Sliding Cable Tray with Spooling Elements for Bend Radius Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing optical fiber management trays are often complex, create tension, and are unsatisfactory in maintaining the minimum bend radius and ensuring accessibility for technicians, leading to potential physical damage to cables.
Innovation Solution
A cable management tray system with a sliding tray and spooling elements that maintain a minimum bend radius, prevent cable tension, and facilitate technician access, featuring cable guides and funneled openings to manage cable slack effectively.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a fixed routing path is provided to ensure minimum bend radius, then cable protection is improved, but technician accessibility and flexibility are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The tray is designed to be slidable between open and closed positions, transforming a static cable management structure into a dynamic one. This allows the tray to adapt between providing fixed routing protection (when closed) and enabling technician accessibility (when open), resolving the contradiction between cable protection and ease of operation
Solution Approach 2:
The slidable tray is nested within the enclosure, allowing it to move between positions while remaining contained. This nesting structure enables the tray to provide fixed routing when closed while still allowing full access when opened, maintaining both cable protection and technician accessibility at different operational states
2Ease of operation
If the tray is made movable to improve accessibility, then technician access is improved, but cable tension and routing stability are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
Cables are pre-routed through guides and channels before the tray is moved. This preliminary routing ensures that when the tray slides to provide accessibility, the cables are already positioned to maintain proper bend radius and routing stability, preventing cable tension and damage during the movement operation
3Reliability
If complex routing structures are added to maintain minimum bend radius, then cable protection is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The routing system is segmented into modular components including cable guides, channels, and the slidable tray itself. This segmentation allows each component to perform a specific function in maintaining bend radius while keeping the overall system manageable and not overly complex, as each segment can be independently designed and positioned
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides a system for managing and storing cables comprising a storage tray slidably mounted in a housing enclosure for coiling, spooling and/or storing cables of various lengths. The cable management system of the present invention minimizes or eliminates cable strain during technician access and cable storage. Located within the tray are elements including a routing system comprising spooling elements and cable guiding walls configured to define compartments for storage of the cables and cable routing paths. The tray further comprises cable openings extending along both sides of the tray configured to allow a portion of the cable length to extend from the muting elements and out the side of the tray. The cable management system also comprises two cable guides maintain the cable in a fixed position relative to the side of the housing when the tray is moved.