Overhead Bin Door Latch Indicator for Incomplete Lock Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing locking devices for overhead luggage compartments in aircraft are unreliable in detecting incomplete closure due to tolerance or load-related deflections, posing a safety risk of doors opening during flight and causing luggage to fall out.
Innovation Solution
A locking device with spring-mounted hooks and an operating handle, featuring indicators perpendicular to the handle's axis, allowing slight pivoting to reveal an incomplete lock state, and designed to accommodate deflections with elastic spacers or oblong holes for secure closure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If indicators are placed on the operating handle to show incomplete locking, then detection capability is improved, but the reliability of detection deteriorates due to deflection and tolerance issues
Solution Approach 1:
The indicator is positioned on the operating handle in a location that remains visible regardless of the handle's rotational position or deflection state. This spatial repositioning ensures that the indicator provides continuous visual feedback about the locking state, resolving the contradiction by making detection reliable independent of mechanical deflection or tolerance variations.
2Ease of operation
If the locking device is made simple and easy to operate, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to inability to detect incomplete closure
Solution Approach 1:
The indicator utilizes visual color or appearance changes to communicate the locking state. When the door is properly locked, the indicator shows one state (e.g., green or hidden), and when incomplete closure occurs, it shows another state (e.g., red or visible). This provides reliable detection without adding mechanical complexity, maintaining ease of operation while improving reliability.
3Ease of operation
If the operating handle is allowed to pivot freely through a large angle range, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates as the hook may not engage properly
Solution Approach 1:
The operating handle is designed with a predetermined angle range of free pivoting that allows smooth operation, while the catch mechanism is positioned to engage the hook at a specific angle within this range. This dynamic design enables easy operation through the full angle range while ensuring reliable engagement at the appropriate moment, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and engagement reliability.
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
Ensures reliable detection of incomplete locking, preventing accidental door opening and luggage fall, while being simple, cost-effective, and free of electronic components.
Implementation Method 1
at least one hook pivotably spring-mounted on the housing about an axis of rotation for hooking into a retaining axis
Implementation Method 2
the at least one hook can be actuated by the operating handle via at least one catch non-rotatably connected to the operating handle
Data Source
AI summary
Locking device for locking a door of a container in the closed position, with a housing, a hook for hooking into a retaining axis, an operating handle for unlocking the hook, the hook being actuatable by the operating handle via a catch that when the operating handle is moved, the hook can be moved out of the closed position, the operating handle being freely movable around a predetermined angle range before the hook can be unlocked, and with an indicator for identification of an incompletely locked state of the door, and overhead luggage compartment with a locking device. The indicator is arranged on at least one lateral outer surface of the operating handle and perpendicular to the axis of rotation for the operating handle.