Stackable Quarter-Size Plastic Platform With Segmented Legs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current fractional plastic pallets lack efficient movement and stacking capabilities with loaded products, and there is a need for aesthetically acceptable product display and tracking solutions to manage varying environmental conditions during transportation and storage.
Innovation Solution
A quarter-size plastic platform with a top deck and lower surface featuring platform support legs and a platform tracking device, including sensors and communication elements for wireless data transfer, to enable easy movement, stacking, and tracking of products while maintaining load capacity and aesthetic appeal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If fractional plastic pallets are used to display products in retail stores, then the footprint is reduced allowing greater variety of products, but the pallets become difficult to move and stack efficiently with loaded products
Solution Approach 1:
The platform support leg is divided into multiple sections: an upper portion, a lower portion, and intermediate support elements. This segmentation allows the leg to provide both structural support for loaded products and clearance spaces for stacking operations, resolving the contradiction between compact footprint and ease of movement/stacking
Solution Approach 2:
The platform design incorporates nested clearance spaces within the support leg structure. The upper portion opening and lower portion extension create nested voids that allow another platform to be inserted and stacked beneath the current platform, enabling efficient stacking while maintaining the compact fractional size
2Area of stationary object
If fractional plastic pallets are designed with reduced size for better display, then product variety increases, but load carrying capacity is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The platform is constructed using composite material structures with reinforced support legs and optimized deck design. The combination of materials and structural reinforcement allows the fractional platform to maintain adequate load carrying capacity despite the reduced overall size, resolving the contradiction between compact footprint and strength
Solution Approach 2:
The support leg structure incorporates localized reinforcement at critical stress points. The upper and lower portions of the support leg have enhanced structural properties at specific locations to bear the load, while other areas remain compact, thus maintaining both small footprint and sufficient load carrying capacity
3Stability of the object's composition
If platform support legs are made with solid structure for stability, then structural integrity is improved, but clearance for stacking and movement is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The support leg is segmented into distinct portions (upper and lower) with openings between them. This segmentation maintains structural integrity through the reinforcement elements connecting the portions while creating clearance spaces that facilitate stacking and movement operations
Solution Approach 2:
The support leg incorporates thin film or shell-like reinforcement elements that provide structural stability while maintaining openness and clearance. These thin structural elements strengthen the leg without blocking the clearance needed for stacking, resolving the contradiction between stability and ease of operation
Data Source
AI summary
A platform includes a top deck with spaced apart platform support leg openings extending therethrough, and platform support legs extending from a lower surface of the top deck and aligned with the platform support leg openings. A shelf provides support to a bottom surface of a platform support leg from an identical platform when stacked thereon. A pair of extensions extend outwards from a bottom surface of the lower portion, with the opening in the upper portion providing clearance for the pair of extensions on the platform support leg of the identical platform when stacked thereon. The platform includes a platform tracking device including an exterior housing assembly that is positioned at least partially within the top deck and that encloses processing circuitry, memory, one or more sensors, a communication element, and a power supply.