Marketruck by Pai-Ching Hu, Taiwan

2011: Plus 10. The Best is Yet to Come!

Biography

Pai-Ching Hu, 25, was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and is currently a graduate student at Shih-Chien University, Department of Industrial Design. In the past six years, he has won a red dot award, iF award, and other domestic prizes, and received an internship in a design company in Europe. His projects have been invited in the domestic and international exhibitions.

Learning transportation design by self is really difficult. But when you get more setbacks of designing transportation, that will be able to help you find the passion of it. I believe that whether products or transports, to create a good design and be able to bring a better quality of life for the place where we grow up, should be stuck to it in my life.

Description

Taipei Central Market is the largest fruit and vegetable wholesale market in northern Taiwan. Every morning buyers bid for goods and have them hauled to the nearby parking lot, where they are stacked orderly on trucks and then shipped to retail markets or restaurants in Taipei. Workers in Taipei Central Market used to move goods with two-wheel, hand palette trucks, but now they use electric palette trucks.

I think in the next decade, transporting goods efficiently in the market will still be a key problem. The design I proposed brings new solutions to the way palette trucks are operated and goods are transported in the market.

First of all, though the market area is spacious, the path for transportation is pretty narrow, often crowded with people or vehicles. Therefore, the new design must make the most out of the limited space.

Secondly, although workers can use electric palette truck to move goods everywhere, when they need to lift those goods, they still have to do it manually and individually, which greatly consumes time and energy. It would be better if the solution is to move massive goods all at once in a safe way. The design of “MARKETRUCK” is developed under these two principles to improve both the fluency and efficiency of the flow in the market.

Easy operation and efficient lifting system are its two main features. With its innovative recirculating-ball steering gear, MARKETRUCK can move and turn in a small area, and it also makes operating the palette truck safer. The lifting system makes lifting goods efficient- workers can lift massive goods at one time and save the time and energy from stacking and lifting goods individually. MARKETRUCK makes uploading and downloading goods easier and more efficient.

MARKETRUCK has a narrow and long body but a short wheelbase. Its front wheels adapt an innovative recirculating-ball steering gear that has no blind corners and allows quick change of driving directions. With nimble and easy operation, MARKETRUCK is a vehicle suitable for the crowded and narrow path in the market. The lifting system is composed of a simple forklift and a standard palette- massive goods can be placed on the palette and then lifted all at once. This will take much less time than lifting goods individually. MARKETRUCK is equipped with high torque motor powered by large lithium battery to provide clean and strong torque.