Dual Component Toolbox Composite Housing Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing plastic tool boxes are prone to damage from impacts, such as falling or hitting, which can lead to chipping and cracking, and adding structural components to enhance durability increases manufacturing costs.
Innovation Solution
A tool box design featuring two rectangular housing parts that pivot and lock, with a hard plastic component for rigidity and a soft, elastically deformable component for grip and protection, providing a composite construction that enhances durability and ease of handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a tool box is made from plastic, then manufacturing costs and weight are reduced, but the tool box becomes prone to damage from impacts such as falling or hitting
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is constructed as a composite of two plastic components with different material properties: a hard component providing structural strength and impact resistance, and a soft component providing cushioning and protection. This composite structure allows the tool box to maintain low manufacturing costs while significantly improving damage resistance compared to single-material plastic construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The soft component is integrated into the housing structure to provide beforehand cushioning against impacts. This soft component absorbs and dissipates impact energy before it can reach the hard component, preventing damage from falling or hitting the tool box during use.
2Reliability
If protective covers are added to the tool box, then damage resistance is improved, but the tool box size and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The protective function is merged into the housing itself through the soft component, eliminating the need for separate protective covers or external protection structures. This integration maintains damage resistance while avoiding additional complexity and size increase that would result from adding external protective elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The soft component is strategically positioned in areas most susceptible to impact damage, providing localized protection where it is most needed. This approach improves damage resistance without requiring protective structures throughout the entire tool box, thereby minimizing added complexity.
3Reliability
If structural components are added to enhance durability, then damage resistance is improved, but manufacturing costs increase immensely
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of adding complex structural components, the solution uses a composite of two plastic materials with different properties. This approach enhances durability through material properties rather than additional structural elements, keeping manufacturing costs low while improving damage resistance.
Solution Approach 2:
The durability is enhanced by changing the material parameters of the housing components - specifically using plastics with different hardness and elastic properties - rather than adding structural components. This parameter-based solution improves damage resistance without increasing manufacturing complexity or cost.
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 tool box achieves high rigidity and longevity with improved grip and protection against damage, ensuring secure handling and optimal tool arrangement while maintaining low manufacturing costs.
Implementation Method 1
a soft component that is slightly elastically deformable, at least in the surface area, when touched haptically
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2a~2b
Figure 3a~3b
AI summary
The toolbox has two tub-shaped rectangular housing parts (4a, 4b) coupled with each other in a region of its rear sides and pivotable around a pivot axis. The housing parts are lockable in a closed condition by a closing device that is arranged at front sides of the housing parts. The housing parts are formed from hard and soft components, where the hard component is made of plastic. The hard component has higher hardness with respect to the soft component that is made of plastic. The soft component sectionally surrounds the hard component.