Hinged Drying Rack Attachment for Tumble Dryer Rear Wall Mounting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing drying solutions for high-profile items like boots in clothes dryers face challenges with positioning and clearance issues due to standard circular door openings, leading to potential blockages or collisions when trying to dry such items without tossing them noisily.
Innovation Solution
A drying rack with hingedly connected side rails that can be folded to fit through a conventional clothes dryer's circular opening, allowing attachment to the non-rotating rear wall, keeping boots upright and out of contact with the drum, and unfolding to secure onto grids for stable drying.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the drying rack is attached to the dryer door with suction cups, then the rack can be positioned inside the dryer, but the wire frame shelf may block the circular door opening or collide with it when the door is closed
Solution Approach 1:
The drying rack is divided into separate components: a door-mounted portion with suction cups and an extendable shelf portion. This segmentation allows the shelf to be positioned inside the dryer while the mounting mechanism remains on the door, preventing blockage of the circular opening.
Solution Approach 2:
The wire frame shelf is designed to be extendable and adjustable in position. It can be repositioned or retracted to clear the circular door opening when needed, while still providing adequate space inside the dryer for drying boots. The dynamic adjustment capability resolves the conflict between maintaining shelf position and avoiding door collision.
2Productivity
If the drying rack is designed to hold boots upright, then drying effectiveness is improved, but the rack structure becomes more complex and difficult to attach to standard dryers
Solution Approach 1:
The drying rack is designed with universal mounting capabilities using suction cups that can attach to any smooth surface inside the dryer, not just the door. The modular structure with adjustable components allows the same basic design to accommodate various dryer types and sizes, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining boot-drying functionality.
Data Source
AI summary
A drying rack easily attachable to, as well as readily removable from, the interior, stationary rear wall of a tumble-type, clothes dryer, for drying boots or similar objects in minutes and without their being tossed about. Supporting such objects placed on the drying rack's wire frame shelf and the shelf itself in such a way that it extends generally horizontally away from the rear wall is a pair of hinged, opposable side rails, each having an elongated arm that ends in a hook. By utilizing the flexibility afforded by the hinged connections between the side rails and the shelf, one can quickly suspend the drying rack from the rear wall by simply hooking the elongated arms onto a pair of air flow duct-covering grids commonly found there or, alternately, onto a 0.25 inch hole or pair of holes drilled into the rear wall in place of the grid(s).