Illuminated Safety Flag for Aircraft Bypass Pin Status
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need for a device that can clearly notify ground and flight deck personnel when an aircraft bypass pin has been properly inserted or removed to prevent aircraft damage, worker injury, and flight delays.
Innovation Solution
An illuminated safety flag device with a light source, battery, and fastening mechanism is attached to the bypass pin, featuring a reflective body and indicia to enhance visibility, with adjustable LED lighting to indicate pin status.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If an illuminated safety flag device with LED light source is attached to the bypass pin, then the visibility and notification effectiveness is improved, but the device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functions into a single integrated device: the reflective body provides passive visibility, while the LED light source and battery provide active illumination. The fastening mechanism integrates the carabiner attachment system directly into the device structure. This merging approach resolves the contradiction by achieving enhanced visibility through functional integration rather than adding separate complex systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The reflective material serves as an intermediary that enhances visibility without requiring additional energy input. The reflective body works in conjunction with the LED light source, where the reflective material amplifies the effect of the illumination by reflecting light toward observers, thereby improving visibility while keeping the energy requirements and device complexity manageable.
2Illumination intensity
If a reflective body and reflective indicia are used to increase visibility, then the visibility is improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies reflective properties selectively to specific areas: the body is made of reflective material, and reflective indicia are applied only to critical information areas such as text and symbols. This local application of reflective quality enhances visibility where most needed while minimizing the overall manufacturing complexity compared to making the entire device uniformly reflective.
3Loss of information
If the LED light source is configured with adjustable color, brightness, and illumination pattern, then the notification effectiveness is improved, but the device complexity and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements adjustable illumination patterns including steady, flashing, and blinking modes that can be controlled to indicate different bypass pin statuses. This dynamic capability allows the same LED system to convey multiple types of information through temporal variations in light output, thereby improving notification effectiveness without requiring proportionally higher energy consumption, as the adjustments are made through control logic rather than multiple high-power light sources.
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 device effectively communicates the pin's insertion or removal status, enhancing safety and reducing delays by ensuring personnel awareness.
Implementation Method 1
The light source is an LED that can be illuminated in a color, brightness, and illumination pattern to draw attention to the fact that the pin has been inserted
Implementation Method 2
To further increase visibility, the device may be comprised of a reflective body and/or reflective indicia
Data Source
AI summary
An illuminated safety flag device is disclosed. The device is comprised of a flag-like body that can be attached to the bypass pin (and/or landing gear pin) of an aircraft. Once attached, the device can be illuminated such that it draws attention to the pin to notify aircraft personnel that the pin has been inserted (or removed).