Profiled Commercial Vehicle Loading Floor for Quiet Pallet Truck Use
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Solution Overview
Problem
Commercial vehicle loading floors, particularly those used in box bodies, face challenges in ensuring quiet operation during loading with pallet trucks while preventing slipping, which is often exacerbated by aluminum surfaces, leading to noise complaints and hygiene issues.
Innovation Solution
A profiled surface layer with alternating ribs and gaps arranged in a specific offset pattern to create a continuous drive-over plane, reducing noise and enhancing slip resistance, featuring a design that allows pallet truck wheels to traverse without vertical displacement and incorporating drainage grooves for easy cleaning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a profiled aluminum loading floor is used to prevent slipping, then slip resistance is improved, but noise during loading with pallet trucks increases
Solution Approach 1:
The loading floor surface is segmented into multiple rib elements arranged in parallel rows, creating a profiled structure that provides both slip resistance and noise reduction. The segmentation allows the surface to maintain grip while reducing contact noise during pallet truck loading operations
Solution Approach 2:
Different areas of the loading floor have different rib configurations and heights to optimize local performance. The ribs provide enhanced slip resistance in critical areas while maintaining quieter operation in zones where pallet trucks traverse, achieving local optimization of both slip resistance and noise characteristics
2Object-generated harmful factors
If a flat loading floor is used to reduce noise during loading, then noise is reduced, but slip resistance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The loading floor features a profiled surface with curved rib structures instead of flat surfaces. The curved geometry of the ribs provides slip resistance through increased surface complexity and friction, while the rounded profiles reduce noise compared to sharp-edged flat surfaces
3Object-generated harmful factors
If wooden loading floor is used to reduce noise, then noise is reduced, but hygiene requirements are not met
Solution Approach 1:
The loading floor uses a metal-based profiled surface that, while not disposable, provides a durable alternative with hygiene advantages. The profiled metal surface can be easily cleaned and sanitized, meeting hygiene requirements while maintaining noise reduction benefits through its structured geometry
Solution Approach 2:
The profiled surface structure creates channels and gaps between ribs that facilitate drainage and cleaning, improving hygiene compliance. The geometric structure allows liquids to drain away and cleaning agents to reach all surfaces, preventing contamination while maintaining noise reduction
Data Source
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AI summary
Described and illustrated is a loading floor of a commercial vehicle (1), in particular a truck, trailer or semi-trailer, with a profiled surface layer (13) for placing cargo, wherein the surface layer has at least in some areas a base profile (14, 24) and a plurality of webs (15, 22) distributed in the base profile (24), projecting upwards above the base profile (14, 24), forming a drive-over plane (Ü) and oriented parallel to each other in the longitudinal direction (L) of the loading floor (12, 20), wherein in the web rows (16, 23) in the longitudinal direction (L) of the loading floor (12, 20) webs (15, 22) and gaps (17) are provided alternately to each other, wherein the webs (15, 22) and gaps (17) of adjacent web rows (16, 23) in the longitudinal direction (L) of the loading floor (12,20) are arranged offset from one another in such a way that the gaps (17) between the webs (15,22) of a web row (16,23) in the transverse direction (Q) of the loading floor (12,20) are each overlapped by webs (15, 22) of at least one adjacent web row (16, 23) in the longitudinal direction (L) of the loading floor (12, 20) and wherein the overlapping ends (21) of the webs (15, 22) in the transverse direction (Q) of the loading floor (12, 20) have a reduced height in at least one terminal section.