Operation Manual Assembly of the MA shuttle container

Transcription

1 Operation Manual Assembly of the MA shuttle container Ralph Schmidt Gyda Christophersen Mads Dorenfeldt Jenssen Alex Keay Sara Barrento Ingrid Lupatsch

2 INDEX THE PROTOTYPE 3 THE CONTAINER S FUNCTIONS 4 DISASSEMBLING THE CONTAINER 6 REASSEMBLING THE CONTAINER 8 TECHNICAL DRAWINGS 9 MusselsAlive Development of best practice and new technology for grading, handling, transportation, conditioning and storage of mussels for SMEs in the European mussel industry 2

3 THE PROTOTYPE The combined transport and holding box prototype was made of 10 mm and 19 mm thick foamsandwich PVC panels that were tailor-cut and glued and screwed to each other. This material is water resistant and strong enough for the purpose, and the box fitted into a standard holding container used by the industry, which in turn fitted into the developed MusselsAlive recirculation holding system. Due to restrictions of the construction and available material, the weight of one complete container was approximately 35 kg, which is about double of pressure molded container in PEHD that is suggested for future mass production. THE BOX-IN-BOX CONCEPT The box is constructed to be a combined transport and holding unit, which means it can be used from harvesting, during dry transport to holding and/or packing facility and for wet holding during short or long periods. The new MusselsAlive container has perforated bottom that will ensure draining of water at harvesting. The mussels can be transported dry to where holding, conditioning or depuration takes place and be directly placed in an outer container, thus eliminating one or more handling steps. The MusselsAlive container will form the inner box of the box-in-box system. The size of the box is standardised to fit into trucks for transport. The box can be lifted by for instance fork lift into vehicles and inside the facilities. Emptying mussels out of the box will need a facilitated box lifting and tipping system for feeding into the grading and packing process. The principle of using the box-in-box system for dry transport and wet holding. KEEP MUSSELS ALIVE Keep a continous cold chain from harvest during transport and storage until the mussels reach the market. Handle the mussels with care throughout the value chain to avoid shell breakage, reduced shelflife and economic losses. 3

4 THE CONTAINER S FUNCTIONS 1.1 Box-in-box The MusselsAlive shuttle container has been designed to fit inside a standard Saeplast mussel-holding container. Also with shuttle containers inside, the Saeplast containers can be stacked. The assembled shuttle container designed for the standard holding container from SaePlast. 1.2 Two-part nestable box For transport or storage reasons, the shuttle container can be disassembled/ reassembled without any tools, The identical halves from many MA shuttle containers can be nested. Disassembled into two half shells- nested for transport or storage. 4

5 1.3 Lifting device The holes at the four upper corners can be used to lift the shuttle container by means of ropes. Lifting the shuttle container by a fork lift into the holding container (blue). 5

6 DISASSEMBLING THE CONTAINER 1.4 Special locking detail Along to opposite edges, the container halves are locked to each other. Each container half is equipped with a locking element which can be moved (slid) vertically, for the locking/unlocking operation. In order to demount the shuttle container, place it on a horizontal and even floor. Operation 1: lift the locking elements on both sides The locking elements (hooks) on both sides are pushed up about 2 cm. 6

7 The operation from the container inside. Operation 2: Push the container halves apart After the locking hooks are in the upper position, push the container halves apart along their common diagonal edge (ca 5-10 cm) until the locking hooks are moved away from the holes. The two halves can then be taken apart and nested for transport or storage. 7

8 REASSEMBLING THE CONTAINER The container halves are reassembled in the same way as described above, but in the opposite order The container halves must be positioned close to each other at their mutual diagonal sides. One half is slid gently along the other half, until the three locking hooks on both edges have fitted into the holes of the other container half. Be sure to push the halves completely into the position where they are aligned. Push the locking elements on both sides firmly downwards until the hooks are moved completely into locking position. After reassembling the MusselsAlive container is ready for reuse. Copyright The MusselsAlive project 8

9 TECHNICAL DRAWINGS 9