Collapsible Luggage Tray With Handle-Mounted Stable Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Contemporary luggage trays face challenges such as large size, weight, and complex assembly, limiting their use in confined spaces and compromising structural integrity when attached to luggage extensions, while often failing to support diverse articles like laptops and beverages.
Innovation Solution
A portable luggage tray with a collapsible bi-fold design, featuring anti-slip surfaces and hinge members for stability, coupled via a fastener to the luggage handle, allowing versatile support of various items without compromising structural integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If contemporary luggage trays are designed with larger size and more interconnected components to support diverse articles, then the support capability is improved, but the device complexity and storage difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The luggage tray is divided into multiple interconnected components including side walls, front wall, back wall, and base members that can be easily assembled and disassembled. This segmentation allows the tray to be compact for storage yet provide extensive support capability when assembled, resolving the contradiction between versatility and complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The tray members are designed to nest within each other when collapsed, with side walls containing front and back walls that can be stored inside the base members. This nesting configuration enables the complex multi-component tray to be compacted to a small size for easy storage in luggage compartments, addressing both the support capability and storage difficulty issues.
2Stability of the object's composition
If luggage trays are attached to vertical extensions of the luggage assembly to prevent falling, then the stability is improved, but the structural integrity of the telescopic extensions deteriorates due to undesirable loads
Solution Approach 1:
The attachment mechanism is extracted from the vertical telescopic extensions and relocated to the handle grip area. The tray is attached to the handle grip using a fastener system that includes a strap and buckle, completely avoiding contact with the telescopic extension members. This extraction resolves the contradiction by providing stable attachment without imposing loads on the extensions that would compromise their structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The handle grip serves as an intermediary attachment point between the luggage assembly and the tray. Instead of directly attaching to the telescopic extensions, the tray connects through the handle grip, which acts as a mediator that does not transmit compromising loads to the extension members while still providing stable support for the tray.
3Stability of the object's composition
If luggage trays are designed with fixed size and weight to provide stable support, then the support stability is improved, but the ease of storage in confined compartments deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The tray transitions from a fixed static structure to a dynamic collapsible structure. The side walls, front wall, and back wall are designed to fold and collapse, allowing the tray to change its volume from an expanded stable support configuration to a compact storage configuration. This dynamic transformation resolves the contradiction between support stability and storage volume requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
When collapsed, the tray members nest within each other in a hierarchical manner, with smaller walls nesting inside larger structural elements. This nesting configuration minimizes the storage volume to a fraction of the expanded tray volume while maintaining the structural integrity needed for stable support when deployed.
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 tray provides stable support for diverse articles, is space-efficient, and easy to assemble/disassemble, maintaining structural integrity by avoiding undue force on luggage extensions.
Implementation Method 1
the tray members comprise a coarse, rubberized matted surface that provides an increased surface area that generates more friction to stabilize or otherwise maintain support of articles on the portable luggage tray
Implementation Method 2
a fastener is arranged on a rear surface of the first tray member for releasable coupling to a handle grip of the handle member to maintain the portable luggage tray on the luggage body
Data Source
AI summary
A luggage system and a portable luggage tray supported on a luggage assembly when the luggage assembly is in an upright standing position on a support surface. The portable luggage tray includes a first tray member, a second tray member, a pair of brace and hinge members, a fastener to selectively couple the portable luggage tray to a handle grip of the luggage assembly, and one or more article holders. The second tray member includes a gripping support surface formed of an anti-slip material to maintain support of an article thereon. The brace and hinge members couple the first tray member and the second tray member for selective movement about a hinge axis between a non-operating orientation for storage and an operating orientation for support on the luggage assembly. In the operating orientation, the brace and hinge members expand in surface area to prevent the article from lateral movement off the support surface of the second tray member.