WO2008095321A1

WO2008095321A1 - Rubber pallet

Info

Publication number: WO2008095321A1
Application number: PCT/CH2008/000022
Authority: WO
Inventors: Justus Albert George Ilcken; Albert George Ilcken
Original assignee: Justus Albert George Ilcken; Albert George Ilcken
Priority date: 2007-02-05
Filing date: 2008-01-23
Publication date: 2008-08-14

Abstract

The invention relates to a pallet (10) which is produced of a rubber material and comprises a cargo surface (11) and supports (14). According to the invention, the cargo surface (11) comprises a one-piece cover plate (12) with a reinforcing structure (18) embedded into it.

Description

rubber range

Technical area

The invention relates to a range of rubber material, with a cargo area and feet.

State of the art

Known transport and storage pallets, such as the most commonly used standardized europallets today, are usually made of wood. However, such Hoiz- pallets have a relatively high weight and - based on their own weight - a relatively low load capacity. For outdoor storage is also the low weather resistance of disadvantage, since wood absorbs moisture and thus may occur on the pallets mold and rot. In addition, wooden pallets are easily damaged.

There are also plastic transport pallets known. However, in order to ensure sufficient stability even with heavy loads in this material, for the production of pallets usually large quantities of high quality plastics are required, which makes such plastic pallets expensive and ecologically unfavorable.

US 2005/0166804 A1 discloses a rubber-based pallet. The pallet consists of two parts produced by injection molding and then put together. The material used to make the pallet consists to a large extent of recycled rubber and contains carbon, ash or

Plastic waste as filling material. US 2004/0003762 A1 discloses a pallet composed of two molded parts made of recycled rubber and plastic materials. At the bottom of the bed, the pallet has a pattern of reinforcing ribs to increase its strength.

It is known from WO 2005/116124 A1 to heat recycled rubber material from pulverized car tires to vulcanizing temperature and to process it into pallets, for example by compression molding.

Presentation of the invention

The invention has for its object to provide a range of the type mentioned in rubber material, which can be easily and inexpensively manufactured and compared to rubber pallets according to the prior art has a higher strength and thus a higher load capacity.

To erfmdungsgemässen solution of the problem leads that the loading area is formed by a one-piece cover plate with an embedded in this reinforcement. If floorboards are provided, the feet are arranged between the cover plate and the floorboards.

Like the cover plate, floor planks and feet can also have a reinforcement embedded in them.

The reinforcement preferably consists essentially of the entire cover plate and optionally on the floor planks and / or the stand extending reinforcing elements, wherein the reinforcing elements preferably consist of metal plates, metal rods or metal wires.

One for producing the pallet as a whole, or the cover plate, the feet and possibly the floor planks as individual parts, suitable rubber material is a reactivated, vulcanizable rubber powder or flour. The rubber powder can be processed with or without binder. Suitable binders are powders of copolyamide, copolyester or polyurethane, which can be added to the rubber powder individually or in any desired combination. The curing of the rubber / binder mixture is carried out in the heat in an oven, in particular in an induction oven, a microwave oven or in an autoclave, or in a laminating machine. For example, the production of the cover plate and the floor planks is preferably carried out in a microwave oven.

The manufacture of the feet can also be carried out in a laminating machine, but preference is given to manufacturing in an industrial furnace with a heating system based on microwave or induction technology. To produce the feet in a microwave oven, the mixture of gum and binder is placed in one or more non-metallic containers or molds corresponding to the dimensions of the feet. After a short curing time, the feet can be joined together with a cover plate and bottom plates to complete a pallet. A variant for the production of the feet is the hardening by induction. For this purpose, the mixture of rubber and binder is cured filled in an induction-heated metallic container or mold. The cover plate can also be produced in induction-heated form.

The feet are preferably glued together with the cover plate and the floor planks by means of a vulcanizing adhesive.

The rubber material used to produce the individual parts of the range consists, for example, of a mass of recycled and powdered waste rubber, in particular old tires, bonded to a hotmelt adhesive, especially based on copolyamides and copolyesters, the rubber powder having a preferred particle size of 0.001 to 1 mm having. The rubber powder may consist of reactivated or non-reactivated rubber powder.

A suitable for the continuous production of cover plates and floor planks Method is based on a powder mixed with a hot melt adhesive or coated powder of ground waste rubber. The powder blended or coated with hotmelt adhesive is heated to a temperature necessary to melt the hotmelt adhesive to form a moldable mass. The rubber mass heated in this way is fed together with the reinforcement of a mold with co-waving mold walls, for example a double belt press, and shaped into a band in the mold under the action of pressure and temperature and subsequently cooled in the mold to a temperature below the melting temperature. After leaving the strip from the mold, the reinforced cover plates and floor planks are cut to length from the strip. The reinforcement can be supplied to the moldable mass continuously in the form of a wire mesh or a metal strip.

Another suitable method for continuous production comprises a mold whose mold wall has the shape of a pallet or of pallet parts. Preferably, the mold is for making a whole pallet or two parts of a pallet, e.g. Cover plate and feet or feet and floor planks, designed. In the non-metallic form, the reinforcement is used, then the shape with

Filled rubber powder. The mold is pressurized and transferred to the microwave oven. The microwave oven fulfills the following two tasks:

1. The rubber powder is heated for a certain time to the appropriate temperature, which leads to a devolcanization of the waste rubber.

2. The temperature is then changed to re-vulcanize the same material as under 1.

Alternatively, the two reactions mentioned above can also take place locally separately, ie, vulcanized rubber powder is introduced into the mold, and the mold is then transferred into the microwave oven for the renewed vulcanization process. Short description of the drawing

Further advantages, features and details of the invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments and from the drawing tion; this shows schematically in

Fig. 1 is an oblique view of a pallet;

Figure 2 is a section through the cover plate of the pallet of Figure 1 along the line I-I.

3 is an oblique view of a reinforcement in a stand; 4 shows a cross section through a cover plate with a steel plate as a reinforcement.

5 a is an oblique view of a first embodiment of a pallet;

Fig. 5 b is an oblique view of the underside of the pallet of Fig. 5 a;

Fig. 6a is an oblique view of a second embodiment of a pallet;

Fig. 6 b is an oblique view of the underside of the pallet of Fig. 6 a; Fig. 7a is an oblique view of a third embodiment of a pallet;

Fig. 7 b is an oblique view of the underside of the pallet of Fig. 7 a.

Description of exemplary embodiments

A pallet 10 shown in FIG. 1 has a loading area 11 in the form of an integral cover plate 12. At the bottom of the pallet 10 a total of nine cuboid feet 14 are arranged symmetrically in the longitudinal direction of the pallet 10 in two rows outside and a middle row. Depending on a stand 14 is located in each corner of the cover plate 12, one stand each 14 is arranged on each longitudinal and each broad side of the cover plate 12 in the middle between two Eckstandfüssen, a stand 14 is located in the middle of the cover plate 12. Die drei Feet 14 of each row are each connected to a running in the longitudinal direction of the pallet 10 floor board 16.

For example, the pallet 10 shown has the mass of a Euro pallet as follows:

L Length of the cover plate 12 1200 mm B Width of the cover plate 12 800 mm

D thickness of the cover plate 12 10 mm

The feet 14 have the dimensions 140 x 100 x 80 mm.

The three longitudinal floorboards 16 have the same length as the cover plate 12 and have the width of the feet 14 corresponding width of 100 mm. The thickness of the floor panels 16 is 10 mm and thus corresponds to the thickness of the cover plate 12th

The cover plate 12 is provided with a reinforcement 18. The reinforcement 18 is embedded in the cover plate 12 and, as shown in Fig. 2, consists, for example, of a plurality of longitudinally and transversely extending pallets 10 of reinforcing bars 20 of steel with a diameter of e.g. 4 mm. Instead of individual reinforcing rods 20 and a wire mesh may be embedded in the cover plate 12.

A variant of a reinforcement 18 in a cover plate 12 shown in Fig. 3 consists of a steel sheet of thickness e.g. 0.5 mm. The cover plate 12 thus comprises a sandwich plate made of a steel core provided with a rubber pad on both sides. Floor planks 16 may also have the cross section shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 4 shows a possible reinforcement 18 in a stand 14. The reinforcement consists of two intersecting, perpendicular to the cover plate 12 steel sheets. The reinforcement 18 may also consist of a bent to a cross, a star or other cross-sectional shape steel sheet. The steel sheet itself may also be corrugated or ribbed or have a different cross-sectional shape.

The individual parts of the pallet 10, namely the cover plate 12, the feet 14 and the floor boards 16, are made of the same rubber material and are connected via adhesive bonds with a vulcanizing adhesive to the pallet 10. The rubber material used for producing the pallet 10 or the cover plate 12, the feet 14 and the floor boards 16 ordered from ground waste rubber, especially from used and recycled car tires.

Example of a rubber compound

The ground old rubber used in a preferred grain size of 0.001 to 1 mm is mixed or coated in a mixer with a hot-melt adhesive introduced into the mixer via spray nozzles. A preferred hot-melt adhesive based on copolyamides and copolyesters is composed of the two components Griltex 9E P 0-200 and Griltex D 2017C from EMS Chemie AG. The rubber granulate or powder treated in this way has a good shelf life of up to one year.

The preparation of the cover plate 12, the feet 14 and the floor boards 16 can be done in conventional compression molding at elevated temperature using pressure.

The reinforced cover plates 12 and possibly also reinforced floorboards 16 can be processed in a particularly economical manner and continuously from the coated with hot melt adhesives rubber powder using heat and pressure to form a band-shaped material. Here, the reinforcement can be added, for example, as a continuous wire mesh. The individual cover plates 12 and the bottom planks 16 are cut in line in a cutting device to final dimensions. The gluing of the feet 14 with the cover plate 12 and with the floor boards 16 by means of a vulcanizing adhesive.

It is also possible to produce the pallet 10 in one piece in a molding press. For this, the reinforcement 18 is e.g. integrally inserted as a welded joint in the mold and surrounded with the rubber compound.

FIGS. 5 to 7 show three examples of pallets 10 with different configurations of the floor planks 16 (FIGS. 5 and 6) or a pallet 10 without floor planks (FIG. 7). The pallet 10 shown in FIG. 5 corresponds to the pallet 10 shown in FIG. The pallet 10 shown in Fig. 6 is provided with a one-level frame forming floor frame 16. The pallet 10 shown in Fig. 7 has no floor planks and can be produced well in one piece in this form. Optionally, 10 bottom planks can be glued to the stand 14 of the pallet shown in Fig. 7.

The finished composite pallet 10 has, for example, a weight between about 22 to 32 kg.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

10 pallet

11 cargo area

12 cover plate

14 feet

16 floor planks

18 reinforcement

20 steel bars

L length of 12

B width of 12

D thickness of 12

Claims

claims

1. pallet of rubber material, with a loading area (11) and feet (14),

characterized in that

the loading surface (11) is formed by a one-piece cover plate (12) with a reinforcement (18) embedded therein.

2. Pallet according to claim 1, wherein the feet (14) between the cover plate (12) and floor boards (16) are arranged.

3. Pallet according to claim 2, wherein the bottom planks (16) have embedded in this reinforcement (18).

4. Pallet according to one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the feet (14) have embedded in this reinforcement (18).

5. Pallet according to one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the reinforcement (18) consists essentially of the entire cover plate (12) and optionally on the floor boards (16) and / or the feet (14) extending reinforcing elements.

6. Pallet according to claim 5, wherein the reinforcing elements made of metal plates, metal rods or metal wires.

7. Pallet according to one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the feet (14) with the cover plate (12) and the bottom planks (16) are preferably glued together by means of a vulcanizing adhesive.

8. Pallet according to one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the rubber material consists of a bonded with a hotmelt adhesive mass of recycled and powdered consists of old waste rubber.

9. A pallet according to claim 8, wherein the rubber powder has a particle size of 0.001 to 1 mm.

10. A pallet according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the hotmelt adhesive is based on copolyamides, copolyesters and / or polyurethanes.

11. A method for the continuous production of cover plates (12) and floor boards (16) for a pallet (10) according to spoke 1, characterized in that a mixed with a hot melt adhesive or coated powder of ground waste rubber to a temperature required for melting the hotmelt adhesive temperature below Forming a moldable mass heated, the mass is supplied together with a reinforcement (18) of a mold with migrating mold walls and formed in the mold under the action of pressure and temperature to a reinforced band and is cooled in the mold to a temperature below the melting temperature and the cover plates (12) and bottom planks (16) are cut from the strip after the strip leaves the mold.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the reinforcement (18) of the moldable mass is supplied continuously in the form of a metal strip or wire mesh.