Shipping Assembly Frame Envelope Design
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Corrugated cardboard boxes used for shipping fragile items like flowers and chicks face issues with weight stress and humidity, leading to damage and high shipping costs due to the need for stronger materials and reduced content to manage weight, which also increases carbon footprint.
Innovation Solution
A shipping assembly comprising sets of columns and girders forming a frame with a foldable envelope to create a lightweight, resilient container that shifts load stress from cardboard to plastic structures, allowing for denser packing and reduced material usage while maintaining protection and stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If stronger corrugation compositions are used to resist weight stress and humidity, then package strength and reliability are improved, but package weight and shipping costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies composite materials by combining a plastic frame structure with a corrugated cardboard envelope. The plastic frame (made from materials like polypropylene or polyethylene) provides the primary structural strength to resist weight stress and humidity, while the corrugated envelope offers protection and formatting. This composite approach allows the package to maintain high strength without requiring excessively heavy single-material construction, thereby resolving the contradiction between package strength and weight.
2Reliability
If stronger corrugation compositions are used to protect fragile content, then product protection is improved, but shipping costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The composite structure of plastic frame plus corrugated envelope provides superior product protection compared to traditional single-material boxes. The rigid plastic frame prevents crushing of fragile contents under stacked loads, while the corrugated envelope adds cushioning and environmental protection. This enhanced reliability reduces product damage and associated costs, resolving the contradiction between product protection and shipping costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The package is segmented into distinct functional components: the plastic frame handles structural load-bearing and stackability, while the corrugated envelope provides surface protection and formatting. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function, achieving high product protection without unnecessary weight or cost in any single component.
3Weight of moving object
If content of produce is reduced to decrease carton weight, then package weight is reduced, but shipping costs increase due to more cartons required
Solution Approach 1:
The package structure segments the load-bearing function from the content-holding function. The rigid plastic frame provides structural integrity and stackability, allowing the carton to maintain its weight-bearing capacity even when produce content is reduced. This enables lighter packaging without compromising shipping efficiency, as the frame structure ensures stable stacking and efficient space utilization in transport vehicles.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the structural parameters of the package by introducing a rigid frame architecture, which fundamentally alters how weight and strength are distributed. This parameter change allows the carton to achieve high strength-to-weight ratio, enabling reduced produce content per carton while maintaining overall shipping efficiency through better stackability and space utilization.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If flexible SKC wrappers are used to protect flowers, then protection against friction is improved, but resistance to vertical pressure is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines flexible SKC (single kraft corrugation) wrappers with a rigid plastic frame structure. The SKC wrapper continues to provide excellent friction protection and flexibility for conforming to product shapes, while the external rigid frame structure bears the vertical pressure loads. This composite approach resolves the contradiction by assigning different protective functions to different materials, allowing both friction protection and pressure resistance to be optimized simultaneously.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4
AI summary
A shipping assembly includes sets of columns (A) and girders (B) connected together to form a frame (C). an envelope (D) including a flat foldable material is affixed to the frame. the envelope determines a distance between the columns. the envelope is adapted to hold therein plant life or animal life.