An investigation of pallet design using alternative materials for cold room applications

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation into the improvement of existing design and materials for pallets used in material handling applications. The objective was to develop a pallet design made from alternative materials such as composites of recycled corrugated paperboard and plywood for cold room lifting needs. Several new designs are proposed and analysed using the finite element method (FEM) and related information of weight, loading and safety conditions. Among these, five designs are recommended -one is made of plywood, two are made of corrugated paperboard, and two are made of specially constructed composite materials. The selection process aimed to ensure pallets were safe and stable and involved checking for maximum deflection while lifting and for catastrophe failure due to maximum stresses under Rankine's theory of failure. We conclude that plywood, corrugated paperboard and a composite of the two materials can be utilised successfully to manufacture stable and strong pallets. Using FEM analysis and simulation studies on Pro/Mechanica FEM software, we were able to suggest several optimum designs with one-third the weight and all of the functionality of traditional pallets.

Designing an effective closed loop system for pallet management

“…in terms of durability, recyclability) of pallets applied in material handling operations. Masood and Haider Rizvi (2006), Kim et al (2009) and Soury et al (2009) proposed different approaches to assess performance of different alternative materials in pallet design. Patricio and Maravall (2007) described the application of innovative technologies for monitoring pallet conditions in order to guarantee its performance;…”

Management and Logistics of Returnable Transport Items: A Review Analysis on the Pallet Supply Chain

“…Although the market is dominated by wood pallets, with a small share of plastic ones, these are not the only possible materials to produce pallets. A few authors discuss the problem of the choice of the material: the authors of [14] use finite element analysis (FEM) to assess different materials for cold room applications, demonstrating that pallets in plywood, corrugated paperboard and some composite materials are more suitable for these work environments. FEM is also used by [15] to develop optimal design specifications for wood-plastic composite pallets, proposing a product that guarantees a high mechanical resistance with a considerably lower mass compared to wood pallets (less than 20 kg).…”

Environmental Impacts of Wood Pallets: A Systematic Review

“…Some investigations conducted were to optimize the current wood pallet materials, or to replace them with alternative ones. Certain studies focused on different materials, such as: rubber - Gangadhara et al (2016) [14]; wood composites with rice straw, rice husk and paper sludge - Kim, JoongKim and ChulParkc (2009) [15]; composites of recycled corrugated paperboard and plywood - Masood and Rizvi (2005) [16]; and pallets made from wood filler-recycled polypropylene (WF-RPP) composite - Khoo et al (2008) [17].…”