Modular Packing System with Interlocking Pallets
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Solution Overview
Problem
The use of traditional wood pallets for transporting delicate and perishable products, such as pharmaceuticals, leads to issues like uneven stacking, damage during handling, humidity and temperature exposure, contamination, and increased operational costs due to the need for disposal and treatment, as well as potential tampering and theft.
Innovation Solution
A modular packing system utilizing EPS or polypropylene pallets and containers with interlocking features, which provide stability, prevent contamination, and offer a secure and efficient way to stack and transport products without the need for plastic wrapping, while allowing for easy recycling and reuse.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If boxes are arranged in alignment with the outside perimeter of the pallet to facilitate wrapping, then ease of operation is improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates due to voids between boxes and non-uniform load distribution
Solution Approach 1:
The pallet surface is segmented into multiple positioning features (recesses, protrusions, guide walls) that divide the loading area into defined zones. Boxes are positioned in specific recesses or against guide walls, ensuring uniform distribution without requiring manual alignment with the perimeter.
2Volume of moving object
If boxes are stacked densely to maximize space utilization, then volume efficiency is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to boxes extending outside the pallet perimeter and suffering damage
Solution Approach 1:
Guide walls and positioning features act as intermediary structures between the boxes and the pallet perimeter. These intermediaries prevent boxes from extending beyond the safe loading area while maintaining dense stacking, thereby protecting box integrity without sacrificing space utilization.
3Ease of manufacture
If wood pallets are used for transport, then ease of manufacture is improved, but object-affected harmful factors worsen due to humidity absorption, contamination, and deterioration
Solution Approach 1:
The pallet system uses composite construction with a wooden base structure combined with plastic or metal positioning features and guide walls. This composite approach maintains the ease of manufacture of wood while adding properties that resist humidity and contamination through the synthetic materials.
4Stability of the object's composition
If plastic film wrapping is applied to restrain boxes, then stability is improved, but object-generated harmful factors worsen due to condensation inside the film affecting products
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning and restraining functions are extracted from the plastic film wrapping and transferred to integrated structural features of the pallet system (guide walls, recesses, protrusions). This extraction eliminates the need for plastic film enclosure, maintaining stability through mechanical positioning while avoiding condensation issues.
Data Source
AI summary
A modular packing system includes a pallet exhibiting a continuous and unperforated support surface affording a plurality of seating features distributed thereon, a plurality of containers of base measurements as submultiples of the pallet dimensions and constant height so as to form even layers of uniform height, and an uppermost cover element for positioning on top of a final layer of containers and equipped with a first pair of belts engageable to corresponding belt portions which, in turn, engage with a second pair of belts associated to the pallet. Each container exhibits a lower base surface affording raised features configured to engage in seating features in the pallet support surface. Each container further exhibits a cover element exhibiting a plurality of seating features, analogous in conformation and positioning to the seating features in the pallet support surface, so as to form another support and engagement surface for a subsequent layer.