Movable-Floor Mattress Container for Hygienic Truck Unloading
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for collecting and loading used mattresses into waste compactor trucks are manual, time-consuming, unhygienic, inefficient, and prone to health risks, with poor stacking leading to reduced tonnage and potential damage or deterioration of mattresses during transit.
Innovation Solution
A maneuverable cage with a movable floor and ergonomic design that allows for easy attachment to a compactor truck, enabling tilting and automatic unloading of mattresses without manual handling, equipped with wheels, handles, and a waterproof cover to protect mattresses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If manual loading methods are used, then equipment complexity is reduced, but loading time increases and hygiene deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The cage incorporates a movable floor that can rotate between a horizontal loading position and a tilted unloading position. This dynamic element allows the same structure to serve both loading and unloading functions, achieving automated unloading while maintaining relatively simple equipment overall.
Solution Approach 2:
The movable floor acts as an intermediary mechanism between the cage and the truck. By rotating the floor, the cage can transfer mattresses to the truck without direct manual handling, enabling automated unloading while keeping the overall system relatively simple.
2Productivity
If mattresses are loaded manually, then device complexity is reduced, but loading time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The movable floor rotates to a tilted position during unloading, allowing mattresses to slide out automatically into the truck. This dynamic mechanism dramatically reduces loading time compared to manual lifting and placing, while not requiring complex automated lifting systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The cage design allows the mattresses themselves to be moved into the truck through the tilted floor mechanism without requiring external manual intervention. The weight of the mattresses themselves facilitates the unloading process, eliminating the need for additional labor.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If manual handling is used, then equipment complexity is reduced, but hygiene deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The movable floor serves as a sterile intermediary surface that contacts the mattresses during loading and unloading. This eliminates direct contact between personnel and the mattresses, preventing hygiene contamination while using a relatively simple rotational mechanism rather than complex automated systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The manual mechanical handling of mattresses is replaced by the rotational floor mechanism that passively transfers mattresses. This substitution eliminates human contact with the mattresses during critical loading operations, improving hygiene without requiring complex automated robotic systems.
4Manufacturing precision
If standard cages are used, then device complexity is reduced, but stacking quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The movable floor provides a dynamic, adjustable surface that can be positioned horizontally during loading to ensure proper mattress stacking. The ability to maintain a stable horizontal plane while loading, then rotate for unloading, improves stacking quality without requiring complex fixed structural adjustments.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Facilitates safe, efficient, and ergonomic loading of mattresses into compactor trucks, reducing handling time, improving hygiene, and optimizing logistics while protecting mattresses from damage and moisture, with increased capacity and reduced transport costs.
Implementation Method 1
This actuator, at least one of which can be a cylinder or a gas spring, is compressed by the weight of the mattresses when the actuator lowers to a horizontal position. As the weight applied to the actuator decreases, it extends and pushes under the floor, causing it to pivot.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a container (1) for used mattresses intended to be unloaded into a waste compactor truck, characterised in that it comprises: - a front face (2a) extending between a lower end and an upper end of the front face and provided with a connecting and coupling element (5) intended to couple the container (1) to the truck (12), - a rear face (2b), - two lateral faces (2d), and - a lower face provided with a movable floor (2c), the front face (2a) having a height lower than that of the rear face (2b) so as to define an opening (14) for loading the mattress, and the movable floor (2c) being mounted so as to rotate about an axis preferably located at the rear of the container (1) and being made to rotate by at least one actuator (11) so as to be able to pivot between a standard mattress loading position in which the movable floor (2c) extends at the level of the lower end of the front face (2a) and a tipping position in which the front end of the movable floor (2c) is raised with respect to the lower end of the front face (2a).