Movable Dunnage Supports in Shipping Containers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing shipping containers are ergonomically unfriendly, requiring workers to perform strenuous movements to access parts, leading to physical trauma and increased costs due to reduced container length and increased need for multiple containers, and existing dunnage supports experience friction issues and wear, making them difficult to move efficiently.
Innovation Solution
A container design with inwardly spaced guides featuring multiple slots for dunnage supports with narrowed and flattened portions that slide along these guides, reducing the effort required to move dunnage supports and extending their lifespan, and allowing for easier access to parts without the need for workers to walk around the container.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the container length is reduced to eliminate the need for workers to walk around, then worker safety and ergonomics improve, but the number of parts that can be shipped in a single container decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The dunnage supports are made movable along the longitudinal axis of the container, allowing dynamic repositioning of parts from distal locations to accessible locations. This enables workers to access parts without walking around the container while maintaining the ability to ship large quantities of parts in a single container.
Solution Approach 2:
The container is divided into multiple levels with independent dunnage supports on each level. Each level can be independently accessed and operated, allowing workers to retrieve parts from different levels without moving around the entire container, thereby maintaining shipping capacity while improving ergonomics.
2Ease of operation
If dunnage supports are made movable to improve part accessibility, then worker ergonomics improve, but friction and wear increase reducing the lifespan of dunnage supports
Solution Approach 1:
Rollers are introduced as intermediary elements between the dunnage supports and the container walls. These rollers reduce direct friction contact while enabling smooth movement of dunnage supports along the container, thereby extending the lifespan of dunnage supports while maintaining ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The direct sliding mechanical contact between dunnage supports and container walls is replaced with a rolling contact system. This substitution reduces friction and wear, allowing dunnage supports to move easily while extending their operational lifespan.
3Quantity of substance
If multiple containers are used to ship the same number of parts, then shipping capacity is maintained, but operational costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
Movable dunnage supports enable efficient utilization of container space by allowing parts to be repositioned to accessible locations. This maximizes the shipping capacity of each container, reducing the number of containers needed and improving overall shipping efficiency while maintaining the same total parts shipment volume.
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
The container design reduces worker strain and injury by facilitating easier access to parts, decreases the number of containers needed for shipping, and extends the life of dunnage supports by minimizing friction and wear, thus lowering operational costs and improving workplace safety.
Implementation Method 1
The narrowed portions are engaged with and slidable along opposed slots of the guides to facilitate movement of the dunnage supports and dunnage
Data Source
AI summary
A container for holding product therein during shipment and being returned for reuse has a body, slotted guides attached to opposite sides of the body, and a plurality of dunnage supports extending between the guides. Outer portions of the dunnage supports may have one or more narrowed or flattened portions which enable the dunnage supports to slide along the slots. Dunnage holding parts is suspended by the dunnage supports.