Travel tray assembly
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing travel devices do not effectively secure eating trays to luggage, leading to potential spills and drops during transportation, especially on commercial airlines where carry-on luggage dimensions and hands-free food carrying are a challenge.
Innovation Solution
A travel tray assembly with a tray having multiple openings, clamps that engage luggage struts for horizontal orientation, a foldable cover, and straps for securing food items, allowing hands-free carrying and spill protection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a tray is attached to luggage without clamps, then the device complexity is reduced, but the tray becomes loose and food items may spill or drop during transportation
Solution Approach 1:
The attachment mechanism is divided into separate clamps that can independently engage with the luggage structure. Each clamp acts as an independent securing element, allowing the tray to be reliably attached without requiring a complex integrated system. The clamps are distributed at multiple locations on the tray perimeter, providing segmented attachment points that collectively ensure stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The clamps are designed to automatically engage with the luggage struts when the tray is placed on the luggage surface. The spring-loaded mechanism allows the clamps to self-adjust and secure themselves without requiring additional fastening actions or complex adjustment mechanisms, thus providing reliable attachment while keeping the device relatively simple.
2Ease of operation
If the tray is designed for hands-free carrying on luggage, then ease of operation is improved, but the tray requires secure attachment mechanisms that increase device complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The clamp mechanism serves multiple functions: it secures the tray to the luggage, provides structural support for the tray, and enables the hands-free carrying capability. By designing the clamps to perform these multiple functions simultaneously, the patent achieves ease of operation without proportionally increasing device complexity, as the same structural elements fulfill several purposes.
3Reliability
If the tray includes a foldable cover for spill protection, then reliability is improved, but the device complexity increases due to additional moving parts
Solution Approach 1:
The cover is designed as a foldable, movable structure that can transition between open and closed positions. This dynamic design allows the cover to adapt to different usage scenarios - providing spill protection when needed and being easily accessible when not needed. The foldable mechanism uses simple hinges or joints that allow the cover to flex and move without requiring complex locking or actuation systems.
4Adaptability or versatility
If the tray is designed to fit carry-on luggage dimensions, then adaptability is improved, but the tray size and food capacity are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The tray utilizes the vertical dimension by folding upward against the luggage surface when not in use. This allows the tray to have a larger potential food capacity when deployed, as it can extend vertically without increasing the horizontal footprint that would interfere with carry-on luggage dimensions. The foldable design effectively uses the third dimension (height/vertical space) to overcome the area constraints of carry-on luggage.
Data Source
AI summary
A travel tray assembly for carrying food items on an article of luggage includes an article of luggage that has dimensions that conform to carry-on requirements of commercial airlines. A tray is provided that has a plurality of openings therein for receiving a food item. A pair of clamps is coupled to the tray and each of the clamps releasably engages a respective strut on the article of luggage. The tray is horizontally oriented on the top side of the article of luggage when the clamps engage the respective strut. A cover is foldably coupled to the tray and the cover is positionable over a respective one of the openings in the tray to cover the food items in the respective opening.