WO1992015507A1

WO1992015507A1 - Shipping container for goods sensitive of temperature

Info

Publication number: WO1992015507A1
Application number: PCT/SE1992/000114
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ola NORDSTRÖM; Nils Larsson; Göran WESTERHOLM
Original assignee: Eurotainer Ab
Priority date: 1991-03-05
Filing date: 1992-02-26
Publication date: 1992-09-17
Also published as: SE467107B; AU1342492A; SE9100650D0; SE9100650L

Abstract

In a transport container for temperature sensitive goods the door and the walls are comprised of elements consisting of a sheet of an insulating material as foamed polyurethan with a panel (22) on either side. The door case area of the wall elements and all the edges of the door are completely covered and protected by metal profiles, preferably of aluminium, with inward profiles (11, 13) being metallically insulated from outward profiles (10, 12) by means of an adhesive foam strip (14). Hereby the thermal bridge between the inside and the outside of the container is broken at the same time as the areas around the door, which are very much subject to ruff treatment and driving damages from loading vehicles, are protected in best possible way from external influences. The container is suitable for transport of heat sensitive goods as fresh and frozen food as well as of freeze sensitive goods as e.g. paints. The container is intended for use without cooling equipment but may be completed with ice packs or the like.

Description

SHIPPING CONTAINER FOR GOODS SENSITIVE OF TEMPERATURE

The- present invention concerns a transport container for temperature sensitive goods according to the preamble of claim 1.

Today there is a great need of transports for heat sensitive as well as freeze sensitive goods which during transport has to be protected from the influence of too high and too low temperatures respectively of the surroundings. Thus, in most countries extended schedule cool and freeze transport vehicles covering several districts are available for companies that desire such transports. The draw backs of these transports are the lack of flexibility due to boundnes to use certain times and certain routes, as well as a very high cost. It could be mentioned as an example that the transport of an average quantity of fresh fish a distance of fourty metric miles, brings about a net cost rise of up to SEK 8-10 per kg fish, rising the costs for the consumers about SEK 30 per kg. In practice this has resulted in transport of fresh fish to the inner regions of Sweden only once a week in order to let the transports comprise larger quantities. Recently also smaller transport containers for transport of mainly heat sensitive goods have been suggested. These known devices are, however, either intended for very short transports, or provided with refrigerator equipment, which demands an external power source, or provided with eutectic material in the inner walls why the containers must be "charged" to be able to be used as cold and freeze transports respectively. Another draw back with the existing containers of the similar kind is relative high weight, which leads to difficulty in handling.

Through SE-B-387 916 a device of the above mentioned kind is previously known. In this device the goods is placed on a loading pallet and is covered with a first insulating cover, which comprises means for applying a cooling medium as liquid nitrogen. Then a second cover is arranged, also covering the loading pallet, which is arranged sealingly against the first cover, thus creating a barrier layer of gas around the goods. This device is very complicated to handle and demands means for applying of cooling medium as well as great accuracy in the arrangement of the respective covers to achieve full tightness.

Devices to protect heat sensitive goods are also previously known from GB-1 382 230 and Patent Abstract of Japan of the Japanese Patent Application 54-24066, which devices however, on the one hand has complicated design and on the other hand demands applying of cooling medium and arrangements for achieving vacuum respectively.

A particularly difficult problem to master in connection with a transport container of the above kind is present at the edges of the door and at the door case. There parts are namely subject to very ruff treatment due to the container being intended to receive a standard loading pallet with relative tight fit, which is loaded e.g. with a fork lift truck. The area around the door as well as the edges of the door thereby risk to be driven on to by pallets and, which is more serious, by the fork of the fork lift truck. There is therefore a desire in a container of the above mentioned kind to assure great resistance against impacts and damage in said areas. In a container which according to the invention is manufactured with wall elements of per se impact resistant but still relatively brittle material, the solution is to provide these areas with sorrounding metal profiles preferably of aluminium. However, an unbroken metal profile which in the closed posi¬ tion of the door provides metallic contact between the storage space within the container and the surroundings would bring about a substantial detoriation of the total coefficient of heat pasage of the container. This problem is solved according to the invention by the profiles surrounding said edge por¬ tions consisting of at least two metal profiles being insulated from metallic contact with each other and at the same time being fastened together by means of an adhesive foamed layer as acrylic foam tape or the like, said layer having a thickness of about 1 - 3.5 mm, preferably 1.5 - 2.5 mm. A tape with 2 mm thickness which is suitable in connection with the invention is commercially available under the trade name Scotch VHB Y-4912-F. This way the thermal bridge between the storage space of the container and the surroundings is effectively broken at the same time as said edge portions over their intire surfaces are covered and protected by metal profiles. Previously known arrangments for breaking thermal bridges are not suitable in a container of the above kind. Edge sections of a plastic material (e.g. thermoplastic) as well as metal profiles where the thermal bridge has been broken by an insulating part being including in the width of the profile comprise unsuitable solutions, due to inferior resistance against e.g. driving damages. A totally unbroken metal profile or e.g. screwed or riveted together metal profiles are also unsuitable due to the presence of thermal bridges and in the later case also due to the fact that screws and rivets are easily damaged when driven into, whereby problems may occur at the door hinge and with the tightness of the container.

It is also an aim of the invention to achieve a transport container fullfilling the rules of the Swedish National Food Administration concerning international transport of easily damaged food and special equipment for such transport (ATP)

(issued June 13, 1983) for containers that possess such a high grade of insulation that no cooling/heating equipment is needed. In this kind of containers the demand is that the loaded goods holds the necessary temperature during a certain time at certain conditions only due to the insulating proper¬ ties of the container.

The invention will now be described in greater detail in connection with a prefered embodiment and accompanying drawings, on which

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a container according to the invention, and

Fig. 2 is a section through the door case and door edge at the hinge side of a container according to the invention.

Fig. 1 thus shows a transport container 1 according to the invention adapted to contain a loaded standard loading pallet as e.g. a Europe pallet. The container 1 is assembled from wall elements 2 on five sides, the edge portions being fastened together with the aid of metal profiles 3 on all edges except the ones comprising door case of the door 4. The container 1 is further attached to an outer loading pallet 5 for easy handling with a fork lifter as a fork lift truck.

Fig. 2 shows a section through the door case and the door edge at the hinge side of the container according to the invention. A wall element 2.4 consists of a sheet 21 of an insulating material as e.g. foamed polyurethan and an impact resistant panel 22 of e.g. glass-fiber reinforced polyester on either side. At the door case side the wall element is covered with a case section being comprised of a first profile with U-shaped section 10 and a first profile with Z-shaped section 11 being interconnected by an adhesive foam strip 14, which is preferably comprised of an adhesive acrylic foam for the necessary adhesion and strenght. The outward profile 10 and the inner profile 11 overlap so that the outward U-profile surrounds one of the flanges of the Z-profile. Hereby the largest possible resistance against driving damages and the like is achieved. The U-profile 10 as well as the Z-profile 11 each shows dimensions in the transverse direction of the wall element corresponding to substancially half the thickness of the wall element. The door is constructed with an edge section in a similar manner. The door element 2.3 is thus inserted into a space that is formed by a second U-profile 12 and a second Z-profile 13. The assembling of these profiles 12 and 13 is undertaken at an overlapping portion under the inter¬ mediate of an adhesive acrylic foam strip 14 as has been described above.

Fig. 2 further shows a hinge 17 recessed in a space that is; formed in the first U-profile 10 to avoid the hinge from protruding too far outside the main dimensions of the con¬ tainer. The hinge 17 may have an axial lenght substantially according to the whole hight of the door blade. To facilitate orienting of the hinge at the assembly, its associated profiles are provided with ridges 17.1 and 17.2 for the co- operation with corresponding grooves in the first and the second U-profile 10, 12 respectivelly. The U-profile 12 is at its inward flange further provided with a groove 15 for a sealing strip 16. A second sealing strip may possibly be applied on any of the Z-profiles 11, 13 at the position 18 in Fig. 2. The U-profiles are further provided with ridges 20 on the sides that are facing the wall elements to achieve a certain distance between the surface of the profile and the surface of the wall element, thereby assuring that glue that is applied onto the profile and the wall element respectively is not scraped away at the assembly but instead that a glue joint of a suitable thickness may be formed. It is further suitable that all meeting edges are covered with glue before mounting.

To facilitate guiding of the door 4 when cloosing, wedged shaped guiding lips 31 are preferably arranged at the meeting sides of the horisontal U-profile near the free end of the door. The guiding lips are preferably manufactured from a suitable synthetic material, they have a thickness corres- ponding to the distance between the U-profiles in the closed position of the door and also serve as stiffening means in the shearing direction of the container.

The embodiment described above is only to be regarded as a prefered example of the invention, the scope of which is only limited by the following claims. The surrounding profiles at the door case and the door edge respectively may thus be comprised of more common U-shapes, meaning that the door case section may consists of a U-profile which is interconnected by means of an adhesive acrylic foam with a nearly I-shaped profile. The door edge may be manufactured from two L-profiles that are interconnected so that a U-shaped section is formed.

Even if the container is adapted to be used without cooling or heating means it may with adavantage be completed with e.g. ice packs.

Claims

C L A I M S

1. Transport container (1) for temperature sensitive goods including five wall elements (2.4) and a door element (2.3) each element consisting of a core of an insulating material

(21) with a panel (22) of an impact resistant plastic material on either side, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the door case sections of the walls as well as the edge sections of the door are completely covered and protected by metal profiles (10,11,12,13), preferably of aluminium, and that said covering profiles each are comprised of at least two profiles that are interconnected at a distance from each other by means of an adhesive foam strip (14) , preferably adhesive acrylic foam, whereby the inward profiles (11,13) that make contact with the inner space of the container are metallically insulated from the outward profiles (10,12) that make contact with the sur¬ rounding air.

2. Container according to claim l, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that said foam strip (14) has a thickness of 1 - 3.5 mm, preferably 1.5 - 2.5 mm.

3. Container according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i ¬ z e d in that the profiles that make contact with the surrounding air are comprised of essentially U-shaped profiles (10,12) and that the profiles that make contact with the inner space of the container are comprised of essentially Z-shaped profiles (11,13).

4. Container according to any of the claims 1 - 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the outward profiles

(10.12) overlap a portion of the respective inward profiles

(11.13) at the interconnecting area.

5. Container according to claim 3 or 4, c h a r a c t e r ¬ i z e d in that the outward U-profiles (10,12) surround a flange of the respective inward Z-profile (11) .

6. Container according to any of the claims 1 - 5, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by a hinge (17) being recessed in a space that is formed within one of the U-profile.

7. Container according to any of the claims 1 - 6, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in the profiles associated with the hinge (17) being provided with ridges (17.1,17.2) for the cooperation with corresponding grooves in the U-profiles.

8. Container according to any of the claims 3 - 7, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the U-profiles (10,12) as well as the Z-profiles (11,13) each have a dimension in the transverse direction of the wall element substantially corresponding to half the thickness of the wall element (2.3,2.4).

9. Container according to any of the previous claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that each of the inter¬ connecting areas is situated at the half wall thickness.