Collapsible Frame Privacy Shield for Ventilated Nursing Enclosure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current nursing privacy devices are inadequate as they restrict the baby's movement, hinder airflow, cause discomfort due to contact with the baby's face, create a dark environment, and do not allow for easy monitoring of the baby's satiety during feeding.
Innovation Solution
A portable and collapsible privacy shield with fabric panels, a skeletal frame member for tautness, adjustable height and width, and a mesh window for light transmission, allowing for non-contact enclosure and easy attachment to baby strollers, providing a spacious and ventilated environment for nursing and other uses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a blanket-like cover is used to provide privacy, then the mother's chest is covered, but the baby feels smothered and cannot maneuver freely
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a frame structure with fabric panels that create a flexible enclosure rather than a blanket. The frame provides structural support while the fabric panels allow spatial freedom, enabling the baby to move and latch comfortably while maintaining privacy coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The privacy device is segmented into a frame structure with multiple fabric panels (front panel, back panel, side panels) rather than a single blanket. This segmentation creates defined spatial boundaries that provide privacy while leaving adequate room for the baby to maneuver within the enclosed space.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a enclosed cover is used to provide privacy, then the mother's chest is covered, but airflow is restricted and the baby becomes hot
Solution Approach 1:
The patent specifies using mesh fabric for the panels of the privacy enclosure. Mesh material is porous, allowing air to flow through the panels while maintaining the enclosure structure. This resolves the contradiction by providing privacy coverage through the mesh panels while preventing heat buildup through adequate airflow.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a dark enclosed cover is used to provide privacy, then the mother's chest is covered, but the mother cannot monitor the baby's satiety
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses translucent or transparent mesh fabric panels instead of opaque dark material. The mesh material allows light transmission, enabling the mother to visually monitor the baby's satiety and other conditions while the enclosure provides privacy. The mesh structure maintains privacy coverage while eliminating the darkness problem.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If a fixed structure is used to provide privacy, then privacy is maintained, but portability and storage are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a collapsible frame structure that can transition between an expanded state for use and a collapsed state for storage and transport. The frame members are designed to be disassembled or folded, allowing the privacy enclosure to be packed into a compact form while maintaining its functional structure when deployed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent describes the frame members being received within continuous sleeves, creating a nested configuration when collapsed. The fabric panels and frame components are stored within each other in a compact arrangement, enabling portability while maintaining the full structure when needed for privacy coverage.
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
The solution provides a comfortable, well-ventilated, and easily manageable privacy space for nursing, allowing mothers to monitor their babies while maintaining privacy and mobility, suitable for various tasks including diaper changing, medical treatment, and public computing.
Implementation Method 1
the skeletal frame member defined by a spring biased element extends through a continuous sleeve along the peripheral edges of the fabric panels allowing the privacy shield to be collapsed under tension into a compact arrangement for transport and storage, and expanded in a 'pop-open' action
Data Source
AI summary
A privacy shield includes an arrangement of fabric panels including a top panel, a back panel and opposite side panels surrounding an interior privacy chamber. The top panel has a window with a movable flap cover for entry of light and viewing into the nursing chamber. Retractable drawstrings extending through seams of the panels allow for adjustment of the height and width of the nursing chamber. A skeletal frame member extends through a continuous sleeve along the peripheral edges of the fabric panels allowing the privacy shield to be collapsed under tension into a compact arrangement for transport and storage, and expanded in a “pop-open” action, wherein the frame member holds the arrangement of fabric panels taut in surrounding relation to the interior privacy chamber. An arrangement of straps with releasable fasteners allows the privacy shield to be secured to a baby stroller, chair or other structure.