Winemaking Tank with Structural Element Passage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional winemaking tanks with cylindrical shapes often struggle to optimize space usage in rooms with structural elements like pillars or columns, and accessing discharge hatches requires ladders or walkways, making them inefficient and difficult to implement.
Innovation Solution
A winemaking tank with a passage portion that accommodates structural elements, featuring a side wall with an adjacent arrangement region that can be closed or open, allowing for 360° passage around pillars or columns, and including access hatches on the outer surface and separation partitions with insulation and heat exchange conduits, enabling easy access and space optimization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a conventional cylindrical tank is used, then the tank structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the tank cannot be optimally integrated into spaces with structural elements like pillars or columns
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a passage portion that accommodates structural elements (pillars, columns) within the tank body, effectively nesting the structural elements inside the tank structure. This allows the tank to adapt to spaces with existing structural elements without requiring external modifications, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The tank body is segmented into functional regions: a storage portion for holding liquid and a passage portion for accommodating structural elements. This segmentation allows the tank to simultaneously maintain its storage function while adapting to architectural constraints, improving adaptability without significantly increasing overall complexity.
2Ease of operation
If discharge hatches are positioned on the side wall, then the tank structure remains simple, but accessing the hatches requires ladders or walkways
Solution Approach 1:
The patent positions discharge hatches on the bottom wall of the tank instead of the side wall, utilizing the vertical dimension to enable floor-level access. This dimensional change allows operators to access hatches directly from the floor without requiring ladders or walkways, improving ease of operation while maintaining structural simplicity.
3Area of stationary object
If the tank uses a regular cylindrical shape, then manufacturing is straightforward, but space optimization around structural elements is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The passage portion is designed to accommodate structural elements within the tank body, allowing the tank to fit around pillars or columns. This nesting approach maximizes space utilization in rooms with structural elements while maintaining a relatively simple cylindrical form that is easy to manufacture.
Solution Approach 2:
The tank body has different local characteristics: the storage portion maintains a regular cylindrical shape for easy manufacture, while the passage portion is specifically shaped to accommodate structural elements. This local differentiation optimizes space utilization without significantly complicating the overall manufacturing process.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The tank can be optimally integrated into spaces with structural elements, reducing transverse encumbrances, allowing floor-level access without ladders, and providing a reliable, easy-to-implement, and cost-effective solution for winemaking.
Implementation Method 1
an outer surface (6a) with at least one access hatch (11a, 12a), wherein at the outer surface (6a) there is defined at least one containment cell (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, etc.)
Implementation Method 2
separation partitions (10) extending between the bottom wall (4) and the top wall (5), with insulation and heat exchange conduits
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
A tank (1) for use in winemaking, which comprises a supporting frame (2) for a tank body (3) made of metallic material and comprising a bottom wall (4), a top wall (5) and a side wall (6) which extends in a vertical direction about a vertical axis (300), characterized in that the tank (1) defines at least one passage portion (20) which extends in a vertical direction about the vertical axis (300) and is designed to accommodate, at least partially, a respective structural element (200) of a building, the side wall (6) comprising an adjacent arrangement region (21) which comprises a closed surface defining the passage portion (20) and arranged facing toward the structural element (200), and an outer surface (6a) facing away from the adjacent arrangement region (21), at the outer surface (6a) there being at least one access hatch (11a, 12a), at the top wall there being at least one upper closure hatch and at least one evacuation stack (11b, 12b).