INNER CONTAINER MADE OF PLASTIC AND TRANSPORT AND STORAGE CONTAINER FOR LIQUIDS HAVING AN INNER CONTAINER MADE OF PLASTIC

Abstract

The invention relates to an inner container (15) made of plastic for transporting and storing liquids, the inner container (15) having an outlet socket (18) for connecting an outlet fitting (17) on a front side, a bottom wall (20) connecting two side walls (23, 24), a rear wall (22) and a front wall (16) of the inner container (15) and serving to support the inner container (15) on a pallet floor (21) of a transport pallet (11) provided with an outer jacket (14) for receiving the inner container (15), and a top wall (25) located opposite the bottom wall (20) and provided with a filling opening, wherein the side walls (23, 24) each have a horizontal corrugation (47, 48), the horizontal corrugations (47, 48) being disposed in a shared central horizontal plane.

Description

This application claims the benefit of German Patent Application No. 10 2020 105 525.0 filed on Mar. 2, 2020, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an inner container made of plastic for transporting and storing liquids, the inner container having an outlet socket for connecting an outlet fitting on a front side, a bottom wall connecting two side walls, a rear wall and a front wall of the inner container and serving to support the inner container on a pallet floor of a transport pallet provided with an outer jacket for receiving the inner container, and a top wall located opposite the bottom wall and provided with a filling opening.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The containers of the kind described above are used as a replaceable component of transport and storage containers serving to transport and store liquids and typically employed as what is known as circulation containers, which are filled repeatedly.

Inner containers of this kind are produced by blow molding and typically have a capacity of approximately 1000 liters, transport and storage containers provided with the inner containers thus allowing correspondingly large amounts of liquid to be transported and stored, space-saving arrangement during transport and storage being possible owing to the fact that the inner containers are received in an outer jacket of the transport and storage pallet and are stackable as a result.

The amount of space required for arranging or accommodating the known inner containers is basically independent of whether the inner containers are full or empty. This proves disadvantageous in particular if the inner container and the transport and storage pallet provided with the outer jacket are produced at different manufacturing sites and the transport and storage containers cannot be completed by “potting” the inner containers in the outer jacket until the components have been brought together, i.e., in particular until the empty inner containers have been transported. In this context, the large capacity and the accompanying voluminous design of the inner containers proves disadvantageous since the voluminous design of the inner containers results in a ratio between the transport volume and the transport weight that is unfavorable in terms of transport costs.

SUMMARY

Hence, the object of the present invention is to propose an inner container that makes low transport costs for the empty container possible without negative effects on the capacity.

According to the invention, the side walls each have a horizontal corrugation, the horizontal corrugations being disposed in a shared central horizontal plane of the inner container.

The positions of the corrugations in the side walls as per the invention define folding lines of the inner container which allow the inner container to fold to a defined base area defined by the bottom wall when external loads act on the container walls in such a manner that a point load is externally applied to the surface centers of the front wall and the rear wall and a linear load is externally applied along the horizontal corrugations of the side walls, causing the front wall and the rear wall to be moved toward each other and the side walls to be moved toward each other, a surface load being simultaneously exerted on the bottom wall and the top wall in such a manner that the bottom wall and the top wall move toward each other.

So the inner container is reduced in height by the folding process, the horizontal corrugations in the side walls causing the side walls to fold in a defined manner against the elastic restoring forces of the inner container and ensuring that the top wall and the bottom wall are disposed one on top of the other essentially congruently after folding.

When the inner container is compressed to its folded size, the compressed inner container can be secured in the folded configuration by means of belts and stacked with the bottom wall in the horizontal position or, if needed, disposed in a horizontal row of a plurality of folded inner containers with the bottom wall in the vertical position in order for the folded inner container to be stored or transported.

When folded inner containers and transport pallets provided with an outer jacket are transported together, the folded inner containers can advantageously also be disposed in a stack within the outer jacket on the transport pallet.

If, according to an advantageous embodiment, the front wall additionally has two diagonal corrugations below a horizontal wall axis of the front wall, the horizontal wall axis being disposed in a shared horizontal plane with the horizontal corrugations, the diagonal corrugations extending between an outer container edge and the wall axis and approaching each other, a defined disposition of the outlet socket or of an outlet fitting already connected to the outlet socket is possible in the folded state of the inner container as a result of the folding process.

Preferably, the rear wall also has two diagonal corrugations below a horizontal wall axis of the rear wall, the horizontal wall axis being disposed in a shared horizontal plane with the horizontal corrugations, the diagonal corrugations extending between a lower container edge and the wall axis and approaching each other, enabling identical folding of the front wall and the rear wall.

Particularly precise mutual covering of the front wall and the rear wall and, thus, particularly high reproducibility of the folded size of the inner container can be achieved if the front wall and the rear wall each have two diagonal corrugations above the wall axes of the front wall and the rear wall, the wall axes being disposed in a shared horizontal plane with the horizontal corrugations, the diagonal corrugations extending from the upper container edge to the horizontal wall axis and approaching each other.

This results in a disposition of four diagonal corrugations on the front wall and four diagonal corrugations on the rear wall, which means that the point load acting on the surface centers of the front wall and the rear wall will cause the outlet socket formed on a lower wall portion of the front wall or the outlet fitting already connected to the outlet socket to move into a space formed between the bottom wall and the top wall upon folding, the outlet socket or the outlet fitting being accommodated in said space, the filling opening formed in the top wall maintaining its position relative to the top wall during the folding process. So the inner container is reduced in height by the folding process, the diagonal corrugations in the front wall and the rear wall and the horizontal corrugations in the side walls leading to defined folding of wall portions of the front wall and the rear wall and the side walls against the elastic restoring forces of the inner container.

If the diagonal corrugations on the front wall and the rear wall each run parallel to a surface diagonal, the inner container can be folded with particularly low folding forces.

It proves particularly advantageous if each two diagonal corrugations coming from a shared container edge form a pair of corrugations and have longitudinal axes forming an isosceles triangle with the container edge, such that, in cooperation with the horizontal corrugations of the side walls, the wall folds formed during folding are located in a shared horizontal plane between the bottom wall and the top wall of the inner container.

If the diagonal corrugations of a pair of corrugations are disposed at an angle of 45° to the container edge, the folding process can be carried out with as little folding load as possible.

Preferably, the diagonal corrugations of each pair of corrugations have longitudinal axes that intersect with the horizontal wall axis in a shared horizontal intersection, enabling further reduction of the folding load.

If the pairs of corrugations disposed on the front wall and the rear wall have a distance X between the horizontal intersections of their longitudinal axes with the horizontal wall axis, in particular the distance between the side wall folds of the folded inner container is set accordingly.

It is particularly advantageous if the distal corrugation ends of the diagonal corrugations extend into the container edge.

Preferably, the distal corrugation ends of the diagonal corrugations extend into the container corners, making a particularly small height of the inner container folded to the folded size possible.

If the diagonal corrugations have a corrugation bottom continuously rising toward a wall surface at their proximal corrugations ends, the diagonal corrugations continuously flatten out at the corrugation ends, which means that there is no reinforcement counteracting the folding at the end of the folding line formed by the diagonal corrugation.

Preferably, the corrugation ends of the horizontal corrugations extend into the container edges, the folded size in the plane of the bottom wall and of the top wall thus being adjusted to the planar size of the bottom wall or of the top wall.

Preferably, the horizontal corrugations have a concave corrugation bottom which has an enlarged profile radius for forming corrugation widenings at the corrugation ends, which means that the formation of kinks, i.e., plastic deformation, is avoided in the area of the container edges where multiple folds meet during the folding process.

It is particularly preferred if the corrugation widenings have at least a radial corrugation running in the corrugation bottom, a reinforcement thus being created in the area of the vulnerable container edges. If, moreover, at least a horizontal corrugation is formed in the front wall and in the rear wall adjacent to the corrugation widenings, the defined formation of the fold in the area of the front wall and the rear wall can be supported additionally.

According to the invention, the folding of the inner container takes place in the following way: a point load is externally applied to the surface centers of the front wall and the rear wall and a linear load is externally applied along the horizontal corrugations of the side walls in such a manner that the front wall and the rear wall are moved toward each other and the side walls are moved toward each other, a surface load being simultaneously exerted on the bottom wall and the top wall in such a manner that the bottom wall and the top wall move toward each other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Hereinafter, the invention will be described in more detail based on an example of an embodiment illustrated in the drawing.

FIG. 1 shows a transport and storage container for liquids with an inner container made of plastic inserted into an outer jacket of a transport pallet;

FIG. 2 is an isolated illustration of the inner container illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows the inner container of FIG. 2 in a folded state;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the inner container for clarifying the folding process;

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of the inner container with diagonal corrugations disposed on a front wall and a horizontal corrugation disposed on a side wall;

FIG. 6 is an isometric illustration of an embodiment of the inner container;

FIG. 7 is a front view of the inner container illustrated in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a side view of the inner container illustrated in FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a transport and storage pallet 10 having, as essential components, a transport pallet 11 on which an outer jacket 14 is disposed, outer jacket 14 being realized as a cage having vertical bars 12 and horizontal bars 13. An inner container 15 made of plastic is disposed on transport pallet 11 within outer jacket 14, inner container 15 having an outlet socket 18 provided with an outlet fitting 17 in a front wall 16 on a front side, as shown in FIG. 2 in particular.

Outlet socket 18 is located in a lower wall portion 19 of front wall 16 in an area of transition to a bottom wall 20 of inner container 15, bottom wall 20 of inner container 15 being disposed on a pallet floor 21 of transport pallet 11. Bottom wall 20 connects front wall 16 to a rear wall 22, which is formed on the rear side of inner container 15, and two opposing side walls 23 and 24. A top wall 25 provided with a filling opening 26 is formed opposite bottom wall 20. For securing inner container 15 when it is received in outer jacket 14, traverses 27 connected to an upper circumferential edge 28 of outer jacket 14 extend above top wall 25.

FIG. 3 shows inner container 15 in the folded state, in which inner container 15 has a defined folded configuration 29 having wall folds 30 which are formed in side walls 23 and 24 and which extend into the drawing plane parallel to container bottom 20 in the illustration of inner container 15 according to FIG. 3. Moreover, inner container 15 has container edge folds 31 and 32 which extend from an upper container corner 33 to side wall fold 30 and from a lower container corner 34 to side wall fold 30 and which are formed in a front plane of inner container 15. Furthermore, when in the folded state, inner container 15 has inner folds 35 and 36 which extend from an upper container corner 33 into a fold space 37 and from a lower container corner 34 into a fold space 38. Fold spaces 37 and 38 are formed between an edge fold 40 formed on an upper container edge 39 of inner container 15 and adjacent container edge fold 31 and between an edge fold 42 formed on a lower container edge 41 of inner container 15 and adjacent container edge fold 32.

For a defined formation of folded configuration 29, inner container 15 illustrated in FIG. 2 has diagonal corrugations 43, 44, 45 and 46 in its front wall 16 and its rear wall 22 and horizontal corrugations 47 and 48 in its side walls 23 and 24, respectively, horizontal corrugations 47 and 48 being located in a central horizontal plane of inner container 15. For clarification of the folding process, diagonal corrugations 43, 44, 45 and 46 are illustrated as surface diagonals in the schematic illustration of FIG. 4.

When the folding process is carried out, point loads P, linear loads L and surface loads F externally act on inner container 15 as illustrated in FIG. 4, point loads P acting in opposite directions being exerted on central surface portions 49 of front wall 16 and rear wall 22, linear loads L acting in opposite directions being exerted on side walls 23 and 24 along horizontal corrugations 47 and 48 and surface loads F acting in opposite directions being exerted on bottom wall 20 and top wall 25.

Diagonal corrugations 43 to 46 and horizontal corrugations 47 to 48 define folding lines when external loads act on inner container 15 as illustrated in FIG. 4, such that front wall 16 and rear wall 22 are elastically deformed inward along diagonal corrugations 43 to 46 and inner folds 35 and 36 illustrated in FIG. 3 form along diagonal corrugations 43 to 46 and side walls folds 30 illustrated in FIG. 3 form along horizontal corrugations 47 and 48. Furthermore, vertically running lateral container edges 50 and 51 of non-deformed inner container 15 (FIG. 2) are turned into container edge folds 31 and 32.

When inner fold 35 is formed, approximately triangular surface areas A and B, which are designated A and B in FIG. 4 for clarification of the folding process, are moved into a position in which they cover each other; likewise, surface areas C and D are moved into a position in which they cover each other when inner fold 36 is formed. Furthermore, horizontal corrugations 47 and 48 and front wall 16 and rear wall 25 move toward each other along a wall axis 52 which runs through the intersection of the longitudinal axes of the corrugations in FIG. 4, both wall portions A and B and wall portions C and D moving into a position in which they cover each other.

FIG. 5 shows another schematic illustration of diagonal corrugations 43, 44, 45 and 46 in a disposition identical to FIG. 2, in which diagonal corrugations 43 and 44 extend between an upper container edge 54 and horizontal wall axis 52 and diagonal corrugations 45 and 46 extend between a lower container edge 55 and horizontal wall axis 52. Diagonal corrugations 43 and 56 and diagonal corrugations 44 and 45 together form pairs of corrugations 57 and 58 which, like pairs of corrugations 59 and 60 formed by diagonal corrugations 43 and 46 and diagonal corrugations 44 and 45, respectively, and illustrated in FIG. 4, together each form an isosceles triangle with lateral container edges 50 and 51, the diagonal corrugations each being disposed at an angle of 45° to container edges 50 and 51.

Unlike diagonal corrugations 43 to 46 illustrated in FIG. 4, whose disposition coincides with the surface diagonals and whose longitudinal axes meet in a shared horizontal intersection M coinciding with the surface center in the case of the illustration of FIG. 4, the longitudinal axes of diagonal corrugations 43 and 46 and diagonal corrugations 44 and 45, which form pairs of corrugations 57 and 58 in FIG. 5, intersect in horizontal intersections S₁ and S₂ on wall axis 52, intersections S₁ and S₂ having distance X from each other. Distance X prevents side wall folds 30 coming from container edges 50 and 51 from meeting when the folding process is carried out and plastic deformation from occurring in central surface portion 49.

As shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, corrugation ends 61 of diagonal corrugations 43 to 46 extend into container edges 50 and 51, respectively, more specifically into upper container corners 33 and lower container corners 34, respectively. At their proximal corrugation ends 62, diagonal corrugations 43 to 46 have corrugation bottoms 64 continuously rising toward a wall surface 63 of front wall 16 and rear wall 22, respectively.

Corrugation ends 65 on both sides of horizontal corrugations 47 and 48 extend into container edges 50 and 51, horizontal corrugations 47 and 48, like diagonal corrugations 43 and 46, having a concave corrugation bottom 64 which has an enlarged profile radius 67 for forming corrugation widenings 66 on corrugation ends 65.

As shown in FIG. 8 in particular, corrugation widenings 66 of the embodiment example at hand are provided with a plurality of parallel radial corrugations 68 formed in corrugation bottom 64 and formed closely together across the entire length of corrugation bottom 64 within corrugation widening 66.

As shown in FIG. 7 in particular, front wall 16, like opposite rear wall 22 (not shown), has a plurality of horizontal corrugations 69 adjacent to corrugation widenings 66 of horizontal corrugations 47 and 48, horizontal corrugations 69 extending along horizontal wall axis 52 in wall portion 70 of front wall 16 and rear wall 22 limited by pair of corrugations 57 formed by diagonal corrugations 44 and 45 and pair of corrugations 58 formed by diagonal corrugations 45 and 46, respectively.

Claims

1. An inner container (15) made of plastic for transporting and storing liquids, the inner container (15) having an outlet socket (18) for connecting an outlet fitting (17) on a front side, a bottom wall (20) connecting two side walls (23, 24), a rear wall (22) and a front wall (16) of the inner container (15) and serving to support the inner container (15) on a pallet floor (21) of a transport pallet (11) provided with an outer jacket (14) for receiving the inner container (15), and a top wall (25) located opposite the bottom wall (20) and provided with a filling opening, characterized in that the side walls each have a horizontal corrugation (47, 48), the horizontal corrugations (47, 48) being disposed in a shared central horizontal plane.

2. The inner container according to claim 1, characterized in that the front wall (16) has two diagonal corrugations (45, 46) below a horizontal wall axis (52) of the front wall (16), the horizontal wall axis (52) being disposed in a shared horizontal plane with the horizontal corrugations (47, 48), the diagonal corrugations (45, 46) extending between a lower container edge (55) and the wall axis (52) and approaching each other.

3. The inner container according to claim 2, characterized in that the rear wall (22) has two diagonal corrugations (45, 46) below a horizontal wall axis (52) of the rear wall (22), the horizontal wall axis (52) being disposed in a shared horizontal plane with the horizontal corrugations (47, 48), the diagonal corrugations (45, 46) extending between a lower container edge (55) and the wall axis (52) and approaching each other.

4. The inner container according to claim 3, characterized in that the front wall (16) and the rear wall (22) each have two diagonal corrugations (43, 44) above the wall axes (52) of the front wall (16) and the rear wall (22), the wall axes (52) being disposed in a shared horizontal plane with the horizontal corrugations (47, 48), the diagonal corrugations (43, 44) extending from the upper container edge (54) to the horizontal wall axis (52) and approaching each other.

5. The inner container according to claim 2, characterized in that the diagonal corrugations (43, 46; 44, 45) on the front wall (16) and the rear wall (22) each run parallel to a surface diagonal.

6. The inner container according to claim 2, characterized in that each two diagonal corrugations (43, 46; 44, 45) coming from a shared lateral container edge (50, 51) form a pair of corrugations (57, 58, 59, 60) and have longitudinal axes forming an isosceles triangle with the container edge (50, 51).

7. The inner container according to claim 6, characterized in that the diagonal corrugations (43, 46; 44, 45) of each pair of corrugations (57, 58, 59, 60) are disposed at an angle of 45° to the lateral container edge (50, 51).

8. The inner container according to claim 6, characterized in that the diagonal corrugations (43, 46; 44, 45) of a pair of corrugations (59, 60) have longitudinal axes intersecting with the horizontal wall axis (52) in a shared horizontal intersection M.

9. The inner container according to claim 6, characterized in that the pairs of corrugations (57, 58) disposed on the front wall (16) and the rear wall (22) have a distance x between the horizontal intersections S1 and S2 of their longitudinal axes with the horizontal wall axis (52).

10. The inner container according to claim 2, characterized in that distal corrugation ends (61) of the diagonal corrugations (43, 44, 45, 46) extend into the lateral container edge (50, 51).

11. The inner container according to claim 2, characterized in that distal corrugation ends (61) of the diagonal corrugations (43, 44, 45, 46) extend into container corners (33, 34).

12. The inner container according to claim 2, characterized in that the diagonal corrugations (43, 44, 45, 46) have a corrugation bottom (64) continuously rising toward a wall surface (63) at their proximal corrugation ends (62).

13. The inner container according to claim 2, characterized in that corrugation ends (65) of the horizontal corrugations (47, 48) extend into the container edges (50, 51).

14. The inner container according to claim 13, characterized in that the horizontal corrugations (47, 48) have a concave corrugation bottom (64) which has an enlarged profile radius (67) for forming corrugation widenings (66) at the corrugation ends (65).

15. The inner container according to claim 14, characterized in that the corrugation widenings (66) have at least a radial corrugation (68) running in the corrugation bottom (64).

16. The inner container according to claim 14, characterized in that at least a horizontal corrugation (69) is formed in the front wall (16) and the rear wall (22) adjacent to the corrugation widenings (66).

17. A transport and storage container for liquids, the transport and storage container comprising an inner container made of plastic according to claim 1.

18. A method for folding an inner container according to claim 1, characterized in that a point load P is externally applied to the surface centers of the front wall (16) and the rear wall (22) and a linear load L is externally applied along the horizontal corrugations (47, 48) of the side walls (23, 24) in such a manner that the front wall (16) and the rear wall (22) are moved toward each other and the side walls (23, 24) are moved toward each other, a surface load F being simultaneously exerted on the bottom wall (20) and the top wall (25) in such a manner that the bottom wall (20) and the top wall (25) move toward each other.