ITMI970495U1 - CONTAINER FOR THE STORAGE AND TRANSPORT OF PERISHABLE PRODUCTS - Google Patents

Description

"Container for the storage and transport of perishable products".

The present invention refers to a container for storing and transporting perishable food products, for example fresh fish.

In the known art, the conservation of perishable products during temporary storage and transport phases in which a refrigerating unit is not available for maintaining an adequate temperature takes place by means of containers made of insulating material, for example expanded polystyrene, in which the products themselves they are introduced together with crushed ice.

However, it has been found that this method of conservation, although widely used, is lacking in terms of safeguarding the organoleptic properties of the product. These are soon compromised both by the progressive increase in the level of the melting water of the ice, in which the product is immersed, and by the uneven temperature inside the containers, due to the different exposure of the individual walls and the non-uniformity of the temperature inside the containers. always uniform distribution of the ice inside, in particular during transhipments from one transport carrier to another. This leads to overheating which is not compatible with the quality of the transported product.

The general purpose of the present invention is to obviate the aforementioned drawbacks by providing a container for storing perishable products, such as fresh fish, fruit and vegetables, flowers, etc., which allows the products to be kept dry and at a substantially uniform temperature for a relatively long period. , moreover being of simple structure, of economic production and easy assembly, and which allows, even only partially, to be used according to a "disposable" use.

In view of this purpose, according to the invention, it was thought to realize a container for the storage and transport of perishable products, consisting of a body equipped with walls in insulating material, inside which a casing with a high thermal capacity is inserted. , the casing internally lining the walls of the insulating body

To clarify the explanation of the innovative principles of the present invention and its advantages with respect to the known art, a possible exemplary embodiment applying these principles will be described below, with the help of the attached drawings. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 represents an exploded perspective view of a container according to the invention.

Fig.2 represents a cross-sectional view of the assembled container of Fig.1.

With reference to the figures, a container for the storage and transport of perishable products, indicated generically with 10, consists of a box-like body 11 made of insulating material and a casing 12 with high thermal capacity, which internally lines the box-like body 11 .

The box-like body 11 comprises side walls 13 defining an upper edge 14, a lower bottom 15 and an upper closing cover 16. The side walls 13 and the bottom 15 define a compartment 17 inside the body 11.

The casing 12. intended for receiving the product to be preserved, comprises side walls 18, a lower bottom 19 and an upper closing cover 20. The walls 18, 19, 20 can be mutually assembled to define a compartment 21 for receiving the product .

the high thermal capacity casing 12 is housed inside the compartment 17 of the insulating body 11, lining the walls 13, 15, 16.

The walls 18, 19, 20 of the casing 12 can be advantageously made, as shown in Fig. 2, by means of a double sheet of plastic material, for example polyethylene, delimiting an internal interspace 22 filled with a fluid with a high thermal capacity, such as a eutectic mixture having a predetermined freezing temperature and substantially equal to the temperature to be maintained in the container.

By way of example, the eutectic mixture can consist of a mixture of water and the following products in the percentages indicated:

sodium mg / 1 3 ÷ 5

calcium mg / 1 30 ÷ 50

potassium mg / 1 3 ÷ 8

magnesium mg / 1 5 ÷ 10

sulphate mg / 1 30 ÷ 50

silica mg / l 10 ÷ 20

This mixture has a freezing temperature of -2 ° C. The walls 13, 15, 16 of the box-like body 11 can be made of a known low-cost thermally insulating material, such as polyurethane or expanded polystyrene, of a thickness suitable to ensure the desired thermal insulation and adequate solidity to the body itself.

According to a further innovative feature of the invention, the casing 12 can advantageously be obtained from wall elements 18, 19 hinged together along the separation lines between the bottom 19 and the walls 18.

In this way, the casings 12, when the containers 10 are not used, or during the cooling phase of the eutectic mixture, can be extracted from the box-like bodies 11 stretched out and stored stacked one on top of the other, with minimal occupation of space.

The wall elements can be made as separate pieces joined together by hinges to hinges, or they can be obtained, from a single double flat plate with the hinges 26 consisting of suitable bending bends made in the plastic constituting the plate. The invitations can also be simple, welding lines between the two walls forming the cavities. Also the lid 20 can optionally be made as a part hinged to one of the walls 18.

The lower portion of the container can advantageously be provided with seats 23 for receiving gripping members of handling means, for example the forks of a lift truck.

The lid 16 of the box-like body 11 can be provided with a shaping, for example the step-like one shown with 24 in the figures, to allow it to be properly inserted on the upper edge 14 of the walls 13.

The lid 16 can be separated from the walls of the box-like body 11, as shown in Fig.1, and can be inserted on it by pressure or interlocking, or it can be constrained by means of a hinge 25, as shown in broken lines in Fig.2 , to one of the walls 13.

The cycle of use of the container according to the invention is briefly described here. The high thermal capacity envelope 12 is previously cooled to a temperature at which the eutectic mixture is in the solid phase. Subsequently, the envelope 12 is inserted into the compartment 17 of the insulating box body 11 and filled with the product to be stored and transported, pre-cooled to the storage temperature.

During the permanence of the product in the container, the heat coming from the external environment is used to heat the eutectic mixture and to change its state from solid to liquid; the temperature inside the container therefore remains substantially viniform and constant in all its points until the eutectic is completely melted. During this phase the container can be handled until it is stored in a refrigerated environment.

When the product is extracted from the container, the wrapper 12 can be removed, washed and cooled again in view of a new use. Given its low production cost, the insulating box-like body 11 can be replaced without excessive expense if it had been damaged during transport.

Therefore, a container according to the invention can be seen which allows to safeguard the organoleptic properties of the product during its storage and transport, further obtaining further advantages, such as a high degree of hygiene of the product and a considerable speed of handling in the phases of passage from a transport carrier to another. The container according to the invention is also particularly robust and, given its structural simplicity, can be made at low cost.

Naturally, the above description of an embodiment applying the innovative principles of the present invention is given by way of example of such innovative principles and must therefore not be taken as a limitation of the patent scope claimed herein.

For example, the container can be made in shapes different from those shown, according to particular storage and transport needs of specific products.

Furthermore, an additional container may be provided for the product to be stored, to be inserted inside the high thermal capacity envelope, made of cheap material so as to allow, for certain products and when particular needs (for example hygienic) require it, a use of the "disposable" type of such additional container.

Claims (11)

CLAIMS 1. Container (10) for the storage and transport of perishable products, consisting of a body (11) equipped with walls in insulating material, inside which a casing (12) with high thermal capacity is inserted, the casing (12 ) lining the walls (13, 15, 16) of the insulating body (11) internally. 2. Container according to claim 1, characterized in that the walls of the insulating body (11) comprise side walls (13) and a lower bottom (15) integral with them, defining a compartment (17) into which it is inserted in a removable manner the high thermal capacity casing (12), and an upper closing cover (16). Container according to claim 1, characterized in that the high heat capacity envelope (12) comprises side walls (18) and a lower bottom (19), defining a compartment (21) for receiving the product to be stored, and an upper closing cover (20). 4. Container according to claim 1, characterized in that the casing (12) has walls (18, 19, 20} made hollows to delimit an internal cavity (22) filled with a fluid with a high thermal capacity having a predetermined freezing temperature . 5. Container according to claim 3, characterized by the fact that at least the side walls (18) and the bottom (19) of the casing (12) are hinged together to allow the substantial flattening of the casing. 6. Container according to claim 5, characterized in that the jams are provided along the junction lines between the bottom (19) and the walls (18). Container according to claim 2, characterized in that the closing lid (36) of the insulating body (11) is hinged to a wall (13) of said body (11). 8. Container according to claim 1, characterized in that the insulating material is constituted by expanded polystyrene. Container according to claim 4, characterized in that the walls (18. 19, 20) of the casing (12) are made from a pair of facing plates of plastic material. 10. Container according to claims 5 and 9, characterized in that the hinges are made as welding lines between the plates of the pair. 11. Container according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises seats (23) at the bottom for receiving elements for gripping movement means.