Elastic Cover Wings for Photoluminescent Escape Route Marking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing escape route markings in aircraft are limited in their ability to accommodate varying floor covering thicknesses, often leading to breakage and threshold formation, and struggle to securely connect with different types of flooring without obstacles.
Innovation Solution
An elongated light strip made of photoluminescent material housed in a translucent or transparent housing, with elastic cover wings and a foam filler material in the retaining rail, allowing for adaptable installation on various floor heights and preventing breakage, while ensuring secure connection and weight reduction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If rigid cover wings are used in the retaining rail, then structural strength is improved, but the ability to accommodate varying floor covering thicknesses deteriorates and breakage occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state/property of the cover wings from rigid to elastic, allowing them to deform and adapt to different floor covering thicknesses while maintaining structural integrity. This parameter change enables the retaining rail to accommodate varying installation conditions without breakage.
Solution Approach 2:
The cover wings are designed to be elastic rather than fixed rigid structures, allowing dynamic adaptation to different floor covering heights. The elastic material enables the cover wings to flex and conform to varying thicknesses, solving the contradiction between strength and adaptability.
2Manufacturing precision
If rigid retaining rail structure is used, then manufacturing precision is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to inability to adapt to different floor coverings
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the material property of the cover wings to be elastic, allowing the structure to adapt during installation to various floor covering thicknesses. This maintains manufacturing precision for the rail structure itself while dramatically improving ease of operation during installation.
3Stability of the object's composition
If height adjustment is made using rigid materials like polycarbonate, then structural stability is improved, but weight increases by approximately 30%
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material property of the filler from rigid (polycarbonate) to foam material, which provides the necessary height adjustment and structural stability with significantly reduced weight (approximately 30% weight saving). The foam material maintains structural integrity while being much lighter.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses foam material as a filler within the retaining rail structure, creating a composite construction that combines the structural framework with a lightweight filling material. This composite approach achieves both structural stability and weight reduction.
4Adaptability or versatility
If thick filler material is used for height compensation, then adaptability to different floor heights is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses foam material whose thickness can be varied to compensate for different floor heights. This simple approach of varying filler thickness provides height adaptability without requiring complex adjustment mechanisms, maintaining device simplicity while achieving versatility.
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 solution enables secure and adaptable installation on different floor coverings without threshold formation, preventing breakage and offering a 30% weight savings compared to traditional height adjustments, ensuring effective and safe emergency lighting.
Implementation Method 1
an elongated light strip (16) made of photoluminescent material that glows in the dark. Exposure to light charges the photoluminescent material and glows in the dark to indicate an escape route
Implementation Method 2
the cover wings (18) are elastic, with at least the cover wings of the retaining rail being made of a material that is more elastic than the material of the housing
Implementation Method 3
a fire-retardant filler material is provided on the escape route marking, which is arranged on the underside of the support rail and consists of a foam material. The height of the retaining rail can be compensated by the foamed filler material
Data Source
Figure 1~2
AI summary
Escape route marking for an aircraft with an oblong luminous strip (16) made of a photoluminescent material, a housing (14) in which the luminous strip (16) is arranged and which is formed so as to be translucent or transparent at least on the upper side thereof, and a holding rail (10) for the housing (14), having a receiving recess for the housing of the luminous strip (16) and having laterally protruding covering wings (18) in the longitudinal direction on both sides of the holding rail (10), wherein an upper side of the housing (14) inserted into the receiving recess is exposed, the covering wings (18) are formed elastically, and at least the covering wings (18) of the holding rail (10) consist of a material that is more elastic than the material of the housing.