Collapsible Stroller Frame with Biasing Lock Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Collapsible strollers with added attachments become cumbersome and difficult to fully collapse, and their collapsible nature can lead to accidental misuse, potentially injuring children due to unsecured components.
Innovation Solution
A collapsible stroller design featuring a frame body with pivotally connected components, a locking mechanism, and a biasing device to ensure secure expansion, allowing for easy collapse and compact storage while preventing accidental misuse through a torsional coil spring or pneumatic device that biases components to maintain a fully expanded and locked state.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If attachments are added to the stroller to improve comfort and convenience, then the functionality and comfort are improved, but the volume increases and the structure becomes complicated making it difficult to collapse fully
Solution Approach 1:
The stroller is divided into multiple collapsible segments including the seat unit, backrest, and frame components that can fold independently. This segmentation allows attachments to remain functional while enabling complete collapse of the main structure to a compact size.
Solution Approach 2:
The design implements nested folding where the backrest folds into the seat unit, and various components nest within each other during collapse. This nesting mechanism allows attachments to be accommodated while achieving minimal collapsed volume through multi-level folding integration.
2Ease of operation
If the stroller is designed to be collapsible for easy transport and storage, then the ease of operation is improved, but the risk of accidental misuse increases potentially causing injury
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism is designed to automatically engage and lock frame components in their expanded position before use. This preliminary locking action prevents accidental collapse during operation, counteracting the inherent risk of the collapsible design and protecting against potential injury.
Solution Approach 2:
The stroller incorporates visual and mechanical feedback indicators that show whether the frame is properly locked in the expanded position. This feedback system ensures users can verify the safe state before use, preventing accidental misuse while maintaining easy operation when properly set up.
3Reliability
If a locking mechanism is added to ensure safe usage in fully expanded state, then the reliability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism is designed to be self-activating through the natural expansion motion of the frame. When the frame is extended, the locking components automatically engage without requiring separate manual operation, providing safety functionality while minimizing additional complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking mechanism is integrated into the existing frame structure and collapse mechanism rather than being added as a separate system. This merging of functions allows the same structural components to serve both the collapse and locking functions, improving reliability without proportionally increasing complexity.
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
Enables easy operation and compact storage while ensuring the stroller is securely locked in its expanded state, preventing potential injuries and minimizing space requirements.
Implementation Method 1
a biasing device to ensure secure expansion, allowing for easy collapse and compact storage while preventing accidental misuse through a torsional coil spring or pneumatic device that biases components to maintain a fully expanded and locked state
Implementation Method 2
a biasing device to ensure secure expansion, allowing for easy collapse and compact storage while preventing accidental misuse through a torsional coil spring or pneumatic device that biases components to maintain a fully expanded and locked state
Data Source
AI summary
A collapsible stroller is provided. The collapsible stroller comprises a frame body and a seat unit, wherein the frame body comprises: an upper frame unit consisting of two upper frame tubes; two connecting members connecting the two upper frame tubes to two front legs respectively and each connecting member having a first locking device; two base frame tubes pivotally coupled to the front legs respectively; two rear legs pivotally coupled between the connecting members and the base frame tubes respectively; and the seat unit comprises a seat portion, a backrest portion pivotally coupled to the seat portion, and two linking members disposed at two sides of the seat unit respectively, one end of each linking member thereof being pivotally coupled to the frame body and the other end being pivotally coupled to the seat portion so as to pivotally mount the seat unit to the frame body, wherein when the upper frame tubes pivotally collapsed with respective to the front legs, the upper frame unit, the front legs, the rear legs, the base frame tubes and the seat unit will move toward one another into a collapsed state in which they are substantially parallely stacked. The collapsible stroller of the present invention may further comprise baising device disposed at a joint between a supporting tube of the seat unit and the front leg to prevent the stroller being put into use before it reaches its completely expanded and locked state.