Plastic Bottle Crate With Angled Handle And Beveled Corners
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Solution Overview
Problem
Bottle crates with a capacity of 12 bottles often have inadequate space for a central handle, making them uncomfortable to carry and inefficient in utilizing standard pallet space, leading to suboptimal load transfer and increased wear on corner edges during transport.
Innovation Solution
Designing bottle crates with external dimensions of 400 mm x 240 mm, featuring sloping corner walls and a central handle, allowing for optimal bottle alignment and improved carrying comfort, while accommodating more crates per layer on standard pallets, resulting in increased storage capacity and reduced material usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the crate dimensions are reduced to 400x240 mm to fit more crates per pallet, then the storage capacity per pallet increases, but the space for a central handle decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent positions the central handle at an angle relative to the crate's longitudinal axis, utilizing three-dimensional space rather than only planar space. This angular arrangement allows the handle to fit within the reduced 400x240 mm crate dimensions while still providing adequate space for comfortable carrying, thus resolving the contradiction between compact dimensions and handle space.
2Ease of manufacture
If conventional rectangular corner walls are used, then the construction is simple, but the load transfer to pallet skids is insufficient and corner edges wear quickly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces conventional rectangular corner walls with beveled corner walls that have sloping surfaces. This curvature modification at the corners creates a more gradual transition in load distribution, improving contact with the pallet skids and reducing stress concentrations that cause wear. The beveled corners maintain construction simplicity while significantly enhancing load transfer efficiency and corner edge durability.
3Productivity
If the crate dimensions are optimized to 400x240 mm, then more crates can be accommodated per pallet, but the handling comfort may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
By positioning the central handle at an angle to the longitudinal axis rather than aligning it strictly with the crate's primary dimensions, the patent creates efficient use of three-dimensional space. This angular handle placement allows adequate handle space within the compact 400x240 mm footprint, maintaining handling comfort while achieving higher transport efficiency through increased pallet capacity.
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
The case has elongate and narrow side walls (2, 3), a base (1), and twelve bottle accommodators (9) for accommodating twelve bottles with beverage volume of 0.75 liters, where outer dimension of the case is specified from length of 400 mm and breadth of 240 mm. The accommodators and the bottles are arranged such that linear rows (7, 8) of bottles are arranged at both the elongate side walls (2) and linear rows (10, 11) of bottles are arranged at both the narrow side walls (3). A middle handle (12) is arranged in a longitudinal axis (13) of the case that is made of plastic.