Four-Sided Access Plastic Pallet With Orthogonal Inserts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pallets can only be accessed from two sides, making them difficult to maneuver in confined spaces and potentially leading to damage or weakening when heavy cargo is handled, as they are designed to be stressed if accessed from non-lead board sides.
Innovation Solution
A plastic pallet design featuring a single-layer top deck with horizontally positioned outer and intermediate deck boards, including spaced openings for inserts that allow access from all four sides while maintaining strong load-bearing capacity, with inserts such as metal pipes or rods orthogonal to the deck boards for enhanced racking strength.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional pallets are designed with lead boards and support blocks, then load bearing capacity is improved, but accessibility is restricted to only two sides
Solution Approach 1:
The pallet is segmented into four sides with identical structural characteristics, eliminating the traditional lead board configuration. Each side is equipped with reinforcement elements and opening structures that provide both structural support and forklift access, allowing the pallet to be approached from any direction while maintaining load bearing capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transforms the asymmetric traditional pallet structure (with distinct lead boards and non-lead board sides) into a symmetric configuration where all four sides have equivalent structural features, including reinforcement elements, openings, and support block arrangements, enabling uniform accessibility from all directions.
2Area of stationary object
If the pallet size is reduced to half size or quarter size, then space utilization is improved, but accessibility difficulty remains since the pallet can only be accessed from 2 different sides
Solution Approach 1:
The reduced-size pallet maintains the four-sided accessibility feature through proper segmentation of the deck structure, with each side incorporating appropriate reinforcement elements and opening configurations that accommodate forklift tines even in the compact format.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention applies local quality by strategically positioning reinforcement elements, openings, and support blocks at specific locations on each side of the pallet, ensuring that even in reduced sizes, each side maintains the necessary structural integrity and accessibility features.
3Ease of operation
If tines are inserted into gaps on non-lead board sides, then accessibility is improved, but the pallet may be overstressed and damaged
Solution Approach 1:
Each side of the pallet is equipped with local reinforcement elements and properly positioned openings that provide structural support at the points where forklift tines insert, ensuring that access from any side does not compromise the overall structural integrity or cause overstressing.
Solution Approach 2:
The pallet structure is designed with universal characteristics where all four sides can serve dual functions: providing structural support for load bearing and accommodating forklift access, eliminating the need to distinguish between lead boards and non-lead board sides.
Data Source
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AI summary
A plastic pallet comprising: a cargo layer comprising a pair of horizontally positioned outer plastic deck boards and at least one horizontally positioned intermediate plastic deck board therebetween, said at least one horizontally positioned intermediate plastic deck board having opposing sidewalls, and a plurality of spaced apart openings at least partially extending through the opposing sidewalls, and said pair of horizontally positioned outer plastic deck boards having opposing sidewalls.