Adjustable Package Storage Racks for Space-Efficient Sorting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing storage solutions for postal packages face inefficiencies due to varying package sizes and unpredictable storage durations, leading to wasted space and potential errors in package identification, as they often rely on fixed compartment sizes and dimensions, which limit versatility and optimize space poorly.
Innovation Solution
A storage arrangement with adjustable vertical racks and rotatable platforms, allowing for compartments of varying widths and depths, combined with a sensor system and control unit to optimize space usage by considering all dimensions of packages and reconfiguring storage positions to minimize unused space, including the option to rotate or tilt packages for better fit.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If fixed-size storage compartments are used, then package identification is simplified, but space utilization deteriorates due to wasted space in small compartments and inability to store bulky packages
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements adjustable shelving units that can be repositioned vertically along the rack structure, allowing compartment heights to be dynamically adjusted according to package dimensions. This dynamic configuration enables optimal space utilization while maintaining clear compartment boundaries for easy package identification and retrieval.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage system allows changing the physical parameters of compartments by adjusting shelf positions to match different package heights and sizes. This parameter adaptation resolves the contradiction by creating custom-fit compartments that maximize space usage while preserving clear demarcation for package identification.
2Volume of stationary object
If multiple packages are placed in the same compartment, then space utilization improves, but package identification deteriorates due to difficulty in locating correct packages
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the storage space into multiple individual compartments through adjustable shelving, ensuring each package occupies its own designated space. This segmentation maintains high space utilization by optimizing compartment sizes while providing clear visual and physical separation for effortless package identification and retrieval.
3Quantity of substance
If warehouse size is expanded to accommodate more packages, then storage capacity improves, but construction complexity and cost deteriorate due to underground location constraints
Solution Approach 1:
The patent maximizes vertical storage capacity by utilizing the height dimension through multi-level rack structures with adjustable shelving. This vertical expansion approach increases storage capacity without requiring horizontal expansion, thereby avoiding complex underground construction work and associated high costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The adjustable shelving system allows the storage capacity to be dynamically increased by adding or reconfiguring rack levels and shelves within the existing warehouse footprint, providing expansion capability without structural modifications to the building itself.
4Device complexity
If shelves are arranged at fixed distances to define compartments, then compartment structure is simplified, but versatility deteriorates due to inability to accommodate different package sizes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs adjustable shelving units that can be repositioned along the rack structure to create compartments of varying heights and configurations. This dynamic adjustability provides versatility to accommodate different package sizes while maintaining a relatively simple rack structure with standardized adjustment mechanisms.
Data Source
AI summary
An arrangement and method for storing items is provided which may be applied, for example, in the storage of postal packages and the like. The size of an item to be stored is detected and the item is placed inside a storage structure in sufficient, but not excessive, space. In the arrangement and method, at least two, preferably three, dimensions of the item in directions perpendicular to each other are considered to determine the space in which to store it. Correspondingly, the storage structure of the arrangement comprises a plurality of vertical racks in which rack groups are present in which compartments of different width, and possibly of different depth, can be defined. The racks can possibly be mounted on rotatable platforms to further increase the capacity of the storage structure.