Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
,
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Pallet Container
The present invention relates to a pallet container for
storing and for transporting aseptic liquid filling
materials, with a base pallet, a lattice frame which is
fastened thereon and consists of welded metal bars, and
a fabric bag or a fabric cover which is suspended in
said lattice frame and in which a liquid-tight inliner
composed of plastics film and/or metal foil for
receiving the liquid filling material is arranged.
A pallet container of this type is previously known,
for example, from EP 2 149 508 Bl. In said pallet
container, the inner liquid-receiving inliner is
designed so as to be exchangeable, for which purpose
the outer fabric cover is provided with a large
closable flap opening at the top. In order to exchange
the inliner after single use, the entire used pallet
container has to be transported empty back to a central
processing point in order to be provided there with a
new inliner. The upper flap of the fabric cover has to
be opened in order to fit a new inliner. The new
inliner has to be placed through the opening and
fastened. The installation is complicated and
labor-intensive; it can be carried out only by a
correspondingly trained specialist. This is costly and
awkward since the inner-side inliner disadvantageously
cannot be processed at just any reconditioner. A
further disadvantage of the known pallet container is
that the inliner exhibits creases on being filled under
pressure, and said creases can subsequently delay the
emptying, in particular by the creases being able to
block the opening of the removal connection piece.
In further known pallet containers (EP 1 103 486 Al,
WO 2007/029011 Al), the inliner is fastened to the
outer cover, and therefore inliner and outer cover can
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only be clamped into the lattice cage when air passes
into the inliner. Said containers are therefore
unsuitable for filling with aseptic filling materials.
Furthermore, because of the fastening of the inliner to
the outer covers, after use it is necessary to dispose
of the two covers, and not only the inliner which has
come into contact with the filling material.
JP 2005 289 464 A furthermore discloses a specially
folded interchangeable inliner for a liquid container.
The inliner is intended to save on complicated cleaning
of the container interior after the filling material
has been removed. The underbody of the liquid container
is formed in a funnel-shaped manner downward (in the
manner of an upside down pyramid) and is provided with
a central removal opening and connected removal
fitting. The inliner has a square-shaped upper side
with a central filling connection piece and a
square-shaped lower side with a central emptying
connection piece, wherein the corners of the square
blank are cut. The outer margin edges lying on each
other are welded peripherally to each other, wherein
the upper filling connection piece and the lower
emptying connection piece are arranged centrally lying
one above the other.
Said symmetrical blank laid out flat is folded in four
times from two respectively opposite corners toward the
center and three times by one third in each case from
the side, thus resulting in a square folded package in
miniature format which can easily be dispatched for
exchange purposes. For insertion into the liquid
container, the latter has to be unscrewed and the
emptying connection piece, which is free at the bottom,
of the inliner folded package has to be connected to
the central removal fitting in the funnel-shaped
container base and the upper filling connection piece
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has to be connected to a filling pipe. The filling
takes place from above. In the case of this symmetrical
construction with central filling from above, the
inliner which is packed small is intended to unfold by
itself.
This known type of folding and unfolding is capable of
functioning in the case of an inliner with a filling
connection piece arranged centrally on the upper side,
as provided there, but not in the case of an
arrangement of the inliner within a pallet container of
the type in question during lateral filling from below
because different structural and functional conditions
prevail there. The pressure of the filling material
flowing in laterally causes a tensile force on the
inliner base, which tensile force would have the effect
that the corners of the inliner base would be pulled in
to the center forming creases if the inliner base were
not stretched and fixed on the thin base plate.
Finally, WO 93/24389 A2 discloses an inliner for a
block-shaped container, which inliner is specially
folded and is fixed to two points of the rigid outer
container in such a manner that the inliner is intended
to unfold by itself during filling without forming
creases.
In this known system, the inliner is folded in/rolled
in from the sides, the filling opening of the inliner
rolled in in a tubular manner is fixed to the upper
edge of the container wall, and the emptying opening is
fixed to the lower edge of the container wall. The
inliner folded up in a tubular manner is positioned
centrally between the fastening points over the entire
length of a side wall. During filling, the inliner is
intended to be able to automatically unfold both
symmetrically in the transverse direction and in the
longitudinal direction of the container.
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The tubular folding of the inliner from the sides known
from this system can function together with the fixing
provided there of the inliner to the upper edge and to
the lower side wall of the outer container since only
the folded-in or rolled sides still have to unfold
during filling. However, when the inliner is arranged
within a commercially available pallet container of the
type in question, stretching of the inliner by double
fastening thereof to the outer cover is not readily
possible since, in the case of the pallet container of
the type in question, the combination of outer cover
and inliner replaces the customary rigid internal
plastics container, and therefore the entire container
does not have a continuous, rigid, upper container wall
on which the filling connection piece can be fixed in
an appropriately positioned manner such that an
automatic, uniform unfolding during filling is ensured.
In contrast to the known system, in the event of an
arrangement of the inliner within the pallet container
of the type in question and filling laterally from
below, an as crease-free an unfolding of the inliner as
possible in all directions has to be ensured.
It is the object of the present invention to propose a
manageable and practicable solution which permits a
simple and cost-effective exchange of the used inliners
and, furthermore, avoids long transport distances since
the exchange of the inliners can be carried out in situ
at any reconditioner. A further object of the invention
is focused on configuring the components of the pallet
container in such a manner that, even during filling
under pressure, the inliner does not exhibit any
creases which can delay the emptying, in particular by
being able to block the opening of the removal
= 35 connection piece.
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This object is achieved according to the characterizing
features in that the outer fabric cover and the
inner-side liquid-tight inliner composed of plastics
film with preassembled filling and removal connection
piece is provided as a separately premanufactured,
flat-folded package in the delivery state in the form
of a modular unit, and the outer fabric cover suspended
in the lattice frame and the inner-side inliner are
designed within the intended use thereof not to be
separable from each other, but rather to be
exchangeable only as a complete modular unit.
In the delivery state, the modular unit consisting of
outer fabric cover and liquid-tight inliner composed of
plastics film and/or metal foil with fitted filling and
removal fitting (sometimes also referred to in
abbreviated form below as "removal fitting"), as a
flat-folded package, has a folding area with dimensions
which are somewhat smaller than the internal size
within the lattice frame.
The liquid-tight inliner here is folded flat per se,
specifically in such a manner that said inliner is
unfolded uniformly outward during filling, and the
filling is not obstructed or delayed. The folding turns
out as follows:
The inliner, laid out flat, has a rectangular blank
with an upper side and a lower side with two longer
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side edges and two short side edges to the front side
and to the rear side. The side edges are welded to each
other at the outer borders or outer edges thereof.
The inliner is provided centrally on the upper side
thereof with a small, short degassing connection piece
and on the lower side thereof with a larger filling and
removal connecting piece (sometimes also referred to in
abbreviated form below as "removal connection piece")
which is arranged close to the front-side, short side
border of the inliner. In a first step, the corners of
the inliner are in each case folded to the center
toward the small degassing connection piece arranged
there, and therefore a narrow web running transversely
with respect to the long side edges remains. In a
second step, the two outer edges of the narrow web are
folded over a short distance toward the center in the
direction of the central degassing connection piece,
thus resulting in an approximately diamond-shaped shape
with a front-side and a rear-side point, wherein the
filling and removal connection piece sits on the lower
side of the front-side diamond point. In a further step
the two front borders, which have just been folded in,
of the narrow web are folded in once again over a
further short distance toward the center, and, in the
last step of the inliner folding, the front-side and
the rear-side diamond points are likewise folded toward
the center and held tight against the central degassing
connection piece, and therefore the basic area of the
ready-folded-up inliner now has a final folding area
with dimensions which are somewhat smaller than the
internal size within the lattice frame, wherein the
filling and removal connection piece is folded onto the
upper side of the inliner and sits tight against the
front-side border of the folded-up inliner.
Subsequently, the folded-up inliner is placed onto a
thin base plate and fixed thereon.
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In the case of the modular unit, the fabric cover per
se is folded in only in the side walls thereof, wherein
the inner, ready-folded inliner together with the
fitted removal fitting within the fabric cover is free
from any fixing or fastening to the fabric cover.
Constructionally, the modular unit has a special
characteristic to the effect that a thin, stiff base
plate on which the inliner is fixed is arranged within
the fabric cover below the inliner, wherein the base
plate is not fastened to the fabric cover.
In a refinement of the invention, the thin base plate
is designed so as to be extended on the front side
beyond the internal size within the lattice frame, and
said extension is connected to the base plate via a
film hinge in the manner of a buckling fold.
Furthermore, here, an opening is provided centrally in
the extension, through which the filling and removal
connection piece of the inliner with filling and
removal fitting attached on the outside is inserted and
fastened from the outside.
In the flat-folded-in delivery state of the modular
unit, the extension with filling and removal fitting
attached is laid back or folded back flat onto the
folded-in inliner.
The delivered, folded-up modular unit can now be
inserted into a pallet cage at any reconditioner by any
= employee not particularly trained for this purpose. For
this purpose, the outer fabric cover is first of all
simply suspended in the corners of the lattice frame by
four fastening loops; the vertically folded extension
with removal fitting is then folded upward and fastened
to the metal bars of the lattice frame.
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In the inserted state of the modular unit, the outer
fabric cover is stretched and fixed in the lattice
frame, wherein the extension of the base plate is
folded upward by 900 into the perpendicular and is
fastened to the front side of the lattice frame by
means of an adapter plate reaching behind the removal
fitting. The folded-in inliner then subsequently
automatically unfolds during the filling.
The used pallet container is therefore equipped again
with a new fabric cover and an aseptic inliner and can
be dispatched to the customers or filling companies. At
the customers, said pallet containers with flexible
covers can be filled precisely using the same filling
clamps as are provided for the stainless steel
intermediate bulk containers previously used.
When such stainless steel bulk containers are filled,
the filling material generally flows in under high
pressure via a filling pipe connected to the base-side
filling fitting. Owing to the fact that the inliner of
the pallet container according to the invention is
fixed in a sheet-like manner on the thin base plate, it
is ensured that, during filling of the inliner, which
takes place at high pressure, no creases can form in
the base surface of the inliner, which creases can
subsequently be positioned in front of the base-side
removal opening and block the latter during removal
with powerful extraction of the filling material by
suction.
In addition, the pallet container according to the
invention is equipped with a residue emptying aid which
prevents, during emptying, creases of the inliner,
which collapses successively during the emptying
process, from blocking the opening of the filling and
removal connection piece.
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The invention is explained and described in more detail
below with reference to exemplary embodiments which are
illustrated schematically in the drawings, in which:
figure 1 shows, in an overall view, a pallet container
according to the invention with suspended
fabric cover and exchangeable inliner,
figure 2 shows a pallet container according to the
invention with suspended fabric cover and
cut-open illustration of the thin-walled
inliner,
figure 3 shows, in a partial view, the connection of
the adapter plate with the removal fitting to
the lattice frame of the pallet container,
figure 4 shows, in top view, the upper side of the
pallet container according to the invention,
figure 5 shows the sequence of steps of the folding-in
according to the invention of the thin-walled
inliner,
figure 6 shows, in a perspective illustration, a
tubular residue emptying aid,
figure 7 shows, in a side view, the residue emptying
aid according to figure 6.
Figure 1 illustrates a pallet container 10 according to
the invention with base pallet 12, lattice frame 14 and
suspended fabric cover 16 with inner-side inliner 17.
Figure 2 illustrates the constructional design of the
pallet container 10 according to the invention. The
pallet container 10 according to the invention is
formed as follows:
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The lattice frame 14 with the fixedly connected base
pallet 12 thereof serves for load and transport
handling. It can be lifted and transported by
industrial trucks and has already been tried and tested
as a standard IBC with a polyethylene bubble. The
fabric cover 16 with internal inliner 17 is defined as
an exchangeable modular unit. The modular unit fulfills
two tasks. Firstly, the static and dynamic forces which
occur are absorbed by the strength and elasticity of
the outer fabric cover 16 and, secondly, the inner-side
inliner 17 serves for the gas and liquid tightness of
the entire container. The fabric cover 16 is stretched
in the lattice frame 14 by the four straps 40. In the
unfilled state, the inliner 17 lies on the base of the
fabric cover 16 and does not have any filling volume in
this state. The inliner 17 has a special folding
configuration and is fixed on a base plate 20. The
latter is located under the inliner 17 and also in
front of the inliner 17 in the valve region. The base
plate 20 is not fixed in the fabric cover 16. It is
merely positioned over the basic area and the adapter
plate 34. The function of the base plate 20 also
includes protecting the inliner 17 against the
penetration of shape objects from below, and the
horizontal support at high filling speeds. The access
to the internal volume of the inliner 17 takes place
via the filling and removal fitting 30, wherein the
volume of the inliner 17 corresponds to zero in the
unfilled state and to that of the filling material in
the filled state. The volume of the inliner 17 is
limited by that of the fabric cover 16. Optionally, a
degassing connection piece 32 can be attached on the
upper side of the inliner 17. If the filling material
is intended to be agitated by a gas prior to removal,
the quantity of gas which exceeds the volume of the
fabric cover 16 has to be let out via the degassing
connection piece 32. For this purpose, as irreversible
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access 38, the viewing window 36 is opened or cut open
and a sterile filter is screwed onto the degassing
connection piece 32. The filling and removal connection
piece 28 is fixed on the lattice frame 14 by the
adapter plate 34. The adapter plate 34 ensures the
necessary distance of the filling and removal nozzle 28
by means of a trough which springs back. Said filling
and removal connection piece must not protrude beyond
the projection area of the lattice frame 14. The
adapter plate 34 permits an easy connection of the
filling and removal fitting 30 to filling and emptying
installations. Commercially customary filling cannons
can be connected directly by means of the geometry
thereof to the filling and removal fitting 30. The
inliner 17 stands up by itself during the filling. A
manipulation from the outside by the filler is neither
required nor desired nor possible through the closed
fabric cover 16.
The partial view of the pallet container with lattice
frame 14, base pallet 12 and suspended fabric cover 16
in figure 3 shows the filling and removal fitting 30
with adapter plate 34. The adapter plate 34 has a
trough toward the inside and therefore ensures the
necessary positioning of the filling and removal
connection piece 28 with attached filling and removal
fitting 30 such that the latter does not protrude
outward beyond the projection area of the lattice frame
14.
Figure 4 shows the upper side of the pallet container
10 according to the invention. A clear viewing pane is
firmly incorporated into the fabric cover 16 as a
closed viewing window 36. It serves for visual
inspection of the filling level. Figure 4 shows this
viewing window 36 with inserted degassing connection
piece 32. Such a connection piece is required if the
filling material is intended to be agitated by a gas
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prior to removal. The introduction of an opening for
access to the degassing connection piece 32 is
irreversible since the viewing window 36 is not
designed to be recloseable, but rather has to be
pierced or cut open in order to introduce the opening
for access to the degassing connection piece 32.
Figure 5 illustrates the individual steps for folding
the inliner 17 according to the invention.
The inliner 17, laid out flat, has a rectangular blank
with an upper side and a lower side with two longer
side edges and two short side edges to the front side
and to the rear side which are welded to one another at
the outer borders or outer edges thereof. The inliner
17 is provided centrally on the upper side thereof with
a small, short degassing connection piece 32 and on the
lower side thereof with a larger filling and removal
connection piece 28 which is arranged close to the
front-side, short side border of the inliner 17.
As long as the pallet container 10 is not yet filled,
i.e. is still in the empty state, the inliner 17,
folded in flat in a special folding configuration in
the fabric cover 16 suspended in the lattice frame 14
of the pallet container 10, lies directly on the upper
deck of the base pallet 12. The inliner 17 is fastened
here to the lattice frame 14 of the pallet container 10
only by means of an adapter plate 34 via the removal
connection piece 20. The inliner 17 is filled at the
filler only through the filling and removal fitting 30
attached to the removal connection piece 20 and, after
transport to a customer, is emptied there again through
the removal fitting 22.
For automatic unfolding of the inliner 17 during the
filling of the pallet container 10, the inliner 17 is
specially folded and structurally designed:
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When the inliner 17 is laid out flat, in the first
step, according to figure 5, the corners of the inliner
17 are in each case folded to the center toward the
small, short degassing connection piece 32 arranged
there, and therefore a narrow web running transversely
with respect to the long side edges remains. In the
second step, the two outer edges of the narrow web are
folded over a short distance toward the center in the
direction of the central degassing connection piece 32,
thus resulting in an approximately diamond-shaped shape
with a front-side and a rear-side point. The removal
connection piece 20 now sits here on the lower side of
the front-side diamond point. The two side borders,
which have just been folded in, of the narrow web are
then folded in once again over a further short distance
toward the center. In the last step of the inliner
folding, the front-side and the rear-side diamond
points are likewise folded in toward the center until
tight against the central degassing connection piece
32, and therefore the basic area of the ready-folded-up
inliner 17 has a final folding area with dimensions
which are somewhat smaller than the internal size
within the lattice frame 14. The removal connection
piece 20 has now been folded onto the upper side of the
inliner 17 and sits tightly against the front-side
border of the folded-up inliner 17.
In the following step, the folded-up inliner 17 is
placed onto a thin base plate 20 and fixed thereon. The
thin base plate 20 can consist, for example, of thin
sheet metal, of paper board, of wood, of a hardboard
or, preferably, of plastic. The fixing of the inliner
17 on the base plate 20 can be realized by an adhesive
applied in a sheet-like manner or preferably simply by
means of double-sided adhesive tape 25.
To substantially increase the stability or to stabilize
the inliner 17, which is not connected (fixed) to the
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outer fabric cover 16, within the lattice frame 14 the
thin base plate 20 is designed so as to be extended on
the front side beyond the internal size within the
lattice frame 14, wherein said extension 22 is
connected to the base plate 20 via a film hinge 24 in
the manner of a buckling fold. An opening 26 through
which the removal connection piece 20 of the inliner 17
is inserted on the outside is provided centrally in the
extension 22. In the flat-folded-in delivery state of
the modular unit, consisting of fabric cover 16 and
inserted inliner 17, the extension 22 with attached
removal fitting 22 is laid back or folded back flat
onto the folded-in inliner 17.
In the inserted state of the modular unit, the outer
fabric cover 16 is stretched and fixed in the lattice
frame 14, wherein the extension 22 of the base plate 20
is folded upward by 90 degrees into the vertical and is
fastened to the front side of the lattice frame 14 by
means of an adapter plate 34 reaching behind the
removal fitting 22.
Figure 6 shows a tubular residue emptying aid in a
perspective illustration, and figure 7 shows the side
view of the residual emptying aid.
For optimum functioning of the pallet container 10
according to the invention with inserted modular unit
when filling and unfolding the inliner 17 in the
filling plant at a filling company and when extracting
the liquid filling material by suction at the customer
(= emptier), the inliner (17) is equipped on the inside
upstream of the opening of the base-side removal
connection piece (28) with a particular means for the
improved residue emptying of the filling material. Said
means for the improved residue emptying of the filling
material consists of a short tubular residue emptying
aid 42 which is designed as a flexible corrugated pipe
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44 which is composed of thin plastics material and has
a multiplicity of lateral bores 46, as illustrated in
figure 7. The thin-walled corrugated pipe 44 has a wall
thickness of approx. 1 mm, a length of approximately
300 to 500 mm, preferably approx. 400 mm, and a
diameter of approx. 35-57 mm, suitable for a 2 inch
connection piece. Said corrugated pipe is inserted
through the filling and removal connection piece 28
into the inliner 17 and is firmly screwed with the
filling and removal fitting 30 on the filling and
removal connection piece 28 of the inliner 17.
As becomes clear in figure 6, the lateral bores 46 are
introduced into the corrugated pipe 44 from four
directions, and therefore a row of bores 46 is always
located just above the inliner base. It is thereby
ensured that even very small quantities of residual
liquid can still be sucked out of the inliner 17
without there being the risk of the film or foil of the
inliner 17 being able to pull in front of the opening
of the removal connection piece because of the powerful
negative suction pressure.
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List of Reference Numbers
10- Pallet container
12- Base pallet
14- Lattice frame
16- Fabric cover
17- Inliner
18- Inliner with special folding configuration
20- Base plate
22- Extension of the base plate (20)
24- Film hinge
25- Double-sided adhesive tape
26- Opening in (22)
27- Inliner folded and fixed on base plate (20)
28- Filling and removal connection piece
30- Filling and removal fitting
32- Degassing connection piece
34- Adapter plate
36- Closed viewing window
38- Irreversible access through the viewing window
40- Strap for tensioning the fabric cover (16)
42- Tubular residue emptying aid
44- Flexible corrugated pipe
46- Lateral bores
48- Flange border end
