WO2005030622A1

WO2005030622A1 - A method and system for filling the entire volume of 20 feet steel shipping containers

Info

Publication number: WO2005030622A1
Application number: PCT/TR2003/000079
Authority: WO
Inventors: Metin Erozlu
Original assignee: Metin Erozlu
Priority date: 2003-09-30
Filing date: 2003-09-30
Publication date: 2005-04-07
Also published as: AU2003288889A1

Abstract

A method for filling shipping containers comprising steps of: providing a saddle-like container holder (1) for firmly holding the container (4), providing elevating and actuating means for moving the container, attaching said elevating and actuating means to the container holder (1), positioning the container by a truck (5) in the container holder (1), securing the container (4) to the container holder (1), lifting up the container (4) for allowing the truck (5) go away and for rotating it to vertical position, rotating the container (4) to the vertical position and seating the container (4) on the ground by the actuating means, filling the container (4) at it doors, rotating the container (4) back to its previous position by the elevating and actuating means after filling, seating the container (4) to the truck (5), detaching the container (4) from the container holder (1).

Description

A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FILLING THE ENTIRE VOLUME OF 20 FEET STEEL SHIPPING CONTAINERS

TECHNICAL FIELD

Present invention relates to a method and systems for filling 20 feet containers used in transporting. More particularly, the inventions relates to a method and system for filling 20 feet shipping containers filled with light weight, free flowing, granule and powder materials.

As it is well known, in most cases bulk transportation of many products to other destinations is achieved by way of shipping the products in steel containers in order to prevent any outside effects during the shipping. Usually, companies rent containers, which suits their product's needs, for shipping and accordingly the products to b e s hipped a re u sually f illed i nto containers at m anufacturing p lants and then transported to the container ports and discharged at the destination after shipping. In connection with this, the containers used in shipping are manufactured in predetermined sizes, i.e. with 6 or 12 meters length and 2,35 meters height and 2.35 meters width and accordingly with the interior volume of 32 or 66 m³ respectively, and their load capacity are also limited to a predetermined amount by related legislation such as 22 tons for 6 meter-container. Related to this, companies hiring the containers pay for each container regardless of the load therein. For this reason, especially in case of granule materials with relatively low density, container must be filled %100 entirely in order not to leave nay empty space to reduce transportation costs considerably.

In v iew of t he a bove i nformative explanations, there are several ways to handle filling and discharging containers, especially filled with granule materials, as explained below.

In one embodiment, firstly granule materials are filled into some bags and then the bags are loaded into containers manually by workers. It is obvious that the method is not practical and cost saving at all because of the excessive work force used and the time consumed. Additionally, all available volume of the containers cannot be used because of the gaps remained between bags loaded into containers recklessly. In another embodiment, firstly products are filled into big-bags having 500-1000 kg. load capacity and kept or stockpiled in manufacture plant and at the time of shipping, the big-bags are loaded into containers by some special sized forklifts to enter into the container easily and at last containers are discharged at the destination in the same manner. While loading and discharging, wood pallets are used under the big-bags for easy loading into the container by forklifts. However, such way of transportation incorporates several disadvantages. For example, big- bags used and wood pallets for stockpiling are also shipped with the containers but not returned to the company from its destination. This increases the transportation expenses to the manufacturer, namely 6-8 EUR/ton for big-bags and 5 EUR/ ton for wood plates.

Additionally, container's available volume cannot be used effectively as a result of gaps remained between the big-bags piled in the container and therefore number of containers to be used and costs also increases due to ineffective usage of the container's interior volume. Furthermore, such filling method is really time consuming and not practical at all.

In one another embodiment, containers are loaded without using big-bags by special p urpose l oader vehicles, with relatively s mall wheels a nd b uckets o r the like, which is sized in order to enter into the container. However, it is obvious that effective usage of the container's interior volume cannot be achieved by this way and therefore transportation costs rise considerably as the same as above in addition to excessive time consumed.

In one another embodiment, at first an inner liner bag is manually tied to the steel lashing rings in the container by belts. The inner liner bag preferably has two loading and two discharging spouts and the container is f ixed to a truck having hydraulic means. At the time of filling, the container's one end is tilted to a certain degree and brought in adjacent position to an outlet of a silo or the like. Afterwards, workers climb to lifted end of the container and connect the loading spout of the container t o t he outlet o f the s ilo through c ontainer's d oor a nd t hen c ontainer i s filled using the force of gravity. On the other hand, at the destination, the container can be discharged by being tilted using the force of gravity and/or a rotor jet again depending on the fluidity of the product. In this application, the interior volume of the container still cannot be filled completely since the container cannot be lifted so that it can be vertical to the ground and therefore there always remains spaces not used therein. For this reason, using the all load capacity of the container, for example 22 tons for 6 meter-container, cannot be possible especially when dealing with granule materials, having relatively low density, due to said remaining space not used, manufacturer. Accordingly, transportation expenses rise considerably due to ineffective usage of the container's volume and also the need of using inner liner bags in containers. In addition, this filling method is time consuming, not practical and dangerous since workers climb to risen end of the container, almost 5 meter high, and try to connect the filling spouts to the silo's outlet by risking their life.

Consequently, it is really desired to have a cost/time saving and useful and effective container filling method in the technical field.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Present invention relates to a 20 feet container filling method and a system to realize the method, eliminating all above mentioned drawbacks.

Accordingly, main advantage of the present invention is to be able to use %100 entire volume of the containers used in bulk transportation and thus to reduce shipping costs such as sea, land and air transport.

Another advantage of the invention is to eliminate the need of pre-packing such as bags, sacks or big-bags while filling the containers and therefore to reduce the related costs.

One another advantage of the invention is to minimize workforce and the time consumed and therefore to reduce labor costs to fill containers.

Accordingly, present invention is a method for filling containers, used in shipping, comprising the steps of; providing a saddle-like container holder for securely holding the container, providing actuating means for lifting, lowering and rotating the container, attaching said actuating means to the container holder, positioning the container, preferably by a truck, in the container holder so that it is substantially surrounded by the container holder, securing the container to the container holder, lifting up the container to an adequate height for allowing the truck go away by the actuating means and for being able to rotate it to a substantially vertical position, rotating the container to a substantially vertical position by the actuating means, seating the container on the ground in said vertical position by the actuating means, filling t he e ontainer w ith d esired m aterials a t i ts d oors a t the u pper s ide thereof, rotating the container substantially back to its previous position by the actuating means when desired load capacity i s reached, optionally, lowering the container by the actuating means down to an appropriate level for seating it to the truck, seating the filled container to the truck, detaching the container from the container holder for letting the truck leave the filling place with the filled container

Additionally, present invention is a also system for filling 20 feet containers used in shipping comprising, holding means for holding the container firmly, mounting means for securing the container holder to the container, actuating means, in connection with said holding means, for lifting, lowering and rotating the container.

Also, the present invention is also a container holder for holding shipping containers characterized in that it is a saddle-like frame circling the container and formed by coupling plurality of vertical and horizontal profiles, said container holder also having two detachable horizontal profiles facing each other at bottom surface thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Figure 1a Perspective view of the container holder used in the present invention

Figure 1 b Front elevation of the container holder

Figure 1c Detailed view of mounting step

Figure 2-7 Implementation steps of present invention's method

Figure 8 Alternative application of the present invention's method

Figure 9 View of the rotating means

Figure 10a Side elevation of the container

Figure 10b Plan view of the container

Figure 11 Conventional discharging method by dumping REFERENCE NUMBERS

1. Container holder 3. Carrying columns 8. Elevator

1.1 Bottom side 3.1 Hydraulic jacks 8.1 Elevator's feed

1.2 Lateral sides 4. Container 8.2 Elevator's outlet 4.1 Detachable horizontal

1.3 Shaft 8.3 Electric crane profiles

1.4 Vertical profiles 4.1.1 Bolt holes 9. Rotating means 1.4.1 Bolt holes 4.2 Rubber pads 9.1 Driven gear

1.5 Horizontal profiles 5. Truck 9.2 Rotation chain

1.6 Diagonal profiles 6. Forklift 9.3 Geared electrical motor 1.6.1 Intersection point 7. Big-bag 10. Container fork channels

2. Coupling bolts 7.1 Underground bin

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the detailed description, the present invention's method and system therefor are explained with non limiting examples. Accordingly, the method and system is particularly suitable with 20 feet shipping containers.

As illustrated in figure 1a, holding means is a container holder (4) which is a saddle-like frame preferably in the shape of rectangular prism formed by connecting plurality of vertical and horizontal profiles (1.4, 1.5) so as to form a rectangular prism. At the bottom side (1.1 ) of the container holder (1 ), the vertical profiles (1.4) in front and back are bridged by detachable horizontal profiles (1.5). Accordingly, while securing the container holder (1 ) to the container (4), the container (4) is moved back by a truck (5) into the saddle-like container holder (1) when the two detachable horizontal profiles (4.1 ) is detached. Then, position of the container, still seating on the truck (5), is adjusted so that the detachable horizontal profiles (4.1 ) can be pushed through the two forklift fork channels of the container (10) llustrated in figure 10.

When this is achieved, the detachable profiles is coupled to the vertical profiles by mounting means. The mounting means comprises at least one bolting hole (1.4.1 ) - but preferably two, embodied at the lower part of the vertical profiles (1.4) and also on the forklift fork channels (4.1.1 ) and coupling bolts (2) for firmly connecting the said bolting holes (1.4.1 , 4.1.1) to each other as shown in the figure 1c. On the other hand, referring to figure 1a, the container holder (1 ) also has diagonal profiles (1.6), preferably embodied at the two opposite lateral sides thereof (1.2), which are intersecting each other, to ensure enough strength of the container holder (1) and to obtain a connection point for coupling actuation means to the container holder. In connection with this, as illustrated in figure 1 b, there are two shafts (1.3) secured to the intersection points (1.6.1 ) of the diagonal profiles preferably at the two opposite lateral sides by welding. The shafts (1.3) are directly sitting on the hydraulic jack's bearings to allow the container to be elevated and rotated by actuating means.

Related to this, actuating means mainly comprises elevating means for lifting and lowering the container and rotating means for rotating it in certain degrees in a clockwise and anti clockwise direction.

Accordingly, referring to the figure 1 b, elevating means comprises at least two hydraulic or mechanical jacks (3.1 ). The container holder (1 ) is contacted to the hydraulic jacks (3.1 ) by movably accommodating said shafts (1.3) in the hydraulic jack bearings at two opposite lateral sides (1.2). Additionally, the (3.1 ) jacks are mounted on two carrying columns (3), preferably made of steel and erected on a concrete foundation. Therefore, the container (4) held by the container holder (1 ) can be lifted and lowered by the jacks (3.1 )

On the other hand, as illustrated in figure 1b and particularly in figure 9, rotating means (9) comprises a geared electrical motor (9.3) placed on carrying columns (3), a driven gear (9.1 ) immovably mounted on one lateral side (1.2) of the container holder and a drive chain (9.2) for transferring the rotation motion from the electrical motor to the driven gear (9.1 ). Thanks to this embodiment, the container (4) held by the container holder (1 ) is rotated in certain degrees - preferably in 90° degrees in clockwise and anti clockwise direction even while elevating.

In figures 2-7, the implementation steps of the present method are described.

In an alternative embodiment, different types of jacks can be used instead and number of the jacks and also connection way thereof to the container holder can be changed according to the user's needs. Accordingly, the truck (5) moves back into the container holder and advance until vertical profiles (1.4) is aligned with two forklift fork channels (10.1 ) of the container. A s i llustrated i n f igure 1 0, t he c hannels ( 10.1 ) a re a Iready e xist i n a II conventional 20 feet shipping containers. Then the two detachable horizontal profiles (4.1 ), at the bottom and sized to fit to said forklift fork channels (10.1 ), is pushed into the container channels (10.1 ) to bridge the four vertical profiles (1.4) and then the detachable horizontal profiles (4.1) is bolted to the bottom part of the vertical p rofiles ( 1.4). On t he other h and, at t he u pper s ide of t he container (4), rubber pads (4.2) came in contact with the upper horizontal profiles (1.5).

Afterwards, the container (4) is lifted by hydraulic jacks (3.1 ) over the truck body (5) to the extend that the container's front surface does hit ground when it is rotated to a vertical position, namely approximately up to 10-15 cm and therefore the truck (5) is enabled to leave the filling station without the container. Afterwards, the hydraulic jacks (3.1 ) continue to lift the container (4) 60-70 cms more to reach a substantial height to be able to rotate the container (4) freely to vertical position above ground and the container (4) is rotated accordingly as illustrated in figure 4. Subsequently, hydraulic jacks (3.1) lower the container down to the ground level. Then the container's doors are opened and filling is started by the elevator (8) while the container (4) is in vertical position.

As illustrated in figure 5, the big-bags (7) carrying granule material such as cat-litter granules are brought near to elevator (8) by preferably forklifts (6) and fed into the filling means which is elevating the materials up to the risen end of the container (4). S aid f illing m eans i s a n e levator (8) h aving a feed (8.1 ) a nd a n o utlet (8.2) above the risen end of the container. Therefore, elevator (8) elevates the materials such as cat-litter granules up to outlet thereof (8.2) and accordingly the cat-litter granules flow into the container (4) through the elevator's outlet (8.2). When a big- bag (7) is emptied another one is brought and same process is repeated until the maximum amount of cat-litter granules are filled into the container (4) by using %100 interior volume of the container (4).

For instance, by using all available interior volume, 22 tons of cat-litter granules can easily be filled into a 20 feet container having load capacity restricted to 22 tons by related legislation. Additionally, during the filling, the container (4) may be vibrated by electric vibrating motors continuously or when necessary or in certain periods to settle the cat-litter granules already filled into the container (4) whereby the usage of container's interior volume is maximized.

When maximum l oad capacity i s reached, the container (4) i s l ifted up to 60-70 cms again to clear the diagonal dimension of the container off the ground. Then, as illustrated in figure 6 , the container (4) is rotated back to its p revious horizontal position by means of electric gear (9.3) and lowered down by hydraulic jacks (3.1 ) to be put on backed truck (5). Finally, the two horizontal profiles (1.4) are detached from the forklift channels (10.1 ) after unbolting the coupling bolts (2) from the bolting holes (1.4.1 , 4.1.1) and then the truck (5) leaves the filing station with fully filled container (4).

In addition, to prevent sudden gushing out of the granule material in container during discharging, the door of the container is covered preferably by a plastic based fabric or any other suitable fabric. By this way, at the time of discharging, the operator simply tears or partly remove the fabric to enable smooth discharge.

After shipping, containers may be conventionally loaded to the trucks having dumping mechanism and subsequently discharged at the destination by means of the dumping mechanism as illustrated in figure 11. However, any other discharging method can be applied regardless of the filling method of the present invention.

In figure 8, there is illustrated an alternative use of present invention's method especially for filling the containers with relatively bigger sized materials and/or materials h aving I ow f luidity o r o ther g oods packed i n b ig-bags d irectly f rom t he truck. In this case, an electrical crane (8.3) is used as a filling means. The electrical crane (8.3) lifts big-bags, containing materials having low fluidity or relatively bigger granules, to the upper side of the container for filling and then loads the big-bags into the container (4) by the gravity. If the material is fragile or requires careful handling the elevator's crane (8.3) lowers the big-bag down to an acceptable height in the container, preferably up to the bottom, then a worker also lowered into the bottom of the container empties the goods to the container (4).

Again referring to figure 8, in another alternative application, bulk material is received from an underground bin (7.1 ) and then filled to the container (4) by dump trucks. In the light of above explanations, by making reasonable infrastructural investments, the present invention's method and system can be used as a common filling station in industrial areas and/or container ports in addition to single use thereof in manufacturing plants. In both way, manufacturing and transportation costs will be reduced considerably as explained above.

Although the present invention has been shown and described in terms of a preferred embodiment, it will be appreciated that changes and modifications will be evident to those skilled in the art from knowledge of the teachings of the present invention. Such changes and modifications, which do not depart from the spirit, scope and teachings herein, are deemed to fall within the purview of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for filling 20 feet containers, used in shipping, comprising the steps of: providing a saddle-like container holder (1) for securely holding the container (4) providing actuating means for lifting, lowering and rotating the container attaching said actuating means to the container holder (1 ) positioning the container (4), preferably by a truck (5), in the container holder (1 ) so that it is substantially surrounded by the container holder (1) securing the container (4) to the container holder (1 ) lifting up the container (4) to an adequate height for letting the truck (5) go away and for being able to rotate it to a substantially vertical position rotating the container (4) to a substantially vertical position by the actuating means seating the container (4) on the ground in said vertical position by the actuating means filling the container with desired materials at its doors at the upper side thereof rotating the container (4) substantially back to its previous position by the elevating and actuating means when desired load capacity is reached optionally, lowering the container down to an appropriate level for seating it to the truck (5) seating the filled container (4) to the truck (5) detaching the container (4) from the container holder (1 ) for allowing the truck (5) leave the filling place with the filled container

2. A container filling method according to claim 1 , wherein said container holder (1 ) is a saddle-like frame circling the container (4) and in the shape of rectangular prism formed by coupling plurality of vertical and horizontal profiles (1.4, 1.5), said container holder (1 ) also having two detachable horizontal profiles (1.5) facing each other at bottom surface thereof.

3. A container filling method according to claim 1 , wherein the container holder (1 ) is positioned so that vertical profiles thereof (1.4) is aligned with container's forklift fork channels (10).

4. A container filling method according to claim 3, wherein the container holder (1 ) is secured to the container (4) in a way that said detachable horizontal profiles (4.1 ) are inserted to container's forklift fork channels (10) and then bolting holes of the vertical profiles and detachable horizontal profiles (1.4.1 , 4.1.1 ) are bolted by coupling bolts (2).

5. A container filling method according to claim 1 , wherein the container (4) is filled by using an elevator (8) elevating the materials from big-bags (7) to the open doors of the vertically positioned container (4).

6. A container filling method according to claim 1 , wherein the container (4) is filled by using electrical crane for lifting and then loading the big-bags into the container at the risen end of the container by lowering the big-bags down to the container's bottom.

7. A container f illing method a ccording to a ny of the preceding claims, wherein said materials are granule materials such as cat-litter.

8. A container filling m ethod a ccording to claim 1 , wherein s aid container (4) i s detached from the container holder (1 ) by detaching the two horizontal profiles (4.1 ) off the container's forklift fork channels (10).

9. A container filling method according to claim 1 , wherein, optionally, said container (4) is vibrated during filling continuously or in certain periods or when necessary to settle the materials already filled into the container in order to obtain more spaces.

10. A container filling method according to claim 1 , wherein the door of the container is covered preferably by a plastic based fabric after filling for preventing sudden gushing out of the granule material during discharging.

11. A system for filling 20 feet containers used in shipping comprising, holding means for holding the container (4) firmly, mounting means for securing the container holder (1 ) to the container (4), actuating means, in connection with said holding means, for lifting, lowering and rotating the container (4)

12. A container filling system according to claim 11 , wherein said holding means is a container holder (1 ) which is a saddle-like frame circling the container (4).

13. A container filling system according to claim 12, wherein said container holder (1 ) in the shape of rectangular prism formed by coupling plurality of vertical and horizontal profiles (1.4, 1.5), said container holder (1 ) also having two detachable horizontal profiles (4.1 ) facing each other at bottom surface thereof.

14. A container filling system according to claim 12, wherein said container holder (1 ) also comprises diagonal profiles (1.6), which are intersecting each other, at its two opposite lateral sides (1.2).

15. A container filling system according to claim 14, wherein said container holder (1 ) comprises at least two shafts (1.3) securely coupled to the intersection points of the diagonal profiles (1.6) at the two opposite lateral sides (1.2).

16. A container filling system according to claim 11 , wherein said actuating means comprises elevating means having at least two hydraulic jacks (3.1 ) in contact with the container holder (1 ) via said shafts (1.3).

17. A container filling system according to claim 11 , wherein said actuating means further comprises rotating means (9) having a driven gear (9.1 ) mounted immovably on the container holder's one lateral side (1.2), a geared electrical motor (9.3) and a rotation chain (9.2) transferring the rotation movement of the electrical motor (9.3) to the driven gear (9.1 ).

18. A container filling system according to claim 11 , wherein said actuating means further comprises vibrating means for vibrating the container (4) hold by the container holder (1 ) when necessary.

19. A container filling system according to claim 11 , wherein said mounting means comprises bolting holes (1.4.1 , 4.1.1 ), embodied at the lower part of the vertical profiles (1.4) and also on the forklift fork channels (4.2), and coupling bolts (2) for securing the said bolting holes (1.4.1 , 4.1.1 ) to each other.

20. A container filling system according to claim 11 , further comprising filling means for filling the container (4) with desired materials at its risen end.

21. A container filling system according to claim 20, wherein said filling means is an elevator (8) having a feeding inlet (8.1 ) big-bags is seated thereto and outlet (8.2) materials supplied from the big-bags (7) drop therefrom into the container (4).

22. A container filling system according to claim 20, wherein said filling means comprises a crane (8.3) for lifting big-bags (7) up to the risen end of the container (4) and then lowering them down to the bottom of the container.

23. A container holder for holding shipping containers characterized in that it is a saddle-like frame circling the container and formed by coupling plurality of vertical and horizontal profiles (1.4, 1.5), said container holder (1 ) also having two detachable horizontal profiles (4.1 ) facing each other at bottom surface thereof.

24. A container holder according to claim 22, characterized in that it is in the shape of a rectangular prism.

25. A container holder according to claim 22, characterized in that it further comprises diagonal profiles (1.6), which are intersecting each other, at its two opposite lateral sides (1.2).

26. A container holder according to claim 22, characterized in that it further comprises at least two shafts (1.3) securely coupled to the intersection points of the diagonal profiles (1.6) at the two opposite lateral sides (1.2).