Deployable Drip Tray for Automatic Roll-Up Door Drainage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Automatic roll-up doors in coolers or freezers often collect moisture on their surface, which drips and pools on the floor when opened and closed, creating a hazardous situation due to potential contamination and safety risks.
Innovation Solution
A deployable liquid drainage assembly that includes a drip tray attached to the door, which moves from a position under the door when open to a position outside the door's path as it closes, using a motor and controller for coordinated movement with the door, ensuring that moisture is collected and diverted away from the door's path.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a stationary drip tray is positioned under the door to collect moisture, then moisture collection effectiveness is improved, but the door cannot close because the tray interferes with the door's path
Solution Approach 1:
The drip tray is made movable rather than stationary, allowing it to dynamically change position between a first position for moisture collection and a second position for door passage. The attaching member enables the tray to move from extending into the door's vertical path to a retracted position, resolving the contradiction between effective moisture collection and door closing capability.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the drip tray remains in position to collect moisture, then contamination risk is reduced, but the door operation is blocked
Solution Approach 1:
The drip tray transitions from a static component to a dynamic one that automatically repositions based on door state. When the door is open, the tray extends into the moisture path for effective collection; when the door needs to close, the tray retracts to clear the path, eliminating interference while maintaining contamination prevention.
Solution Approach 2:
The drip tray is positioned in advance to collect moisture before the door closes, and then retracted beforehand to clear the door's closing path. This preliminary positioning and retraction sequence ensures both effective moisture collection and unobstructed door operation without requiring complex real-time adjustments.
3Ease of operation
If a movable attaching member is used to reposition the drip tray, then door closing is enabled, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The drip tray system is designed to automatically reposition itself in coordination with door operation without requiring external control mechanisms. The attaching member's movement is coupled to the door's state, allowing the system to self-adjust between moisture collection mode and door passage mode, minimizing additional complexity while enabling door closing capability.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides a liquid drainage assembly for an automatic, roll-up door and has an attaching member connecting a drip tray to a surface proximate the door. The attaching member moves drip tray from a position where the tray is disposed under a bottom edge of the door to collect liquid flowing across the bottom edge when the door is in an open position to a position where the tray is outside the vertical plane in which the door moves to allow the door to move to a closed position. A motor moves the door in response to signals received from a controller which ensures coordinated movement of the door and the drip tray.