DESIGNING FOLDING WALL BOX PALLETS

Designing of modern box pallets with folding walls, which are used for example to transport tires, requires fulfilment of a number of performance requirements. Such pallets, adapted to be moved by forklifts, are stored or transported without loading with walls folded, and during operation they are put together in the piles of a few pieces and braced by the transport belts. Difficult operating conditions are related to necessity to provide resistance of construction of a pallet or their pile on: bending, piling, stability, hitting in case of a free-fall, lifting by forklift, as well as the resistance to horizontal strokes by both edges and legs. In order to meet the above mentioned requirements, it is necessary to implement the relevant tensile FEM analyses, which are then reviewed by the relevant experimental testing. The paper discuss the requirements specified by standards for designing of the above mentioned pallets and presents FEM results in the process of pallets’ designing.