Retractable Wall Sanitary Unit for Efficient Transport
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Solution Overview
Problem
The high transportation costs and inefficiencies in moving residential units, particularly sanitary units, for temporary use in events, humanitarian aid, and disaster situations, due to the need to transport empty units and lack of space for inventory and additional goods.
Innovation Solution
A transportable sanitary unit designed as a straight parallelepiped with retractable walls that convert between a transport position of half standard height and an operational position of full standard height, allowing for efficient stacking and use of standard freight container dimensions, equipped with a vacuum drainage system and telescopically extendable walls for efficient deployment and storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the entire contents including air are transported along with the unit, then the transportation cost increases, but the unit can be fully equipped for use
Solution Approach 1:
The invention places inventory, equipment, and additional goods inside the residential unit itself, nesting contents within the unit structure. This allows full utilization of the unit's internal volume for storage, eliminating the need for separate transportation of contents and reducing overall transportation energy requirements.
2Loss of energy
If fully collapsible residential units are used, then transportation efficiency improves, but inventory cannot be transported along with them
Solution Approach 1:
The invention employs dynamically transformable walls that can convert between retracted and extended positions. This dynamic structure allows the unit to be compact for transportation while providing full functionality and inventory storage capability when deployed, resolving the contradiction between transportation efficiency and adaptability.
3Ease of operation
If the walls are extended to full height for operational use, then the sanitary facility functionality improves, but the transportation space requirement increases
Solution Approach 1:
The wall structure is segmented into multiple sections that can be independently positioned. The walls can be divided into lower and upper sections that slide relative to each other, allowing the unit to be compact during transportation and fully extended for operational use, thus resolving the contradiction between functionality and transportation space.
Solution Approach 2:
The walls are designed as dynamically adjustable components that can transform between retracted and extended states. This dynamic capability allows the same structure to optimize for both compact transportation and full-height operational functionality, eliminating the need for separate designs for each state.
4Productivity
If standard freight container dimensions are used, then stacking and group transportation efficiency improves, but the unit height is constrained
Solution Approach 1:
The unit incorporates dynamically transformable walls that allow it to adapt its height. During transportation, the walls are retracted to fit standard container dimensions for efficient stacking and group transport. When deployed, the walls extend to provide full operational height, thus resolving the contradiction between transportation efficiency and operational functionality.
Data Source
Figure 1A~9
Figure 2A~2D
Figure 2E~2F
AI summary
Transportable unit for forming a straight parallelepiped-shaped residential space, provided with a bottom and a covering, and sidewalls extending in between them, which walls can be converted between a-particularly retracted- transport position and a -particularly extended-operational position, in which the unit has a larger height, wherein the unit is equipped as a sanitary unit having a series of toilet bowls, urinals and/or showers.