Final Report
June 7, 2010
Project Team:
Darrin Beam
Jonathan Dixon
Nate Murray
Matt Sacks
Academic Advisor:
Prof. Chien Wern
Sponsoring Company:
The Linde Group
Industry Advisor:
Mike Dever
Executive Summary
The Linde Group currently uses an all steel heavy pallet design to transport industrial cylinders. The excessive weight of the pallets are forcing empty spaces on freight trucks costing the company money. The Linde Group needs a pallet that will perform similarly to the old while reducing weight. The Linde Group can either refurbish their current stock of pallets at roughly $350 each or build completely new pallets at approximately the same cost. The target weight for the new pallets is 100lbs that is a reduction of roughly 100lbs from the current design.
The new pallet must have two straps like the old design to restrain the pallets. The pallet must also have the same dimension where necessary to fit onto current freight trailers with a spike restraint system. The pallet must also safely restrain cylinders to comply with Department of Transportation requirements. The pallet must function properly with special loading areas where the deck of the pallet and fork positioning are important.
The capstone team drafted ideas to eliminate the need for an entire pallet made of steel. Plastics and wood were the materials looked at extensively and the final design utilizes wood to reduce weight. The final design is still structurally made of steel due to its cost and functionality. The final design utilizes steel angle and channel for the base and square tubing for the upper frame. Angle, Channel, square tubing and flat plate are some of the most common steel building materials available today.
The final design was sent to a local manufacturing shop for prototyping. The shop quoted one pallet cost to be approximately $600. Mike Dever, the Linde Group Advisor to the capstone team, feels this quote is on target with a cost reduction for 200 units to put the pallet close to the initial $350 request. The prototype was not completed before the end of spring term, this means some of the verification methods were not conducted. The capstone team did undergo multiple other verification methods to determine the pallet capabilities. Finite Element Analysis evaluated the pallet strengths and Solidworks gave mass values and dimension necessary to verify the pallet.