The Pop-out Tray is a tray that can be installed in various household items to durably secure button batteries and prevent young children from interacting and potentially ingesting them. In this design, the Pop-out Tray is installed in a fairy light LED remote. The Pop-out Tray opens by having the user insert a small, thin object, such as a paperclip, safety pin, or the like, into a small opening. This mechanism functions similarly to a SIM-card opener. The tray then pops out, allowing the user to change or remove the button battery as needed.
The following sections describe the components of the device—the fairy light LED remote, outer cover**,** battery holder, and L-shaped lever—as well as the rationale for each component.
Table of Contents
Specifications and Use
The fairy light LED remote is made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic and serves as an example of a household item with which the Pop-out Tray design can be implemented in. It has dimensions of 38.1 mm by 83.82 mm by 7 mm (Figures 2 and 3). The remote contains one button battery (20 mm diameter), outer cover**,** the battery holder, as well as the L-shaped lever.
Figure 2: Fairy Light LED Remote (CAD Version)
Figure 3: Fairy Light LED Remote (Physical Version)
Rationale
There are a plethora of household items that the Pop-out Tray can be used with, but the fairy light LED remote was specifically chosen for several reasons. First, it is already in the possession of the team, allowing convenient access to the item for dimensioning, measurements, and thorough inspection. Second, this chosen fairy light LED remote has a compartment for the button battery as required by regulatory standards, but it is flimsy and too easily accessible, thus providing clear motivation for the implementation of the Pop-out Tray, which would provide a more secure and fortified storage compartment for the button battery.
Notably, the fairy light LED remote was not manufactured or tampered with in any way by this team (Figure 4), but its dimensions and other metrics have been adopted for this design.
Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Plastic is the material used for the fairy light LED remote and all other components of the Pop-out Tray design. This material was selected based on performance testing, which revealed that PVC plastic has a high factor of safety and does not endanger the user when interacting with heavy loads or severe drops (Appendix C). PVC plastic is resistant to compressive forces and is overall a durable material, making it an appropriate fit for the Pop-out Tray, which will likely undergo some wear and tear upon daily interactions with users.