Portable toilet
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional plastic portable toilets used in the offshore oil & gas industry are prone to leakage during transportation due to flimsy doors and are susceptible to damage from forklifts, posing environmental hazards and structural issues.
Innovation Solution
A portable assembly with a metal enclosure, a marine-style watertight door, and a knife-edge seal system that includes a gasket and wedge mechanism to ensure a secure and watertight closure, along with hooking devices for secure lifting and transportation without a separate cage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional plastic portable toilets are used with flimsy doors, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the doors cannot maintain water-tight seal causing sewage leakage during transportation
Solution Approach 1:
The door structure is segmented into multiple functional components: the door panel, gasket system, knife edge seal, and lock assembly. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function - the gasket provides compression sealing, the knife edge creates a precise sealing surface, and the lock assembly maintains the sealed state during transportation.
Solution Approach 2:
A gasket is introduced as an intermediary element between the door and the doorframe. The gasket compresses against the knife edge seal to create the water-tight barrier, mediating the sealing function without requiring the door itself to be perfectly rigid or precisely machined.
2Ease of operation
If traditional plastic portable toilets are transported using a crane and temporary cage, then the toilet can be moved, but the toilet sways during loading and unloading process creating instability
Solution Approach 1:
The portable toilet is merged with an integrated lifting system consisting of eye bolts and chains attached to the enclosure. This combination eliminates the need for separate temporary cages and provides stable, controlled lifting that prevents swaying during transportation by distributing the lifting force through multiple attachment points.
3Ease of operation
If traditional plastic portable toilets are transported on the deck using a forklift, then the toilet can be repositioned, but the plastic toilet is prone to being punctured by forklift forks causing structural damage
Solution Approach 1:
The portable toilet transitions from solid plastic construction to a composite structure combining metal enclosure (steel or aluminum) with plastic base and seat components. The metal enclosure provides puncture resistance and structural strength to withstand forklift handling, while the plastic components maintain the essential toilet functions.
4Reliability
If a marine-style watertight door with knife-edge seal system is implemented, then the water-tight seal is ensured preventing sewage leakage, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The knife edge seal system is designed to be self-actuating through the lock assembly mechanism. When the lock is engaged, it automatically compresses the gasket against the knife edge, creating the seal without requiring additional sealing actions or complex control systems. The system serves itself by using the locking action to generate the sealing force.
Data Source
AI summary
A portable assembly for housing a toilet having an enclosure having a doorframe cutout having a first perimeter portion formed around the doorframe cutout, the first perimeter portion comprises a knife edge extending out from an outer side of the front sidewall. The portable assembly further includes a door having a second perimeter being sized and shaped to substantially correspond to a shape and a size of the doorframe cutout, a gasket fit inside of a cavity in the door, wherein the gasket comprises a divot sized and shaped to correspond a shape and a size of the knife edge to accommodate the knife edge when the door is configured in the closed position, and a lock assembly configured to engage a wedge to provide a knife-edge seal via the gasket and knife edge.