Portable restroom
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional portable restrooms with wheelchair access are labor-intensive and costly to assemble, prone to damage due to riveted connections, and lack rigidity, making them of lower quality and difficult to handle with forklifts.
Innovation Solution
A thermoformed plastic floor panel with integral perimeter side walls that uses a tongue and groove mechanism for secure attachment to side panels, reducing the need for rivets and enhancing rigidity with gusset features, and a chamfered threshold for wheelchair accessibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a flat sheet floor is used with multiple brackets and rivets to fasten walls, then the restroom can accommodate wheelchairs, but the assembly becomes labor intensive and time consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The floor panel and side wall are merged into a single integrated thermoformed plastic component. The side wall is formed as an integral part of the floor panel, eliminating the need for separate brackets and multiple rivets to connect these components. This merging reduces the number of parts and assembly steps while maintaining wheelchair accessibility through the flat floor design.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated floor panel serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides the flat surface for wheelchair accessibility, acts as the base structure, and incorporates the side wall formation. The integral design combines what were previously separate components (floor and side wall) into a single multi-functional element that simplifies assembly.
2Reliability
If multiple brackets and numerous rivets are used to fasten walls to the floor, then the connections are secured, but the cost increases and the connections are prone to damage from rough handling
Solution Approach 1:
The floor panel and side wall are merged into a single integrated thermoformed plastic component. The side wall is formed as an integral part of the floor panel, eliminating the need for separate brackets and multiple rivets to connect these components. This merging reduces the number of parts and assembly steps while maintaining wheelchair accessibility through the flat floor design.
Solution Approach 2:
The restroom utilizes thermoformed plastic material that provides both structural strength and flexibility. The integrated floor panel and side wall are made from this composite material, which offers durability and resistance to rough handling without requiring extensive metal fastening hardware.
3Reliability
If rivets are used to fasten the floor to side panels, then the connections are secured, but counterbored holes are required on the bottom of the floor panel adding cost and making assembly more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The floor panel and side wall are merged into a single integrated thermoformed plastic component. The side wall is formed as an integral part of the floor panel, eliminating the need for separate brackets and multiple rivets to connect these components. This merging reduces the number of parts and assembly steps while maintaining wheelchair accessibility through the flat floor design.
Solution Approach 2:
The design extracts the need for counterbored holes and backup washers by using the integral thermoformed structure. The single-shot molding process creates built-in reinforcement features that eliminate the requirement for complex fastening hardware and counterbored holes, simplifying both manufacturing and assembly.
4Adaptability or versatility
If the floor is made flat for wheelchair access, then accessibility is improved, but the floor has very little rigidity by itself requiring extensive brackets for structural support
Solution Approach 1:
The floor panel and side wall are merged into a single integrated thermoformed plastic component. The side wall is formed as an integral part of the floor panel, eliminating the need for separate brackets and multiple rivets to connect these components. This merging reduces the number of parts and assembly steps while maintaining wheelchair accessibility through the flat floor design.
Solution Approach 2:
The restroom utilizes thermoformed plastic material that provides both structural strength and flexibility. The integrated floor panel and side wall are made from this composite material, which offers durability and resistance to rough handling without requiring extensive metal fastening hardware.
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
This solution simplifies assembly, reduces costs, enhances the structural integrity and durability of the restroom, and facilitates easier handling and maintenance, while ensuring wheelchair accessibility without the need for counterbored holes and extensive riveting.
Implementation Method 1
The floor and side panels can be made of polyethylene plastic, formed by the thermoforming process.
Data Source
AI summary
A portable restroom includes a thermoformed plastic floor panel that includes integral perimeter side wall portions that can be fastened directly to the side panels of a portable restroom. The top edge of the floor panel side wall portions extends outwardly to fit into a corresponding groove molded into the side panels of the restroom, in a tongue and groove fashion. This tongue and groove arrangement can be angled slightly upward so that the weight of the side panels helps to lock the two parts together. Fasteners further secure the floor panel to the side panels and are located around the perimeter of the floor just below the tongue and groove feature. The floor and side panels can be made of polyethylene plastic, formed by the thermoforming process. The vertical side walls of the molded floor can incorporate gusset features to add structure and rigidity to the floor panel.