IT202100007565A1 - GOODS TRANSPORT METHOD WITH NULL MARGINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT - Google Patents

Description

DESCRIPTION accompanying the patent application for industrial invention entitled: GOODS TRANSPORT METHOD WITH NULL MARGINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a logistic model for the transport and distribution of some types of goods which allows the marginal environmental pollution generated in some stages of their transport to be eliminated by exploiting the existing vehicular traffic flows.

With the development of online commerce? the volume of items that need to be delivered to consumers' homes has increased significantly, and this trend, accentuated by the recent pandemic emergency, seems destined to grow further in the future. Furthermore, a large part of these articles, such as e.g. books, clothing and related accessories, electronic devices, etc. they are small in size.

From the moment in which the end customer?s order is finalized on the web, the seller knows exactly the destination of the sold item, and for the delivery of the same he normally uses logistics operators such as transport companies or couriers who have their own distribution network, or the seller himself has his own fleet of vehicles which carries out part of this activity. To be delivered to the end customer's home, each item travels several routes, ranging from the manufacturer to one or more? transit and sorting warehouses, to finally carry out the final stretch, the so-called ?last mile?, from the last warehouse to the buyer?s home.

At the same time, every day millions of people, for work or personal needs, move from their home to another destination using their private vehicle, often with a certain regularity. Moreover, a high percentage of these vehicles accommodates only the driver and therefore has a residual capacity? unused load compartment, especially with regard to the luggage compartment.

The innovative scheme presented here aims to exploit this ability? load not used to replace at least one of the routes traveled by the items of compatible dimensions above yes ? said, with the modalities? described below. In particular, the following conditions must be met:

? the seller or the logistics service manager must, at a given point in the distribution chain, pack one or more? articles with a similar destination area in a container shaped so as to be easily loaded in the luggage compartment of an average car, said container equipped with a closing device which allows it to be reopened only by personnel appointed by the service manager;

? structures equipped with loading and unloading areas must be set up at the points of access to major communication routes, which vehicles passing through can access them; ? via software installed on your own device, e.g. a smartphone, motorists who plan to make a certain journey in the following days and are willing to load at least one of these containers declare a date and time for this journey;

? the service manager, assisted by said software which organizes the information received from motorists and compares it with the handling needs of said containers, confirms to the motorist the availability? of a container to be transported along the route that the same would have traveled in any case for its own needs;

? at the established time and station, the motorist shows up and the container is loaded into the luggage compartment of his car;

? when the motorist reaches the predefined unloading station, he accesses it and the container is unloaded, at the same time the motorist receives the credit of a fee commensurate with predefined parameters, such as e.g. the distance of the transport carried out;

? the container can? at this point be entrusted to another motorist to travel a further route or be opened by the service manager who takes care of the delivery to the final customer of each article contained (last mile);

? once emptied, the containers can be moved with the same system for the return, possibly stacked to save space.

Obviously this logistics system must be controlled by software capable of managing all the appropriate information, such as the data and the recipient of the item moved, the specific code of the container, assigned departure and arrival stations, departure and arrival times of the container, name and contact details of the motorist, vehicle number plate and so on? via, in order to be able to trace the path of the container and the items it contains in real time.

The various subsequent phases can be made more? easily managed by appropriate features? of the software itself, such as e.g. the recognition of the license plate of the vehicle entering the loading/unloading station, the reading of QR codes on containers and items, the management of credits to motorists to be paid periodically, an alarm in the event that unloading does not take place within a pre-established deadline, etc. .

Even the creation of a network of container loading and unloading stations can conveniently take advantage of any structures already? such as disused petrol stations, industrial buildings with available areas, car parks, etc.

With correct scheduling of loading/unloading and suitable container handling equipment, the parking of vehicles has a minimum duration (less than the payment of a motorway toll) and the recognition of a fee for the transport would make it possible to find an adequate number of motorists participating in the program.

The proposed distribution scheme would make it possible to eliminate a large number of shipments by couriers who would have handled the same items, thus avoiding the additional environmental pollution caused by the couriers' vehicles. Compared to existing vehicular traffic, the marginal pollution generated by the adoption of this scheme is completely negligible, being limited to stops and starts and the addition of a few kilograms to the existing load of vehicles, which do not appreciably vary the quantity of their polluting emissions.

This methodology therefore has numerous advantages in terms of lower global environmental impact and saving of resources, which could be increased e.g. with the use by the operator of electric vehicles to cover the last mile, against the only possible disadvantage of an increase in journey times and therefore delivery times, depending on the effectiveness of the organization and availability of vehicles participating in the programme. A further advantage for the seller could be represented by the lower quantity? of packaging required by the single article given that the transport of the same takes place inside a rigid container which protects it from shocks.

Prior art search? did not find similar proposals to the one described above, the only solutions that are of any relevance are:

- US2016104112A1, which involves using messages on a map to add delivery destinations outside the vehicle's route, which the driver can or not to accept;

- DE102017219293B3, which concerns the transport of objects with a shared vehicle by means of a compartment that can be closed and opened using electronic codes:

- WO2014147082A2, which provides for the use of containers for transport that can be closed and opened by means of electronic codes;

- CN106845702A, which is based on the use of public transport.

Unlike the proposals mentioned above, the methodology presented here envisages that private motorists are the ones to declare the route of a certain section that they would have taken in any case, without therefore changing the distance due to the transport of the goods entrusted to them, electronic codes are not necessary to close and open the used containers and ? moreover, it is excluded that the delivery to the final customer (last mile) is carried out by the motorists themselves, who operate only on the intermediate routes with closed containers. The delivery operation, for liability reasons? and procedures required (e.g. recipient's signature) ? reserved for the logistics operator as it requires adequate professionalism.

The proposed solution is particularly valid for areas at a medium distance from large urban agglomerations, towards and from which ? Is there a large flow of vehicles given by the commuters who head to the cities every day? to return in the evening to your country or town. If properly implemented pu? in any case, it can also be applied to stretches of motorway with greater traffic, helping to limit the number of heavy vehicles in circulation.

? it should be noted that the legislation in force in some countries, including Italy, places limits on private citizens for the transport of goods for third parties, but on the one hand there are companies, such as eg. those of food delivery, which operate substantially in derogation from these rules as they use occasional collaborators who are not permanently employed and certainly do not have a license to transport goods on behalf of third parties, while on the other hand, these limitations do not affect the potential advantages achievable with the adoption of the method described where permitted.

Claims (8)

1) Freight transport method with zero marginal environmental impact, characterized by the fact that it includes the following phases: a) the logistics service manager places one or more items in a container of dimensions compatible with the trunk of a common car items destined for a certain delivery area and closes said container; b) private motorists willing to load one or more? containers on their vehicle enter their personal data, those of the vehicle and the routes they will have to take on the following day or days for their personal needs, using an app from a smart phone, tablet or other IT tool, indicating the dates and times of these routes; c) the IT system of said operator receives this information and compares the journeys of said motorists with the sections that said containers must travel on their way to said delivery area; d) if one of said routes and one of said sections coincide, said system sends the confirmation to said motorist; e) on the scheduled date and time, said motorist presents himself at the loading station of said manager and loads one or more? containers; f) at the end of the coincident route, said motorist unloads said container or containers at the unloading station of said operator; g) depending on the progress of the transport with respect to said delivery area of said items, said manager can: i) making said container travel a further section starting from step b), or ii) opening said container and delivering the items to the final customers; h) said motorist who completed the transport receives compensation. 2) Method of transporting goods with no marginal environmental impact, as per the previous claim, characterized by the fact that said containers can be closed and reopened only by persons appointed by said manager. 3) Method of transporting goods with zero marginal environmental impact, as claimed in the preceding claims, characterized in that said containers are configured so as to be stackable and/or collapsible. 4) Method of transporting goods with zero marginal environmental impact, as per the previous claims, characterized by the fact that said information system ? formed by at least one unit? central equipped with means of communication, means of processing and memory and one or more? applications capable of managing communications and information to organize and track the movement of said containers and the items they contain, and from one or more unit? peripherals equipped with means of communication, applications and tools to manage the progress of transport operations. 5) Freight transport method with zero marginal environmental impact, as per the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that said communications between said motorists and said unit? central or these units? peripherals take place through user interfaces using electronic devices such as smart phones, tablets, notebooks or similar. 6) Method of transporting goods with zero marginal environmental impact, as per the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that said loading and unloading stations are equipped with tools for managing these operations, such as devices for reading the license plate of the incoming vehicle, QR codes on said containers and others. 7) Method of transporting goods with zero marginal environmental impact, referred to in the previous claims, characterized by the fact that the delivery to the final customer? reserved for the staff of said manager or other professional operators appointed by said manager. 8) Method of transporting goods with zero marginal environmental impact, as per the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that for the return of said empty containers ? the same method described above is applicable.