Sliding Drawer Rack With L-Shaped Shelves for Cryogenic Box Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional sliding drawer storage racks for cold storage units require significant material for production and experience friction issues and uncontrolled sliding of storage boxes at cryogenic temperatures, making them difficult to access and potentially jostling samples.
Innovation Solution
A sliding drawer storage rack design with L-shaped supports and divider lips to reduce material usage and prevent sliding, featuring a drawer with dimples to minimize friction and maintain box position during sliding, and a rack body with apertures for improved convection and structural integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If shelves and drawers are made to extend across the entire width of the rack body, then structural strength is improved, but material weight and manufacturing cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The shelves are segmented into modular sections rather than continuous spans. Each shelf is divided into multiple segments that can be independently supported by vertical supports at different positions, reducing the material required for each individual shelf component while maintaining overall structural strength through the distributed support system.
Solution Approach 2:
The design transitions from horizontal shelf spanning to a three-dimensional framework structure with vertical supports and cross-bracing. By adding the vertical dimension with support columns and diagonal bracing elements, the structure achieves equivalent or superior strength with less horizontal material, as the load is distributed through multiple spatial pathways.
2Stability of the object's composition
If drawers are made with sufficient friction engagement on shelves, then drawer stability is improved, but drawer accessibility deteriorates when drawers freeze to shelves at cryogenic temperatures
Solution Approach 1:
The drawer-shelf interface uses selective surface treatment or material properties at specific contact points. Certain areas of the drawer bottom and shelf surface have optimized friction characteristics - sufficient for normal operation stability but designed to prevent complete freezing adhesion. This localized quality variation allows the drawer to remain stable during storage while still being extractable when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
An intermediary layer or coating is introduced between the drawer and shelf surfaces. This intermediate layer modulates the friction and thermal contact properties, providing enough grip for drawer stability during normal use while reducing the thermal bonding that causes freezing adhesion at cryogenic temperatures, enabling drawer removal.
3Ease of operation
If storage boxes are allowed to move freely in the drawer, then ease of placement is improved, but sample safety deteriorates due to uncontrolled sliding movement that jostles samples
Solution Approach 1:
The drawer interior is segmented into multiple compartments or zones using dividers or raised barriers. These segments create individual spaces that guide box placement while preventing boxes from sliding freely across the entire drawer length. The segmentation maintains ease of placement within each zone while eliminating the uncontrolled movement that causes sample jostling.
Solution Approach 2:
Friction-reducing elements such as Teflon-coated surfaces or low-friction sliders are applied to the drawer bottom and box contact surfaces. This preliminary anti-action reduces the coefficient of friction between boxes and the drawer, allowing boxes to be easily placed and adjusted initially, while the drawer's controlled deceleration mechanism then safely brings them to rest without impacting samples.
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 design reduces material weight and manufacturing costs while ensuring storage boxes remain in place during sliding, enhancing accessibility and sample safety in cold storage units.
Implementation Method 1
apertures for improved convection
Implementation Method 2
The frictional engagement of the drawers on the corresponding shelves can be difficult to overcome
Data Source
AI summary
A sliding drawer storage rack for cold storage units includes a rack body and a plurality of shelves operatively coupled to the rack body. A drawer defines a storage cavity and is configured to be supported for sliding movement by at least one of the plurality of shelves. A plurality of divider lips extends upwardly from the drawer to divide the storage cavity into a plurality of box receptacles sized to receive a storage box. At least some of the plurality of shelves are defined by opposing first and second L-shaped supports laterally spaced from each other and coupled to the rack body, thereby reducing material use and weight of the storage rack.