JP2003292052A - Foamed container for cooling fish - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a foamed container for cooling fish capable of suppressing heat exchange between a boundary surface of an ice piece and cold water and air the upper space of the container and suppressing heat exchange between the inside and the outside of the container in the final stage of ice melting by decreasing volume of the housing space to the accompaniment of the ice melting. <P>SOLUTION: The foamed container is equipped with a container main body 2 for housing fish 21 and the ice piece 22, an upper cover 4 attached to the upper opening and a dropping cover 5 made of a foamed material which is dropped from the opening to the inside of the container and floats on the ice piece. A water drain 6 is formed on the bottom portion of the container main body 2. The dropping cover 5 athermalizes the ice piece and the upper space 24 in the container main body 2 and suppresses disorder of the cold water boundary surface 23a. The water 23' produced by melting of the ice piece 22 is discharged from the drain 6 whereby the dropping cover 5 descends to reduce the housing space of the fish 21 and the ice piece 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a foam container for keeping a fish cold, in which the fish is housed together with ice pieces or the like and is kept cold during transportation of live fish.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a foam container as shown in FIG. 5 has been used as a container for keeping fish cold used for transporting live fish. The foam container 50 is composed of a container body 2 and an upper lid 4, which are molded of expanded polystyrene for containing the fish 21, the ice pieces 22, and the cold water 23.

[0003]

However, in such a foamed container 50, the cold water-liquid interface 23a and the air 24 in the upper space of the container are in contact with each other and are not insulated, and therefore, between them. Heat exchange occurs and the cold storage time is shortened. In addition, the cold water liquid interface 23a is disturbed (swayed) as shown by the broken line in FIG. 5 due to the vibrations and shakes applied to the container during transportation, so that the heat exchange is further promoted and the cool keeping time is further shortened.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems. By insulating the liquid surface of cold water and the air in the upper space of the container, heat exchange between the two is suppressed, and cold insulation is maintained. It is an object of the present invention to provide a foam container for keeping a fish cold for a longer time.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 is a container body formed of a foam body for containing fish, ice pieces and / or cold water, and a container body of the container body. A foam container for keeping fish cold, comprising a foam lid attached to an upper opening, and an ice piece and / or cold water dropped inside the container body through the opening of the container body. A drop lid formed of a foam having a size substantially covering the liquid interface is provided, and the drop lid is floated on the ice piece or the cold water liquid interface, and the ice piece or the cold water liquid interface and the inside of the container body. The contact with the air in the upper space is blocked, and the ice pieces or cold water and the air in the upper space are insulated.

In this structure, the contact between the ice pieces or the cold water liquid interface and the air in the upper space is shut off by the drop lid suspended on the ice pieces and / or the cold water interface. Since the foam forming the drop lid has heat insulating properties, the drop lid insulates the ice pieces or the cold water liquid interface from the air, and suppresses heat exchange between the two. Further, by suspending the drop lid on the ice pieces or the cold water boundary surface, the disturbance of the cold water liquid interface due to the vibration and shaking applied to the container during the transportation of the foam container is suppressed, whereby the above heat exchange is performed. It is further suppressed.

Further, the invention of claim 2 is the foam container for keeping fish cold according to claim 1, wherein the bottom of the container body is
A drain hole for discharging the water generated by melting the ice pieces to the outside of the container is formed, and the drop lid descends as the water generated by melting the ice pieces is discharged from the water discharging hole, It is intended to reduce the storage space volume for fish and ice pieces. In this configuration, the water generated by melting the ice pieces is discharged from the drain hole to the outside of the container, and accordingly, the drop lid descends, and the volume of the accommodation space for the fish and the ice pieces decreases. As a result, heat exchange between the inside and the outside of the container is suppressed especially at the end of ice melting of the ice pieces.

The invention of claim 3 is the foam container for keeping fish cold according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the drop lid has a foaming ratio lower than that of the foam forming the container body and the upper lid. It is formed by. In this configuration, the drop lid is formed of a foam having a lower expansion ratio and a larger specific gravity than the foam forming the container body and the top lid, so that the disturbance of the cold water liquid interface is further suppressed and the upper space inside the container is reduced. The heat exchange at is suppressed.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION (Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, a foam container for keeping fish cold according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a foam container for accommodating fish together with ice pieces and keeping them cool. The foam container 1 includes a container body 2 for accommodating fish 21, ice pieces 22, and cold water 23, an upper lid 4 attached to an upper opening 3 of the container body 2, and a drop lid dropped into the container through the opening 3. It is equipped with 5.
The container body 2 and the upper lid 4 are made of expanded polystyrene having an expansion ratio of 55 times, and the drop lid 5 is made of expanded polystyrene having a lower expansion ratio. The drop lid 5 is an ice piece 22 housed in the container body 2.
And the ice water 22 and the cold water-liquid interface 23a are formed so as to substantially cover the cold water-liquid interface 23a.

The drop lid 5 includes an ice piece 22 or a cold water interface 23.
It floats on a and blocks the contact between the ice pieces 22 or the cold water interface 23a and the air 24 in the upper space. Since the drop lid 5 is made of expanded polystyrene having a heat insulating property, it insulates the ice pieces 22, the cold water interface 23a and the air 24 from each other. As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, the height is substantially lower than the actual inner surface height a of the container, that is,
Cooling effect equivalent to that when using a container with small heat exchange between the inside and outside of the container (container with inner surface height b) can be obtained, the melting time of ice can be extended, and the cooling time of items such as fish 21 can be extended. can do.

Further, by suspending the drop lid 5 on the ice pieces 22 and the cold water interface 23a, the disturbance of the cold water liquid interface 23a due to the vibration and shaking applied to the foam container 1 with the transportation of the foam container 1 is suppressed. The heat exchange is further suppressed. At this time, since the drop lid 5 is formed of expanded polystyrene having a lower expansion ratio and a higher specific gravity than the container body 2 and the like, the effect of suppressing the disturbance of the cold water-liquid interface 23a during transportation of the expanded container 1 becomes large. .

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 3 shows a foam container for keeping a fish cold according to another embodiment of the present invention. The foam container 10 includes a container body 2 equivalent to the foam container 1 of the first embodiment, an upper lid 4 and a drop lid 5, and the fish body 21 and the ice pieces 22 are housed in the container body 2. The bottom of the container body 2 is formed with a drain hole 6 for draining water 23 ′ generated by melting the ice pieces 22 to the outside of the container. In the foam container 10, the water 23 ′ is discharged from the drain hole 6 to the outside of the container, and the drop lid 5 descends accordingly. As a result, the volume of the accommodation space for the fish 21 and the ice pieces 22 is reduced.

As described above, according to the foam container 10, the drop lid 5 descends as the water 23 'generated by the melting of the ice pieces 22 is discharged, and the height of the accommodation space for the fish 21 and the ice pieces 22 is reduced. As a result, it is possible to obtain the same cold insulation effect as when the ice pieces 22 are sequentially transferred to a small container, and it is possible to improve the cold insulation effect particularly at the end of the melting of the ice pieces 22.

Experimental results for verifying the cold insulation effect of the foam containers 1 and 10 according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 4A shows the experimental results for the foam container 1 according to the first embodiment. No. 1 is No. 1 when there is no drop lid 5. 2 to No. Reference numeral 10 shows the effect of keeping cold when the nine types of drop lids 5 and the like are floated on the cold water liquid interface 23a. Further, in FIG. 11, No. 1
No. 2 is the foam container 1 of the first embodiment. 13, N
o. 14 shows the experimental result about the foam container 10 of the second embodiment.

The container body 2 and the upper lid 4 used in this experiment
Is a rectangular parallelepiped shape made of expanded polystyrene having a foaming ratio of 55 times and a wall thickness of 18 mm, and its inner dimension is 267 mm (length) x 206 mm.
(Width) × 110 mm (height). In the experiment shown in FIG. 4 (a), the foam container 1 containing 1 kg of ice pieces and 2 kg of water was left standing in the circulating air at 25 ° C. without stacking in the presence of light. The cold-retaining effect is indicated by the melting time of the ice pieces 22 calculated from the water temperature in the container and the cold-retention extension time and extension rate calculated from this melting time. The water temperature in the container can be measured by a temperature sensor that is inserted into the container through small holes provided in the upper lid 4 and the dropping lid 5. Since the rate of increase of the water temperature in the container is significantly different before and after the melting of the ice pieces 22, the melting time of the ice pieces 22 can be calculated by measuring the water temperature with the temperature sensor.

In FIG. 4 (a), No. No. 1 is No. 1 when there is no drop lid 5. 2 to 4 have a wall thickness of 6 mm,
It shows the melting time of the ice pieces 22 and the effect of extending cold insulation when the drop lid 5 formed of expanded polystyrene plates of 10 mm and 20 mm is floated on the cold water liquid interface 23a. No. Reference numeral 5 indicates the melting time of the ice pieces 22 when the dropping lid 5 made of a foamed polyethylene plate having a wall thickness of 5 mm and colored in blue is floated. No. 6,
No. 7 shows the melting time of the ice pieces 22 when the air mat and the aluminum vapor deposition film (hereinafter referred to as the AL film) are suspended. In addition, No. No. 8 was No. 8 when an AL film bonded to the uneven surface of the air mat was floated. 9, No. Reference numeral 10 indicates the melting time of the ice pieces 22 when the drop lid 5 formed by laminating the AL film on the upper surfaces of the foamed polyethylene plates having the thicknesses of 1 mm and 6 mm, respectively, is suspended.

According to FIG. 4 (a), the melting time of ice pieces is 20 minutes (1.9%) due to the drop lid 5 made of foamed resin such as expanded polystyrene or expanded polyethylene.
It can be seen that ~ 90 minutes (8.0%) has been extended. In the actual transportation of live fish, the cold water-liquid interface 23a is shaken by vibration and heat exchange in the upper space is promoted. Therefore, it is presumed that the cooling effect by the drop lid 5 is further increased. Further, it is recognized that as the thickness of the drop lid 5 becomes thicker, the cooling effect becomes larger, but the thickness is 10 m.
About m is enough, and a thicker cover 5
It can be seen that even if the film is formed, no further improvement in the cold insulation effect can be expected. However, by forming the dropping lid 5 to be thick, it is possible to block the light transmitted through the upper lid and the vicinity thereof and to maintain the freshness of the product in the container for a long time. In addition, No. Similarly, the blue-colored dropping lid 5 of FIG. 5 also suppresses heat exchange in the upper space, blocks light passing through the upper lid and the vicinity thereof, and retains the freshness of the product in the container for a long time. It is aimed at that. As described above, when the light-shielding property is enhanced by coloring the drop lid 5 and the freshness-retaining property of the product is enhanced, the color is not limited to blue, but may be another color, for example, white.
By shading the drop cover 5 in a darker color, it is possible to enhance the light blocking effect.

In FIG. 4 (b), the drop lid 5 is used for the foam container 1 used in the experiment of FIG. 4 (a) and the foam container 10 having two drain holes 6 having a diameter of 10 mm on its bottom surface. The difference in the effect of keeping cold depending on the presence or absence of is shown. In this experiment, the container contained 2 kg of ice chips 22,
A drop lid 5 made of 0 mm thick expanded polystyrene is used. No. 11, No. Reference numeral 12 indicates the melting time of the ice pieces 22 when the drop lid 5 is not provided for the container body 2 having no water drain hole 6 and when the drop lid 5 is dropped. In addition, No. 13, No. Reference numeral 14 denotes an ice piece 2 when there is no drop lid 5 with respect to the container body 2 having the water drain hole 6 and when the drop lid 6 is dropped.
2 shows a melting time of 2. In addition, this No. 13, N
o. The experimental results shown in 14 are measured by the foam containers 10 stacked on top of the two. N
o. 12, No. 14, the melting time of the ice pieces 22 is extended by 150 minutes (6.3%) and 120 minutes (4.5%) respectively by the drop lid 5 regardless of the presence or absence of the drain hole 6. Excellent cooling effect is recognized.

The present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, considering the effect of preventing disturbance of the cold water-liquid interface 23a during transportation of live fish, the expansion ratio of the expanded polystyrene forming the drop lid 5 is made smaller than the expansion ratio of the container body 2 and the upper lid 4, and the drop lid 5 is formed heavier. It is desirable to do this, but drop lid 5
The expansion ratio may be equal to or higher than that of the container body 2 or the like. In this case, the heat insulating property of the drop lid 5 can be easily enhanced. Further, the material of the drop lid 5 is most preferably expanded polystyrene, which has a large cooling effect at a low manufacturing cost, but expanded resin such as expanded polyethylene or other foam may be applied. Further, if an AL film is attached to the upper surface or the lower surface of the drop lid 5 formed of such a foam, the cold insulation effect can be promoted and the light-shielding property can be improved. It is possible to maintain the freshness for a long time. The effect of keeping cold can also be enhanced by forming the upper lid 4 double by the outer lid and the inner lid. However, in this case, the heat insulation is inferior to that of the single lid having the total thickness of the outer lid and the inner lid.

The expansion ratio of the container body 2 and the upper lid 4 is not limited to 55 times. Further, the cooling material for cooling the inside of the container is not limited to the ice pieces 22, and another cooling storage material may be applied. Further, in order to maintain the freshness of the fish 21, seawater may be used as the cold water 23. Furthermore, the items stored in the container are not limited to fish,
You may make it accommodate other foods that need to be kept cold.

[0021]

As described above, according to the invention of claim 1,
The drop lid floating on the ice pieces or the cold water interface blocks contact between the ice pieces or the cold water interface and the air in the upper space to insulate heat, so that heat exchange between them can be suppressed. This makes it possible to obtain the same cold-retaining effect as when using a container having a substantially low height, to extend the melting time of ice, and to extend the cool-keeping time of items such as fish. Further, since the drop lid is floated on the ice pieces or the cold water interface, disturbance of the cold water interface due to vibration and shaking applied to the foam container during transportation is suppressed, the above heat exchange is further suppressed, and items such as fish are You can extend the cold storage time.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the water generated by melting the ice pieces is discharged from the drain hole, so that the drop lid descends and the volume of the accommodation space for the fish and the ice pieces is reduced. It is possible to obtain the same cold insulation effect as when sequentially transferring to a container in which heat exchange between the inside and outside of the container is small. As a result, it is possible to improve the cold insulation effect particularly at the end of ice melting of the ice pieces.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the drop lid is formed by the foam having a lower expansion ratio and a larger specific gravity than the foam forming the container body and the upper lid, the effect of suppressing the disturbance of the cold water liquid interface is obtained. Grows larger. As a result, heat exchange in the upper space of the container is further suppressed, and the cold keeping time of items such as fish can be extended.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a foam container for keeping fish cold according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram for explaining improvement of a cold insulation effect by the container.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a foam container for keeping fish cold according to another embodiment of the present invention.

4 (a) and 4 (b) are diagrams showing experimental results for verifying the improvement of the cold insulation effect by the container.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a conventional foam container for keeping fish cold.

[Explanation of symbols]

1,10 foam container 2 container body 3 openings 4 Upper lid 5 Drop lid 6 drainage holes 21 fish 22 Ice pieces 23 Cold water 23 'Water produced by melting ice pieces 23a Cold water liquid interface

Continued front page    F-term (reference) 3E035 AA05 AB02 AB10 BA01 BB07                       BD05 CA02                 3E067 AA11 AB02 BA02A BB17A                       BC07A CA18 EE60 FA01                       FC01 GA01 GB07 GD01                 3E084 AA05 AA14 AA24 AB10 BA03                       CA03 CC03 EA01 EC03 FA09                       GA08 GB12

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A fish comprising a container body made of foam for containing fish, ice pieces and / or cold water, and an upper lid made of foam attached to an upper opening of the container body. In a foam container for keeping cold, the foam container is dropped into the container through an opening of the container body, and is formed of a foam having a size substantially covering the ice pieces and / or the cold water-liquid interface contained in the container body. A drop lid is provided, and the drop lid is placed in a floating state on the ice piece or the cold water liquid interface, and blocks the contact between the ice piece or the cold water liquid interface and the air in the upper space in the container body. And a foam container for keeping fish cool, which insulates the air in the upper space. 2. The bottom of the container body is formed with a drain hole for discharging the water generated by melting the ice pieces to the outside of the container, and the drop lid is provided with the water generated by melting the ice pieces. 2. The volume of the fish and ice pieces is reduced as the water is drained from the drainage hole, and the volume of the accommodation space for fish and ice pieces is reduced.
The foam container for keeping the fish cold as described in. 3. The cold-keeping fish according to claim 1, wherein the drop lid is formed of a foam having a lower expansion ratio than a foam forming the container body and the upper lid. Foam container.