FR3051178A1 - PACKAGING BATTERY - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a package consisting of a box (3) made from a blank by cutting and grooving comprising a base, two transverse faces (5, 5 '), two main faces (4), an object transported (1) of prismatoid shape, the height of which is less than that of the transverse faces (5, 5 '), and comprising in the upper part at least one orifice provided with a plug for filling a corrosive liquid, being placed on the base, with shims (6) interposed between the transverse faces (5 ') and the object (1), and the main faces (4) being slotted on their end opposite to the base so as to provide flaps (7) covering a portion of the upper part of the transported object (1), said object (1) being secured to the box by a binding (9) resting on the flaps (7).

Description

The invention relates to a packaging for an object enclosing a corrosive liquid, in particular an electric accumulator, or set of electric accumulators forming a battery, containing a corrosive liquid electrolyte.

[0002] Electric accumulators containing a corrosive liquid electrolyte are very common objects, for example lead-acid batteries comprising sulfuric acid as electrolyte, which must be replaced after a few years of use, by a relatively simple operation. , within the reach of an informed amateur. Today, they are therefore a relatively important part of the car parts market, especially through online sales.

However, because of the presence of a corrosive liquid electrolyte, these products are considered by law as hazardous products subject to specific packaging standards, and to this day, can not be conveyed by unauthorized carriers, which greatly increases the cost of transport.

Packages dedicated to automotive batteries are known. Thus, cardboard packaging strong enough to stack without deformation up to five boxes have been described in the application for utility certificate FR2495105. From the French patent application FR2470735 it is further known a package formed of a battery and a cardboard box provided with a handle formed in the box, the box being of a construction and a material such that it can support the weight of the accumulator when the package is carried by the handles. To minimize the risk of electrolyte leakage, removable caps are provided on the batteries, which requires specific handling that increases the cost of packaging, while increasing the risk of a faulty installation if its plugs are left in place. Moreover, to maintain between the handles and the battery space enough for an operator to introduce his fingers, spacers are inserted at the end of assembly, after assembly of the cardboard box around the battery . These systems allow the batteries to be displayed on retail displays but the packaging is not compatible with postal or other ordinary shipping as the product is still considered dangerous.

From the patent application WO 2013/151156, there is known a sealed package for defective batteries, according to which the battery, placed on an absorbent pad is deposited in a first carton itself surrounded by a waterproof bag , the assembly being placed in a second carton of packaging. Even if the question of the tightness of the packaging is treated, and it is even envisaged in one embodiment to place the battery in a second sealed bag before placing it in its first carton, this system does not allow nor to send the parcel as an ordinary parcel.

There is therefore an unmet need for simple packaging, suitable for shipping objects enclosing liquids, including corrosive liquids, such as batteries for automobiles.

According to the invention, this problem is solved by a package consisting of a box made from a blank by cutting and grooving comprising a base, two transverse faces, two main faces, a transported object of prismatoid shape, of which the height is less than that of the transverse faces, and comprising in the upper part at least one orifice provided with a plug for filling a corrosive liquid, being placed on the base, with shims interposed between the transverse faces and the object , and the main faces being slit on their opposite end to the base so as to provide flaps covering part of the upper part of the transported object, said object being secured to the box by a binding, for example of the strip type, in support on the flaps.

The package according to the invention is remarkable in that the object, for example an electric accumulator containing a liquid electrolyte, remains widely visible even if the upper flaps are sized to cover the entire upper part of the object to carry. There is therefore no risk of misunderstanding on the face of the package constituting the upper face which avoids overturning the package while promoting the leakage of corrosive liquid. The combination of shims interposed between the object and the transverse faces ensures that the object can not slip, fall or be damaged during transport in the package.

The width of the base of the package corresponds to the width of the object to be transported (assuming that the fold lines on the long sides of the base are just outside the base. for its part at the height of the object plus the height of the flap.To avoid the formation of a free space between the binding and the flaps, it is preferable that the height of the flaps is less than or equal to, and preferably equal to, to the half-width of the object to be transported, so that the flaps are in contact with each other without overlapping.In the typical case of a car battery, this leads to a height of the package exceeding the battery of about ten centimeters, it is therefore possible to manipulate the package by holding it by these edges, however, it is advantageous to provide handles formed by openings in the transverse walls, the wedges delimiting a sufficient space for the fingers of a manipulator, thus avoiding any risk of contact with the object.

Advantageously, the flaps have notches for positioning the bonding, these notches being for example of a width close to a strip used as binding.

Preferably, the transverse faces are constituted by side walls connected to the short sides of the bottom and folded on themselves at fold lines at mid-height to form double-thickness walls, and side flaps are folded to the main faces and are held in the package between the two thicknesses of the side walls.

Advantageously, the lateral walls forming the transverse faces comprise windows coinciding with each other to form handles when the side walls are folded to form a double wall. The side flaps may also have cutouts coinciding with the windows of the side flaps.

Preferably, the fold lines of the side walls comprise tongues formed by notches made in the side walls and in that recesses are formed at the folds between the base and the side walls, so that when two identical packages are superimposed, the tabs of the lower package enter the recesses of the upper package to form a stable assembly.

Preferably, the wedges are constituted by folded pieces cut directly from the blank.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the package further comprises a sealed bag surrounding the object, said bag being made of a plastic material resistant to the corrosive liquid contained by the object. Advantageously, pads adapted to observe the corrosive liquid are also placed in the bag, preferably in the form of panels that flank the faces of the object near the main packages.

In a variant, the blank used is in double corrugated cardboard.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear on examining the detailed description below, and the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 reproduces a photo of a package according to the invention, with a cardboard box surrounding an electric accumulator; Figure 2 is a diagram of the blank used for the production of the box of Figure 1; FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of forming a wedge from a T-piece. FIG. 4 is a T-wedge cutting scheme similar to those illustrated in FIG. 3, from FIG. a same sheet of cardboard as that used to obtain the blank of Figure 2; Referring to the drawing of Figure 1, we can see a package according to the invention comprising an electric accumulator 1, surrounded by a plastic bag 2, placed in a cardboard box 3. Even if the invention will always be described with reference to the conditioning of an electric accumulator, the invention is applicable to the packaging of any parallelepipedic object, or more generally prismatoid, with two parallel faces constituting the lower part and the upper part of the object, and for which a corrosive liquid filling is provided from above, for example with a plug formed in the upper part of the object.

In the example shown, the bag is made of low density polyethylene (LDPE), a thickness of 100 microns, in other words in a material having a high resistance to both tearing and acids such as sulfuric acid. The bag is closed, for example by welding.

For the cardboard box, it is advantageous to provide a double corrugated corrugated cardboard, for example of the type BC, designed for the packaging of heavy products, with a force of 50kg, by orienting the flutes in the direction of the arrow F (visible in Figure 2), that is to say, parallel to the great length of the package. To obtain cuts and form fold lines accurately, the corrugated cardboard cutting operations are preferably performed by laser cutting, marking the fold line with a cutting primer.

Those skilled in the art will readily understand that for the packaging of lighter products, such as electric accumulators for two-wheeled vehicles, a cardboard a little lighter can be used.

The cardboard box 3 comprises a bottom, two opposite main faces 4 (constituting in FIG. 1 the front and rear faces), associated with the long sides of the bottom, and two transverse faces 5 (for the outer face) and 5 '(for the inner side).

As can be seen in this Figure 1, the width of the carton corresponds to the width of the transported object, possibly providing a margin if absorbent pads (not visible in the figure) are placed in the bag, in look at the faces of the object facing the main faces.

Shims 6 are interposed between the transported object and the transverse faces of the cardboard box 3, so that the object can not slide relative to the plane of the bottom of the cardboard box. These shims can be made of any suitable material, such as for example blocks of foam or polystyrene, or cardboard, crumpled or folded, and in this case, preferably in the same carton that used to make the box.

Furthermore, the main faces 4 of the cardboard box 3 are slit so as to form flaps 7 which are very partially covering the upper part of the object 1. At these flaps, and more specifically to the height of notches 8 serving as a reference, a binding 9, here constituted by a strip, is plated on the object so as to secure the assembly formed by the object (possibly in its plastic bag) and the cardboard box . On each side of the flaps, there is a free zone having the entire height of the package, perfectly adapted to place a transport label.

Referring now also to Figure 2, it is understood that the cardboard box is obtained from a cardboard blank, having generally the shape of a cross. In FIG. 2, the continuous lines correspond to blanks on all the thicknesses of the carton, and the dashes to fold lines or, if specified hereinafter, partial cutting lines.

In this Figure 2, we thus identify the base 10 forming the bottom of the rectangular cardboard box, with these long sides, fold lines 11 for forming the main faces 4 of the box 3, and on these small sides, lines of folds 12 for the formation of the lateral faces 5.

The portion intended to form the main faces is extended in its direction parallel to the folds 11 by flaps 14 formed by cutouts 15 and lines of folds 13. When the main faces of the blank are straightened, the flap 14 can thus be brought back parallel to the lateral faces 5.

For greater strength and rigidity, the side faces 5 are in fact double walls and to do this, the horizontal portion of the cross has at its opposite ends to the base 10, a distal portion 5 ', which a folded towards the inside of the box along the fold line 16, just form the inner wall of the transverse face. Along the fold line 16 are also formed tabs 17, formed by cuts passing through a single thickness of flutes.

Furthermore along the fold lines 12 are formed recesses 18 which on the one hand, allow to lock in position the inner and outer walls of the transverse faces by means of the pins 19 at the end of the distal portion 5 '(while imprisoning the flaps 14) and secondly, are adapted to receive the tabs 17 of a first package placed under a second package of the same format. Thus, it is possible to stack up to 5 packages with electric accumulators for automobiles.

20, identical windows are formed in the outer walls 5 'and inner 5, which coincide with each other when the walls are folded over one another. In order for flaps 14 not to mask these windows 20, they also include appropriate cutouts 21. These windows 20, and the cutouts 21, thus form handles for handling the package. The grip of the package is facilitated by the wedges 6 which hold the accumulator remote from the inner side wall 5 '.

Returning now to the vertical portion of the cross, there is a fold line 21 between the cutouts 22 to form the flaps 7. In Figure 1, there is shown short flaps, covering only partially the upper part of the accumulator. By cons, in Figure 2, it is proposed flaps whose length is essentially a half-width base, which will cover the entire upper part of the battery, but without overlapping. But even so, the package has a look essentially "open", without confusing the bottom of the top.

In the example of Figure 1, the wedges 6 are constituted by a single rectangular strip, folded in four to form an M with a base placed on the bottom of the package. To ensure that the tape stays in shape, it is often best to hold it in place with tape.

As illustrated in Figure 3, it is also possible to use wedges formed from a T-piece, by folding on itself the central portion of the T and at 90 ° the ends of the transverse bar to form in a way a table with a double plate 23, 24 and two straight feet 25. Alternatively, the "table" can be lying down or upside down, the double plate then resting on the base of the package.

Advantageously, these T pieces are obtained directly with the blank used for the realization of the box. In the example of FIG. 4, for the sake of clarity, the cross section intended to form the outlines of the cardboard box has simply been included in the central portion, using the zones left free in the corners to form T-pieces for holds. In the example shown here, 3 types of T-pieces are formed each time, thus the parts of FIG. 3 (23, 24, 25) and parts 26 and 27 whose dimensions vary very slightly from those of FIGS. previous parts, which allows to use the same blank for different dimensions of electric accumulators. Under these conditions, parts of the cardboard sheets that should have been recycled should be used.

The proposed packaging protects the electric accumulators against any short circuit, no dangerous trace of alkali or acid is found outside the package and the package is provided with gripping means, and designed so that the battery can not slide, fall, or be damaged.

Claims (10)

1. Package consisting of a box (3) made from a blank by cutting and grooving comprising a base (10), two transverse faces (5, 5 '), two main faces (4), a transported object (1 ) of prismatoid shape, the height of which is less than that of the transverse faces (5, 5 '), and comprising in the upper part at least one orifice provided with a plug for filling a corrosive liquid, being placed on the base ( 10), with shims (6) interposed between the transverse faces (5 ') and the object (1), and the main faces (4) being slotted on their opposite end to the base so as to provide flaps (7). ) covering part of the upper part of the transported object (1), said object (1) being secured to the box by a binding (9) resting on the flaps (7). 2. Package according to claim 1, characterized in that the flaps (7) have notches (8) for positioning the binding (9). 3. Package according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the transverse faces (4) are constituted by side walls connected to the short sides of the bottom and folded on themselves at the level of fold lines (16) at mid height to form double thickness walls (5, 5 '), and side flaps (14) are foldably bonded to the main faces (4) and are held between the two thicknesses of the side walls (5, 5'). 4. Package according to claim 3, characterized in that the lateral walls forming the transverse faces (5, 5 ') comprise windows (20) coinciding with one another to form handles. 5. Package according to claim 4, characterized in that the side flaps (14) comprise cutouts (21) coinciding with the windows (20) of the transverse faces (5, 5 '). 6. Package according to any one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that the fold lines (16) of the side walls comprise tabs (17) formed by notches formed in the side walls and in that recesses ( 18) are formed at the folds (12) between the base (10) and the side walls (5, 5 ')., So that when two identical packages are superimposed, the tabs (17) of the lower package enter the recesses (18) of the upper package to form a stable assembly. 7. Package according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the wedges (6) are constituted by folded pieces cut directly from the blank. 8. Package according to any one of the preceding claims characterized by a bag (2) surrounding the object (1), said bag being in a plastic material resistant to the corrosive liquid contained by the object, absorbent pads being optionally placed in the bag. 9. Package according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the blank is in double corrugated cardboard. 10. Package according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said object (1) is an electric accumulator.