Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D81/00—Containers, packaging elements, or packages, for contents presenting particular transport or storage problems, or adapted to be used for non-packaging purposes after removal of contents
  • B65D81/18—Containers, packaging elements, or packages, for contents presenting particular transport or storage problems, or adapted to be used for non-packaging purposes after removal of contents providing specific environment for contents, e.g. temperature above or below ambient

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a packaging method and a box for its implementation.
• the present invention relates to the packaging of products which must remain subject to determined temperature conditions which are generally different from the ambient conditions, for example for reasons of preservation, as is the case with regard to certain fresh food products or vaccines. , that it is important to keep at a temperature below a determined temperature threshold, whatever the ambient temperature conditions, during their transport or their storage outside refrigerated rooms.
• the known packaging technique consists in arbitrarily distributing between the products, as and when they are placed in the enclosure kept open, elements accumulating frigories (in the case of vaccines or sera), brought to the required temperature.
• the fact that the packaging of such products requires keeping the enclosure in the open state for a long time has the consequence that the accumulators of frigories placed as packaging progresses lose part of their frigories before the enclosure is closed, which takes their efficiency away from them and forces them to oversize or increase the number, without having the certainty of total effectiveness, particularly with regard to the elements placed first in the enclosure.
• the random distribution of the accumulators of frigories within the packaged products gives rise to temperature heterogeneities inside the enclosure, and in particular to relatively hot spots where the temperature can exceed the maximum temperature threshold that the product to pack cannot safely exceed; caution therefore also requires oversizing the accumulator elements, or providing for an excessive number.
• the object of the present invention is to remedy these drawbacks, by offering the possibility of placing the elements which accumulate calories or frigories in the enclosure after placing the products to be conditioned therein, with the possibility of optimal distribution of the accumulator elements, so that they can be used to the best and therefore reduce their number and size to a minimum necessary.
• the packaging method according to the invention for products which must remain subject at determined temperature conditions, generally different from the ambient conditions, consisting in placing in a heat-insulated, open packaging enclosure, products and elements accumulating calories or frigories, at a predetermined temperature required, then closing the enclosure , is characterized in that, inside the open enclosure, removable reserve elements are placed, the products are placed in the volume delimited by the reserve elements in the enclosure, the reserve elements are removed, they are replaced by elements which accumulate calories or frigories at the required predetermined temperature and which have shapes and dimensions similar to those of these reserve elements, and the enclosure is closed.
• only part of the reserve elements is removed and replaced by accumulator elements before closing the enclosure and, after said closure, the enclosure is reopened in a different area, opposite remaining reserve elements, to remove and replace these before closing the enclosure; thus, it is possible to line at least part, and even preferably all, of the interior periphery of the open enclosure with reserve elements which are removed and then replaced by accumulator elements and if, according to a method of preferred implementation, such accumulator elements are also placed at the opening of the enclosure after having placed the product there and before closing, a thermal barrier is obtained after the enclosure is closed, at the required predetermined temperature , over the entire inner periphery thereof, which increases its insulating capacities.
• reserve elements can also be distributed inside the enclosure with a view to subsequent replacement, after the product has been put in place, by accumulator elements, which makes it possible to obtain an internal compartmentalization of the enclosure by means of accumulator elements which lose practically nothing of the frigories or calories stored before the enclosure is closed.
• FIG. 1 shows a perspective view, with partial cutaway, of a box intended for the implementation of the method according to the invention, in the open position;
• FIG. 2 shows a view of this box in section through a horizontal plane, that is to say parallel to its bottom, such as the plane II-II of Figure 1;
• FIG. 3 to 12 illustrate successive stages of packaging using the illus box trée in Figures 1 and 2, this box being seen in section through a vertical plane such as the plane III-III of Figure 1.
• the box has externally as internally the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped, particularly well suited to a stack and a juxtaposition of boxes in a minimal space, but it is naturally possible to implement the invention on boxes of different shape.
• the box has walls which have thermal insulation properties; thus, in the example illustrated, the box is defined by a corrugated cardboard envelope 2 integrally lined internally with plates 3 to 8 of a material having qualities of thermal insulation, such. that for example a polyurethane foam in the form of plates or molded elements which, at their junction generally near an edge of the box, have a form of mutual interlocking chicane; the thickness of these plates or insulating elements 3 to 8 is chosen as a function of the desired duration of conservation in the box of the products which it is desired to package therein, of the ambient temperature at which this box is intended to be exposed externally, and the nature of the products to be kept in this box.
• a material having qualities of thermal insulation such. that for example a polyurethane foam in the form of plates or molded elements which, at their junction generally near an edge of the box, have a form of mutual interlocking chicane; the thickness of these plates or insulating elements 3 to 8 is chosen as a function of the desired duration of conservation in the box of the products which
• the envelope 2 of corrugated cardboard is in the form, known per se in the field of packaging boxes, of a belt defined by four walls 9 to 12 rectangular, parallel two by two and identical two by two, that assume vertically oriented and connected in pairs, at right angles, along the vertical edges of the casing 2; each of these walls 9 to 11 carries, respectively along its upper horizontal edge and along its lower horizontal edge, flaps which, folded down and superimposed in a position which is supposed to be horizontal, respectively form a cover and a bottom for envelope 2; thus, in the example illustrated, the two vertical, parallel, identical walls 9 and 11 carry along their upper edge a rectangular flap, not visible for reasons of clarity as regards the wall
• each of these elements 3 to 8 has inwardly the box a flat face, respectively 19 to 24, parallel to the wall of the casing 2 that this element doubles, that is to say respectively to the walls 9 to 12, to the bottom wall and to the cover wall , these faces being contiguous to define the enclosure 1.
• the upper flaps being in the position of opening and the element 8 removed, place inside the enclosure 1 removable reserve elements, the role of which is to provide inside the enclosure, when filling thereof, volumes likely to receive thereafter, before closing, elements accumulating calories or frigories brought to a predetermined temperature determined required by storage of the packaged product.
• reserve elements can have various shapes and be distributed in a variety of ways inside the enclosure 1, provided that they can be removed and replaced by calorie or frigory accumulator elements after at least partial filling, and preferably total, from enclosure 1 using the product to be packaged.
• these reserve elements may constitute an interior partitioning of the enclosure 1, and be in the form of vertical panels 25 in the position of the box illustrated in Figure 1, which can be extracted by the open cover thereof, apies filling with product to condition the volume they define inside the enclosure 1, to replace them with elements accumulating calories drank frigories.
• reserve elements fully cover the walls of the open box, inside the enclosure 1.
• the reserve elements 26, the only role of which is to temporarily reserve, during the filling of the enclosure 1, the volume necessary for the accumulators of calories or frigories, can be of very diverse realization; it may for example be thick corrugated cardboard, possibly in multiple thickness, but other embodiments could naturally be chosen without departing from the scope of the invention; advantageously, these elements are made of a sufficiently strong material so that they can be reused.
• the box Before filling, the box is in the form illustrated in Figures 1 to 3, where the reserve panels 26 to 30 are in place against the corresponding faces and where, the upper flaps such as 13, 15 and 16 being placed in a position where they release the upper face of the box, the element 8 is removed to allow the 'access to the interior of enclosure 1; the bottom flaps such as 14, 17, 18 then temporarily occupy their closed position, where they are superimposed in a position at right angles to the side walls 9 to 12 of the envelope 2.
• the volume delimited is filled in. inside the enclosure 1 by the reserve elements 26 to 30, as shown by the arrows 31 in FIG.
• the reserve element 28 is replaced with an accumulator element 34 having an identical shape and dimensions, for element 29 an accumulator element 35 with an identical shape and dimensions than that of this element 29, with the element 30 an accumulator element 36 having a shape and dimensions similar to those of this element 30, and at element 27 an accumulator element not visible in the figures, and which has a shape and dimensions identical to those of element 27 ; the storage cells were previously brought to the required predetermined temperature.
• the product 32 and the respective upper edges of the accumulator elements 34 to 36 and of the accumulator element substituted for the reserve element 27 are then covered by means of a similar accumulator element 37, also brought beforehand to the predetermined temperature. required; taking into account the difference between levels 24a and 24b, the similarity of shapes and dimensions between the accumulator elements and the reserve elements which they replace, and the filling with product 32 up to level 24b during the step illustrated in FIG. 4, the element 37 is joined to the accumulator elements 34 to 36 and the similar accumulator element substituted for the reserve element 27, at the level of the respective upper edges of these elements, and occupies the entire volume located inside the enclosure, between levels 24b and 24a. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the element 37 is then covered by means of the element 8, which closes the enclosure 1 at its upper part by fitting onto the respective upper edges of the insulating elements 3 to 6 and comes into contact by its face
• the envelope 2 is closed by folding and superimposing the flaps such as 15, 13 and 16 horizontally, which is then joined together, which places the 'together in the state illustrated in Figure 7, where the enclosure 1, around the product 32, is lined internally with accumulator elements such as 34 to 37, over its entire periphery except its corresponding bottom on the face 23 of the insulating element 7, at the level of which it is still only doubled by the reserve element 26.
• the next stage of packaging consists of inverting the box, which places the flaps such as 14, 17, 18 in an upper horizontal position, as well as the reserve element 26 and the insulating element 7, as shown in the diagram. figure 8.
• the envelope is then opened by pivoting flaps such as 14, 17, 18, which releases the insulating element 7 which is then removed to open the enclosure and release the reserve element 26 , which we take away as shown schematically the arrows 38 of FIG. 9.
• the reserve element 26 is then replaced by an accumulator element 39 brought beforehand to a required predetermined temperature and which, because of its shape and dimensions identical to those of the element 26, comes superimpose by its edges on the corresponding edges of accumulator elements such as 34 to 36 doubling the faces 19 to 22 respective insulating elements 3 to 6.
• the insulating element 7 is then replaced, which is superimposed on the element 39 and on the edges of the insulating elements 3 to 6 then turned upwards, as shown in FIG. 11, then the envelope 2 is closed by folding the flaps such as 14, 17, 18 in a horizontal position, at 90 ° relative to the walls 9 to 12, position in which these flaps are secured.
• the structure then presented by the packaging is illustrated in FIG.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Packages (AREA)
• Devices That Are Associated With Refrigeration Equipment (AREA)
• Making Paper Articles (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=9241724

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (6)

Families Citing this family (16)

Family Cites Families (8)

• 1980
  • 1980-05-07 FR FR8010197A patent/FR2482052B1/fr not_active Expired
• 1981
  • 1981-05-05 EP EP81901135A patent/EP0051614B1/de not_active Expired
  • 1981-05-05 AT AT81901135T patent/ATE9310T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1981-05-05 DE DE8181901135T patent/DE3165959D1/de not_active Expired
  • 1981-05-05 WO PCT/FR1981/000061 patent/WO1981003162A1/fr not_active Ceased
  • 1981-05-05 US US06/336,366 patent/US4468913A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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