Motorized Window Shade Mechanism with External Motor Mounting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing motorized window shade assemblies for aircraft windows face challenges such as light bleeding around the edges due to limited width, uncommanded motion, and complexity in motor placement and power cable management, which restricts the size and efficiency of the drive channel.
Innovation Solution
A motorized window shade mechanism with a pulley system where motors are secured to the housing and connected to pulleys, allowing cables to loop between them, eliminating the need for a power cable within the drive channel and reducing uncommanded motion through electromagnetic brakes, enabling wider shades and simplified motor integration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the drive channel width is increased to accommodate motorized mechanisms, then the motors can be properly housed and powered, but the window shade width must be reduced, causing light to bleed around the edges
Solution Approach 1:
The motor is extracted from the drive channel and mounted on the exterior surface of the window shell. This removes the motor's volume constraints from the drive channel, allowing the shade to extend fully to the shell edges for optimal light blocking while the motor operates from an external location.
Solution Approach 2:
The motor mounting location transitions from a two-dimensional constraint within the drive channel cross-section to a three-dimensional solution on the exterior surface of the window shell. This dimensional shift allows the motor to occupy space outside the critical light-blocking path of the shade.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a flexible conductive ribbon cable is used to power motors that move with the rail, then the motors can be integrated into the moving assembly, but additional space is required in the drive channel for the cable
Solution Approach 1:
The power delivery system is extracted from the moving rail assembly and relocated to the stationary window shell. The motor is powered through a fixed connection at the shell rather than through a flexible cable that moves with the rail, eliminating the cable space requirement from the drive channel.
Solution Approach 2:
A flexible conduit or wiring harness is used as an intermediary between the stationary power source on the shell and the motor, routing power externally around the drive channel rather than through it. This mediator allows power delivery without occupying drive channel space.
3Device complexity
If the motor is inserted in the rail attached to the bottom edge of the shade, then the drive mechanism can be compact, but the rail size increases and stack height becomes undesirable
Solution Approach 1:
The motor is extracted from the rail assembly and mounted on the exterior of the window shell. This separation allows the rail to be minimized to only the essential guiding and support functions, reducing its cross-sectional area and the overall stack height of the shade assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The drive system is segmented into separate functional components: the motor is housed externally on the shell while the rail is reduced to a minimal guiding structure. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently, with the rail being as small as possible for its guiding function alone.
4Illumination intensity
If the window shade width is maximized to block light effectively, then light blocking performance improves, but the drive channel must be narrower, making motor integration difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The motor is extracted from the drive channel and mounted on the exterior surface of the window shell. This allows the shade width to be maximized to the full width of the window opening for optimal light blocking, while the motor is housed in external mounting space that does not constrain the shade dimensions.
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
This design enhances light blocking by minimizing light bleeding, reduces uncommanded motion, and simplifies motor usage, allowing for a more compact and efficient drive channel, improving the operational reliability and flexibility of the window shades.
Implementation Method 1
A motor is secured to the housing and coupled to a motor-driven first pulley
Implementation Method 2
A cable is looped between said motor-driven first pulley and a second pulley, said second pulley being secured to the housing
Data Source
Figure 1~2
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AI summary
A motorized mechanism (15) for actuating motion within a housing of a window shade arrangement having first and second window shades (5,7) for controlling the amount of light admitted through a window. The motorized mechanism (15) comprises a first rail assembly (25) movable in the housing and connected to a first end of the first window shade (5) and a first end of the second window shade (7), a second rail (45) assembly movable in the housing and connected to a second end of the second window shade (7), a second end of the first window shade (5) being fixed to the housing, said first and second window shades (5,7) being adapted to be extended and compressed relative to the window in accordance with motion within the housing of at least one of said first and second rail assemblies (25,45). A first cable (63) is looped between a motor-driven first pulley (65) and a second pulley (67) along a first path. A second cable (63a) is looped between a motor-driven third pulley (65a) and a fourth pulley (67a) along a second path. Corresponding ends at one side of said first and second rail assemblies (25,45) are in said first path, with only one of said first and second rail assemblies (25,45) being connected to the first cable (63), and corresponding ends at the other side of said first and second rail assemblies being in said second path, with only the other one of said first and second rail assemblies being connected to the second cable (63a).