Console to store personal items
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need for a portable and organized solution to access personal items such as snacks, drinks, and electronics while seated on upholstered furniture, as existing solutions like coffee tables and TV snack trays are inconvenient and prone to spills or loss of items.
Innovation Solution
A modular console with a removable windowed spacer guide frame, self-balancing cup holder, and tray system that includes a USB C hub and inductive charger, allowing for easy access and storage of personal items, with components like a snack cup and spacer unit that can be customized and washed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If items are placed on coffee tables or TV snack trays, then items are accessible to seated individuals, but items can be knocked over and personal items can be lost among other items
Solution Approach 1:
The console is divided into multiple compartments including a beverage container compartment, food container compartment, and electronic device compartment. Each compartment is separated by partitions and walls, preventing items from mixing and being lost among other items while maintaining accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The cup holder is nested within the beverage container compartment, and the electronic device compartment contains both the electronic device and its associated cord. This nested structure organizes items hierarchically, preventing knockovers by securing items in place while maintaining easy access.
2Ease of operation
If open containers are placed on upholstered furniture cushions and armrests, then items are closely adjacent to seated individuals, but spillage risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cup holder is nested within the beverage container compartment, providing a secure, contained environment for beverage containers. This nested structure prevents spillage by containing potential spills within the compartment boundaries while keeping the beverage container closely accessible to the seated individual.
Solution Approach 2:
The beverage container compartment acts as an intermediary between the seated individual and the beverage container. It provides a stable, elevated platform that maintains proximity to the user while preventing direct contact with upholstered furniture surfaces, thereby reducing spillage risk.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a modular console with removable components is used, then customization and cleaning ease are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The console is segmented into multiple removable components including the spacer guide frame, cup holder, food container, and electronic device compartment. Each component can be independently removed for cleaning or replaced to customize the console configuration, providing adaptability while managing complexity through standardized connection interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacer guide frame serves multiple functions: it provides structural support, defines compartment boundaries, and acts as a mounting structure for removable components. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional separate structures, managing device complexity while maintaining customization capability.
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 console provides a safe, organized, and accessible storage solution for personal items, preventing spills and loss, while allowing for easy customization and cleaning, enhancing user convenience and safety.
Implementation Method 1
an inductive battery charger for electronic devices is associated with the tray, so that batteries of electronic devices in contact with the tray may be charged
Implementation Method 2
The self-adjustment is by a gimbal mechanism. A gimbal ring is joined for rotational tilting movement to the top rim of the cup holder and is joined for rotational tilting movement to the upper frame
Implementation Method 3
The buttons may urged into the inner volume of the cup holder by associated springs. Alternatively, the buttons may comprise resiliently bendable material, such as a polymeric material, latex or rubber or a compressible foam
Data Source
AI summary
A console for storing personal items has a tub defining an inner volume onto which tub a windowed spacer guide frame defining at least a first window and a second window is removably installed. A tray is removably held within the first window, and defines at least one slot to hold an electronic device. A self-centering cup holder is removably held within the second window. Optionally, a snack cup is held within the second window, spaced apart from the self-centering cup holder by a spacer guide. The spacer guide has flaps that splay open to cover a greater portion of the second window as desired. Optionally, a cover for the tub forms a tray table surface, with portions of the cover tray slidably extendable away from one another to enlarge the tray table surface when the cover is separated from the tub.