Collapsible Vehicle Tray Tables for Crash Injury Mitigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vehicle tray tables pose a safety risk during collisions due to their rigid construction, which can cause injury to passengers in the event of a crash or impact.
Innovation Solution
A safety apparatus that includes a collision detection system and a release mechanism, allowing tray tables to break away or collapse during a detected collision event, decoupling them from the vehicle's interior surface to prevent passenger injury.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If tray tables are constructed with rigid materials to provide structural strength and stability, then the tray table can support weight and maintain shape, but the tray table poses a safety risk during collisions by causing injury to passengers
Solution Approach 1:
The tray table is divided into multiple segments or sections that can move relative to each other. The table surface is connected to the support structure through articulated joints or hinges, allowing the table to break into separate segments during a collision to reduce impact force on passengers.
Solution Approach 2:
The tray table structure is designed to change its physical parameters during collision. The rigid table surface transitions from a fixed, rigid state to a collapsible state where it can bend, fold, or break away, changing its rigidity parameter from high to low during impact events.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If tray tables are made collapsible to reduce collision injury risk, then passenger safety is improved, but the tray table loses structural stability and weight-bearing capability
Solution Approach 1:
The tray table incorporates dynamic elements that allow it to adapt its structure based on operational conditions. During normal use, the table maintains a stable, rigid configuration for weight-bearing. During collision, the dynamic joints activate to allow collapse, providing both stability when needed and collapsibility when safety is at risk.
Solution Approach 2:
The collapsible mechanism is pre-configured in the tray table structure before collision occurs. The articulated joints, springs, or breakaway connections are designed and positioned in advance to automatically activate upon detecting collision forces, eliminating the need for active control during the impact event.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a release mechanism is added to enable tray table collapse during collision, then collision safety is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The release mechanism is designed to activate automatically through the collision force itself, without requiring external sensors, controllers, or power sources. The kinetic energy from the collision directly triggers the collapse mechanism through pre-positioned joints, springs, or weak links that fail in a controlled manner under impact loads.
Solution Approach 2:
Passive elements such as springs, dampers, or friction-based joints serve as intermediaries between the collision force and the collapse action. These intermediary components translate the collision impulse into controlled table collapse, simplifying the overall system by eliminating the need for active detection and control systems.
Data Source
AI summary
A safety apparatus may include a tray table coupled to an interior surface of a vehicle via a release mechanism. The safety apparatus may also include a collision detection system communicatively coupled to the release mechanism. The collision detection system is configured to engage with the release mechanism if the tray table is in an open position, and to de-couple the tray table from the interior surface of the vehicle or to break away the tray table from a portion of a tray table structure if a collision is detected with respect to the vehicle.