Tip-over Prevention Apparatus

Abstract

A 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.

Description

BACKGROUND

[0001] The present invention generally relates to product transportation, and more specifically, to a tip-over prevention apparatus for transportation of a product.

[0002] 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.

SUMMARY

[0003] 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.

[0004] 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.

[0005] 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.

[0006] 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.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] 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:

[0008] FIG. 1 is a plan view of a tip-over prevention apparatus according to embodiments of the invention;

[0009] FIG. 2 is a plan view of a tip-over prevention apparatus of FIG. 1 during a tip-over incident;

[0010] FIG. 3 is a side view of a portion of the tip-over prevention apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 2 in accordance with embodiments;

[0011] FIG. 4 is a plan view of a tip-over prevention apparatus according to alternative embodiments of the invention;

[0012] FIG. 5 is a plan view of a tip-over prevention apparatus according to further alternative embodiments of the invention;

[0013] FIG. 6 is an enlarged cutaway plan view of a portion of the tip-over prevention apparatus of FIG. 5 according to embodiments of the invention;

[0014] FIG. 7 is an enlarged cutaway plan view of the portion of the tip-over prevention apparatus of FIG. 6 during a tip-over incident;

[0015] FIG. 8 is an illustration of an anti-slip feature of a tip-over prevention apparatus in accordance with embodiments;

[0016] FIG. 9 is an illustration of a shock-absorber of a tip-over prevention apparatus in accordance with embodiments; and

[0017] FIG. 10 is an enlarged cutaway plan view of a mechanism configured to return a package, a product, and a pallet to an upright position during a tip-over prevention incident according to embodiments of the invention.

[0018] 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.

[0019] 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.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] 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.

[0021] 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.

[0022] 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.

[0023] 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.

[0024] With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a tip-over prevention apparatus 10 is provided. The tip-over prevention apparatus 10 includes a pallet 20, on which a product 30 is disposable for transportation in side-to-side directions, front-to-back directions and up-and-down directions, a package 40 formed about the product 30, tilt arms 50 and hinges 60. The pallet 20 includes a bottom deck board 21, an upper deck board 22 and fasteners or sidewalls 23. The fasteners or sidewalls 23 can be fastened to an upper surface of the bottom deck board 21 and to a lower surface of the upper deck board 22 and have sufficient height to position the upper deck board 22 above the lower deck board 21 by a distance D. The distance D is sized such that the bottom deck board 21, the upper deck board 22 and the fasteners or sidewalls 23 cooperatively define an interior 24 into which tines of various manual, semi-manual or automated machines are insertible during lifting and transportation operations. Since the tines of the various manual, semi-manual or automated machines can have differing dimensions, the distance D is often large enough to accommodate the largest tines expected to be used with the pallet 20. This leads to distance D being excessively large for some tines and the formation of a gap between such tines and the upper surface of the bottom deck board 21.

[0025] 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.

[0026] With continued reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 and with additional reference to FIG. 3, the package 40 is formed about the product 30 in the side-to-side directions, front-to-back directions and up-and-down directions and thus includes a bottom wall 41, a top wall 42, first sidewalls 43 extending between the bottom wall 41 and the top wall 42 and second sidewalls 44 extending between the bottom wall 41 and the top wall 42. The first sidewalls 43 face oppositely in the side-to-side directions and are located at side-to-side facing walls of the product 30. The second sidewalls 44 face oppositely in the front-to-back directions and are located at front-to-back facing walls of the product 30. The package 40 can be tightly fit or loosely fit about the product 30.

[0027] 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.

[0028] In accordance with embodiments, the first sidewalls 43 of the package 40 can be formed to define apertures 430.

[0029] 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.

[0030] 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.

[0031] In accordance with embodiments and, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a width of each tilt arm 50 in the front-to-back directions is a substantial fraction of a length of each of the first sidewalls 43 of the package 40 in the front-to-back directions. Similarly, a length of each of the apertures 430 in the front-to-back directions is less than the width W of each tilt arm 50.

[0032] While FIGS. 1-3 relate generally to cases in which the tilt arms 50 are coupled to the product 30 by the hinges 60 through the apertures 430 of the package 40, it is to be understood that this is not required and that other embodiments are possible. For example, with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, the tilt arms 50 can be coupled to the product 30 by the hinges 60 without the package 40 being formed about the product 30 (see FIG. 4) and the tilt arms 50 can be coupled to the sidewalls 43 of the package 40 by the hinges 60 (see FIG. 5).

[0033] With reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, which generally but non-exclusively relate to the embodiments of FIG. 5, each of the tilt arms 50 includes an outer member 51 that has a longitudinal axis A and a telescopic member 52 that is configured to be at least partially housed within the outer member 51 when the package 40 is upright and to telescopically extend out from the outer member 51 along the longitudinal axis A during a beginning of a tip-over incident to arrest the tip-over incident and prevent a complete fall. To this end, the telescopic member 52 has a shape which can be similar to that of the outer member 51 but a smaller size so that the telescopic member 52 can be stowed at least partially inside the outer member 51.

[0034] As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the tip-over prevention apparatus 10 may further include a trigger assembly 70 and a lock assembly 80.

[0035] 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 FIGS. 6 and 7). During normal conditions when a tip-over incident is not in effect, the latch 702 mechanically interferes with the flange 701 to prevent the flange 701 from descending to thereby maintain the telescopic member 52 in the at least partially stowed position. Conversely, when a tip-over incident commences, the flange 701 slips off of the latch 702, at which point the telescopic member 52 is free to descend.

[0036] 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.

[0037] In accordance with further embodiments and, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the latch 702 can be incorporated into the hinge 60. For example, where the hinge 60 is provided as a pin-hinge connection, the latch 702 could extend off of a lower surface of the pin-hinge connection.

[0038] 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.

[0039] 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.

[0040] 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.

[0041] With reference to FIG. 8, each of the tilt arms 50 of the tip-over prevention apparatus 10 can include an anti-slip feature 90. The anti-slip feature 90 can be provided, for example, at the lowermost edge or surface 520 and can include a frictional lower surface that engages with the ground surface and prevents a sliding of the tilt arm 50 along the ground surface.

[0042] With reference to FIG. 9, each of the tilt arms 50 of the tip-over prevention apparatus can include a shock-absorber 100. The shock-absorber 100 can be provided at or near the lowermost edge or surface 520 or at or near the hinge 60. In either case, the shock-absorber 100 is disposed and configured to absorb the shock of an impact between the tilt arm 50 and the ground surface and to absorb weight born by the tilt arm 50.

[0043] With reference to FIG. 10, the tip-over prevention apparatus 10 can further include a return mechanism 110. The return mechanism 110 can be installed between the outer member 51 and the telescopic member 52 and can be activated while a tip-over incident is occurring or once a tip-over incident has been arrested. Upon activation, the return mechanism 110 can be configured to return at least one or more of the package 40, the product 30 and the pallet 20 to an upright position.

[0044] In accordance with embodiments and, as shown in FIG. 10, the return mechanism 110 can include a power source 111, such as a battery, a drive element 112, such as a motor that is drivable using power from the power source 111, an actuator 113 and a controller 114. The controller 114 can be manually, semi-manually or automatically engaged to control operations of the drive element 112. The actuator 113 can be a rotary or linear actuator, for example. In any case, the actuator 113 can be operable to force the telescopic member 52 to extend outwardly relative to the outer member 51 beyond the position required to arrest the tip-over incident. This forced extension effectively pushes the outer member 51 away from the ground surface and encourages the package 40, the product 30 and the pallet 20 to return to the upright position.

[0045] 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.

[0046] 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.

Claims

1. A tip-over prevention apparatus for a product that is disposable for transportation in side-to-side, front-to-back and up-and-down directions, the tip-over prevention apparatus comprising: 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.

2. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the tilt arms comprises: a telescopic member; a trigger assembly for triggering an extension of the telescopic member; and a lock assembly for maintaining the telescopic member in an extension position.

3. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the telescopic member has multiple extension positions.

4. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the tilt arms comprises at least one of: an anti-slip feature; and a rotation-stop feature.

5. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the tilt arms comprises a shock-absorber.

6. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a mechanism configured to return the product to an upright position during a prevented tip-over incident.

7. A tip-over prevention apparatus, comprising: a pallet on which a product is disposable for transportation in side-to-side, front-to-back and up-and-down directions; a package formed about the product to comprise 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; tilt arms disposed at the first sides of the package; and hinges by which the tilt arms are rotatably coupled to the first sides of the package.

8. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 7, wherein each of the tilt arms comprises: a telescopic member; a trigger assembly for triggering an extension of the telescopic member; and a lock assembly for maintaining the telescopic member in an extension position.

9. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the telescopic member has multiple extension positions.

10. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the telescopic member has sufficient length to extend below a lowermost portion of the pallet.

11. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 7, wherein each of the tilt arms comprises at least one of: an anti-slip feature; and a rotation-stop feature.

12. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 7, wherein each of the tilt arms comprises a shock-absorber.

13. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a mechanism configured to return the package, the product and the pallet to an upright position during a prevented tip-over incident.

14. A tip-over prevention apparatus, comprising: a pallet on which a product is disposable for transportation in side-to-side, front-to-back and up-and-down directions; a package formed about the product and defining apertures at sides of the package facing in the side-to-side directions; tilt arms disposed at the sides of the package; and hinges by which the tilt arms are rotatably coupled to the product through the apertures.

15. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 14, wherein each of the tilt arms comprises: a telescopic member; a trigger assembly for triggering an extension of the telescopic member; and a lock assembly for maintaining the telescopic member in an extension position.

16. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the telescopic member has multiple extension positions.

17. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the telescopic member has sufficient length to extend below a lowermost portion of the pallet.

18. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 14, wherein each of the tilt arms comprises at least one of: an anti-slip feature; and a rotation-stop feature.

19. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 14, wherein each of the tilt arms comprises a shock-absorber.

20. The tip-over prevention apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising a mechanism configured to return the package, the product and the pallet to an upright position during a prevented tip-over incident.

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