Retractable Steering Mobility Layout for Stackable Loading
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Solution Overview
Problem
The inefficiency in loading and relocating personal mobility devices like electric bicycles and scooters due to their design, which leads to poor loading efficiency and potential damage during transportation.
Innovation Solution
A personal mobility device with a box-shaped main body, retractable steering handle, and wheels that can be easily loaded into a loading rack, along with a loading apparatus featuring coupling bars and partitioned spaces for secure stacking, allowing for efficient and safe transportation and storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If personal mobility devices are loaded indiscriminately without specific structural features, then loading process is simple, but loading efficiency is poor and devices are vulnerable to damage
Solution Approach 1:
The main body is divided into functional zones: upper loading area for stacking devices, lower storage area for wheels and handles, and intermediate coupling zones. This segmentation allows efficient spatial organization during loading while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The steering handle is designed to be retractable into the main body, and wheels can be stored within designated spaces. This nesting approach reduces the overall footprint during loading and transportation, improving loading efficiency without significantly increasing structural complexity.
2Ease of operation
If steering handle is fixed and protrudes from main body, then steering operation is convenient, but loading and storage becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The steering handle is designed with dynamic characteristics - it can protrude from the main body during operation for convenient steering control, and retract into the main body during loading and storage. This dynamic configuration resolves the contradiction between operational convenience and loading efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The steering handle is extracted as a separable component that can be positioned outside the main body when needed for steering, and then taken back inside during loading operations. This extraction principle allows the handle to serve its steering function while not interfering with efficient loading.
3Productivity
If multiple devices are stacked for efficient loading, then loading efficiency improves, but stability and protection of individual devices decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Coupling bars are pre-installed in the main body at strategic positions. Before stacking devices, these coupling bars are ready to engage with corresponding features on the devices, ensuring they are securely fastened during the stacking process. This preliminary preparation maintains both loading efficiency and device protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The main body structure includes built-in cushioning and protection features at coupling points and contact areas. When devices are stacked, these pre-designed protective elements prevent damage to individual devices while enabling efficient stacking, thus maintaining both loading efficiency and device reliability.
4Volume of moving object
If main body has compact box shape, then storage space is optimized, but accessibility and maneuverability is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The compact box-shaped main body is segmented into accessible zones with opening directions optimized for different operations. This segmentation allows maintaining a space-efficient box shape while providing adequate accessibility for loading, unloading, and maneuvering operations.
Data Source
AI summary
An embodiment personal mobility includes a main body provided in a box shape, a steering device comprising a steering handle configured to extend outwardly from the main body or to retract so as not to protrude from the main body, and a front wheel and a rear wheel installed on a front side and a rear side of the main body, respectively.