ITTO20111079A1 - BAMBOO PALLETS OR BAMBOO COMPOSITE MATERIAL AND PROCESS OF PRODUCTION OF SUCH PALLETS. - Google Patents

Description

â € œPALLET IN CHILD OR IN COMPOSITE MATERIAL BASED ON BAMBÃ ™ AND PROCEDURE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THIS PALLETâ €

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a pallet made of bamboo or a bamboo-based composite material and to a process for producing such a pallet.

As is known, pallets or pallets are raised support bases used for supporting various types of material, intended to be stored, to be handled with specific equipment (forklifts and transpallets) and transported with the most varied means of transport.

Based on the specific use for which they are intended, the technique offers pallets of many types, from the very light ones for the loading of plastic objects to the very sturdy ones for the loading of metals, from those of half the size compared to the standard for small shipments to the very long ones for loading bar materials. The materials with which the pallets are made are also very varied, depending on specific or particular uses, such as wood, plastic or metal: in particular, wood is still today the most widely used material even if, considered the less availability of raw material, the costs of these pallets have progressively increased, giving rise to the need to recover and reuse the same pallets several times and to recover the material at the end of their useful life for the production of new pallets. For this reason, the technique has also proposed compressed wood chipboard pallets to make productions at lower costs and to allow easy recycling of this material: however, given the fragility and delicacy of the material they are made of, they do not allow reuse. .

The technique also offers cheap pallets made with assembled bamboo canes, such as those described in US5636577, JP2009132452, CN101104454, CN2806334, CN2584531 or in bamboo-based composites such as the one described in CN201580626: in particular, the pallet described in CN201580626 is ̈ made of a layered composite material made up of bamboo, wood chips, plastic and rubber waste and a glass fiber matrix.

The object of the present invention is to solve the aforesaid problems of the prior art by providing a pallet in bamboo or in composite material based on bamboo, alternative to those proposed by the known art.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a pallet made of bamboo or a bamboo-based composite material which is lighter than the wooden pallets of the same size proposed by the known art.

Furthermore, an object of the present invention is to provide a pallet in bamboo or in a bamboo-based composite material in which the component elements can have lower thicknesses than the corresponding components of the wooden pallets proposed by the known art, while ensuring similar resistance. .

Another object of the present invention is to provide a process which allows the production of a bamboo-based composite pallet in an economical and practical way.

The aforesaid and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will emerge from the following description, are achieved with a bamboo or bamboo-based composite material pallet such as that described in claim 1.

Furthermore, the above and other objects and advantages of the invention are achieved with a process for producing a pallet in bamboo-based composite material such as that described in claim 7.

Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variants of the present invention form the subject of the dependent claims.

It will be immediately obvious that innumerable variations and modifications (for example relating to shape, dimensions, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) can be made to what has been described without departing from the scope of the invention as appears from the attached claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments, provided by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

- FIG. 1 shows a side view of a preferred embodiment of the pallet according to the present invention;

- FIG. 2 shows a front view of a preferred embodiment of the pallet according to the present invention; And

- FIG. 3 shows a top view of a preferred embodiment of the pallet according to the present invention.

With reference to the Figures, it is possible to note that the pallet 1 according to the present invention is substantially composed of at least one lower support support 3 and at least one upper loading plane 11, at least this lower support support 3 and / or at least this plane top load 11 being made of bamboo and / or a bamboo-based composite material.

Preferably, this bamboo-based composite material is composed of a mixture comprising:

- bamboo pulp;

- at least one gluing agent consisting, for example, of vinyl glue;

- at least one synthetic resin matrix composed of at least one oligomer and at least one crosslinking agent: this synthetic resin can obviously be of any type suitable for the purpose, such as, for example, an acrylic resin, an epoxy resin, an unsaturated polyester resin or a vinyl ester resin.

The lower support support 3 is preferably composed of a plurality of support feet 5 joined at the bottom in groups of three by means of relative first strips 7 and suitably spaced to define openings 9 which allow the insertion of the forks of a lifting means and transport (such as, for example, a trolley or â € œmulettoâ €). Furthermore, the upper loading surface 11 is preferably composed of a plurality of second strips 13 arranged mutually parallel.

Obviously, the lower support support 3 and the upper loading surface 11, and in particular the support feet 5, the first strips 7 and the second strips 13, can be made of bamboo or of the bamboo-based composite material of which above as distinct elements and then subsequently connected to each other by, for example, gluing, nailing, screwing and / or bolting.

Alternatively, if both the lower support support 3 and the upper loading surface 11 are made of a bamboo-based composite material, the pallet 1 according to the present invention can be of the monobloc type in which this lower support support 3 and this upper loading surface 11, and in particular the supporting feet 5, the first strips 7 and the second strips 13, are integral with each other without solution of continuity and made, for example, by injection of this composite material with bamboo base inside a single suitably shaped mold.

Obviously the pallet 1 according to the present invention can have any defined dimension, for example, according to the specific uses for which it is intended. In particular, given A the width and B the depth of the pallet, it can have:

- dimensions of the generic European pallet in which A = 1200 mm and B = 800 mm;

- dimensions of the American generic pallet in which A = 48 inches (equal to approximately 1200 mm) and B = 40 inches (equal to approximately 800 mm);

- dimensions of the Asian generic pallet in which A = 1100 mm and B = 1100 mm.

The present invention also relates to a process for producing a pallet 1 according to the present invention such as the one described above, and in particular consisting of at least one lower support support 3, this lower support support 3 preferably composed of a plurality of feet support 5 joined at the bottom to groups of three by means of relative first strips 7 and suitably spaced to define openings 9, and at least one upper loading surface 11, said upper loading surface 11 being preferably composed of a plurality of second strips 13 mutually arranged parallel. In particular, the process according to the present invention comprises the steps of:

a) providing at least one mold defining at least this lower supporting support 3 and / or at least this upper loading surface 11;

b) provide a composite mixture comprising bamboo pulp, at least one gluing agent, at least one oligomer and at least one crosslinking agent: obviously, the oligomer and crosslinking agent can be the most varied in order to compose an adequate synthetic resin for this purpose as, for example, an acrylic resin, an epoxy resin, an unsaturated polyester resin or a vinyl ester resin. Similarly, the gluing agent can be as varied as, for example, vinyl glue;

c) introducing this mixture in the liquid state into this mold; obviously, this phase can consist of any molding technique suitable for the purpose, such as, for example, the injection of this mixture inside this mold;

d) wait for the hardening of this mixture, and in particular of the matrix consisting of the synthetic resin; And

e) removing said lower supporting support 3 and / or said upper loading surface 11 from said mold.

Obviously, in the case in which the pallet 1 according to the present invention is of the monobloc type, the mold of step a) will be single and defining inside it both the lower support support 3 and the upper loading surface 11, and in particular the support feet 5, the first strips 7 and the second strips 13. Alternatively, if the pallet 1 according to the present invention is composed of distinct elements, phase a) will comprise the sub-phase of providing at least one mold defining the support lower support 3, and in particular at least one mold defining at least one of said feet 5 and at least one mold defining at least one of said first strips 7, and at least one mold defining the upper loading surface 11, and in particular at least one mold defining at least one of these second strips 13: in this case, obviously, the process according to the present invention will also comprise, after the aforementioned step e), the step of connecting the lower supporting support 3 and the upper loading surface 11, and in particular the supporting feet 5, the first strips 7 and the second strips 13, for example by gluing, nailing, screwing, and / or bolting.

Some preferred embodiments of the invention have been described, but of course they are susceptible of further modifications and variations within the scope of the same inventive idea. In particular, numerous variants and modifications, functionally equivalent to the preceding ones, which fall within the scope of the invention will be immediately apparent to those skilled in the art, as highlighted in the attached claims.

Claims (10)

CLAIMS 1. Pallet (1) characterized by the fact of being composed of at least one lower support support (3) and at least one upper loading surface (11), at least said lower support support (3) and / or at least said loading surface upper (11) being made of bamboo and / or a bamboo-based composite material. 2. Pallet (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that said bamboo-based composite material is composed of a mixture comprising bamboo pulp, at least one gluing agent, at least a synthetic resin matrix composed of at least one oligomer and at least one crosslinking agent. 3. Pallet (1) according to claim 2, characterized in that said gluing agent is constituted by vinyl glue. Pallet (1) according to claim 2, characterized in that said synthetic resin is an acrylic resin, an epoxy resin, an unsaturated polyester resin or a vinyl ester resin. 5. Pallet (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said lower support support (3) is composed of a plurality of support feet (5) joined at the bottom in groups of three by means of relative first strips (7 ) and spaced apart to define openings (9) and said upper loading surface (11) is composed of a plurality of second strips (13) arranged mutually parallel. 6. Pallet (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is of the monobloc type and in that said lower support support (3) and said upper loading surface (11) are integral with each other without solution continuity. 7. Production process of a pallet (1) consisting of at least one lower support support (3) and at least one upper loading surface (11), characterized in that it comprises the steps of: a) providing at least one mold defining at least said lower supporting support (3) and / or at least said upper loading surface (11); b) providing a composite blend comprising bamboo pulp, at least one gluing agent, at least one oligomer and at least one cross-linking agent; c) introducing said mixture in a liquid state into said mold; d) wait for the mixture to harden; and e) removing said lower support support (3) and / or said upper loading surface (11) from said mold. 8. Process according to claim 7, characterized in that said oligomer and said cross-linking agent make up an acrylic resin, an epoxy resin, an unsaturated polyester resin or a vinyl ester resin and in that said gluing agent is vinyl glue. 9. Process according to claim 7, characterized in that said lower support support (3) and said upper loading surface (11) are distinct elements and in that step a) comprises the sub-step of providing at least one mold defining said lower support support (3) and at least one mold defining said upper loading plane (11). 10. Process according to claim 9, characterized in that after step e) it comprises the step of connecting said lower support support (3) and said upper loading surface (11) to each other.