Corrugated Shipping Crate With Horizontal Inner Panels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Shipping crates made from corrugated board face challenges in achieving high compression strength while minimizing material usage, as conventional designs often require additional layers or heavier materials to support stacked loads, leading to increased costs.
Innovation Solution
A shipping crate design featuring an outer shell of vertically fluted corrugated board combined with horizontally oriented inner panels, which provides greater compression strength than traditional vertically oriented designs, using a combination of 1100 weight triple wall and 500 weight double wall corrugated layers, resulting in a more cost-effective and lighter weight solution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If additional corrugated layers are added to increase compression strength, then load bearing capacity is improved, but material cost and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines two different types of corrugated board materials with complementary flute orientations - vertical flutes in the outer shell and horizontal flutes in the inner panels. This composite structure allows each material layer to contribute differently to the overall strength, with vertical flutes providing compression resistance and horizontal flutes providing lateral support, achieving high compression strength without requiring excessive material quantity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different corrugated board configurations to different parts of the crate structure. The outer shell uses vertically fluted corrugated board for compression strength, while the inner panels use horizontally fluted corrugated board for lateral support and structural integrity. This localized optimization allows each region to use the most appropriate material orientation for its specific structural role, improving overall efficiency.
2Strength
If heavier corrugated board is used to increase load bearing capacity, then compression strength is improved, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a composite construction combining 1100 weight triple wall corrugated board for the outer shell with 500 weight double wall corrugated board for the inner panels. This combination provides the necessary load bearing strength through the vertical flute structure while using lighter, more cost-effective material for the inner panels, thereby reducing overall manufacturing cost compared to using uniformly heavy material throughout.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent optimizes the weight and layer configuration parameters of the corrugated board. By selecting specific weight classes (1100 and 500) and wall constructions (triple wall and double wall), the design achieves the required compression strength at the lowest possible material cost, demonstrating parameter optimization to balance performance and economy.
3Strength
If vertically oriented flutes are used to support weight, then compression strength is improved, but material usage efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a composite structure where vertical flute corrugated board provides compression strength in the outer shell, while horizontal flute corrugated board provides lateral support in the inner panels. This complementary combination allows the structure to achieve high compression strength with more efficient material usage, as each orientation contributes to different aspects of structural integrity rather than requiring excessive material in a single orientation.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure indicates that the compression strength of a corrugated shipping crate can be increased through the use of horizontal panels adhered to the inside surface of the vertically fluted outer walls of the crate. The panels can comprise a layer of horizontally fluted single layer of double wall or triple wall corrugated, and a layer of vertically oriented double or triple wall corrugated. The crates' outer walls can be vertically fluted 1100 weight corrugated or less. The double wall vertically fluted corrugated, can be corrugated board have a weight in the range from 500 to 1100 pounds.