Galley Double-Door Catch Layout for Safer Confined Access
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Galley equipment in vessels, such as aircraft, ships, and trains, faces challenges in maximizing space usage while ensuring safe and efficient access to heating and chilling equipment, particularly due to the design of doors and catches which can pose hazards to users in confined spaces.
Innovation Solution
The design includes hinged doors with a catch mechanism that allows for 90-degree rotation, preventing the catch from extending beyond the door edge, combined with a support structure that extends out of the interior when doors are open, enhancing user safety and accessibility by reducing the risk of accidents and burns.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional catch mechanisms are used on galley equipment doors, then the doors can be secured in closed position, but the catch extends beyond the door edge creating safety hazards in confined galley spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful portion of the catch mechanism is extracted and removed from the door edge area. The catch is designed to be recessed within the door structure, with only the actuating handle visible on the outer surface, while the functional catching elements are positioned inside the door thickness, eliminating protruding hazardous parts.
Solution Approach 2:
The catch mechanism is nested within the door structure itself. The catching elements are positioned inside recesses or cavities in the door, allowing the door to secure itself while keeping all functional components contained within the door's physical boundaries, preventing any part from extending beyond the door edge.
2Ease of operation
If users access food storage interiors directly, then food can be retrieved easily, but users risk reaching into heating equipment causing burns
Solution Approach 1:
The galley equipment is segmented into distinct functional zones with separate access points. Heating equipment and food storage are divided into separate compartments with independent doors, allowing users to access food storage without needing to open or reach into heating equipment areas, thus eliminating the burn hazard while maintaining ease of food retrieval.
Solution Approach 2:
An intermediary support structure or platform is provided that extends into the food storage interior, allowing users to retrieve food items without reaching deep into the compartment. This intermediary structure acts as a mediator between the user's hand and the food, reducing the need to reach close to heating equipment boundaries.
3Volume of moving object
If galley equipment occupies maximum space, then space utilization is optimized, but user access to equipment becomes more difficult in confined areas
Solution Approach 1:
The equipment design utilizes vertical space and multi-level configurations rather than only horizontal expansion. Food storage compartments are arranged at different heights and depths, with doors positioned on multiple faces, allowing compact three-dimensional space utilization while maintaining accessible entry points from various directions in the confined galley environment.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
An item of galley equipment (2) is disclosed. The item (2) includes an interior liner (14), a first and a second door (6,8), and a catch (12). The interior liner (14) defines an interior (V) and an access mouth (26). The catch (12) comprises a static part and a mobile part (12A, 12B). The first door (6) comprises a first part (12A, 12B) of the catch (12) and is hingedly connected to a part of the galley equipment (2) which is not the second door (8) or supported on the second door (8). The first door (6) may reversibly rotate about the hinge connection between an open position and a closed position. The second door (8) comprises a second part (12A, 12B) of the catch (12) and is hingedly connected to a part of the galley equipment (2) which is not the first door (6) or supported on the first door (6). The second door (8) may reversibly rotate about the hinge connection between an open position and a closed position. When both the first and second doors (6, 8) are in their closed position the first and second doors (6, 8) are adjacent to each other and close the access mouth (26) and the static and mobile parts (12A, 12B) of the catch (12) may reversibly engage with each other.