Collapsible Portable Shower Enclosure with Interlocking Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Frequent travelers, campers, and laborers face challenges in maintaining personal hygiene due to the lack of convenient shower facilities while on the road, leading to a need for a portable, collapsible, and cost-effective shower system that can be used anywhere without requiring expensive or hard-to-find bathroom facilities.
Innovation Solution
A collapsible portable shower system consisting of interlocking silicone and plastic components, allowing users to stand or kneel for a shower, with a drain hole for water disposal and handles for easy transport, designed to hold approximately four gallons of water and collapse for storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If a portable shower system is designed to be collapsible for easy storage and transport, then the storage space requirement is reduced, but the structural complexity increases due to interlocking components
Solution Approach 1:
The shower system is divided into multiple detachable portions including a collapsible bucket with top and bottom sections, a separate showerhead assembly, and interchangeable components. This segmentation allows each part to be collapsed or stored independently, reducing overall storage volume while maintaining functional integrity through simple interlocking mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The collapsible bucket employs a nested structure where the top portion fits within or interlocks with the bottom portion when collapsed. The showerhead and other accessories can be stored within the bucket structure when not in use, maximizing space efficiency without requiring complex external storage solutions
2Quantity of substance
If the shower system is designed to hold sufficient water for a complete shower, then the water capacity is improved, but the weight and portability are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The bucket is designed with collapsible walls that can expand to hold four gallons of water when needed and collapse to a compact form when empty. This dynamic structure allows the system to achieve high water capacity during use while maintaining low weight and compact storage dimensions when not in use, effectively decoupling the weight of water from the weight of the container structure
Solution Approach 2:
The collapsible bucket utilizes flexible silicone or plastic materials that can stretch and expand to hold large volumes of water without requiring a rigid, heavy structure. These flexible films provide sufficient structural integrity to contain four gallons of water while adding minimal weight to the portable system
3Ease of operation
If the shower system uses removable and interlocking portions for portability, then the ease of assembly and disassembly is improved, but the reliability of the connection is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The connection mechanism features a protrusion on one component that fits into a corresponding groove on the mating component. This extracted geometric feature provides a simple yet reliable mechanical interlock that is easy to assemble by direct insertion while preventing accidental separation during use, achieving both ease of operation and connection reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The protrusion and groove features are integrated directly into the main structural components rather than being separate fasteners or attachments. This merging of connection features with the primary structure eliminates additional assembly steps while ensuring that the connection reliability is inherent to the design of the components themselves
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a collapsible portable shower or personal hygiene system. The system is in the form of a collapsible enclosure formed by two interlocking pieces including a collapsible tapered top piece and a collapsible tapered bottom piece. Both the top piece and the bottom piece have foldable panels for collapsing and extending the device. The top piece further has a protrusion at the bottom, and the bottom piece has a groove along the top surface for creating a leakproof enclosure. Finally, the top piece further comprises handles and hanging holes or openings, and the bottom piece comprises a drain hole for draining water from the device upon completion of the bathing process.