JP7415462B2 - Cushioning material - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a cushioning material.

Patent Document 1 listed below discloses a gas-filled cushioning material. The cushioning material of Patent Document 1 is divided into a plurality of blocks as a whole, and within each block, the sections are interconnected through ventilation holes, and the blocks are made independent from each other. Even if air leakage occurs due to damage, this prevents the air leakage from spreading to other blocks.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-236075

In the cushioning material of Patent Document 1, when air leakage occurs in one block, all of the air in the plurality of sections constituting the block escapes, so there is a problem that the cushioning effect is significantly reduced.

The present invention was made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cushioning material that is advantageous in reliably suppressing a decrease in the cushioning effect during transportation.

The cushioning material according to the present invention includes an air chamber forming body in which a plurality of air chambers whose volume can be changed are connected, an elastic member that is arranged inside each air chamber and expands and contracts due to elasticity, and an elastic member that expands and contracts due to elasticity. an air inlet through which the air inlet passes, a stopper as a closing means capable of keeping the air inlet closed, and a stopper connected to the stopper as an opening means capable of opening the air inlet from the closed state. By closing the air inflow part and maintaining the inside of the air chamber at negative pressure, the elastic member contracts and the volume of the air chamber is maintained in a contracted state, and the string is removed from the contracted state. When the air inflow section is opened by pulling , the expandable member expands and the volume of the air chamber increases .

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a cushioning material that is advantageous in reliably suppressing a decrease in the cushioning effect during transportation.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the cushioning material according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the cushioning material according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the cushioning material according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of use of the cushioning material according to the first embodiment. 5 is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 4. FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a cushioning material according to a second embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of use of a cushioning material according to Embodiment 2; FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a cushioning material according to Embodiment 3;

Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings. Common or corresponding elements in each figure are given the same reference numerals, and common explanations are simplified or omitted.

Embodiment 1.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cushioning material 1 according to the first embodiment. 2 and 3 are cross-sectional views of the cushioning material 1 according to the first embodiment. Note that FIG. 2 corresponds to a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG.

A cushioning material 1 according to the present embodiment shown in these figures has an air chamber forming body 2 . The air chamber forming body 2 has a plurality of connected air chambers 3. The volume of the air chamber 3 can be changed. A partition portion 7 is formed between adjacent air chambers 3. Adjacent air chambers 3 are separated from each other by a partition 7. The plurality of air chambers 3 are connected via a partition 7.

The air chamber forming body 2 is made of a film having gas barrier properties that do not allow air to pass through. The air chamber forming body 2 may be, for example, made by stacking the films in two layers and welding the films to each other at the peripheral edge portion and the position of the partition portion 7.

A telescopic member 4 is arranged inside each air chamber 3. The elastic member 4 can be elastically expanded and contracted. The elastic member 4 may be, for example, sponge-like. 1 and 2 show a state in which the elastic member 4 is contracted. FIG. 3 shows the expandable member 4 in an expanded state. When the expandable member 4 arranged in one air chamber 3 expands, the volume of the air chamber 3 increases.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the air chamber forming body 2 in this embodiment, the air chambers 3 having an elongated shape are connected in a line in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the air chambers 3. In the illustrated example, five air chambers 3 are connected, but the number of connected air chambers 3 is not particularly limited. For example, a larger number of air chambers 3 may be connected.

The cushioning material 1 further includes an air inflow part 5 through which air entering the air chamber 3 passes, a plug 6 that can maintain the air inflow part 5 in a closed state, and a string 8 connected to the plug 6. are doing. The air inflow portion 5 in the illustrated example is an opening provided in each air chamber 3. The plug 6 is attached to the air inlet 5 and hermetically seals the air inlet 5. The plug 6 is an example of a closing means that can keep the air inlet 5 closed.

In the state shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the air inflow portion 5 is closed by the stopper 6, and the inside of the air chamber 3 is maintained at negative pressure. That is, the pressure inside the air chamber 3 is lower than atmospheric pressure. In this state, the elastic member 4 is compressed by atmospheric pressure, so that the elastic member 4 contracts, and the volume of the air chamber 3 is reduced. The state in which the volume of the air chamber 3 is reduced in this manner is hereinafter referred to as a "reduced state." Before the cushioning material 1 is used, the inside of the air chamber 3 is maintained at a negative pressure, so that the compressed state can be maintained.

When the string 8 is pulled, the stopper 6 is removed from the air inflow part 5, and the air inflow part 5 is opened. The string 8 is an example of an opening means that can open the air inlet 5 from the closed state. When the air inflow section 5 is opened from the contracted state, outside air flows into the air chamber 3 through the air inflow section 5, so that the internal pressure of the air chamber 3 becomes equal to atmospheric pressure. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, the expandable member 4 expands and the volume of the air chamber 3 increases. A state in which the volume of the air chamber 3 is increased in this manner will be referred to as an "increased state" hereinafter.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of use of the cushioning material 1 according to the first embodiment. In the example shown in FIG. 4, it is as follows. A plurality of boxes 200 and a plurality of boxes 300 containing products to be transported are stacked on top of each other on a truck 100. In FIG. 4, in a side view of the truck 100, the interior of the cargo box 400 of the truck 100 is shown through a side wall. Note that the cargo box 400 may be integrated with the truck 100 or may be a container loaded on the truck 100. In this example, the case of truck transportation will be described as an example, but the same applies to transportation by rail or ship.

Box 300 is larger than box 200. There is a space between the top boxes 200, 300 and the ceiling of the cargo box 400. A cushioning material 1 is placed in this space. The operator first places the cushioning material 1 with each air chamber 3 in a reduced state into the space. At this time, the cushioning material 1 is placed in such a manner that the longitudinal direction of the air chamber 3 is parallel to the vehicle width direction of the truck 100. The length of the air chamber 3 in the longitudinal direction is close to the width of the truck 100.

Thereafter, each air chamber 3 is inflated by pulling the string 8 and opening the air inflow portion 5 of each air chamber 3. As a result, the space between the ceiling of the cargo box 400 and the top boxes 200, 300 is filled with the cushioning material 1. As a result, it is possible to reliably prevent the boxes 200, 300 from moving inside the shipping box 400 during transportation, thereby ensuring that the boxes 200, 300 and the products stored in the boxes 200, 300 are not damaged. can be prevented.

As in the example shown in FIG. 4, the top surfaces formed by the top boxes 200 and 300 in the packing box 400 may not be on the same plane, but may have a step or the like. In particular, when boxes 200 and 300 of different sizes are loaded, a step or the like occurs on the top surface. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the area where the boxes 300 are stacked is lower than the area where the boxes 200 are stacked, and a step is generated at the boundary. FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 4. FIG. 5 shows a portion where a step occurs at the boundary between the area where the boxes 200 are stacked and the area where the boxes 300 are stacked. In the area where the boxes 200 are stacked, the space between the boxes 200 and the ceiling of the cargo box 400 is narrow. Therefore, the air chamber 3 located in this space can only expand to a relatively small volume. On the other hand, in the area where the boxes 300 are stacked, the space between the boxes 300 and the ceiling of the cargo box 400 is wide. The air chamber 3 located in this space expands to a relatively large volume. In the illustrated example, a plurality of air chambers 3 overlap in the height direction to fill the space between the box 300 and the ceiling of the cargo box 400.

As explained above, in this embodiment, each air chamber 3 can be maintained in a contracted state before using the cushioning material 1, so that the cushioning material 1 can be easily inserted into a narrow space. Moreover, since the air chamber 3 can be inflated from the contracted state to the enlarged state simply by pulling the string 8, there is no need to pump air into the air chamber 3. Therefore, extremely excellent workability can be obtained.

In this embodiment, each air chamber 3 can be expanded to an appropriate volume depending on the size of the space in which it is placed. Therefore, the cushioning material 1 is also suitable for filling spaces with non-uniform shapes.

Further, in this embodiment, the provision of the telescopic member 4 has the following advantages. Even if a hole is made in the film of the air chamber 3 during transportation, the air chamber 3 will not be deflated, so that the buffering effect of the cushioning material 1 can be reliably prevented from decreasing.

In this embodiment, the string 8 corresponding to the opening means is provided separately for each air chamber 3. Therefore, it is possible to individually open the air inflow portion 5 of each air chamber 3 and allow air to flow into the air chamber 3 concerned. This has the following advantages. By pulling only the string 8 of the air chamber 3 that you want to inflate to open the stopper 6, and avoiding pulling the string 8 of the air chamber 3 that does not need to be inflated, you can select the air chamber 3 from among the plurality of air chambers 3. Only 3 can be inflated. By doing so, the space can be filled more appropriately depending on the shape of the space in which the cushioning material 1 is arranged.

On the other hand, the opening means may be configured to allow air to flow into a plurality of air chambers 3 at once. For example, the strings 8 of a plurality of air chambers 3 may be bundled together so that they can be pulled simultaneously in one operation. By doing so, a plurality of air chambers 3 can be inflated with one operation, so that workability can be further improved. Alternatively, a communication path may be provided to communicate the adjacent air chambers 3 with each other, and the air inflow portion 5, plug 6, and string 8 may be provided only in one air chamber 3. In this case, by simply pulling one string 8, the air flowing into one air chamber 3 from the air inflow portion 5 flows into the other air chamber 3 through the communication path, so that the same effect can be obtained.

The closing means that can maintain the air inflow portion 5 in a closed state is not limited to the stopper 6. For example, the air inflow section 5 may be maintained in a closed state by providing an on-off valve that can be opened and closed manually in the air inflow section 5 and closing the on-off valve. In that case, the opening/closing valve corresponds to one that also has the function of an opening means that can open the air inflow section 5 from the closed state.

The cushioning material 1 may be connectable to an air exhaust means for exhausting the air in the air chamber 3. The air evacuation means is, for example, a vacuum pump. The cushioning material 1 may be able to return from an enlarged state in which the volume of the air chamber 3 increases to a contracted state by discharging the air in the air chamber 3 using an air exhaust means. This provides the following effects. Before unloading the boxes 200 and 300 from the truck 100, the cushioning material 1 can be easily removed by connecting an air exhaust means to the expanded cushioning material 1 and returning the cushioning material 1 to its contracted state. Further, the cushioning material 1 may be reused after being returned to the reduced state. For example, a communication path is provided to communicate between adjacent air chambers 3, an air inflow section 5 is provided in only one air chamber 3, the on-off valve is provided in the air inflow section 5, and air is discharged into the air inflow section 5. The means may be connectable. In this case, after the air in the air chamber 3 is exhausted by the air exhaust means, the on-off valve can be closed to return to the contracted state. Alternatively, the air inflow section 5 may be configured as follows. The other ends of the tubes connected to the inlets of each air chamber 3 are merged into one, and a check valve as a closing means is removably installed at the merged portion. An air discharge means is connected to the check valve, and the air in each air chamber 3 is discharged at once by the air discharge means. When inflating the air chambers 3, air can be allowed to flow into each air chamber 3 by removing the check valve.

The cushioning material 1 has perforations formed between adjacent air chambers 3, and the perforations may be separable. That is, perforations may be formed in the partition portion 7 and adjacent air chambers 3 may be separated by separating the perforations. By doing so, there are the following advantages. Depending on the size of the space in which the cushioning material 1 is used, it can be used by cutting out perforations at positions that provide a necessary and sufficient number of air chambers 3. That is, it is possible to separate and use only the necessary portions from one cushioning material 1 having a large number of air chambers 3. Further, when unloading the boxes 200 and 300 from the truck 100, the air chambers 3 can be removed one by one by separating the perforations, so the cushioning material 1 can be easily removed.

Embodiment 2.
Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, focusing on the differences from the first embodiment described above. Elements that are common or corresponding to those described above include: The same reference numerals are used to simplify or omit common explanations. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the cushioning material 9 according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6, the air chamber forming body 2 of the cushioning material 9 of this embodiment has a plurality of air chambers 3 connected in a matrix. In plan view, each air chamber 3 may have a square shape, for example. The partition portion 7 that partitions the plurality of air chambers 3 is formed to have a lattice shape. In the illustrated example, a total of 25 air chambers 3 arranged in 5 rows and 5 columns are connected, but the number of connected air chambers 3 is not particularly limited. For example, a larger number of air chambers 3 may be connected.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of use of the cushioning material 9 according to the second embodiment. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the rear view of the truck 100 shows the inside of the cargo box 400 as seen through the rear wall. In addition, in FIG. 7, illustration of the extensible member 4 arranged inside each air chamber 3 is omitted. Moreover, the side view of the truck 100 shown in FIG. 7 is the same as FIGS. 4 and 5, and therefore will be omitted.

In the example shown in FIG. 7, boxes 300 are stacked in two stacks on the left side, and boxes 500 are stacked in three stacks on the right side. The area where the boxes 300 are stacked is lower than the area where the boxes 500 are stacked, and a step is generated at the boundary. In the area where the boxes 500 are stacked, the space between the boxes 500 and the ceiling of the cargo box 400 is narrow. Therefore, the air chamber 3 located in this space can only expand to a relatively small volume. On the other hand, in the area where the boxes 300 are stacked, the space between the boxes 300 and the ceiling of the cargo box 400 is wide. The air chamber 3 located in this space expands to a relatively large volume.

Further, although not shown, a step similar to that shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 occurs between the box 300 and the box 200 stacked in front of it. The cushioning material 9 is arranged so as to fill the space between the top surface of the boxes 200, 300, and 500 loaded in the packing box 400 and the ceiling of the packing box 400. The procedure for arranging the cushioning material 9 in the space is the same as in the first embodiment.

As described above, the top surface of the cargo in the cargo box 400 may not only have a level difference in one direction, but may also have a level difference in two different directions. Even if the space in which the cushioning material 9 is arranged has a complicated shape, the present embodiment has a plurality of air chambers 3 connected in a matrix. This allows each air chamber 3 to expand to an appropriate volume depending on the size of the space in which it is placed. Therefore, the cushioning material 9 of this embodiment is also suitable for filling spaces with complicated shapes.

Embodiment 3.
Next, Embodiment 3 will be described with reference to FIG. 8, focusing on the differences from the previously described embodiments. common explanations will be simplified or omitted. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the cushioning material 10 according to the third embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 8, the air chamber forming body 2 of the cushioning material 10 of this embodiment has a plurality of air chambers 3 connected in a matrix. The plurality of air chambers 3 are independent without communicating with each other. The volume of each air chamber 3 changes depending on the amount of air contained therein. The cushioning material 10 of this embodiment does not have the elastic member 4. There is no need for any other members to be placed inside the air chamber 3.

Each air chamber 3 is provided with an air injection part 11 that serves as an inlet for introducing air into the air chamber 3. The cushioning material 10 has a closing means that can close the air injection part 11 after filling the air chamber 3 with air. The closing means may be, for example, a check valve (not shown) provided in the air injection part 11.

The cushioning material 10 can be used, for example, as in the second embodiment, to fill the space between the boxes 200, 300, 500 loaded in the cargo box 400 of the truck 100 and the ceiling of the cargo box 400. It is. At this time, after arranging the compressed cushioning material 10, the operator connects an air pump to the air injection part 11 of the air chamber 3 and injects air to inflate the air chamber 3. In this way, the air chambers 3 are inflated one by one. The plurality of air chambers 3 are independent without communicating with each other. Therefore, the volume of each air chamber 3 can be adjusted individually. Therefore, each air chamber 3 can be expanded to an appropriate volume depending on the size of the space in which it is placed. Therefore, like the cushioning material 9 of the second embodiment, the cushioning material 10 of this embodiment is also suitable for filling a complex-shaped space.

According to this embodiment, the following effects can be further obtained. Even if a hole is made in the film of one air chamber 3 during transportation, the air in other air chambers 3 will not escape, so that it is possible to reliably prevent the buffering effect of the cushioning material 1 from deteriorating.

Note that, among the plurality of embodiments described above, two or more that can be combined may be combined and implemented.

1 Cushioning material, 2 Air chamber forming body, 3 Air chamber, 4 Expandable member, 5 Air inflow part, 6 Plug, 7 Partition part, 8 String, 9 Cushioning material, 10 Cushioning material, 100 Truck, 200 box, 300 box, 400 boxes, 500 boxes

Claims (7)

an air chamber forming body in which a plurality of air chambers whose volume can be changed are connected;
an extensible member disposed inside each of the air chambers and elastically expanded and contracted;
an air inflow section through which air enters the air chamber;
a stopper as a closing means capable of keeping the air inlet in a closed state;
a string connected to the stopper as an opening means capable of opening the air inlet from a closed state;
Equipped with
By closing the air inflow part and maintaining the inside of the air chamber at a negative pressure, the elastic member contracts and the volume of the air chamber is maintained in a contracted state,
When the air inflow section is opened by pulling the string from the contracted state, the expandable member expands and the volume of the air chamber increases. The cushioning material according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of said air chambers connected in a line. The cushioning material according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of said air chambers connected in a matrix. The cushioning material according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the opening means is capable of allowing air to flow into the plurality of air chambers at once. The cushioning material according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the opening means is capable of allowing air to flow into each of the air chambers individually. connectable with an air exhaust means for exhausting the air in the air chamber;
Any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the increased state in which the volume of the air chamber has increased can be returned to the contracted state by discharging the air in the air chamber with the air exhaust means. Cushioning material described in. The cushioning material according to any one of claims 1 to 6 , wherein perforations are formed between the adjacent air chambers, and the perforations can be separated.

Images