PREFABRICATED PLASTIC PALETTE

Abstract

A prefabricated plastic pallet includes: support beams spaced apart from one another in a transverse direction thereof and each having an “I”-shaped section and consisting of an upper flange, a lower flange, and a web connecting the upper flange and the lower flange and having through holes formed therein; at least two or more plates fixed to the upper flanges and the lower flanges; a first reinforcement board disposed on one surface of the web; and a second reinforcement board disposed on the other surface of the web.

Description

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to a pallet, more specifically to a prefabricated plastic pallet manufactured by assembling plastic extrusion-molded parts and injection-molded parts.

A pallet is a flat structure on which goods are put to the unit of given quantities so that they can be unloaded, stored, and moved. The pallet is made of various materials such as wood, plastic, metal, paper, and the like. Further, the pallet is standardized in size so that logistical efficiency is enhanced.

A wooden pallet is easy to be made to various sizes, but it may be easily broken and rotten at a humid place. Further, the wooden pallet causes environments to be destructed due to logging, and to remove harmful insects existing in the wood of the wooden pallet, quarantine for the wooden pallet is required. Besides, unfortunately, it is hard to recycle the wooden pallet. A metal pallet is rigid so that it is widely used for loading and unloading heavy goods, but the metal pallet may be easily corroded due to humidity so that it is hard to be used in various environments.

A plastic pallet is lightweight and not rotten so that it can be used for a long time, but it requires a mold because it is made by means of plastic injection molding. However, the mold for the plastic injection molding is expensive, which increases the manufacturing cost of the pallet. Further, it is difficult to make the plastic pallets with various sizes due to the time and cost needed for making the molds.

As products have been diversely made, recently, demands for plastic pallets having different sizes from the standardized size have consistently increased. To reduce a logistics cost, further, market demands for plastic pallets easy to be assembled and disassembled have been made.

A prefabricated plastic pallet for easy assembly and disassembly is disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-2109526. The conventional plastic pallet as disclosed includes plates on which goods are put, beam frames for supporting the goods put on the plates, and coupling members for coupling the plates and the beam frames to one another. Further, the plastic pallet includes locking panels for preventing the coupled plates and beam frames from being separated from one another and locking-releasing pins for easily separating the plates and the beam frames from one another. Each beam frame with an “I”-shaped section has a plurality of coupling member insertion holes formed on top and underside thereof in a longitudinal direction thereof.

In the case of the above-mentioned conventional prefabricated plastic pallet, the number of parts such as beam frames, plates, coupling members, locking panels, and locking-releasing pins is large to cause a molding cost to increase, so that undesirably, the entire manufacturing cost becomes raised. Further, the parts such as the coupling members, the locking panels, and the locking-releasing pins have to have minimal operating lengths so as to fix and release the beam frames and the plates. Accordingly, standardized products may be made, but there are many limitations in making prefabricated plastic pallets having small or various sizes required in industrial fields.

In the case of the plates coupled to the undersides and tops of the beam frames, further, both ends of each plate is exposed to the outside, so that if an external impact is applied to the pallet, the plates may be easily separated from the beam frames. Furthermore, the beam frames are thin and long, so that when the forks of a forklift truck are inserted into the pallet to carry the pallet, they collide against the beam frames and apply an impact to them, thereby easily destructing the beam frames or the plates.

Prior art literature: Korean Patent No. 10-2109526.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems occurring in the related art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a new prefabricated plastic pallet.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a prefabricated plastic pallet. The prefabricated plastic pallet of the present invention may include: a plurality of support beams spaced apart from one another in a transverse direction thereof and each having an “I”-shaped section and consisting of an upper flange, a lower flange, and a web connecting the upper flange and the lower flange and having a plurality of through holes formed therein; at least two or more plates fixed to the upper flanges and the lower flanges of the plurality of support beams, respectively; a first reinforcement board disposed on one surface of the web to reinforce the web and having a plurality of snap fits formed on a surface facing one surface of the web in such a way as to pass through some of the through holes and a plurality of coupling holes formed on the surface facing one surface of the web in such a way as to be aligned with some of the through holes; and a second reinforcement board disposed on the other surface of the web in such a way as to face the first reinforcement board and having a plurality of snap fits formed on a surface facing the other surface of the web in such a way as to pass through some of the through holes and be elastically coupled to the coupling holes of the first reinforcement board and a plurality of coupling holes formed on the surface facing the other surface of the web in such a way as to elastically couple the snap fits of the first reinforcement board thereto.

According to the present invention, among the plurality of support beams, the two support beams located on both sides of the plastic pallet each may have an upper cover plate extending upward from the upper flange and a lower cover plate extending downward from the lower flange so that the upper cover plates and the lower cover plates of the two support beams cover both ends of the at least two or more plates. Further, one of the first reinforcement board or the second reinforcement board may further include a cover plate extending from one side edge thereof in such a way as to cover the end of the corresponding support beam. Accordingly, the ends of the plates and the ends of the support beams are prevented from being damaged due to impacts.

According to the present invention, the first reinforcement board and the second reinforcement board may be fitted between the upper flange and the lower flange in such a way as to support the underside of the upper flange and the top of the lower flange. Accordingly, the stiffness of the support beams is structurally reinforced by means of the first reinforcement boards and the second reinforcement boards, thereby preventing the pallet from being damaged due to overloading or external impacts.

According to the present invention, the prefabricated plastic pallet is configured to allow the support beams and the plates to be made by means of extrusion molding using a single mold or two molds. This enables the number of molds to decrease to the maximum when compared to the number of parts to be molded, thereby lowering the cost of production through the reduction of a molding cost and improving the productivity of the pallet. Further, the support beams and the plates are extrusion molded and then cut to unit lengths, thereby easily making the pallets having various sizes. Accordingly, small quantity batch production for the pallets having various sizes required in industrial fields is possible at low costs. Furthermore, the stiffness of the support beams is structurally reinforced by means of the first reinforcement boards and the second reinforcement boards to prevent the pallet from being damaged due to overloading or external impacts, thereby improving the durability and reliability of the pallet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a prefabricated plastic pallet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing an exploded state of the plastic pallet according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a support beam located on one side edge of the plastic pallet according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a support beam located on the other side edge of the plastic pallet according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a support beam located on the central portion of the plastic pallet according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a plate of the plastic pallet according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing first and second reinforcement boards of the plastic pallet according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a prefabricated plastic pallet according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing first and second reinforcement boards of the plastic pallet according to another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Objects, characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the detailed description as will be described below and the attached drawings. In the description, the thicknesses of the lines or the sizes of the components shown in the drawing may be magnified for the clarity and convenience of the description. Further, the terms as will be discussed later are defined in accordance with the functions of the present invention, but may be varied under the intention or regulation of a user or operator. Therefore, they should be defined on the basis of the whole scope of the present invention.

Hereinafter, example embodiments of a prefabricated plastic pallet according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 to 3, a prefabricated plastic pallet 10 according to the present invention includes a plurality of support beams 20 (that is, 20-1, 20-2, and 20-3) disposed in a transverse direction thereof. The support beams 20 are made of a plastic such as polypropylene (PP) by means of extrusion molding to the form of length members cut to desired unit lengths. At least three or more support beams 20 are spaced apart from one another at given intervals. A distance between the neighboring support beams 20 is set to provide fork holes so that the forks of a forklift truck are sufficiently inserted into the fork holes. The support beams 20-1 and 20-2 are a pair of side support beams that are located on both transverse edges of the plastic pallet. The support beam 20-3 is a center support beam that is located between the side support beams.

Referring to FIGS. 4 to 6, each of the support beams 20-1, 20-2, and 20-3 has an “I”-shaped section and consists of an upper flange 22, a lower flange 24, and a web 26 connecting the upper flange 22 and the lower flange 24 vertically. The web 26 has a plurality of through holes 28 formed thereon. A plurality of fixing holes 30 are formed on the upper flange 22 and the lower flange 24, respectively. A pair of fork holes 32 for inserting the forks of the forklift truck is spaced apart from each other by a given distance on the web 26. According to other embodiments of the present invention, the fork holes 32 may be omitted.

Among the support beams 20, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the two support beams 20-1 and 20-2 located on both sides of the plastic pallet 10 each have an upper cover plate 34 extending upward from the outside end of the upper flange 22 and a lower cover plate 36 extending downward from the outside end of the lower flange 24.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3 and 7, the prefabricated plastic pallet 10 according to the present invention includes at least two or more plates 40 (that is, 40-1 and 402) coupled to the upper flanges 22 and the lower flanges 24 of the support beams 20, respectively. The plates 40 are made of a plastic such as polypropylene (PP) by means of extrusion molding to the form of length members cut to desired unit length. The plates 40 as the length members are spaced apart from one another at given intervals on the upper flanges 22 and the lower flanges 24 of the support beams 20 in a longitudinal direction perpendicular to the transverse direction of the pallet 10.

Each plate 40 has a first end 42, a second end 44, a top surface 46, and an underside surface 48. Each plate 40 consists of a plurality of hollow square pipe portions 50 (that is, 50a, 50b, and 50c) and connection plate portions 52 (that is, 52a and 52b) connecting the neighboring two square pipe portions 50 among the square pipe portions 50. A plurality of fixing holes 54 are formed on the square pipe portions 50 in such a way as to be aligned with the fixing holes 30 of the support beams 20.

Among the plates 40, the plurality of plates 40-1, which are located on the upper flanges 22 of the support beams 20, constitute a top deck 60 or an upper plate. The plurality of plates 40-2, which are located on the lower flanges 24 of the support beams 20, constitute a bottom deck 62 or a lower plate. The top deck 60 and the bottom deck 62 as shown in FIG. 1 are formed of five plates 40, respectively, but they are just exemplary. Therefore, the number of plates 40 may increase or decrease if necessary. According to other embodiments of the present invention, the top deck 60 and the bottom deck 62 may be formed of plastic panels, plastic boards, and the like, respectively, instead of the plates 40.

Referring back to FIGS. 1 to 3, the prefabricated plastic pallet 10 according to the present invention includes a plurality of fastening members 70 for coupling the plates 40 to the upper flanges 22 and the lower flanges 24 of the support beams 20. The fastening members 70 include various members such as screws 72, nails, staples, bolts, and the like which are coupled to the fixing holes 30 of the upper flanges 22 and the lower flanges 24 of the support beams 20 through the fixing holes 54 of the plates 40. Otherwise, the fastening members 70 may include fasteners such as snap fits, clips, and the like. The snap fits may be integrally formed on the plates 40.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3 and 8, the prefabricated plastic pallet 10 according to the present invention includes first reinforcement boards 80 and second reinforcement boards 90 for reinforcing the webs 26 of the support beams 20. Each first reinforcement board 80 and each second reinforcement board 90 are rectangular boards that are made of a plastic such as polypropylene (PP) by means of injection molding, and they are configured as the same parts in such a way as to be facingly located on both sides of each web 26.

The first reinforcement board 80 is disposed on one surface of the web 26. The first reinforcement board 80 has a plurality of snap fits 82 formed on a surface facing one surface of the web 26 in such a way as to pass through some of the through holes 28. The first reinforcement board 80 has a plurality of coupling holes 84 formed on the surface facing one surface of the web 26 in such a way as to be aligned with some of the through holes 28. The snap fits 82 and the coupling holes 84 are formed on the first reinforcement board 80 in diagonal directions to each other, respectively.

The second reinforcement board 90 is disposed on the other surface of the web 26 in such a way as to face the first reinforcement board 80. The second reinforcement board 90 has a plurality of snap fits 92 formed on a surface facing the other surface of the web 26 in such a way as to pass through some of the through holes 28 and be elastically coupled to the coupling holes 84 of the first reinforcement board 80. The second reinforcement board 90 has a plurality of coupling holes 94 formed on the surface facing the other surface of the web 26 in such a way as to elastically couple the snap fits 82 of the first reinforcement board 80 thereto.

The first reinforcement board 80 and the second reinforcement board 90 are fitted between the upper flange 22 and the lower flange 24 in such a way as to support the underside of the upper flange 22 and the top of the lower flange 24. As the upper and lower flanges 22 and 24 are supported against tops and undersides of the first and second reinforcement boards 80 and 90, like this, the stiffness of the support beams 20 are reinforced, and the upper and lower flanges 22 and 24 are prevented from being deformed.

Under the above-mentioned configuration, now, an explanation of a prefabricating process for the plastic pallet according to the present invention will be given.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, the snap fits 82 of the first reinforcement boards 80 are fitted to some of the through holes 28 of the support beams 20 so that the first reinforcement boards 80 are located on one side surface of the webs 26 of the support beams 20. The snap fits 92 of the second reinforcement boards 90 are coupled to the coupling holes 84 of the first reinforcement boards 80 through the remaining through holes 28, and simultaneously, the snap fits 82 of the first reinforcement boards 80 are coupled to the coupling holes 94 of the second reinforcement boards 90.

Like this, the stiffness of the support beams 20 is structurally reinforced by means of the first and second reinforcement boards 80 and 90 coupled to both side surfaces of each web 26, thereby improving the reliability of the pallet 10. Further, the first and second reinforcement boards 80 and 90 having the same configuration as each other are easily coupled to the support beams 20 by means of the fitting of the snap fits 82 and 92, thereby improving the productivity of the pallet 10. The first and second reinforcement boards 80 and 90 are easily separated by removing the snap fits 82 and 92 from the coupling holes 84 and 94.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3 and 8, if the coupling among the support beams 20 and the first and second reinforcement boards 80 and 90 is completed, the support beams 20 are equally spaced apart from one another in the transverse direction of the pallet 10, and next, the plates 40 are equally spaced apart from one another on the upper flanges 22 in the longitudinal direction of the pallet 10. In this case, the upper cover plates 34 of the support beams 20 located on both side edges serve to cover the first and second ends 42 and 44 of the plates 40. The screws 72 pass through the fixing holes 54 of the square pipe portions 50 and are fixed to the fixing holes 30 of the upper flanges 22. In the case where the screws 72 are configured as self-tapping screws or self-drilling screws, the support beams 20 and the plates 40 are easily coupled to one another by means of fastening of the self-tapping screws even though the fixing holes 30 and 54 are not formed on the upper flanges 22 and the square pipe portions 50. Further, even in the case where the plates 40 are coupled to the upper flanges 22 by means of nails or staples of a stapler, there is no need to form the fixing holes 30 and 54. Accordingly, the support beams 20 and the plates 40 are simply coupled to one another.

After the plates 40 have been coupled to the upper flanges 22, next, the support beams 20 are turned over so that the lower flanges 22 become tops. The plates 40 are equally spaced apart from one another on the lower flanges 24 in the longitudinal direction of the pallet 10. In this case, the lower cover plates 36 of the support beams 20 located on both side edges serve to cover the first and second ends 42 and 44 of the plates 40. If the screws 72 pass through the fixing holes 54 of the square pipe portions 50 and are fixed to the fixing holes 30 of the lower flanges 24, the coupling process of the pallet 10 is completed.

Like this, the prefabricated plastic pallet 10 according to the present invention is configured to couple the first and second reinforcement boards 80 and 90 to the support beams 20 and to couple the plates 40 to the upper flanges 22 and the lower flanges 24 of the support beams 20 in a simple way, thereby improving the productivity thereof. Further, the support beams 20 and the plates 40 are made by means of the extrusion molding and cut to required unit lengths, thereby allowing the sizes of the pallet 10 to be freely determined to ensure simple manufacturing of the pallet 10.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show a prefabricated plastic pallet according to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, the same components of the prefabricated plastic pallet 10A according to another embodiment of the present invention as of the prefabricated plastic pallet 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed explanations of them will be avoided. The prefabricated plastic pallet 10A according to another embodiment of the present invention is configured differently from the prefabricated plastic pallet 10 according to embodiment of the present invention in that first reinforcement boards 80A are provided to reinforce the stiffness of the support beams 20.

Each first reinforcement board 80A of the prefabricated plastic pallet 10A according to another embodiment of the present invention is provided with a cover plate 86 extending from one side edge thereof in such a way as to cover the end of the support beam 20. The cover plate 86 is located on one side edge of the first reinforcement board 80A in such a way as to be perpendicular to the first reinforcement board 80A. According to other embodiments of the present invention, the cover plate 86 may be formed on one side edge of the second reinforcement board 90.

The cover plates 86 of the prefabricated plastic pallet 10A according to another embodiment of the present invention serve to prevent the ends of the support beams 20 from being exposed to the outside, thereby protecting the support beams 20 from the outside. Accordingly, the ends of the support beams 20 are prevented from being damaged due to external impacts. Further, the cover plates 86 prevent the support beams 20 from being separated from the plates 40 so that the outer shape of the pallet 10A is kept consistently, thereby improving the reliability of the pallet 10A.

The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purpose of illustration; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims appended hereto.

Claims

1. A prefabricated plastic pallet comprising: a plurality of support beams spaced apart from one another in a transverse direction thereof and each having an “I”-shaped section and consisting of an upper flange, a lower flange, and a web connecting the upper flange and the lower flange and having a plurality of through holes formed therein;at least two or more plates fixed to the upper flanges and the lower flanges of the plurality of support beams, respectively;a first reinforcement board disposed on one surface of the web to reinforce the web and having a plurality of snap fits formed on a surface facing one surface of the web in such a way as to pass through some of the through holes and a plurality of coupling holes formed on the surface facing one surface of the web in such a way as to be aligned with some of the through holes; anda second reinforcement board disposed on the other surface of the web in such a way as to face the first reinforcement board and having a plurality of snap fits formed on a surface facing the other surface of the web in such a way as to pass through some of the through holes and be elastically coupled to the coupling holes of the first reinforcement board and a plurality of coupling holes formed on the surface facing the other surface of the web in such a way as to elastically couple the snap fits of the first reinforcement board thereto.

2. The prefabricated plastic pallet according to claim 1, wherein among the plurality of support beams, the two support beams located on both sides of the plastic pallet each have an upper cover plate extending upward from the upper flange and a lower cover plate extending downward from the lower flange so that the upper cover plates and the lower cover plates of the two support beams cover both ends of the at least two or more plates.

3. The prefabricated plastic pallet according to claim 1, wherein one of the first reinforcement board and the second reinforcement board further comprises a cover plate extending from one side edge thereof in such a way as to cover the end of the corresponding support beam.

4. The prefabricated plastic pallet according to claim 1, wherein the first reinforcement board and the second reinforcement board are fitted between the upper flange and the lower flange in such a way as to support the underside of the upper flange and the top of the lower flange.

5. The prefabricated plastic pallet according to claim 1, further comprising fastening members passing through the at least two or more plates in such a way as to couple the at least two or more plates to the upper flanges and the lower flanges of the plurality of support beams.

6. The prefabricated plastic pallet according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of support beams are made of a plastic by means of extrusion molding to the form of length members cut to a unit length.

7. The prefabricated plastic pallet according to claim 1, wherein the at least two or more plates are spaced apart from one another at given intervals on the upper flanges and the lower flanges of the plurality of support beams in a longitudinal direction perpendicular to the transverse direction of the pallet and made of a plastic by means of extrusion molding to the form of length members cut to a unit length.

8. The prefabricated plastic pallet according to claim 7, wherein each plate comprises a plurality of hollow square pipe portions and a plurality of connection plate portions for connecting the neighboring two hollow square pipe portions among the plurality of hollow square pipe portions, and each hollow square pipe portion is coupled to the upper flanges and the lower flanges by means of fastening of a plurality of screws.

9. The prefabricated plastic pallet according to claim 1, wherein each first reinforcement board and each second reinforcement board are rectangular boards made of a plastic by means of injection molding.