Hollow Plastic Deck Block with Multi-Wall Pillar Reinforcement
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional deck blocks are too heavy for easy handling and display in hardware stores, limiting their accessibility to the DIY market and requiring manual loading by customers, while also exceeding the load-bearing requirements for most applications.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight hollow plastic deck block with a truncated pyramidal shape, a central vertical post socket, and four joist slots, made through a roto-moulding process, weighing less than 5 lbs and providing a 1000 lbs load-bearing capacity, allowing for easy handling and installation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional Portland cement blocks are used, then high load-bearing capacity (3000-6000 psi) is achieved, but weight becomes excessive (42-51 lbs), making them difficult to handle and too heavy for display in hardware stores
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies porous materials by using a hollow plastic block design with internal cavities and a multi-wall pillar structure containing hollow oval-shaped columns. This porous configuration reduces the overall density and weight of the block while maintaining structural integrity. The hollow center and wall thickness optimization create a lightweight structure that is easier to handle (weighing approximately 16 lbs compared to 42-51 lbs for solid cement blocks) while still providing adequate load-bearing capacity for typical deck applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite materials by combining plastic material with a multi-wall pillar structure consisting of four vertical hollow oval-shaped columns arranged in a circular array. This composite design integrates the lightweight properties of plastic with the structural reinforcement of the multi-wall pillar configuration, achieving an optimal balance between weight reduction and load-bearing capacity. The composite structure allows the block to support sufficient deck loads while remaining lightweight enough for customer handling and retail display.
2Ease of operation
If lightweight plastic blocks are used, then ease of handling and display in hardware stores is improved, but load-bearing capacity must be sufficient for typical deck applications
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the internal structure into multiple distinct components: a hollow center cavity, a multi-wall pillar structure, and four vertical hollow oval-shaped columns arranged in a circular array. This segmented internal configuration distributes structural stresses across multiple elements rather than relying on a single solid mass, enabling the block to achieve adequate load-bearing capacity with significantly reduced overall weight and material usage, thereby improving ease of handling while maintaining structural performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes another dimension by transitioning from a solid two-dimensional cross-section to a three-dimensional multi-wall pillar structure with hollow oval-shaped columns arranged vertically and radially. This dimensional evolution creates internal voids and air spaces that reduce weight while the vertical and radial arrangement of the pillar walls provides structural reinforcement in multiple directions, simultaneously achieving lightweight construction and sufficient load-bearing capacity for deck applications.
Data Source
AI summary
The deck block has is made of plastic by a roto-moulding process. The deck block has a truncated pyramidal shape with a flat top plane, a hollow center; a uniform wall thickness; a central vertical post socket and four joist slots extending horizontally from the post socket at a right angle with each other. The deck block has a multi-wall pillar therein extending between a bottom surface of the post socket and a bottom plane of the block. This pillar is made of four vertical hollow oval-shaped columns that are arranged in a circular array under the post socket for reinforcing the bottom surface of the post socket. In another aspect, the joist slots have protruding lips on each side thereof, for enlarging a top surface of the block and for reinforcing the joist slots.