Three-Tiered Bakery Tray With Variable Wall Heights
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing bakery trays lack flexibility in stacking orientations, requiring moveable components for varying clearance heights, which complicates assembly and handling, especially in high-volume production scenarios.
Innovation Solution
A molded plastic tray design that allows stacking in three different orientations without moveable bars, utilizing fixed structures to achieve three distinct clearance heights by varying the orientation of the tray's walls relative to each other.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If moveable bars or moveable components are added to achieve three different clearance heights, then the adaptability of stacking orientations is improved, but the device complexity increases due to additional assembly and handling requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The tray is divided into four distinct walls (front, back, left, right) with different heights, allowing selective orientation of individual walls to achieve different clearance heights. This segmentation enables the tray to provide three different stacking orientations without moveable components, as each wall can be positioned at different heights relative to the stacked tray below.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using moveable components to adjust clearance heights, the invention inverts the approach by making the walls themselves of different fixed heights. The tray structure is designed so that the front, back, left, and right walls have predetermined different heights, allowing the tray to be stacked in three different orientations by rotating which wall faces which direction, thereby achieving variable clearance heights without any moveable parts.
2Adaptability or versatility
If moveable components are used to achieve varying clearance heights, then the adaptability is improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tray is segmented into four walls of different heights that are integrally formed during molding. This segmentation allows each wall to have a predetermined height, enabling three different stacking orientations to be achieved simply by rotating the tray, without requiring any moveable adjustment mechanisms that would complicate manufacturing.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical parameter of wall height by creating four walls with different predetermined heights during the molding process. This parameter change allows the tray to provide three different clearance heights through simple rotational orientation rather than through moveable components, thereby simplifying manufacturing while maintaining adaptability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If moveable components are incorporated for stacking flexibility, then the versatility of stacking orientations is improved, but the handling complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than using moveable components to achieve stacking flexibility, the invention inverts the approach by creating fixed walls of different heights that naturally provide three stacking orientations. This eliminates the need for handlers to move or adjust any components during stacking operations, as the flexibility is built into the fixed structure itself.
Data Source
AI summary
A highly efficient bakery tray is provided. The tray includes a square base and is configured to stack upon another like tray in any of three or four orientations to provide three or four different product clearance heights between the trays.