Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D88/00—Large containers
  • B65D88/54—Large containers characterised by means facilitating filling or emptying
  • B65D88/56—Large containers characterised by means facilitating filling or emptying by tilting
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D90/00—Component parts, details or accessories for large containers
  • B65D90/02—Wall construction
  • B65D90/04—Linings
  • B65D90/046—Flexible liners, e.g. loosely positioned in the container
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D2590/00—Component parts, details or accessories for large containers
  • B65D2590/02—Wall construction
  • B65D2590/04—Linings
  • B65D2590/043—Flexible liners
  • B65D2590/046—Bladders

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a device for the bulk supply of polymers .
• Technical background Polymer material typically polymer pellets, are manufactured by the polymer manufacturer at a plant and delivered to the customer such as a wire and cable manufacturer or pipe manufacturer by road and/or rail transport.
• the cleanliness of the polymer- material is important to ensure highly reliable long life products.
• stringent efforts are made to avoid the presence of contaminants.
• a common way to package polymer material for transport from the manufacturer to the customer is the so-called Octabin which comprises a vertical octagonal container of paper board enclosing a plastic bag filled with about 500 to 1000 kg of polymer material (pellets) .
• the present system for packaging polymer material for transport to the customer is not optimal and suffer from disadvantages.
• the device should also only give rise to a minimum amount of packaging waste.
• the present invention provides a device for the bulk supply of polymers, characterised in that it includes a container and an inner polymer liner; the liner is attached to the container; the container and the liner have at least one inlet opening; the container has a separate outlet opening; the liner has a discharge chute extending through the outlet opening; and that the wall (22) surrounding the outlet opening (3) has a circumferential groove (23) into which a location ring (24) is inserted, with the discharge chute (11) of the inner liner (4) passing between the ring and the groove.
• Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a container device according to the present invention
• Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of a plastic liner according to the present invention to be attached inside the container of Fig. 1;
• Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of the plastic liner of Fig. 2 as seen from the opposite direction;
• Fig. 4 shows a partial section view through the outlet opening of the device of the present invention in a transport position;
• Fig. 5 shows a partial section view similar to that of Fig. 4 through the outlet opening of the device of the present invention in a discharge position.
• the device comprises an outer container 1. If the polymer material is transported by road the container is loaded on a truck and is preferably tiltably mounted on the truck as shown in Fig. 1.
• the container is preferably a conventional type container capable of holding about 20 to 30 tonnes of polymer material (pellets) .
• the container preferably has a square form with a front, a back, a top, a bottom, and two sides. The outer dimensions of such a preferred square container are about 9 mx 2.5 m x 2.5 m.
• On the top of the container is provided at least one and preferably several closable inlet openings 2 for feeding polymer material into the container.
• a closable outlet or discharge opening 3 is provided at the lower part of the back of the container.
• the container 1 is preferably made of a metallic material such as steel . Access to the container for inserting the plastic liner discussed below with reference to Fig. 2 and 3, cleaning, etc. is conveniently by means of doors at the back of the container (not shown) . To facilitate emptying of the container as will be discussed below, the container preferably has its two lower backside corners cut-out. This is preferably made by inserting triangular internal corner plates into the two corners . With reference to Fig. 2 and 3 a plastic liner 4 is provided inside the container 1. The liner 4 is designed to accomodate the polymer material to be transported (pellets; not shown) .
• the liner is preferably made of the same -polymer material as the polymer material to be transported, e.g. polyethylene.
• the liner is a separate component to the container and is preferably exchanged for a new liner before every transport of polymer material .
• the liner is attached to the container by special fixing means on the liner and on the inside of the container. More specifically, the liner is provided with supporting bars, preferably three transversal supporting bars 5, 6 and 7, i.e. one at the top frontside, one at the top backside and one at the bottom frontside of the liner. These support bars are connected to fixing means, such as holes, at corresponding places on the inside of the container.
• the liner is provided with a number of additional fixing means, preferably in the form of elastic bands 8 that are connected to corresponding places of the container by means of fixing means, preferably hooks such as carabiner hooks (not shown) on the inside of the container.
• fixing means preferably hooks such as carabiner hooks (not shown) on the inside of the container.
• These elastic bands 8 are arranged at least along the top of the sides of the liner between the supporting bars.
• the used liner can readily be removed and replaced by a new liner.
• the at least one inlet opening 2 in the top of the container is connected to corresponding inlet openings 9 in the top of the liner 4.
• the liner like the container, has cut-out corners 10 at the two lower backside corners of the liner. These cut-out corners form two triangular surfaces inclined towards the outlet opening of the liner.
• the unloading or discharge of the polymer material is effected through a discharge chute 11 which protrudes from the lower part of the backside of the liner.
• the liner may also be provided with an air inlet sleeve 12 with a filter in order to feed filtered air into the liner after installation so that the liner is blown up with filtered air to guarantee a minimum of wrinkles in the liner.
• compensation air may be introduced into the liner during unloading via air inlet openings 13 in the container 1 (see Fig. 1; preferably there are two inlet openings at the front of the container and two at the back) and further via a filter 14 (preferably a polyethylene membrane) that is built into the liner 4 at the front-side thereof (see Fig. 3) .
• air inlet openings 13 in the container 1 see Fig. 1; preferably there are two inlet openings at the front of the container and two at the back
• a filter 14 preferably a polyethylene membrane
• FIGs. 4 and 5 show a partial section of the outlet opening 3 of the container 1.
• the outlet opening is preferably cylindrical and arranged in an endplate 15 on the backside of the container.
• the endplate has a cover plate 16 and a lid that is hinged (not shown) and movable between a closed position covering the outlet opening and an open position exposing the outlet opening.
• clamping means 17 are provided for securing the cover plate 16 in position.
• these clamping means preferably comprise angle bars 18 secured to the endplate 15 by means of studs 19 threaded in holes 20 in the endplate and provided with eyebolts 21 at their opposite end.
• the studs 19 are permanently connected to the endplate in the meaning that it is not necessary to unscrew them from the endplate' for removal of the cover plate. However, in case the threads of the studs are damaged they may be removed and exchanged.
• the permanent connection of the studs to the endplate protects the internal threads of the holes 20 in the endplate and prevents dirt from entering the holes. This greatly extends the life of the steel container by eliminating the need for costly re-machining of the plate to repair damage to the screw threads caused by dirt. Additionally, it reduces the time needed to prepare the unloading thus promoting the clean unloading.
• FIG. 4 and 5 An alternative to the "angle bar” clamps shown in Fig. 4 and 5 are clamping means employing a “cam” action. Such clamping means are permanently screwed to the end plate in the same way as the shown "angle bar” clamps. Cam action clamping means must have a mechanism for securing such that the rigours of transport do not cause the cams to unlock.
• the outlet opening 3 is preferably circular and has the form of a cylindrical bore 22 through the endplate 15 and the container 1.
• the bore is provided with a circumferential groove 23. Into this groove a
• the inner sleeve 28 is of a somewhat longer extension than the outer sleeve 29.
• the inner sleeve may e.g. have a length of about 1 m, while the outer sleeve may have a length of about 0.5 m. The reason for this is that the inner sleeve is pulled through the wall of a building and connected to a receiver station for unloading, while the outer sleeve is only connected to the outside of the wall of the building to protect the inner sleeve from dust between the container and the building.
• the discharge chute 11 is fixed by means of the location ring 24 which squeezes it into the groove 23. This means that the discharge chute is stretched peripherally outwards into the groove 23. This stretching could damage the discharge chute through a thinning of the thickness and in order not to stress the discharge chute excessively the diameter of the discharge chute 11 should preferably be somewhat larger than the outside diameter of the location ring 24.
• the diameter of the discharge chute should not be too large, however, as then the extra thickness created must be accomodated within the groove and if this thickness is too large damage may occur due to the excessive force required to insert the location ring. It is preferred when the discharge chute has a diameter that is about 5-30 % larger than the outside diameter of the location ring. Within this range on the one hand excessive stress is not placed upon the discharge chute and on the other hand the extra thickness is not great enough to create damage when the location ring is inserted.
• the diameter of the discharge chute is, of course, also valid for the diameters of the inner and outer sleeves.
• the inner liner is sealed by closing the inlet openings 9 and the discharge chute 11.
• closing the discharge chute 11 is done by tightening a string 30 around the inner sleeve 28, sealing the outer sleeve 29, and then pushing the closed discharge chute back into the container 1.
• the inlet openings 2 of the container are closed and the cover plate 16 is secured over the outlet opening 3 in a closed position by the clamping means 17.
• a guidance means (not shown) may be provided.
• Such guidance means preferably has the form of an adapter comprising an apertured plate to be fixed on the endplate after the lid has been opened.
• the aperture of the adapter plate is coextensive with the opening in the endplate and the adapter plate is fixed to the endplate by means of the same clamping means as the cover plate.
• Protruding from the aperture of the adapter plate is a guidance member, preferably in the form of a pipe or "half-pipe" (i.e. the semi-circular bottom half of a pipe) surrounding the extended discharge chute.
• the container may be tilted as shown in Fig. 1.
• filtered air is preferably fed into the inner liner 4 via air inlet openings 13 and filter 14 so that collapse of the liner is prevented.
• the present invention affords a very convenient device for the bulk transport of polymer pellets without the disadvantages of earlier devices used for the supply of polymer pellets.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Processing And Handling Of Plastics And Other Materials For Molding In General (AREA)
• Feeding, Discharge, Calcimining, Fusing, And Gas-Generation Devices (AREA)
• Spinning Methods And Devices For Manufacturing Artificial Fibers (AREA)
• Extraction Or Liquid Replacement (AREA)
• Filling Or Emptying Of Bunkers, Hoppers, And Tanks (AREA)
• Transition And Organic Metals Composition Catalysts For Addition Polymerization (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=20284442

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Families Citing this family (4)

Family Cites Families (11)

• 2001
  • 2001-06-12 SE SE0102068A patent/SE0102068D0/xx unknown
• 2002
  • 2002-03-22 DE DE60211515T patent/DE60211515D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-03-22 AU AU2002243167A patent/AU2002243167A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2002-03-22 EP EP02708906A patent/EP1401740B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-03-22 ES ES02708906T patent/ES2259701T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2002-03-22 WO PCT/SE2002/000565 patent/WO2002051236A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2002-03-22 AT AT02708906T patent/ATE326406T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events