Modular Sliding Luggage Cover with Independent Screens

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing luggage cover systems for motor vehicles are difficult to use, especially for users of small stature or those with mobility issues, as they require bending to deploy and do not allow access to the trunk from inside the vehicle, and lack modularity for cargo management.

Innovation Solution

A luggage cover system with a cassette that can be installed in an intermediate trunk zone, featuring sliding screens that can be deployed independently on either side, with pull bars that can slide along guide rails, allowing for modular configurations and easy access from inside or outside the vehicle.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If the pull bar is located at the level of the cassette (bottom of the boot), then the luggage cover can be deployed, but it becomes difficult for users of small stature or those with mobility issues to access

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveAccessibility of pull barVSAvoidPositioning system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The pull bar is no longer confined to a single horizontal position at the bottom of the boot. Instead, it can be accessed from multiple vertical positions and locations along the guide rails, transforming a one-dimensional access problem into a multi-dimensional solution space that accommodates users of different statures and mobility levels.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

Solution Approach 2:

The luggage cover system is divided into multiple independent screens that can be deployed separately. Each screen has its own pull bar accessible at different locations along the guide rails, allowing users to access and control individual sections rather than requiring access to a single centralized pull bar at the bottom of the boot.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

2Object-affected harmful factors

If the luggage cover is deployed to cover the entire trunk, then privacy and security are improved, but access to the inside of the trunk from inside the vehicle is blocked

Engineering Contradiction:
ImprovePrivacy and securityVSAvoidAccess to trunk from inside vehicle
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The luggage cover is segmented into multiple independent screens that can be deployed or retracted separately. This allows users to maintain privacy for certain trunk sections while leaving other sections accessible from inside the vehicle, enabling selective coverage rather than all-or-nothing deployment.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The screens are designed to be dynamically adjustable rather than fixed. Users can deploy, retract, or partially extend individual screens as needed, allowing the system to adapt between providing full coverage for privacy and creating access pathways from inside the vehicle, depending on the situation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

3Device complexity

If a single cassette containing roller tube is used, then the structure is simple, but modularity for cargo management is limited

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveStructure simplicityVSAvoidCargo management modularity
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The single cassette system is replaced with multiple independent screens that can be deployed separately. Each screen operates independently with its own control mechanism, enabling modular cargo management where users can configure the trunk space according to specific needs while maintaining relatively simple individual screen structures.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The screen system serves multiple functions: it provides privacy coverage, enables modular cargo compartmentalization, and allows flexible configuration of trunk space. The same basic screen structure can be adapted to different deployment scenarios, from full coverage to partial sectioning, providing universal applicability for various cargo management needs.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentEP1852311B1Baggage-concealing device for an automobile with a cassette containing at least two concealing screens and corresponding automobile
Publication Date: 2009.01.14 WAGON SAS
  • EP1852311B1 patent drawingFigure 1~3
  • EP1852311B1 patent drawingFigure 4~5
  • EP1852311B1 patent drawingFigure 6~7

AI summary

The device has a cassette (11) that is mounted sliding along rails (12, 13) on lateral walls of a boot of a motor vehicle. The cassette has two winding tubes on which occultation canvases are mounted. The occultation canvases are deployed such that the device covers the boot, in an occultation position. The cassette is designed such that the occultation canvases are deployed in respective directions. The canvases are maintained in position by respective draw bars, which are fixed at proximity of ends of the rails for maintaining the deployed canvases.