US20060219596A1

US20060219596A1 - Packaging material

Info

Publication number: US20060219596A1
Application number: US11/092,864
Authority: US
Inventors: Tien-Chang Lin; Morris Min; Cecily Chen; Hua-Jun Fan
Original assignee: Inventec Corp
Current assignee: Inventec Corp
Priority date: 2005-03-30
Filing date: 2005-03-30
Publication date: 2006-10-05

Abstract

A packaging material is used as a buffering and packaging apparatus for an electronic device arranged in a packaging box. The packaging material has a buffer holder, a side clip and at least one buffering portion. The buffering holder adjoins the bottom of the packaging box. The side clip extending upwardly from the buffering holder clamps to both sides and base of the electronic device. The buffering component extending from the side clip horizontally with respect to the buffer holder abuts against the sidewall of the packaging box.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to packaging materials, and more specifically, to a packaging material for electronic devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Once an electronic device is produced, appropriate packaging is always required before shipping the goods to different retail stores or warehouses, so that any delicate interior component and appearance of the electronic device can be protected by superior package structure during handling, transportation and storage. For instance, an electronic device such as a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) is mostly supported by a single base; therefore, it is extremely important to achieve the stability of the LCD packaging by employing packaging material to pack the items as a whole before loaded into a packaging box, so as to provide good protection for the LCD during handling, transportation and storage. A conventional packaging material is shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic device 100 is clamped on both sides by two identical primary packaging materials 10. Since the base 110 of the electronic device 100 is not packaged by anything, the support and protection provided by such conventional technique for the base 110 of the electronic device 100 would be frail. Consequently, the base 110 may not be able to bear the force of gravity applied to the other portions of the electronic device 100 above the base 110, and therefore the base 110 may be deformed and bent. Furthermore, each primary packaging material 10 with no buffering structure to provide a buffering effect against forces attributed from shaking or dropping occurred during handling, transportation, or storage would cause damage to the electronic device 100.
To resolve the problems as discussed above, as shown in FIG. 2, a secondary packaging material 20 is added to secure the base 110 of the electronic device 100. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3, the electronic device 100 packaged respectively with the primary packaging materials 10 and the secondary packaging material 20 is loaded into a packaging box 30.
As shown in FIG. 2, supporting portions 101 of the primary packaging materials 10 abut against sidewalls of the packaging box 30; however, the supporting portion 101 is designed without any buffering structure for providing a buffering effect against the forces attributed from shaking or dropping the packaging box 30. In other words, only the portion (i.e. supporting portions 101) of each primary packaging material 10 that abuts against the wall of the packaging box 30 can provide a clamping force to the electronic device 100, whereas other portions of each primary packaging material 10 are not capable of clamping the electronic device 100. Thus, the use of such packaging materials 10 and 20 would not provide superior packaging and buffering.
Additionally, neither the structure of the primary packaging materials 10 nor that of the secondary packaging materials 20 is capable of securing an accessory packaged box 130 of the electronic device 100 as shown in FIG. 3. As a result, the accessory packaged box 130 may move freely within the packaging box 30 during transportation, possibly causing damage to the electronic device 100.
In addition, the primary packaging materials 10 clamping to both sides of the electronic device 100 would compress inwardly under pressure, which means that the primary packaging material 10 would compress toward the base 110 of the electronic device 100. Also, if impact is exerted from the bottom of the packaging box 30, the fragile connection structure formed between the electronic device 100 and the base 110 thereof may break easily. Thus, employing such packaging materials would damage the electronic device 100 instead of protecting it. Further, employing the secondary packaging material 20 for protection requires more packaging materials and thereby increases the packaging cost. Furthermore, the addition of the secondary packaging material 20 increases the overall packaging cost as well as the complexity of packaging operations since the secondary packaging material 20 must be assembled correspondingly to the base 110 of the electronic device 100
Moreover, the aforementioned technique used in the prior art requires the additional use of the secondary packaging material 20; in order to match the size of the secondary packaging material 20, packaging volume would therefore become larger. If the packaging box is becoming larger, this would reduce the amount of the packaging boxes stored in a certain space, and thus increase the shipping cost dramatically.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a packaging material with superior packaging and buffering so as to resolve the defects of the prior art as mentioned and to provide fixation of other accessories, a decrease in volume and cost, and a facilitated assembling.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In light of the aforementioned drawbacks in the prior art, a primary objective of the present invention is to provide a packaging material with superior packaging and buffering effect.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a packaging material, which is capable of reducing packaging volume.
Still another objective of the present invention is to provide a packaging material, which is capable of reducing the cost of production.
A further objective of the present invention is to provide a packaging material, which is capable of facilitating the assembling process.
In accordance with the foregoing and other objective, the present invention provides a packaging material placed in a packaging box used as a buffering and packaging apparatus for an electronic device, comprising a buffering holder, a side clip and at least one buffering component.
The buffering holder is placed at the bottom of the packaging box and preferably formed in a trapezoid-shaped structure. In a preferred manner, the buffering holder comprises several abutting portions formed at a side of the side clip and a continuous concavo-convex buffering structure formed at a side away from the side clip.
Preferably, the side clip and the buffering holder are mutually perpendicular. The side clip extends upwardly from one side of the buffering holder and comprises a primary fixation portion to clamp the electronic device. The primary fixation portion can be formed as a slit. The side clip further comprises a confining portion, which may be a wedge opening that tapers off from the primary fixation portion.
The at least one buffering component extended from one side of the side clip horizontally with respect to the buffering holder abuts against the side of the packaging box. Preferably, each buffering component is formed in a continuous concave-convex structure or in a ripple-like structure. Furthermore, each buffering component comprises fixation portion and buffering structure, wherein each fixation portion is mutually perpendicular and corresponds to each other; the buffering structure corresponds to the side of the electronic device.
Compared to the prior art, two buffering components and the buffering structure of the packaging material in the present invention are capable of providing buffering protection on both sides of the electronic device in addition to superior packaging, and is capable of securing another accessory box of the electronic device. Moreover, the present invention is designed to facilitate the operation of the packaging assembling line for the packaging process and resolve the complexity issued caused by the conventional packaging process.
Moreover, the fixation portion of each buffering component secures the accessory box of the electronic device, thus avoid damage resulted from a freely traveling accessory box during transportation in a conventional packaging box. In addition, in the conventional packaging technique, three packaging parts (two packaging materials 10 and one packaging material 20) has to be used to sufficiently secure the electronic device, while the present invention employs only two package materials (i.e. without a separate package material 20 for the base 110) and provides better packaging and buffering protection. Thus, the production cost and the assembling procedure can be reduced. Furthermore, the accessory box can also serve as a buffer for the electronic device against any shock directly applied thereto, and subsequently improve the protection of the packaging according to the present invention.
Moreover, the size of the packaging in the present invention is smaller than the conventional one, thus the amount of packaging being carried in a certain space can also be increased, therefore reducing transportation fee.
As discussed above, the packaging material in the present invention resolves problems in the prior art, such as inferior packaging and buffering, lack of fixation for other accessory box, bulky packaging volume, higher cost of production, and complex assembling process etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, with reference made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 (PRIOR ART) is a perspective view of an electronic device packaged in a conventional manner by two packaging materials;
FIG. 2 (PRIOR ART) is a perspective view of the electronic device packaged in a conventional manner by three packaging materials;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the packaging materials and the electronic device of FIG. 2 assembled into a packaging box;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the structure of a packaging material constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
FIGS. 5-8 are schematic diagrams showing a packaging procedure employing the packaging material of FIG. 4; and
FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a modified example of the packaging material of to the present invention

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Preferred embodiments of a packaging material proposed in the present invention are described in detail as follows with reference to FIGS. 4 to 8. The packaging material of the present invention is employed to secure an electronic device in a packaging box. Monitors, such as LCD Display, Tablet PC etc., can be used in the following preferred embodiments as illustrations; however, it is to be noted that the scope of the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, any conventional monitors or other electronic devices are suitable as well. Since the structure of the monitor is not altered, for the sake of simplicity and lucid illustration of the characterized features and the structures of the present invention, only the structure directly related to the present invention would be shown in the figures; other irrelevant portions would be omitted herein.
As shown in FIG. 4, a packaging material 1 comprises a buffering holder 11, a side clip 13 and at least two buffering components 15 and 17, wherein the buffering holder 11 can be made of elastic materials. The side clip 13 extending upwardly from one side of the buffering holder 11 has a primary fixation portion 131 for clutching an electronic device. Each of the buffering components 15 and 17 extended from one side of the side clip 13 horizontally with respect to the buffering holder 11 is employed to support the lateral side of the packaging box.
In this preferred embodiment, the buffering holder 11 formed in a trapezoid-like shape has several abutting portion s 111 formed on a side of the side clip 13, and a buffering structure 113 formed in a continuous concave-convex manner on a side away from the side clip 13.
The side clip 13 is perpendicular to the buffering holder 11 and comprises a confining portion 133. The shape of the primary fixation portion 131 would correspond to the shape of the electronic device to which the primary fixation portion 131 is fixed. In the preferred embodiment, the shape of the primary fixation portion 131 can be slit like. The confining portion 133 served as a wedging opening that is tapering off from the primary fixation portion 131. In this preferred embodiment, the confining portion 133 can also be other equivalent structure that keeps the electronic device away from the bottom surface of the packaging box in a constant distance, and is not limited to a taper opening.
Each of the buffering components 15 and 17 can be a buffering structure formed in a continuous concave-convex shape similar to the buffering holder 11. Also, a secondary fixation portion 151 can be formed on the buffering component 15 and a third fixation portion 171 can be formed on the buffering component 17. The secondary fixation portion 151 can be selectively formed at the place which is next to the side clip 13 and parallel to the buffering holder 11; the third fixation portion 171 can be selectively formed at the place, which is next to the side clip 13 and perpendicular to the buffering holder 11, so that the secondary fixation portion 151 is mutually perpendicular to the third fixation portion 171. In this embodiment, two buffering components 15 and 17 are formed for illustration; however, it is to be noted that various quantity of the buffering components can be applied to other embodiments, and further, the buffering components 15 and 17 can be selectively formed with continuous ripple shapes or any other equivalent shapes. Furthermore, even if the buffering components 15 and 17 in this preferred embodiment are formed with the packaging material 1 as an integral structure, the disclosure enables a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify the present invention. Thus, the scope of the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments.
When packaging the electronic device, as shown in FIG. 5, two packaging materials 1 with identical structure are first employed to clamp both sides of the electronic device 100. Specifically, in this preferred embodiment, the primary fixation portions 131 are employed to clamp both sides of the electronic device 100. Meanwhile, at the locations the buffering components 15 and 17 that correspond to the primary fixation portion 131, buffering structures 153 and 173 having curved surfaces are formed respectively, enhancing the buffering effect.
Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 6, the electronic device 100 clamped by the packaging material 1 can be loaded into a packaging box 200, wherein the packaging box 200 can form two protective portions 201 corresponding to the two abutting portion s 111 of the buffering holder 11. It is to be noted that in order to make drawings clearer and more comprehensible, only partial of the packaging box 200 is shown in the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 7, when the electronic device 100 clamped on both sides by the packaging material 1 is placed in the packaging box 200, the outer abutting portions 111 abut against the to the protective portions 201 of the packaging box 200; the middle abutting portions 111 abut against the base 110 of the electronic device 100 to protect the base 110 by the protective portions 201 and the abutting portions 111. Besides, the buffering holders 11 adjoin the bottom surface of the packaging box 200, while the buffering structures 113 of the buffering holders 11 and each of the buffering components 15 and 17 adjoin the inner sidewall (not shown) of the packaging box 200, so as to abut against the lateral sidewall of the packaging box 200.
In this embodiment, the protective portions 201 can be a protrusive structure made of different materials from that of the packaging box 200, and the altitude of the protective portions 201 is an altitude that can at least abut the base 110. The protective portions 201 can be corrugated papers, and is also not limited by the foregoing embodiment. It is to be understood that the protective portions 201 can also be other inner structures with lower fracture intensity as long as the protection on both sides of the base 110 of the electronic device 100 is enhanced. Also, any material that is capable of absorbing impact in the case that the base 110 hits the packaging box 200 so as to avoid the packaging box 200 being cracked, is suitable for the present invention.
Meanwhile, the accessory packaged box 130 of the electronic device 100 can be placed between two packaging materials 1 along the third fixation portions 171. Thus, the accessory box 130 can be secured by the secondary fixation portions 151 and the third fixation portions 171. As shown in FIG. 8, two packaging materials 1 can be used to package the electronic device 100 and its accessory box 130 at the same time. Compared with the conventional package box 30, employing the present invention allows the packaging box 200 with smaller size to be feasible.
It is to be noted that both electronic device and its accessory box contain a certain weight; however, the present invention can be applied to easily package both into the same packaging box, thus reducing packaging difficulty. In addition, the aforementioned packaging process only serves to provide description for the present invention with no intent to limit the scope of the invention. Therefore, any modification of the aforementioned packaging process can be applied to the present invention.
The buffering structures 113 and the buffering components 15 and 17 of the two packaging materials 1 provides both sides of the electronic device 100 with superior packaging and buffering protection, and therefore resolve the problem of using the conventional packaging material with no buffering structure to buffer impacts derived from shaking or dropping the packaging box. Also, the base 110 of the electronic device 100 can be secured and protected by the protection portions 201 and the abutting portions 110 surrounded thereof, so as to avoid impact produced by pressure exerted from the bottom that may fracture the connecting structure between the electronic device and its base when using the conventional packaging method as described.
Meanwhile, the secondary fixation portions 151 and the third fixation portions 171 of the buffering components 15 and 17 secure the accessory box 130 of the electronic device 100, and thereinafter provide protection against damages caused by freely traveling of the conventional accessory box between the packaging box and the packaged material during transportation.
Moreover, in the conventional packaging technique, three packaging parts (two packaging materials 10 and one packaging material 20) has to be used to sufficiently secure and protect the electronic device, while the present invention employs only two package materials (i.e without a separate package material 20 for the base 110) and provides better packaging and buffering protection. Thus, the production cost and the assembling procedure can be reduced. Furthermore, the accessory box can also serve as a buffer for the electronic device against any shock directly applied thereto, and subsequently improve the protection of the packaging according to the present invention.
Moreover, the size of the packaging in the present invention is smaller than the conventional one, thus the amount of packaging being carried in a certain space can also be increased, therefore reducing transportation fee.
Thus, it is clear that the packaging material in the present invention not only capable of providing superior packaging and buffering, but also capable of providing optionally the fixation of another accessory box and reducing the packaging volume, so as to facilitate the assembling process and reduce the cost.
The principles and functions of the present invention have been described using exemplary preferred embodiments. However, it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangement. Packaging structures that depart from the present invention only by obvious modification are also considered to be covered by the scope of the present invention. For instance, a packaging material 1 and a packaging material 1′ are shown in FIG. 9, packaging material 1 has a curved buffering structure 153 to protect the side of the electronic device 100, whereas the packaging material 1′ has a rectangular-shaped buffering structure 155 to protect the side of another electronic device, such as a DVD player. The scope of the claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.

Claims

1. A packaging material arranged in a packaging box for an electronic device, comprising:

a buffering holder for abutting against the bottom of a packaging box;

a side clamping component extended upwardly from one side of the buffering holder comprising a primary fixation portion for clamping the electronic device; and

at lease one buffering component extended from one side of the side clamping component horizontally with respect to the buffering holder for providing support on a side of the packaging box.

2. The packaging material of claim 1, wherein the buffering holder is a trapezoid-shaped structure.

3. The packaging material of claim 1, wherein the buffering holder comprises a plurality of abutting portions formed at the side of the side clamping component and a continuous concave-convex buffering structure formed at the side away from the side clamping component.

4. The packaging material of claim 1, wherein the side clamping component and the buffering holder are substantially perpendicular.

5. The packaging material of claim 1, wherein the primary fixation portion is formed as a slit.

6. The packaging material of claim 1, wherein the side clamping component comprises a confining portion.

7. The packaging material of claim 6, wherein the confining portion is a wedge opening.

8. The packaging material of claim 6, wherein the confining portion is an opening tapered off from the primary fixation portion.

9. The packaging material of claim 1, wherein each buffering component is formed into a continuous concave-convex structure or a ripple-like structure.

10. The packaging material of claim 1, wherein each buffering component comprises fixation portion and a buffering structure, each fixation portion is substantially perpendicular and corresponds to each other, and the buffering structure corresponds to the side of the electronic device.