Collapsible Wagon-Mounted Fuel Container for Empty Return Trips
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The transportation of fuel and other flowable materials to remote mining sites is inefficient due to the need for dedicated vehicles and infrastructure, which reduces the capacity for carrying mined products and increases costs, as fuel trucks or trains return empty, thereby not utilizing available freight capacity effectively.
Innovation Solution
An expandable and collapsible container system that can be mounted on open-top railway wagons or trucks, allowing the container to expand when filled with fuel or other materials and collapse when empty, optimizing space and weight distribution, and enabling the use of existing transportation infrastructure for both fuel and mined products.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If dedicated fuel trucks or trains are used to transport fuel to mines, then fuel transportation is ensured, but the freight capacity for carrying mined products is reduced and transportation costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The railway wagon is designed to perform multiple functions: it can transport both fuel (when the container is expanded and filled) and mined products (when the container is collapsed or removed). This multi-functional design eliminates the need for separate dedicated fuel transport wagons, thereby maximizing the freight capacity available for mined products while ensuring reliable fuel transportation when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The container is designed to be dynamically transformable between expanded and collapsed configurations. When fuel needs to be transported, the container expands to accommodate fuel tanks. When mined products need to be transported, the container collapses or is removed to maximize cargo space. This dynamic adaptability resolves the contradiction between ensuring fuel transportation reliability and maximizing freight capacity for mined products.
2Reliability
If fuel trucks return empty from mines, then fuel delivery is completed, but transportation costs increase due to unused freight capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The system recovers the return journey capacity by attaching the fuel transport container to wagons carrying mined products back to the mine. Instead of returning empty, the fuel container is filled with mined material during the return trip, thereby utilizing the otherwise wasted freight capacity and reducing transportation costs per unit of material moved.
Solution Approach 2:
The same transport infrastructure is used for both forward (fuel delivery) and backward (mined product return) journeys. The container serves dual purposes: transporting fuel to the mine and transporting mined materials back, thereby eliminating the loss of energy associated with empty return trips.
3Quantity of substance
If the container is expanded to carry fuel, then fuel storage capacity is increased, but the volume available for mined products is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The container dynamically changes its configuration based on operational needs. When fuel storage is required, the container expands to provide maximum fuel capacity. When mined product transport is needed, the container collapses or is removed to maximize the volume available for products. This dynamic transformation resolves the volume contradiction between fuel storage and product transport.
Solution Approach 2:
The transport system is segmented into separate functional components: the railway wagon structure and the collapsible container. This segmentation allows the container to be independently transformed between expanded (fuel storage) and collapsed (product transport) states without affecting the underlying wagon structure, thereby resolving the volume allocation contradiction.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for storing or transporting flowable materials or other materials, such as diesel fuel, includes a container and a support. The container is supported by the support. The support sits on or is mounted across an upper part of an open top railway wagon or open top truck or truck trailer used for transporting bulk commodities (such as coal or iron ore). The apparatus is movable between an expanded configuration in which the container is expandable into a lower part of the open top railway wagon or open top truck or truck trailer used for transporting bulk commodities, and a collapsed configuration in which the container is collapsible to the support. In use, a railway wagon is filled with coal or other bulk commodities and the apparatus is placed on top of the railway wagon in the collapsed configuration. At the port, the coal is emptied from the railway wagon and the container of the apparatus is filled with fuel. The support supports the apparatus on the railway wagon and the container extends into the railway wagon. The fuel may then be transported back to the mine, where the apparatus is removed from the railway wagon and the container decanted. The railway wagon is again filled with coal or other bulk commodities and the apparatus is placed on top of the railway wagon in the collapsed configuration and the cycle continues to meet the fuel requirements of the relevant mine.