Mobile cooling box with handle module
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional mobile cooling boxes have heavy and bulky handle configurations that increase weight, reduce robustness, and are prone to damage, compromising both functionality and aesthetics.
Innovation Solution
A handle module with a swing-out and upwards design, featuring spring-loaded hangers and brackets that protect the handle from impacts, providing a stable and ergonomic carrying solution while minimizing exposed edges for improved safety and aesthetics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional handles are used that extend from and over the entire mobile cooling box, then the handle provides sufficient carrying support, but the handle becomes big and heavy, increasing the overall weight of the mobile cooling box
Solution Approach 1:
The handle is divided into separate components: a handlebar and a mounting structure with brackets and hangers. This segmentation allows the handle to provide sufficient carrying support while reducing the overall weight by eliminating the need for a continuous, bulky handle structure that extends across the entire cooling box.
Solution Approach 2:
The handlebar is designed to be rotatable relative to the mounting structure through the brackets and hangers. This dynamic configuration allows the handle to adapt to different carrying positions and user preferences, maintaining ease of operation while using a lighter, more compact structure compared to conventional fixed handles.
2Ease of operation
If conventional handles are used that extend from and over the entire mobile cooling box, then the handle provides sufficient carrying support, but the handle increases the overall dimensions and reduces robustness
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the handle into a handlebar and a discrete mounting structure with brackets and hangers, the design achieves sufficient carrying support without the bulky configuration of conventional handles. This segmented approach maintains a more compact and robust overall structure of the mobile cooling box.
Solution Approach 2:
The handlebar features a curved, ergonomic design that provides comfortable gripping while maintaining structural efficiency. The curved shape distributes forces more effectively during carrying, providing sufficient support without requiring a larger, more cumbersome handle structure that would compromise robustness.
3Ease of operation
If conventional handles are used that extend from and over the entire mobile cooling box, then the handle provides sufficient carrying support, but the handle compromises the smooth and nice overall outer appearance
Solution Approach 1:
The handlebar is extracted as a separate, removable component from the main body of the mobile cooling box. This allows the handle to provide sufficient carrying support while not permanently disrupting the smooth outer appearance of the cooling box when not in use, as it can be positioned or concealed more effectively than conventional integrated handles.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotatable mounting mechanism allows the handlebar to be dynamically positioned, enabling it to be oriented in a way that minimizes visual disruption to the outer appearance when not in active use, while still providing full carrying support functionality when needed.
4Ease of operation
If fixed handles are used on opposite sides of the mobile cooling box, then the handles provide carrying support, but they are often subject to damaging by impacts or mishandling
Solution Approach 1:
The handlebar is designed with rotational freedom through the brackets and hangers, allowing it to absorb and redistribute impact forces dynamically. This dynamic capability enables the handle to withstand impacts and mishandling better than fixed handles, while maintaining carrying support functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The mounting structure with brackets and hangers is designed to accommodate and cushion against potential impacts before they can cause damage. The rotational joints and flexible mounting allow the handle to yield to impact forces, protecting both the handle and the cooling box from damage that would affect fixed, rigid handle configurations.
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 handle module allows for comfortable and stable carrying of the mobile cooling box, reducing weight and enhancing robustness while maintaining a smooth appearance, with the spring-loaded mechanism providing additional protection against accidents.
Implementation Method 1
The handlebar and the hangers may be spring-loaded so that, in an unactuated state, the handlebar and the hangers are forced in a direction to the mobile cooling box by the tension of the spring.
Data Source
AI summary
A mobile cooling box has a box main body and at least one lid for opening the mobile cooling box and providing access to the inside of the mobile cooling box. The mobile cooling box further has at least one handle module located at an outer side surface of the box main body. The handle module comprises a handlebar intended to be grasped by the user, the handle module having a longitudinal axis and two ends, hangers to which the handlebar is attached at its two ends, and brackets at which the hangers are rotatably mounted. The hangers are fixed to the outer side surface of the box main body. The handlebar of the handle module can be swung out and upwards from an unactuated state to an actuated state for carrying the mobile cooling box by the handlebar Each of the brackets comprises a mounting area and a shielding area. The mounting area faces the outer side surface of the box main body to which the bracket is fixed. The shielding area hides the hangers and the handlebar in the unactuated state of the handle module and in a lateral perspective along the longitudinal axis of the handlebar.