Collapsible Lighting Device with Telescoping Legs and Adjustable Height
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Solution Overview
Problem
Flashlights are inadequate for providing sufficient lighting in various situations due to their bulkiness and inconvenience for carrying, limiting their portability and effectiveness for workers and campers.
Innovation Solution
A collapsible lighting device with a cylindrical form factor, featuring a carrying strap, telescoping members, and a latching mechanism that allows it to be easily transported and deployed, providing adjustable height and stability with a watertight enclosure for the battery and electrical components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If portable lights are designed to provide adequate lighting and stand alone stability, then lighting performance and stability are improved, but the device becomes bulky and large, making it inconvenient to carry
Solution Approach 1:
The lighting device is divided into collapsible legs that can be segmented into multiple positions (collapsed, partially extended, fully extended). Each leg contains a telescopic mechanism with nested tubes that allow the structure to be divided into compact segments for transport and expanded into a stable tripod configuration for use, directly resolving the contradiction between portability and stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The device incorporates dynamic elements including telescopic legs with movable joints, collapsible structures that transition between compact and expanded states, and adjustable positioning mechanisms. These dynamic features allow the device to adapt its volume and stability characteristics based on whether it is being transported or deployed, eliminating the need to choose between bulky fixed design and compact portable design.
2Ease of operation
If flashlights are used for portability, then ease of carrying is improved, but adequate lighting coverage and hands-free operation are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The device transitions from a one-dimensional handheld flashlight form factor to a three-dimensional stand-alone lamp structure. By extending collapsible legs in multiple directions to form a stable base, the device creates a spatial footprint that allows a larger lamp head with broader illumination coverage to be positioned at an elevated height, providing both hands-free operation and adequate lighting coverage simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The collapsible legs serve as an intermediary mechanism between the compact portable form and the expanded stable form. This intermediate structure enables the device to achieve both portability (when collapsed) and adequate lighting coverage with hands-free operation (when extended), mediating between the two opposing requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A collapsible lighting device (101) has a main body (301) surrounded by a collar (109) whose position is adjustable along the longitudinal axis of the main body. Pivotally connected or hinged legs (309) are attached to the collar and to the main body with struts (310). When the collar is on one position, the legs deploy outward from the main body to the extent permitted by the struts, thereby allowing the legs to support the collapsible lighting device upright. A lamp head (107) is attached to a member (611) which telescope from the main body. When deployed, the lamp head can be switched on to provide illumination. When the collar is another position, the legs are drawn in toward the main body to form a cylindrical shape. The lamp head can be positioned so that when the telescoping member is retracted into the main body, the collar surrounds the exterior of the lamp head, thus protecting the lamp head for transport. The overall cylindrical shape of the lighting device in the collapsed position facilitates transport, for example using a strap to carry the device on one's back.