FR2886629A1 - Pallet for receiving load, has tray with branches constituting four sides of pallet and receiving legs, and median branches connecting intermediate legs, where legs and tray are made of same material - Google Patents

Abstract

The pallet has a rectangular tray (1) with branches (3-1, 3-2) constituting four sides of the pallet and receiving legs (2-1, 2-2, 2-3). The median branches (4-1, 4-2) connect the intermediate legs, where the branches (3-1, 3-2) and median branches are cut into round holes. The legs (2), in the form of a truncated pyramid, are hollow and emerge in the top of the tray. The legs comprise a rib (8) forming a support for the leg. The legs and the tray are made of the same material such as a polymer.

Description

Field of the invention

  The present invention relates to a pallet made of a cellular material.

  State of the art Various forms of pallets are already known and, in particular, according to DE 20 2004 017 500.2 concerning a pallet formed of a plate provided with expanded plastic feet, these feet being screwed under the plate, in particular wood.

  The feet are mainly used to cushion shocks. Pallets according to this document can not be stacked in a space-saving manner. They are not disposable and their cost in matter or manufacture are not particularly economical. Such pallets, although suitable for receiving all kinds of loads, are not appropriate in their function to the palletization of light loads. In addition, these discarded pallets are difficult to remove because of wood and plastic that must be separated to recycle differently.

  GB 2,280,167 discloses an expanded polystyrene pallet composed of a molded expanded polystyrene core formed of a tray provided with nine feet protruding from its underside. The tray and the feet are made in one piece. These components are full and the feet have orifices opening into their underside to receive complementary shaped covers for wrapping and protecting the feet.

  Such a pallet is certainly light but its manufacture -mande much material and openings opening into the foot support surface, weakens the feet so that it is almost necessary to cover them with a hood which complicates the manufacture and the use of such pallets increases their cost and complicates their disposal or recycling.

  OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to develop a lightweight pallet made of a cellular material intended to receive light loads and to constitute in principle a single-use pallet that is easily recyclable.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION OF THE INVENTION To this end, the invention relates to a pallet of the type defined above characterized in that - the tray is formed of a sheet composed of branches constituting the four sides of the pallet, completed by median branches and branches diagonally, at least some of the branches being perforated, - the pyramid-shaped legs are hollow and open into the top of the tray and are made in one piece with the tray.

  The tray formed only branches, at least some of which are perforated and the feet are hollow, not only allowing a significant saving of material but also result in a particularly effective structure from the static and dynamic point of view. Indeed, the openwork web constituting the plate is extended in the pyramidal trunk legs so that the pallet is in fact constituted by a continuous web having a skin; this reinforces the consistency of the expanded material and transmits homogeneously efforts between the different areas of the tray and feet. In addition, the pallet is less sensitive to crumbling which is advantageous to avoid pollution polystyrene beads that could come off.

  In addition, the hollow feet are used to stack the pallets in a reduced volume. This stacking and especially unstacking are facilitated thanks to the inner support of the hollow feet limiting the depth of depression of the feet of the pallet placed above.

  According to another structural feature, the diagonal branches are narrow and not perforated. This makes it possible to have triangular or trapezoidal openings of large area and consequently of large volume in the areas which have only a small importance for the mechanical strength of the pallet.

  Advantageously, the feet reach the edge of the pallet but the surface of the edge is straight and does not extend continuously by the surface of the pyramidal feet. There is thus a peripheral zone favoring the attachment of the cover or the ribbon film holding the load on the pallet.

  The pallet preferably has a thickness of constant material that is to say which according to the invention does not vary by more than 30%.

  The cellular material used is expanded polystyrene or expanded polypropylene or expanded polyethylene.

  Finally, since the pallet is made of a single material, the recycling of the material is simple and does not require tedious, expensive and prohibitive recycling work.

  Drawings The present invention will be described in more detail below with the aid of the accompanying drawings in which: - Figure 1 is a perspective view from above of a pallet, - Figure 2 is a perspective view of the FIG. 3 is a partial cutaway perspective view of the stacking of two pallets showing the structure of the tray and the legs. DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION According to FIG. 1, the invention relates to an expanded polystyrene pallet. This pallet is composed of a rectangular tray 1 provided with feet usually nine in number; a 2-1 foot at each corner of the board as well as a 2-2, 2-3 foot in the middle of each of the four sides and finally a 2-4 foot in the center of the board. These feet 2 are connected by branches 3-1, 3-2, namely branches forming the large and small sides of the plate and the median branches 4-1, 4- 2 directed along the medians of the plate and branches 5 directed along the diagonals.

  The branches 3-1, 3-2 forming the sides are relatively wide to receive the feet 2-1, 2-2, 2-3. It is the same of the median branches 4-1, 4-2 which connect each time three intermediary feet 2-3, 2-4.

  The branches forming the sides and the median branches, wide are perforated with through holes 6, including round holes but which can also be of polygonal shape.

  The plate 1 has diagonal branches 5 for stiffening the assembly. These narrow non-open branches 5 leave on both sides and with respect to the sides and the median branches, openings 7 of trapezoidal shape also allowing a saving of material so as to leave a large surface of material at the level of the tray, around feet.

  The feet 2-1, 2-2, 2-3 are in the form of a truncated pyramid of rectangular section, of substantially constant thickness and equal to that of the branches of the plate. These feet are hollow and one of the sides of at least some of the feet and preferably of all, has a rib 8 slightly projecting, which forms a support to limit the depth of depression of the homologous foot of the upper plate, when the trays are stacked empty. Thanks to this limit of depression in each foot, the release of the upper plate of a stack of empty trays is, therefore, a very simple operation since the feet are nested inside one another but are not hooked or wedged .

  The expression truncated pyramid used to describe the shape of a foot is to be taken in the general sense encompassing any form of section of the pyramid trunk, such as a square, rectangular, polygonal, elliptical or round; in other words, this expression in-globe also truncated cones.

  Although the feet are preferably all identical, it is also possible to modify the section of the feet according to their position relative to the tray, that is to say according to whether the foot is at a corner, in the middle on one side or in the center of the board.

  The edge 11 of the tray is a straight edge, not located in the extension of the unrepresented facets of the feet (2-1, 2-2, 2-3) of the sides of the tray so as to create a hooking surface for the cover retractable or stretchable or the film wrapping the load placed on the pallet.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the embedding or stacking of two pallets 100, such as that of FIG. 1, showing how the feet of the top pallet are housed in the feet of the pallet below without, however, penetrating completely. in his feet so as not to complicate the unstacking.

  Figure 3 is a detail view in section and in perspective of two pallets like that of Figure 1, stacked, cut at the feet. This figure emphasizes the penetration of the feet 2 of the pallet 100 of the top in the opening of the feet 2 of the pallet 100 of the sub-sub with support each time on the ribs 7, limiting the depression of the feet.

  By way of example, a light pallet such as that described above can receive a load of the order of 200 to 250 kg. Tests have shown that under such a load, a pallet did not undergo deformation or break even after a residence time of several days of the load, for example a time of 10 days.

Claims (5)

  1) Lightweight pallet made of a cellular material composed of a plate provided with feet, characterized in that - the plate (1) is formed of a sheet composed of branches (3-1, 3-2) constituting the four sides of the pallet, supplemented by median branches (4-1, 4-2) and diagonal branches (5), at least some of the branches being perforated, - the feet (2) in the form of a truncated pyramid are hollow and open into the top of the tray (1) and are made in one piece with the tray (1).   2) Lightweight pallet according to claim 1, characterized in that the hollow feet (2) have internally a support (8) to limit the depth of depression of the feet of a pallet placed above.   3) Lightweight pallet according to claim 1, characterized in that the diagonal branches (5) are narrow and not perforated.   4) Light pallet according to claim 1, characterized in that the edge (11) of the plate is not in the continuity of the facets of the feet (2) to facilitate the foaming or taping of a palletized load.   5) lightweight pallet according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises nine feet (2) distributed at the corners, between the corners and in the middle 30 of the tray (1) 6) light pallet according to claim 1, characterized in that the sides (3-1, 3-2) and the median branches (4-1, 4-2) are perforated by holes (6) round or can be polygonal.   7) light pallet according to claim 1, characterized in that the section of the median branches (4-1, 4-2) and diagonal branches (5) has small rounded sides.   8) Lightweight pallet according to claim 1, characterized in that it is made of a cellular material such as expanded polystyrene (EPS) or expanded polypropylene (EPP) or expanded polyethylene (PEE).   9) Lightweight pallet according to claim 1, characterized in that the wall thickness is substantially constant over the entire pallet.