Soft-Sided Container with Hanging Suspension and Volume Compression
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Portable soft-sided containers lack the ability to efficiently organize and compress personal items for space-saving and hanging purposes, especially in limited spaces.
Innovation Solution
A soft-sided container that can transform between configurations, featuring a collapsible design with suspenders for hanging, a spreader for maintaining shape, and a tracked fastener for volume reduction, allowing it to be used as a shelf or nested within another container.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the container is designed to be collapsible for space-saving, then the volume reduction capability is improved, but the structural stability during use deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The container employs dynamic walls that can transition between expanded and collapsed states. The walls include articulated joints and flexible materials allowing the container to change volume while maintaining structural integrity during each state. This dynamic design enables the container to adapt its volume based on storage needs while remaining stable when deployed.
Solution Approach 2:
The container is divided into multiple collapsible wall sections that can fold independently. Each wall segment contains internal support structures and articulation points that maintain stability during the collapsed state while allowing compact folding. This segmentation enables progressive collapse while preserving structural strength.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the container includes hanging suspension features, then the versatility of storage locations is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The container integrates multiple functions into a single unified structure. The suspension straps are incorporated as integral parts of the container walls rather than separate attachments. The same flexible materials and articulation mechanisms that enable collapsing also enable hanging, eliminating the need for separate complex suspension mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The hanging suspension features are merged with the collapsible wall structure. The straps and attachment points are combined with the wall articulation system, allowing the container to achieve both collapsing and hanging capabilities through a unified mechanical system rather than separate components.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the container walls are made flexible for collapsing, then the compressibility is improved, but the load-bearing capacity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The container walls use composite construction combining flexible outer materials with internal rigid support structures. The flexible fabric or polymer outer layer provides compressibility while internal frames, ribs, or truss structures made of stronger materials provide load-bearing capacity. This composite approach allows the walls to flex for collapsing while maintaining strength when expanded.
Solution Approach 2:
Different parts of the container wall have different mechanical properties optimized for their specific functions. The outer surface uses flexible, lightweight materials for compressibility, while internal reinforcement elements at critical stress points use rigid, high-strength materials for load-bearing. This local differentiation allows simultaneous achievement of flexibility and strength.
Data Source
AI summary
A soft-side container is sized to fit inside larger luggage such as a suitcase. It has a peripheral zipper that aids in compressing the contents of the container when it is loaded, such as with clothing, thereby tending to take less space in the suitcase. It also has a suspension system permitting the container to be hung from a hanger rod, or from another container of the same type, in a cascade of shelves. To aid in this function, the container has an expanding side wall, and also a form-preserving spreader that tends to cause the container to hold itself in a generally planar configuration to function more effectively as a shelf.