Trolley Transport Pallet with Rotating Locking Guide Flanges

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing pallets for transporting mobile carriages lack convenience and safety during loading, unloading, and transportation, as they often fail to securely guide and hold the carriages, leading to potential instability and accidents.

Innovation Solution

A pallet design featuring guide flanges of specific heights to securely guide and hold carriages between fixed stops, combined with locking members that can rotate to open or close the carriage tracks, allowing for efficient loading, unloading, and transportation while ensuring safety.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If existing pallets without guide flanges are used, then the structure is simpler, but the carriages are not securely guided and held, leading to instability and safety issues

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesecurity of carriage guidance and holdingVSAvoidpallet structure complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The pallet structure is segmented by adding separate guide flanges (first guide flange and second guide flange) that are attached to the base plate. These guide flanges are distinct structural elements that provide guidance and holding functions without complicating the overall pallet design, allowing each component to perform its specific function independently.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The guide flanges act as intermediary elements between the base plate and the carriages. They mediate the interaction by providing a structured interface that guides the carriages along the tracks and holds them securely, improving reliability without requiring fundamental changes to the pallet-carriage system.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If locking members are added to rotate and close the tracks, then the safety during transportation is improved, but the ease of operation during loading and unloading is reduced

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesafety during transportationVSAvoidconvenience of loading and unloading
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The locking members are designed to be rotatable, transitioning between locked and unlocked positions. This dynamic capability allows the system to adapt to different operational states: locked during transportation for safety, and unlocked during loading/unloading for ease of operation. The rotational movement provides a simple mechanism to switch between these states.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The locking members change their positional parameter (rotated angle) to alter the system's state. When rotated to the locked position, they close the tracks and secure the carriages; when rotated to the unlocked position, they open the tracks for loading and unloading. This parameter change enables the system to meet different operational requirements.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

3Manufacturing precision

If guide flanges of specific heights are installed, then the guidance and holding of carriages is improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveguidance precision of carriagesVSAvoidpallet manufacturing complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The guide flanges are designed with predetermined heights that are established during manufacturing. This preliminary action of setting the correct height ensures that the carriages are guided and held at the proper positions without requiring complex adjustments or precision work during assembly or operation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The guide flanges provide localized precision guidance at specific positions along the tracks. By concentrating the precision requirements in the guide flange dimensions (particularly their heights), the overall manufacturing complexity is managed while achieving the necessary guidance precision where it is most needed.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentEP3642124B1Combination of a transport pallet for trolleys and one or more trolleys
Publication Date: 2022.02.16 LABADIS
  • EP3642124B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3642124B1 patent drawingFigure 2~3
  • EP3642124B1 patent drawingFigure 4

AI summary

The invention relates to a trolley transport pallet (10), comprising a base plate (20) having at least one track extending between a first side (11) and a second side (12) of the pallet and at least one tunnel forming, on the track, two low sections separated by one high section, and first and second guide plates (30) secured to said base plate, defining a third side (13) and fourth side (14), respectively, of the pallet which are opposite each other, having a first predetermined height and second predetermined height, respectively, arranged so as to be able to guide a said trolley, respectively, by its frame, along said respective guide plate, and arranged so as to be able to keep in position said trolley or trolleys guided between said third and fourth sides.