Flat pack slide

Revolution in slides: the divisible slide

HSV has been producing slides for playground equipment for the KBT company for years. Even though these are very beautiful products, transporting the product to the client remains a challenge. The slides are three meters long. Until recently, this was not such a big problem, as the customer always found a way to get them home themselves. However, people are increasingly ordering online and would like to have the slide delivered to their home. The courier services then charge a significant transport surcharge because the package is too large for their method of working.

flat pack slide – loose parts of the slide – assembled slide

KBT therefore wanted to design a divisible slide that fits in a box that the courier companies can transport easily and without damage.KBT took up this development itself, requiring not to use additional parts for the assembly of the three parts. The slide parts must remain secured by a click connection. All this makes it a complex development, but KBT has succeeded. They have designed a three-part slide with click connections, where the three parts fit together in such an ingenious way that they can be transported in a very compact box. However, a number of challenges remained in the areas of strength design and mould construction. KBT has asked BPO to analyse these technical problems and help solve them.

FEM analyses of the slide

BPO has carried out strength analyses at this request. Just determining the most critical situations was an advanced task. The slide with connections must be just as strong as a one-piece product for all usage situations. BPO also provided support with advice to make the mould construction as simple as possible.The first results of the simulation and the evaluation of the structure indicated some major problems. The connection had to be much stronger and the construction of the clickers required many slides in the mould, which would make it expensive and vulnerable. BPO has made optimisation proposals, both for strength and mould construction. After a number of optimisation steps, we finally managed to make the slide sufficiantly strong, with a greatly simplified mould construction compared to the first proposals.

That the strength is sufficient has been confirmed by the TUV, which tests products against standards and assesses whether the product can go on the market. The results of the strength tests were awaited with confidence, as KBT imposes much stricter requirements on itself than the standard prescribes. Moreover, they had also tested the slide itself.

The first divisible slides have now been launched on the market and it appears that there is a lot of demand for them. KBT is therefore a trendsetter, and it will not be easy for the competition to put a comparable product on the market.

For more information on the flat pack slide, visit the KBT web page.