Patent Application
20190276183
The present invention generally relates to product transportation, and more specifically, to a tip-over prevention apparatus for transportation of a product.
Palletized racks often experience tip-over incidents during transportation. These incidents can be caused by pallets being lifted by forklifts whose tines are not fitted to the pallets and can result in damage to the palletized racks and the components stored therein.
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a tip-over prevention apparatus. A non-limiting example of the tip-over prevention apparatus is provided for use with a product. The product is disposable for transportation in side-to-side, front-to-back and up-and-down directions. The tip-over prevention apparatus includes tilt arms disposed at sides of the product facing in the side-to-side directions and hinges by which the tilt arms are rotatably coupled to the sides of the product.
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a tip-over prevention apparatus. A non-limiting example of the tip-over prevention apparatus includes a pallet on which a product is disposable for transportation in side-to-side, front-to-back and up-and-down directions, a package, tilt arms and hinges. The package is formed about the product to include first sides facing in the side-to-side directions, second sides facing in the front-to-back directions and a top and a bottom facing in the up-and-down directions. The tilt arms are disposed at the first sides of the package. The hinges are provided such that the tilt arms are rotatably coupled to the first sides of the package.
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a tip-over prevention apparatus. A non-limiting example of the tip-over prevention apparatus includes a pallet on which a product is disposable for transportation in side-to-side, front-to-back and up-and-down directions, a package, tilt arms and hinges. The package is formed about the product and defining apertures at sides of the package facing in the side-to-side directions. The tilt arms are disposed at the sides of the package. The hinges are provided such that the tilt arms are rotatably coupled to the product through the apertures.
Additional technical features and benefits are realized through the techniques of the present invention. Embodiments and aspects of the invention are described in detail herein and are considered a part of the claimed subject matter. For a better understanding, refer to the detailed description and to the drawings.
The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The forgoing and other features, and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
The diagrams depicted herein are illustrative. There can be many variations to the diagram or the operations described therein without departing from the spirit of the invention. For instance, the actions can be performed in a differing order or actions can be added, deleted or modified. Also, the term “coupled” and variations thereof describes having a communications path between two elements and does not imply a direct connection between the elements with no intervening elements/connections between them. All of these variations are considered a part of the specification.
In the accompanying figures and following detailed description of the disclosed embodiments, the various elements illustrated in the figures are provided with two or three digit reference numbers. With minor exceptions, the leftmost digit(s) of each reference number correspond to the figure in which its element is first illustrated.
Turning now to an overview of technologies that are more specifically relevant to aspects of the invention, rack systems, cabinets or electronic enclosures (hereinafter referred to generally as “rack systems”) can be made of generally very high value and can be configured as storage racks, racks for mainframes, racks for computers, racks for security appliances, etc. Rack systems are typically relatively tall, heavy and unstable. In particular, they can be top heavy and prone to tipping over during transportation.
Rack systems are often transported in packages that include a pallet. The pallet has a bottom deck board, a top deck board, and sidewalls between the top and bottom layers. The sidewalls are large enough to define a pallet interior into which tines of a forklift, a pallet jack or another semi-manual device can be inserted so that the pallet, the package and the rack system inside the package can be lifted off the ground. Since the pallet interior has to be large enough to accommodate various types of tines, it is often the case that the pallet interior is significantly larger than the tines. In such situations, there can be a large gap between the tines and the bottom deck board. This large gap can lead to instability during a lift or a turn operation. If this instability is excessive, the pallet, the package and the rack system inside the package can tilt, create a moment arm and eventually cause the pallet to fail. The tilt thus increases and can ultimately result in a tip-over incident.
Other tip incidents can arise in other cases as well. For example, a packaged system or a system on casters can be seated insecurely in a truck. When the truck accelerates or brakes suddenly or makes an evasive turn, it can pull as much as 0.5 G which is often enough to cause the packaged system or the system on casters to topple over.
Turning now to an overview of the aspects of the invention, one or more embodiments of the invention address the need for preventing tip-over incidents of expensive computer machinery, such as a rack mount, by providing a hinged frame on the sides of a package to swing out during a potential tip-over incident. As the rack mount begins to tip over, the frame contacts the ground and prevents the rack mount from continuing to tip and fall over completely. In some cases, the frame could be configured to assist with returning the rack mount to its upright position.
With reference to
The product 30 can be provided as a rack mount 31 that sits on casters 32. The rack mount 31 can have multiple levels supported by multiple guide rails and on which computing machinery is disposable. When loaded, the rack mount 31 can be relatively tall and top-heavy and thus prone to tipping over. A tip-over incident resulting in the rack mount 31 falling over completely could result in damage to the computing machinery. In some cases, this damage could be extremely costly.
With continued reference to
A footprint of the package 40 is generally sized to be at least partially and securely accommodated on an upper surface of the upper deck board 22 of the pallet 20. When the product 30 is top-heavy and when the package 40 is formed about the product 30 and the package 40 and the product 30 are disposed on the upper surface of the upper deck board 22 of the pallet 20, the resulting structure can be correspondingly top-heavy and prone to tipping over.
In accordance with embodiments, the first sidewalls 43 of the package 40 can be formed to define apertures 430.
The tilt arms 50 are disposable at the first sidewalls 43 of the package 40. The hinges 60 are disposed and configured such that the tilt arms 50 are rotatably coupled to the side-to-side facing walls of the product 30 through the apertures 430. The hinges 60 allow the tilt arms 50 to hang along the first sidewalls 43 during lifting and transportation operations that can be characterized as non-tip over incidents and to rotate outwardly from the first sidewalls 43 in case a tip-over incident occurs toward their associated sidewall 43.
In accordance with embodiments, the tilt arms 50 can include rotation-stop features 501. The rotation-stop features 501 can be rigid, semi-rigid or flexible and can be disposed and configured to limit a range of motion of the tilt arms 50 as they rotate outwardly from the first sidewalls 43.
In accordance with embodiments and, as shown in
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The trigger assembly 70 can, in some cases, trigger an extension of the telescopic member 52 but otherwise maintains the telescopic member 52 in an at least partially stowed position. The trigger assembly 70 includes a flange 701, which is integrally connected to the telescopic member 52, and a latch 702, which can be anchored to the product 30 or the package 40 (the latch 702 is anchored to the package 40 in
In accordance with embodiments, a lowermost edge or surface 520 of the telescopic member 52 may be held at a separation distance above the upper surface of the upper deck board 22. The separation distance can be minimal but is sufficient to prevent the lowermost edge or surface 520 from interfering with the tilt arm 50 swinging outwardly during a tip-over incident. In addition, the tilt arm 50 can include a pivot pin 53 disposed between the distal end of the tilt arm 50 and the upper surface of the upper deck board 22. The pivot pin 53 serves to partially support and to bear at least some of the weight of the tilt arm 50 but is configured to not interfere with the outward swinging of the tilt arm 50.
In accordance with further embodiments and, as shown in
The lock assembly 80 may be provided as a series of notches 801 formed in the telescopic member 52 and one or more lock pins 802 disposed in the outer member 51. The notches 801 and the lock pins 802 are disposed and configured to permit an extension of the telescopic member 52 out of the outer member 51 during a tip-over incident while preventing an undesirable retraction of the telescopic member 52 into the outer member 51 once the lowermost edge or surface 520 of the telescopic member 52 contacts a ground surface and begins to bear weight.
The notches 801 can be arranged at various axial positions along a longitudinal axis of the telescopic member 52. The lock pins 802 engage with each notch 801 sequentially as the tip-over incident progresses and thus define multiple extension positions of the telescopic member 52.
In accordance with embodiments, the telescopic member 52 can have sufficient length such that the lowermost edge or surface 520 reaches a ground surface that is at least level with or below a lowermost portion of the pallet 20.
With reference to
With reference to
With reference to
In accordance with embodiments and, as shown in
The description provided above relates to a tip-over prevention apparatus that is passive and works with gravity but arrests tip-over incidents and protects expensive equipment from impacts and damage.
The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments described. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application or technical improvement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments described herein.
