Rooftop Container Storage Building Structure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Container depots face challenges in maximizing land usage, ensuring operational safety, and reducing traffic congestion due to limited stacking height and manual handling processes, particularly in areas with scarce and expensive land like Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.
Innovation Solution
A building structure with a roof designed to store shipping containers, equipped with handling equipment such as cranes, forklifts, and reach stackers, allowing for multi-level storage up to 30 containers high, with dedicated loading/unloading bays and maintenance facilities on lower floors, reducing the need for external road operations and enhancing land efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If containers are stored in open spaces with manual handling, then operational flexibility is maintained, but land usage efficiency is low and traffic congestion occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional ground-based storage to three-dimensional rooftop storage, utilizing the vertical dimension to increase land usage efficiency. Containers are stacked up to 30 containers high on the rooftop, transforming the storage approach from horizontal expansion to vertical utilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces specialized handling equipment (cranes, forklifts, reach stackers) as intermediaries to bridge the gap between ground-level operations and rooftop storage. These machines enable automated container transfer, reducing manual intervention while maintaining operational flexibility.
2Productivity
If stacking height is limited to 10 containers, then operational safety is maintained, but land area required increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the stacking height parameter from the conventional 10 containers to 30 containers, tripling the vertical storage capacity. This parameter change is enabled by enhanced structural support systems and improved handling equipment capabilities, allowing safer operation at higher stack levels.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary structural reinforcement and safety assessments before achieving high stacking levels. The building structure is pre-engineered to support the additional weight and stress of 30-container stacks, and safety protocols are established in advance to maintain reliability at elevated stacking heights.
3Productivity
If container surveying is conducted on public roads, then operational simplicity is maintained, but traffic congestion and road safety issues arise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the container surveying and handling operations into a single integrated process that occurs within the enclosed building structure. The surveying activity is combined with the loading/unloading operation, eliminating the need for separate road-based surveying and reducing traffic congestion.
Solution Approach 2:
The building structure serves as an intermediary that houses both the surveying and handling operations. This intermediate facility allows container surveying to be performed in a controlled environment rather than on public roads, thereby eliminating traffic congestion and road safety issues while maintaining operational efficiency.
4Ease of operation
If operator cabin is positioned at 3rd or 4th stack level, then structural design is simplified, but observation capability for higher stacks is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves the observation limitation by moving the operator cabin from a fixed horizontal position to a vertically adjustable position. The cabin can be positioned at different heights corresponding to different stack levels, allowing the operator to observe and control container handling at any height, thereby maintaining ease of operation without compromising observation capability.
Data Source
AI summary
A building structure comprises a roof having a top surface and the top surface adapted to store shipping containers. At least one floor is positioned beneath the roof, and at least one shipping container handling equipment is mounted on the top surface. The shipping container handling equipment is adapted to move the shipping containers onto and off of the roof.