Portable Waste Compactor with Foldable Tongue for Tight Spaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional waste management systems struggle with maneuverability in tight spaces due to their large size and fixed towing arrangements, making it difficult to deploy and retrieve trash compactors in metropolitan and industrial settings with narrow alleyways and impediments.
Innovation Solution
A portable and versatile waste management system featuring a rectangular compactor unit with deployable tongues and universal swivel casters, allowing for flexible maneuverability and deployment in tight spaces without requiring a large transport vehicle, and including skid rails for easy onboarding and offboarding.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional tongue and hitch arrangements are used for towing compactor units, then the compactor can be transported and deployed, but the vehicle cannot make sharp turns in narrow alleyways or tight spaces due to the fixed towing arrangement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the tongue foldable rather than fixed. The tongue can be folded up against the compactor body during transport and folded down for deployment, allowing the system to adapt its configuration based on operational needs. This dynamic transformation enables sharp turns in narrow spaces while maintaining transport capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The tongue is segmented into foldable sections that can be independently positioned. This segmentation allows the tongue to be collapsed into a compact configuration during transport and extended to a functional configuration during deployment, resolving the contradiction between maneuverability and transport requirements.
2Quantity of substance
If larger receptacles are used for waste storage, then payload capacity increases, but the footprint and space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by implementing a compaction mechanism that changes the density parameter of the stored waste. By compacting the waste material, the system increases the quantity of substance that can be stored within the same footprint area, effectively resolving the contradiction between payload capacity and space requirements.
3Ease of operation
If conventional winching systems are used for loading compactors onto trucks, then deployment is possible, but the system requires engagement members on the front side and cannot deploy in tight spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the winching system from the compactor unit itself, placing it on the transport vehicle instead. This removes the complexity of front-side engagement members from the compactor design and allows the compactor to be loaded from the rear, enabling deployment in tight spaces where front engagement would be impossible.
Data Source
AI summary
A waste management system having improved maneuverability and versatility. The system includes a container bay configured to house a compactor unit having a receptacle body configured to receive waste in a cavity surrounded by container walls and a tow member affixed to a forward container wall, the tow member. The tow member is disposed in close proximity to the front wall in order to provide better maneuverability when maneuvered by a deployment vehicle. Typically, first and second of the tow member converge at a tow engagement mechanism disposed at a distance from the forward container wall that is equal to or less than one tenth of a length of the container. The system may further include a local control station situated at the container bay and configured to engage with waste container such that the control station may control functionality of the compactor unit.