Vehicle Table Device Sloped Rail Retracting Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Table devices in vehicle instrument panels pose a risk to crash safety due to potential collision with extended boards and unintended deployment of folded boards during accidents.
Innovation Solution
A table device with a rail configuration featuring parallel tracks and a slope, allowing the table unit to move between deployed and retracted states, with a locking mechanism to secure it in the retracted position, ensuring safety by preventing unwanted deployment and facilitating easy manual retraction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the table unit is kept in the deployed state during normal forward movement, then ease of operation is improved, but crash safety deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The table unit is designed to dynamically change position based on vehicle motion state. During normal forward movement, it remains in the deployed state for ease of operation. During deceleration or collision, it automatically transitions to the retracted state to eliminate crash safety hazards. This dynamic repositioning resolves the contradiction between operational convenience and safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The table unit employs a self-regulating mechanism using gravity and the sloped rail configuration to automatically detect vehicle deceleration and trigger retraction without external control systems. The hollow on the upper track and gravitational force work together to autonomously return the table unit to the safe retracted position during collision, eliminating the need for sensors or active control while maintaining crash safety.
2Ease of operation
If the table unit is secured in the deployed state, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to risk of unwanted unfolding in collision
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism is designed to be dynamically responsive to vehicle motion. It maintains the table unit in the deployed state during normal operation through the locking element and hook portion engagement. However, during deceleration or collision, the dynamic forces automatically disengage the locking mechanism, allowing the table unit to retract and preventing unwanted unfolding that would compromise reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The sloped rail configuration and hollow design create a preliminary anti-action mechanism that counteracts any force attempting to unfold the table unit during collision. The slope directs forces toward the retracted position, and the hollow provides a stopping point that prevents the table unit from unfolding beyond the safe retracted position, thereby maintaining reliability under collision conditions.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the rail configuration is sloped to facilitate automatic retraction, then crash safety is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The rail configuration utilizes a simple geometric parameter change - a constant slope angle - to achieve automatic retraction functionality. This single parameter modification to the rail structure creates the gravitational force component that drives the table unit back during collision, improving crash safety without requiring complex mechanisms, sensors, or control systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The sloped rail configuration enables the system to use its own weight and gravitational force to achieve automatic retraction during collision. The hollow on the upper track works with gravity to self-regulate the table unit's position, eliminating the need for external power sources, motors, or control systems, thereby maintaining simplicity while improving crash safety.
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
Enhances collision safety by keeping the table unit secure in the deployed state during normal vehicle movement and automatically retracting it in case of a collision, while allowing easy manual deployment and retraction, improving visibility by sloping the instrument panel.
Implementation Method 1
the rail configuration being arranged to run in the space with a forward slope downwards in the vehicle's longitudinal extent... as a result of the slope of the rail configuration, slide back into the space
Data Source
Figure 1a~1d
Figure 2a~2b
Figure 3a~3b
AI summary
The present invention relates to a table device (I) situated in front of a vehicle occupant in a space (50) in an interior panel of a vehicle (1). The table device comprises a table unit (10) with aboard element (20) and a rail configuration (40) with at least two mutually parallel rail track elements (42, 44), relative to which rail configuration (40) the table unit (10) is arranged for movement in the vehicle's longitudinal extent between a deployed state for use and a retracted state. The rail configuration (40) is arranged to run in the space(50) with a forward slope downwards in the vehicle's longitudinal extent, the respective rail track elements (42, 44) being provided with a hollow (42e, 44e) suited to bringing the table unit (10) from a slope in the retracted state to a substantially definite horizontal position in the deployed state.