Malleable Laboratory Support Device for Multi-Orientation Sample Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional laboratory tools are often flimsy, rigid, or difficult to maneuver, leading to sample loss or handling difficulties, and may be damaged or misplaced during use, failing to provide effective support and versatility across various orientations and applications.
Innovation Solution
A laboratory device with a malleable body that can be positioned in multiple orientations, featuring a cradle with adjustable supports and wings, allowing it to securely hold items of varying sizes and shapes, and adapt to different surfaces, ensuring stability and ease of use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional tools are used to hold and support samples, then samples can be secured during handling, but the tools may be flimsy leading to sample loss or difficult to maneuver
Solution Approach 1:
The device incorporates a malleable body that can dynamically change its shape and configuration. The body includes at least one malleable component that allows the device to be molded into different forms to accommodate various sample types and handling requirements, providing both security and ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The device changes its physical parameters by allowing the malleable body to be deformed into different configurations. This enables the same device to adapt to different sample sizes, shapes, and handling needs, resolving the contradiction between providing secure holding and maintaining ease of maneuverability.
2Stability of the object's composition
If rigid tools are used to support samples, then structural stability is provided, but the tools become heavy and difficult to maneuver
Solution Approach 1:
The device utilizes a malleable body structure that can be deformation into stable configurations. This flexible structure provides the necessary structural stability when shaped appropriately, while being significantly lighter than rigid alternatives, thus resolving the contradiction between stability and weight.
3Reliability
If conventional tools are used to prevent contact with surfaces, then sample protection is achieved, but the tools may be damaged or misplaced
Solution Approach 1:
The malleable body device can be molded into different configurations to serve multiple functions - holding samples, preventing surface contact, and adapting to various experimental setups. This universal design provides sample protection while eliminating the need for multiple specialized tools, thus resolving the contradiction between reliability and versatility.
4Weight of moving object
If lightweight materials are used for the device body, then ease of handling is improved, but the device may lack sufficient support strength
Solution Approach 1:
The malleable body allows the device to dynamically adjust its structure to distribute and concentrate support forces where needed. This dynamic structural adaptation enables lightweight materials to provide sufficient support strength by optimizing the configuration rather than relying on material strength alone.
Data Source
AI summary
A device for supporting a laboratory object is provided. The device may comprise a body extending about and defining an opening. The body may be positioned in a customized orientation selected from a plurality of orientations. The device may include a first support defined by the body and configured to contact a surface when the body is in a first orientation. The device may include a second support coupled to the first support. The second support may be configured to contact the surface when the body is in a second orientation.