Panel Frame Assembly for Vertical Processing and Horizontal Transport
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Solution Overview
Problem
The traditional methods for manufacturing, transporting, and installing large glass panels are labor-intensive, space-consuming, and ergonomically challenging, with difficulties in handling and rotating heavy panels during assembly and transportation, and require multiple logistical steps that increase risk and effort.
Innovation Solution
A panel processing system featuring a frame assembly with hooks and spigot devices that allows for vertical or near-vertical orientation during processing, enables horizontal stacking for transport, and includes a pivot cradle assembly for efficient installation, utilizing upper and lower carriers and a lifting device for secure handling and positioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If traditional horizontal assembly methods are used for large glass panels, then the panel can be assembled on the ground, but the process becomes labor-intensive and ergonomically challenging requiring workers to crane across large surface areas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from traditional horizontal ground-based assembly to vertical assembly using an A-rack system. Panels are assembled in a vertical orientation on the A-rack, fundamentally changing the spatial dimension of the assembly process. This vertical configuration allows workers to access panel surfaces more easily without craning across large horizontal areas, directly addressing the ergonomic challenges while maintaining assembly feasibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The A-rack serves as an intermediary structure that facilitates panel assembly. Rather than assembling panels directly on the ground or requiring complex overhead cranes, the A-rack provides a supported vertical framework that mediates between the ground and the panel, enabling workers to efficiently access and work on large glass surfaces in a vertical orientation.
2Ease of operation
If panels are shipped upright on an A-Rack, then handling during transport is simplified, but the assembly becomes too tall to pass under overpasses and bridges
Solution Approach 1:
The A-rack system is designed to be dynamically reconfigurable between vertical and horizontal orientations. During transport through restricted areas, the entire assembly can be rotated or lowered to a horizontal position, allowing it to pass under overpasses and bridges. Once at the installation site, it can be returned to the vertical position for efficient panel installation, providing adaptability to different operational requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system allows change in the spatial parameters of the assembly configuration. The A-rack can transition from a vertical configuration (high height, narrow footprint) suitable for assembly to a horizontal configuration (low height, extended footprint) suitable for transport through restricted areas. This parameter transformation resolves the contradiction between handling ease and dimensional constraints.
3Adaptability or versatility
If panels are rotated 90 degrees during lifting and transport, then orientation can be adjusted, but the structural glazing tape is subjected to transitional shear stress outside its recommended design envelope
Solution Approach 1:
The A-rack system performs preliminary orientation adjustments during the assembly process itself, before transport and installation. Panels are assembled and oriented in the final vertical position on the A-rack, eliminating the need for 90-degree rotations during transport. The panels remain in their installation orientation throughout handling, preventing shear stress on the glazing tape while maintaining the required orientation flexibility through the reconfigurable A-rack structure.
4Area of stationary object
If traditional horizontal stacking is used for storage and transport, then panels can be stored compactly, but multiple handling operations are required increasing logistical effort and risk
Solution Approach 1:
The A-rack system combines multiple functions into a single integrated structure: it serves as both the assembly framework and the transport carrier. Panels assembled on the A-rack remain mounted during transport and can be directly installed from the same structure, eliminating the need for separate handling, remounting, and repositioning operations. This merging of assembly and transport functions maintains compact storage while dramatically improving logistical efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
A panel support and panel processing system that provides a single frame assembly for use on a panel processing line in transporting and installing panels, such as glass panels, the frame assembly having a frame with at least one hook that engages a carrier on a processing line to move the frame from one station to the next, and that enables lifting and stacking of multiple frames for transport to and installation at a building site without having to remove the panel, such as a glass panel, from the frame, at which point the frame and panel assembly are secured in situ.