The Next Generation Hand Trucks “A World First Design”
Safely reduce the delivery driver’s fatigue and lower their risk of injury!
Safety is our focus at Matt’s Transport so we designed into Multi-Role the key benefits for the delivery driver with auto return to zero speed, fast or slow speed switching for tight pathways. Controllable braking for downhill delivery, new wireless remote & sensor control, adjustable rotating handle controls for all user heights and fail safe shutdown under extreme circumstances. A true powered Multi-Role hand truck needs to versatile, so at Matt’s Transport we designed twelve different toe plates that can carry almost any load for the delivery guy. You can see an early prototype video at facebook.com/MultiRoleHandTrucks
Quote: Matt’s Transport Product Manager Darryl Impey says “These are a real game changer, we’ve designed Multi-Role to make it safer for Propane/LPG delivery or for that matter almost any load that’s carried on a hand truck, were we can safely reduce the delivery guy’s fatigue during work and increase their productivity. This is a win for employer and the delivery driver as well“.
The Last Mile Can Be Difficult for the Delivery Driver
So you’ve got to the delivery address for the first time and now discovered that the driveway is steep and too narrow for the truck to negotiate. his driveway is a good example of just how tough it can be some days for delivery drivers, the truck can’t navigate the incline as the under carriage bottoms out (hits underneath).
Figure 1: Tough driveway here in Cairns, hand truck & cylinder super imposed over picture.
So on this particular delivery the driver has to push a hand truck up the incline all by themselves to deliver the propane cylinder. Matt’s Transport has faced the very same problems with difficult deliveries, that’s how injuries occur.
It’s Not Always Concrete
These Multi-Role hand trucks are designed for use on either commercial operations like warehousing, domestic deliveries, but that’s not always the case. What about those deliveries that are just off the beaten track, that’s where the tracked hand truck comes into its own element. For the delivery guy just knowing that you can travel over sand, snow, mud, rocks or even travel upstairs will take the pain away for the last mile delivery. Whether your delivering refrigerators or propane/lpg cylinders, just knowing you can get to the point of sale will boost your employee’s confidence without breaking their back and reduce the companies risk to your employee’s injury.
Figure 2: Multi-Role tracked version able to climb and self-stabilizing up to 38° over snow, sand, mud, rocks and also stairways.
Multi-Role is designed with proper ergonomics and safety in mind, for all delivery drivers moving propane/lpg cylinders to the point of sale, fabricated from durable lightweight aluminium these specialist machines will help companies avoid the financial exposure of employee injury, litigation, and workers' compensation claims.
Ergonomic Design Benefits
At Matt’s Transport we’ve ergonomically designed Multi-Role to make it easy for the delivery driver to cover those difficult deliveries designing a low center of gravity on both the vertical and horizontal plane, see figure 10 below.
Figure 3: CAD Image for the remote wireless control
Combining rotating handles for different delivery driver’s physical height and user configured positioning of the single axis joystick thumb controls. Multi-Role is self-stabilizing for delivery up to 38° incline, coupled with smart electronic braking for the downhill operations. Adding the functionality for spark safe use in hazardous environments and wireless remote & sensor control figure 3.
Multi-Role is designed with proper ergonomics and safety in mind, for all delivery drivers moving propane/lpg cylinders to the point of sale, fabricated from durable lightweight aluminium these specialist machines will help companies avoid the financial exposure of employee injury, litigation, and workers' compensation claims.
Safety & Profitability
“Obviously there is no greater concern than the safety, health, and lives of workers. Profits, while very important, are secondary to lives. The notions of safety and profitability are not mutually exclusive. Avoiding costly worker's compensation costs, wrongful death and injury lawsuits and reducing a wide variety of injury-related costs allow organisations to utilize resources to improve safety, productivity, product quality and overall business competitiveness”. Thomas R Cutler Oct 01, 2016 Fork Truck Free and New Materials Handling
Injuries are on the rise. The National Safety Council (NSC) USA reports that a disabling injury occurs every 1.3 seconds in the U.S. (more than 63,000 every day), and the Social Security Administration predicts that 3 out of 10 workers entering the workforce today will acquire some type of disability before they retire. Thomas R Cutler The Cost of Back Injuries Avoided with an Electric Hand Truck
Multi-Role & Hazardous Environments
Since Multi-Role’s control system, battery system and motors fall within the Hazardous zone dimension Figure 4, Multi-Role has been designed to operate in Hazardous sites that are designated by the International IP coding standards for IP66 technical regulations for water/moisture and dust ingress. Explosion protection is designed into the dc electrical and electronic components used within the Multi-Role hand truck. Figure 4: Zone standards for Propane/LPG hazard dimensions
Thereby permitting the machine to operate in most hazardous environments covering petrochemical, propane, flammable goods, airport air side and underground mining where methane is likely to be present, subject to technical assessment in the relevant country.
Figure 5: Sample hazardous environment & zones
Alternately Multi-Role could be used in a non-hazardous environment with an unsealed electronic system.
Hazardous Locations
Hazardous locations are defined by operating environments and the types of combustible or explosive materials that are stored and the explosive or ignitable vapors or dust that are or might be present.
Figure 6: Sealed dc motor blueprint design
Hazardous environments can and in most cases include zones where special requirements for material handling must occur, in the extreme situations those zones represent OSH/OHS requirements for employees like no smoking, no naked flames and special precautions for other machinery operations and also technical handling of combustible or explosive elements.
Matt’s Transport designed Multi-Role to operate safely within these hazardous environments and the technology behind this application can be easily ported to other machines and or industries.
The Multi-Role design continuously monitors electrical & electronic characteristics covering:
- Heat within the motor area
- Tilt angle during operation
- Thermal heat transfer
- Controlled hill descent speed
- Motor overloading
- Operating temperature
With built-in dual safety systems, fail safe monitoring controls the operating parameters in Multi-Role.
Multi-Role CAD Design
At Matt’s Transport we designed Multi-Role in AutoCAD and tested the design within TurboCAD and vis-à-vis, that way we could be certain that all our design goals could be met and for quality assurance purposes on all manufacturing drawings and technical requirements.
Figure 7: Multi-Role design in AutoCAD, isometric view
CAD modelling allowed us to optimize the design for manufacturing on an international basis, taking into consideration the mechanical requirements of these designs.
Testing the design characteristics was performed in Graficalc, an analytical tool for calculating all design specifications and confirmed using excel spreadsheet.
Figure 8: Multi-Role sample parts breakdown, for flat pack distribution
Figure 9: Multi-Role design in TurboCAD, isometric view
Matt’s Transport Cairns, Australia
At Matt’s Transport we’ve done our homework, CAD modeled what we know is the right design and got the feedback from specialist propane transport companies here in Australia. Using off the shelf parts and simple fabrication techniques, these hand trucks can be built anywhere in the world and are simple to manufacture. Using a flat pack construction concept we have all the CAD files covering electrical, electronic, manufacturing & fabrication, R&D technical information, instruction videos, assembly manuals and future designs. We have registered two provisional patent applications by the USPTO. US Patent: patent pending.
Please contact Darryl Impey at [email protected] if you‘d like to know more.
Matt’s Transport Cairns, Australia ? 2017