Foldable Container Sidewall Guide Elements Prevent Tilting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing foldable containers face manufacturing cost issues due to varying sidewall heights and hinge arrangements, leading to tilting during folding, which complicates production and storage.
Innovation Solution
A foldable storage and transport container design featuring guide elements on the sidewalls that engage with recesses in the base frame, maintaining a parallel pivot axis and preventing tilting, allowing for identical sidewalls to stack compactly and reducing manufacturing costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If sidewalls are made taller than half the length of the adjacent side, then the container volume is increased, but the neighboring sidewalls must be placed on top of one another requiring different hinge levels which increases manufacturing complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces guide elements with asymmetric geometry that interact with corresponding guide recesses in the base frame. The guide element has a guide surface inclined at a specific angle, creating an asymmetric engagement mechanism that enables tall sidewalls to fold flat without requiring different hinge levels, thus resolving the contradiction between increased volume and manufacturing complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The guide elements act as intermediary components between the sidewalls and the base frame. These guide elements with inclined surfaces mediate the folding motion, allowing tall sidewalls to pivot and lie flat against the base while maintaining identical hinge arrangements, thereby enabling increased container volume without complicating the hinge system
2Ease of operation
If hinge bolts are made movable in hinge bolt receivers from lower to upper end position, then planar placement of sidewalls is facilitated, but the sidewall tilts during folding up
Solution Approach 1:
The guide elements serve as intermediary components that constrain the motion of sidewalls during folding. The inclined guide surfaces interact with corresponding surfaces on the base frame to maintain the pivot axis parallel to the base plane, preventing tilting while still enabling easy placement through the movable hinge mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the guide elements, specifically the inclination angle of the guide surface, to optimize the folding motion. By carefully selecting the angle, the design ensures that the sidewall maintains a stable orientation parallel to the base during folding while still allowing smooth movement from the open to folded position
3Shape
If sidewalls of different heights are used, then foldable sidewalls can lie flatly upon one another, but production and manufacturing costs are adversely affected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies homogeneity by making all sidewalls identical in height and design. The guide elements enable these uniform sidewalls to fold flat against the base frame through their inclined engagement surfaces, eliminating the need for varying sidewall heights and thereby reducing manufacturing complexity and costs while achieving compact flat stacking
Data Source
AI summary
A plastic container includes at least two foldable sidewalls articulated to a container base by at least two hinge connections, each including a hinge bolt or pin for pivoting in a receiving gap of the base frame. The receiving gap has an elongate opening to allow the hinge bolt to move in the receiving gap from a lower to an upper end position. The opening has a length at least corresponding to the thickness of the sidewall which is thus liftable vertically by at least the thickness. At least two guide elements are formed at the sidewall and received in the base frame in recesses which have a nose defined by an upper edge spaced from an upper edge of the base frame by a distance which corresponds to a length of the guide element from a lower edge of the sidewall to a lower edge of the guide element.