Design of a foldable 20ft general purpose container

Abstract

The intermodal transportation transport is used to ship goods from A to B all over the world using different modes of transportation. The intermodal freight relies on the use of standardized containers for this transport. All empty containers need to be shipped back to the areas where there is a demand for empty containers. Since a standard container is the shame shape, independent of whether it is loaded or empty, all nodes in the intermodal system have a significant portion of empty container moves. Holland Container Innovations saw a solution to this problem of empty container repositioning, in the form of a 40ft foldable container, which can save on relocation costs of empty containers. HCI wants to expand its portfolio with a 20ft foldable design as well. Therefore, in this report the design process for the design of a viable 20ft foldable container is described. The end result of this project will be a concept that is adaptable to a full commercial design. The same folding method of the 40ft design is applied to the 20ft design, since it has already been proven to be viable. In addition, this opens up possibilities for synergies between the 20ft and 40ft design, as well as faster acceptation by other stakeholders, due to similarity with the already proven design. A critical design problem for applying the 4fold design to the 20ft container is the folded container height. The new 20ft design needs to meet a five to one bundle size, meaning that the folded container needs to be one fifth the height of a normal container. The height reduction requirements let to several dimensional design problems in which the design needed to be altered in order to house the parts needed for the folding process. A number of components were redesigned to fulfil the height requirements. After solving the spatial design problems, the 20ft foldable design was evaluated based on the ISO requirements. Initial hand calculations and FEM analysis of critical components have shown that the design fulfils the ISO load cases, as well as the operational requirements outlined by HCI For further development of the 20ft foldable container, the design can be made lighter to reduce the margin of error, and in turn allow for a reduction in material to be used, by performing a full FEM analysis. Although the weight and cost requirements have passed for this design, improvements in these values will always benefit the viability of the design.