shaft opening, then the cable entry is simple, but the bending radius is uncontrolled and may cause cable damage

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecable routingVSAvoidbending radius control
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of manufactureVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The cable guide element changes the geometric parameters of the cable path by introducing a controlled bending radius through its guide portion. Instead of allowing direct radial entry with uncontrolled bending, the guide element imposes a specific, adequate bending radius that prevents cable damage. This parameter change transforms the cable routing from a simple but harmful radial entry to a controlled path with protected bending characteristics.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Data Source

PatentEP3180246B1Luggage bin
Publication Date: 2020.07.15 AIRBUS OPERATIONS GMBH
  • EP3180246B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP3180246B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP3180246B1 patent drawingFigure 5~6

AI summary

A cable guide arrangement (10) for use in a luggage bin (100), in particular an aircraft luggage bin, comprises a shaft bearing element (12) and a shaft element (14) which is rotatably mounted in the shaft bearing element (12) and through which there passes an opening (18) which extends along a central axis (Z) of the shaft element (14). The cable guide arrangement (10) further comprises at least one cable guide element (28a, 28b) which is connected to the shaft bearing element (12) or to the shaft element (14) and comprises a first guide portion (30) and a second guide portion (32). The first guide portion (30) is configured to deflect a cable (110), which extends in the radial direction with respect to the central axis (Z) of the shaft element (14), with a defined bending radius in the direction of the central axis (Z) of the shaft element (14). The second guide portion (32) is configured to guide the cable (110) parallel to the central axis (Z) of the shaft element (14) through the opening (18) extending through the shaft element (14).