Panel Frame Beam Geometry for Compact Shipping Stacks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing panel frames face a challenge in achieving both economical manufacturing and compact stacking for shipment, as optimizing for strength often competes with minimizing shipping costs.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates primary and secondary beams with specific geometric configurations, including flats at the ends of secondary beams, allowing for compact stacking without compromising structural integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If panel frames are designed with optimized strength configuration, then structural integrity is improved, but shipping compactness deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The panel frame is divided into primary beams and secondary beams as separate structural segments. The secondary beams are attached to the primary beams at specific locations, allowing the frame to be segmented in a way that maintains strength while enabling compact stacking during shipment
Solution Approach 2:
The beam cross-sectional properties are varied locally along the beam length. The beams have different cross-sectional areas at different locations, with larger cross-sections where strength is needed and smaller cross-sections where compactness is prioritized, resolving the contradiction between structural integrity and shipping volume
2Ease of manufacture
If panel frames are manufactured at a first location with economies of scale, then manufacturing cost is reduced, but shipping cost increases due to larger shipping volume
Solution Approach 1:
The frame structure is segmented into primary and secondary beams that can be manufactured separately at the first location using economies of scale, then reassembled. This segmentation allows the manufactured components to stack compactly during shipment while maintaining the manufacturing cost benefits of规模化 production
Solution Approach 2:
The beam cross-sections are oriented at different angles relative to the stacking direction. By rotating secondary beams 90 degrees relative to primary beams, the frame achieves a compact footprint in the stacking dimension while maintaining structural integrity, thereby reducing shipping volume without compromising manufacturing efficiency
Data Source
AI summary
A panel frame optimized for compact stacking during shipment may include a first and second primary beams that define a length. First and second secondary beams may include flats at their ends, the flats attached to the primary beams along the primary beams' lengths. The secondary beams may define a secondary beam maximum depth adjacent to the flats, opposite the attachment to the primary beams, and perpendicular to the flats. The primary beams may define a beam maximum width parallel to the secondary beam and define a primary beam maximum depth at the attachment to the secondary beams and perpendicular to the maximum width. The flats may each define a flat length parallel to and at least as long as the beam maximum width, and may define a flat depth parallel to the primary beam maximum depth, the flat depth being less than the secondary beam maximum depth.