Offset Wire Flooring Panels for Livestock Comfort
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional agricultural flooring systems that allow manure to pass through grated panels can compromise animal comfort and increase stress due to larger openings, while adding polymeric mats for comfort increases costs and maintenance complexity.
Innovation Solution
A flooring system comprising interconnected wires with offset panel planes and support elements that span pits or channels without a conventional substructure, featuring gaps between wires that are less than 35% of the wire's nominal dimension, providing structural rigidity and comfort while allowing waste to pass through.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If larger openings are used in grated panels, then manure transfer and cleaning are improved, but animal comfort and welfare deteriorate due to increased stress
Solution Approach 1:
The flooring panel incorporates regions with different opening characteristics - areas with smaller openings for animal comfort and areas with larger openings for manure transfer. This local differentiation allows each region to optimize for its specific function without compromising the other.
Solution Approach 2:
The flooring system combines wire mesh panels with polymeric matting layers to create a composite structure that provides both the structural integrity and manure transfer of the wire mesh and the comfort and cushioning of the polymeric material.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If polymeric mats are installed over grated panels to improve comfort, then animal welfare is enhanced, but cost and maintenance complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention integrates the comfort function directly into the flooring panel structure itself through molded polymeric regions or integrated matting systems, eliminating the need for separate polymeric mat layers that would require installation and maintenance.
Solution Approach 2:
The flooring panel design allows manure to pass through to collection areas below, enabling self-cleaning functionality that reduces maintenance requirements and eliminates the need to remove separate polymeric mats for cleaning.
3Strength
If conventional substructures and frames are used to support flooring panels, then structural stability is achieved, but cost and assembly complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the conventional substructure and frame components by designing flooring panels with self-supporting features such as rigid molded profiles, interlocking edges, and integration with support beams or walls that provide structural stability without requiring separate framing systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The flooring system is divided into modular panels with standardized connection features that can be assembled independently and connected to each other and to support structures, simplifying installation while maintaining structural integrity through distributed load bearing.
Data Source
AI summary
A flooring system includes a flooring panel and a support element. The flooring panel has an outer periphery and defines an upper panel plane and a lower panel plane that is offset from the upper panel plane. The flooring panel includes a plurality of openings formed therethrough within the outer periphery. The support element extends lengthwise between opposing ends and includes an upper edge and a lower edge. The support element extends through and operatively connects with the flooring panel such that the upper edge is disposed in approximate alignment with the upper panel plane and the lower edge is disposed in offset relation to the lower panel plane in a direction opposite the upper panel plane. Methods of assembly are also included.