Patent Application
20130092706
This invention relates to bulk material liners used in conjunction with bulk containers, and particularly to intermediate bulk container liners which are pressurized to enhance the evacuation of contents.
Flexible liners are oftentimes utilized in conjunction with an intermediate bulk container or bag to ship large quantities of liquid, viscous or granular products. A problem long associated with the use of such liners has been the complete or near-complete evacuation of the contents from within the liner. As such, some liners have utilized pressurized regions to lift or angle the bottom of the liner in order to move the contents closer to the outlet of the liner. While these devices have aided in the evacuation of the liner they can still result in rather large quantities of content remaining within the liner.
Accordingly, it is seen that a need remains for an intermediate bulk container liner that can more efficiently evacuate the contents. It is to the provision of such therefore that the present invention is primarily directed.
A pressurized liner for use with a intermediate bulk container comprises a tubular central band having at least one content port and at least one open end defined by a peripheral edge, at least one inner cap sealed to the tubular central band open end and at least one outer cap sealed to the tubular central band open end. The inner cap has an inner cap end wall and peripheral inner cap side walls extending from the inner cap end wall. The outer cap has an outer cap end wall and peripheral outer cap side walls extending from the outer cap end wall. The outer cap has an air inlet port extending therethrough. The inner cap and outer cap define an expandable pressure compartment therebetween in fluid communication with the outer cap air inlet port. With this construction, the inflation of the expandable pressure compartment moves the inner cap to a position within the central band.
With reference next to the drawings, there is shown a pressurized liner 10 embodying principles of the invention in a preferred form. The pressurized liner 10 is configured to be used in conjunction with an intermediate bulk container, which can be in the form of a flexible bag, a rigid container or a semi-rigid container.
The pressurized liner 10 includes a tubular central band or portion 12, two oppositely disposed inner caps 13, and two oppositely disposed outer caps 14. The central band 12 has two oppositely disposed peripheral edges 16 which are laterally spaced from each other and which are sealed to an inner cap peripheral edge 17 and an outer cap peripheral edge 18 so as to define two vertically oriented, circumferential, peripheral seals 19. All peripheral edges 16, 17 and 18 may also be termed peripheral rims.
Each inner cap 13 has an end wall 20 and four peripheral side walls 21 extending generally normal to and laterally from the end wall 20 so as to define a generally open box shape configuration, the opening of such facing the central band 12. The open box shape can be described generally as a rectangular prism, although it should be understood that due to the bellowing of flexible plastic materials the walls of the rectangular prism are not perfectly straight and some bowing or bellowing occurs. The side wall 21 which forms a bottom side wall 21′ may be considered to be a bottom. Similarly, each outer cap 14 has an end wall 22 and four peripheral side walls 23 extending generally normal to and laterally from the end wall 22 so as to define a generally open box shaped configuration, the opening of such facing the central band 12. Again, the side wall 23 which forms a bottom side wall 23′ may be considered to be a bottom. The central band 12 and the inner caps 13 are preferably of a two or three ply construction while the outer caps 14 are of a single ply construction. The central band 12 and caps 13 and 14 may be made of a plastic sheet or film material such as a polyethylene film.
The central band 12 and inner caps 13 define a middle or central compartment 33 which has a content inlet port or fitment 34 sealed to and extending through the top wall 35 of the central band and a content outlet port or fitment 36 sealed to and extending through a front wall 37 of the central band. Each adjoining or adjacent pair of inner caps 13 and outer caps 14 define inflatable side compartments 39 coupled to opposite sides of the central compartment 33. Each inflatable side compartment 39 has a pressurized air port or fitment 40 to allow the passage of pressurized air therethrough to inflate and deflate the side compartment 39.
The inner caps 13 have a substantially similar three dimensional lateral depth d1 extending between their respective peripheral edges 17 and their end walls 20. Similarly, the outer caps 14 have a substantially similar or slightly smaller three dimensional lateral depth d2 to that of d1 between their respective peripheral edges 18 and their end walls 22 to insure that the inner caps contact the outer caps when in an extended configuration. As such, each inner cap 13 depth d1 is selected so as to nest flush within and generally against the adjacent outer cap 14 when the central compartment 33 is filled with contents (filled configuration), as shown in
In use, with the inner caps extending outwardly against the outer caps, the contents to be stored within the liner, such as a liquid, powder, granules, etc., flow into the central compartment 33 through the content inlet port 34. As the content fills the central compartment 33 the inner caps 13 are forced to move outwardly or are maintained outwardly against the outer caps 14, as shown in
When it is desired to empty or evacuate the contents from the liner 10 the content outlet port 36 is opened so that the contents may flow through the outlet port 36 to ambience. An air pressure source is also coupled to the air ports 40 of the side compartments 39 so that pressurized air flows into and thereby inflates the side compartments 39 during the evacuation process. Initially, the pressurized air inflates only the topmost portion of the side compartments, as shown in
It should be understood that the three dimensional configuration of the inner cap, as opposed to the prior art pressure chambers formed by merely sealing the peripheral edges of flat sheets together (a pillow type liner), provides for a great amount of pushing ability or characteristics upon the contents, especially in the lower portion of the central compartment 33 adjacent the bottom of the central compartment with the rolled action of the inner cap adjacent the bottom side wall 21′. This enhancement provides for a greater degree of content movement or evacuation through the content outlet port 36.
It should be understood that should the pressurized liner include only one set of inner and outer caps the opposite end of the tubular central band is closed in conventional fashion with an end wall, i.e., the pressurized liner has only one side compartment. Lastly, it should be understood that as an option the liner may include only one port which acts as both the content inlet port and the content outlet port.
It thus is seen that a pressurized liner is now provided which overcomes problems associated with pressurized liners of the prior art. While this invention has been described in detail with particular references to the preferred embodiments thereof, it should be understood that many modifications, additions and deletions, in addition to those expressly recited, may be made thereto without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention.
