Collapsible Golf Bag Travel Cover with Living Hinge Accordion Structure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Golfers face challenges in transporting their golf bags safely and conveniently, as existing travel covers are often bulky, awkward to handle, and may not provide adequate protection against damage during transit.
Innovation Solution
A collapsible rolling travel cover with a flexible enclosure bonded to top and bottom caps, featuring a semi-rigid backbone with living hinges that allows the cover to accordion fold into a compact mode, providing protection and ease of transport.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a traditional golf bag travel cover is used, then the golf bag is protected during transport, but the cover becomes bulky and awkward to handle
Solution Approach 1:
The travel cover incorporates a collapsible structure with living hinges that enable the cover to dynamically transition between an expanded protective mode and a collapsed compact mode. This dynamic design allows the cover to adapt its form factor based on whether it is being used for protection or being transported/stored, resolving the contradiction between providing robust protection and maintaining ease of handling.
2Reliability
If a rigid hard shell cover is used, then the clubs and golf bag base receive hard shell protection, but the cover becomes difficult to collapse and store
Solution Approach 1:
The cover is segmented into multiple rigid shell sections connected by living hinges. This segmentation allows each section to maintain its rigid protective function while enabling the entire structure to collapse in an accordion-like manner. The segmentation resolves the contradiction by allowing the cover to provide hard shell protection when needed while also being able to collapse into a compact form for storage.
3Volume of moving object
If the travel cover is designed to be compact when collapsed, then multiple units can be stacked for storage, but the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The cover utilizes flexible materials and thin-film construction in conjunction with the rigid shell sections. The flexible portions allow the rigid sections to collapse together in a compact arrangement without requiring complex mechanical mechanisms. This approach achieves small collapsed volume while keeping the overall structure relatively simple and manufacturable.
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 travel cover offers a convenient and compact solution for transporting golf bags, providing hard-shell protection, ease of use between expanded and compact modes, and allowing for multiple units to be stacked for storage or display.
Implementation Method 1
The rear surface of the enclosure includes a backbone having series of semi-rigid plates connected by living hinges, which can accordion fold the enclosure within the top cap and bottom cap
Data Source
AI summary
A travel cover having a rigid top cap, a rigid bottom cap, and an elongated flexible enclosure extending between the rigid top cap and the rigid bottom cap. The elongated enclosure is openable and closable to receive and retrieve contents. The travel cover has a longitudinally expanded mode for carrying contents and a collapsed mode for folding the enclosure into the rigid top cap and the rigid bottom cap to form a compact carrying case.