CONTAINER FOR THE TRANSPORT OF BOXES AND PALLET COMPRISING SAID CONTAINERS

Abstract

A plastic container is provided that contains one or more boxes therein. The container includes walls and a base that delimit a space for the location of the boxes; wherein the container includes a first ventilation means located in a first pair of opposite walls and a second ventilation means located in a second pair of opposite walls. A pallet including the containers is also provided.

Claims

1. A plastic container to contain one or more boxes inside, the container comprising: walls and a base that delimit a space for the location of the boxes; wherein the container comprises a first ventilation means located in a first pair of opposite walls; and a second ventilation means located in a second pair of opposite walls; and wherein the first ventilation means include at least one recess in the first pair of opposite walls.

2. The container according to claim 1, wherein the at least one recess is located in an upper part of the walls.

3. (canceled)

4. The container according to claim 1, wherein the second ventilation means includes at least one recess in the second pair of opposite walls.

5. The container according to claim 4, wherein the at least one recess is disposed in vertical pillars of the walls.

6. The container according to claim 1, wherein the walls are formed by a wall frame circumscribing inside wall reinforcement elements.

7. The container according to claim 6, wherein the wall reinforcement elements are selected from vertical pillars and cross shaped profiles.

8. The container according to claim 1, wherein the base is formed by a base frame comprising at least one central support element.

9. The container according to claim 8, wherein the at least one central support element includes a crossbar structure.

10. The container according to claim 1, wherein corners of the container comprise upper stacking means and lower stacking means.

11. The container according to claim 1, further comprising inside at least one housing for boxes which is separated from the walls by spacer elements.

12. The container according to claim 1, further comprising a separator element between two housings for boxes.

13. The container according to claim 12, wherein the separator element is a projection attached to two opposite walls of the container.

14. The container according to claim 1, further comprising ventilation openings in the walls.

15. The container according to claim 8, wherein the ventilation openings are disposed in at least one of corners of the container and vertical pillars of its walls.

16. The container according to claim 1, further comprising horizontal ribs at one or more of the corners wherein one or more of said ribs protrude from the container.

17. The container according claim 1, further comprising one or more recesses at one or more of corners.

18. The container according to claim 1, further comprising one or more marks on an upper face.

19. The container according to claim 1, wherein the walls are collapsible and comprise wall connectors at corners.

20. The container according to claim 1, further comprising a tensioning tie rod system made up of tie-rods and tie-rod connectors.

21. A pallet of plastic containers, according to claim 1, comprising: a platform on which the containers are arranged in a stacked configuration formed by rows of containers with boxes inside; and ventilation channels formed by first ventilation means and second ventilation means of the containers; wherein the first ventilation means is disposed in a first pair of opposite walls of the containers and includes at least one recess in the first pair of opposite walls; and wherein the second ventilation means is disposed in a second pair of opposite walls of the containers.

22. The pallet according to claim 21, which comprises rows of 8 containers each.

23. The pallet according to claim 22, wherein the containers in each row are arranged in a 4?2 arrangement.

24. The pallet according to claim 21, further comprising 24 rows of stacked containers.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] As part of the Application, the following representative Figures of the invention are exhibited which show preferred configurations thereof and, therefore, should not be considered as limiting the definition of the claimed subject matter.

[0025] FIG. 1 illustrates a cardboard container of the state of the art.

[0026] FIG. 2 illustrates a first perspective view the container of the present invention.

[0027] FIG. 3 illustrates a second perspective view of the container of the present invention.

[0028] FIG. 4 illustrates a perspective view of the container of the present invention including boxes inside.

[0029] FIGS. 5a and 5b illustrate a side view and a perspective view, respectively, of structural details of the container of the present invention.

[0030] FIG. 6 illustrates a configuration of containers of the present invention arranged on a pallet.

[0031] FIGS. 7a and 7b illustrate perspective views of a portion of structural details of the container of the present invention.

[0032] FIG. 8 illustrates a perspective view of a container according to a second embodiment of present invention.

[0033] FIGS. 9a and 9b illustrate a perspective view of interior details of the container according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0034] FIGS. 10a and 10b illustrate flow diagrams and air circulation means through the container according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0035] FIG. 11 illustrates a plan view of details of the top of the container of the present invention.

[0036] FIG. 12 illustrates a perspective view of the container of the present invention according to a second embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0037] According to FIG. 1, a cardboard container 10 of the state of the art is illustrated, which is made up of a rectangular base and four walls (11, 12). The illustrated container is configured to accommodate two cardboard boxes 1 for horticultural products, such as cherries, which are arranged side by side and against the walls of the container 10. Both the container and the box have vent holes 2 aligned to allow entry of an air flow and horticultural products cooling.

[0038] However, this solution does not turn out to be efficient to properly refrigerate horticultural products, first of all because when the containers are stacked on a pallet, the only place through which the air can circulate is through the ventilation holes, however, in the interior of the container boxes the fruit occupies practically the entire interior volume and is often placed inside bags, so that they prevent air from circulating through the multiple aligned perforations. In practice, what happens is that when the airflow tries to enter through the pallet, it runs into a large cardboard wall and can only go around it, with the boxes that are in the center of the pallet being the most affected by the lack of refrigeration.

[0039] According to FIGS. 2 and 3, the improved container of the present invention consists of a plastic material structure preferably obtained by the plastic injection method. The container is provided with four walls, preferably two larger walls 11 and two smaller walls 12 attached to a base 20. Unlike the container in FIG. 1, the structure of both the walls and the base is fully ventilated.

[0040] The walls are preferably formed by a wall frame 13 that circumscribes wall reinforcement elements inside. According to the illustrated embodiment, the wall reinforcement elements consist of vertical pillars 14 and cross-shaped profiles 15. For its part, the base is made up of a base frame 21 which comprises at least one central support element 22 and that, according to the illustrated embodiment, said at least one central support element 22 consists of a crossbar structure.

[0041] In the upper part of its corners 16 the container has upper stacking means 17 in the form of projections configured to be inserted into lower stacking means 18 in the form of openings when two or more identical containers are stacked. Furthermore, the container may comprise handles 23 located in the lower part of its smaller walls 12.

[0042] FIG. 4 shows the container 10 with two boxes 1 located inside it which are in direct contact with the internal surface of the container 10 and in turn with each other at the center of it, being arranged tightly inside said container 10. Although two square cardboard boxes 1 are illustrated in said Figure, in other embodiments the container could receive a different number of boxes, such as one, three, four, etc., these can also have any shape and be made of any material.

[0043] According to FIGS. 5a and 5b, the container is shaped in such a way that it allows the circulation of air around it. In the first place and according to FIG. 5a, it comprises a recess in the upper portion of the wall frame 13 of the smaller walls, which according to the illustrated embodiment has a trapezoidal shape made up of two inclined upper portions i that converge in a horizontal upper portion h at the upper edge of said wall frame 13.

[0044] Secondly, and according to FIG. 5b the vertical pillars 14 located on the larger walls comprise a recess on their outer edge which according to the illustrated embodiment has a trapezoidal shape made up of an upper and lower portion inclined i that converge in a vertical portion v of said vertical pillars 14.

[0045] As shown in FIG. 6, the recesses in the upper edge of the smaller walls and in the vertical pillars create ventilation channels between containers 10 stacked and arranged on a pallet, such as horizontal channels CH that allow air circulation between the top and bottom face of adjacent containers 10 in the vertical direction and vertical channels CV between the side faces of adjacent containers 10 in the horizontal direction.

[0046] According to the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 7a and 7b, one or more horizontal ribs 16 from the corners of the container protrude from the container by a distance preferably less than 1 mm. Said protruding ribs are preferably located at diagonally opposite corners of the container and may point either perpendicular or parallel to any wall of the box. These ribs 16 are configured to be inserted into one or more recesses 16 in the corners of an adjacent container, said recesses 16 being located in diagonally opposite corners of the container and opposite to those containing the ribs 16 that protrude from the container.

[0047] FIG. 8 shows an alternative embodiment of the container of the invention which comprises housings for boxes 30 separated by a separator element 31. In the example, a container with two housings is illustrated but in alternative embodiments it may be only one or more of two. Each housing comprises spacers 32 in the area of the container walls. In this way, the housings are configured to receive a box which rests on the base frame 21 and the central support element 21 being distanced from a box located in the adjacent housing by the separator element 31 and at the same time distanced from the walls of the container by means of spacers 32.

[0048] As shown in more detail in FIG. 9a, the separator element 31 consists of an elongated projection whose ends are attached to two opposite walls of the container, preferably to a vertical pillar 14 located on each of them. Likewise, the spacers 32 consist of vertical tabs attached on one side to one of the walls and on the other to the base frame. FIG. 9b shows the spacer 32 in more detail in which it can be seen that its upper edge 33 is inclined to allow the box to be placed inside the container to slide on it and remain correctly positioned in the housing. A similar inclination may also have the spacer element 31 to provide the same effect.

[0049] As shown in FIG. 10a, the separator element and the spacers form a separation between boxes and between the box and each wall of the container which allows the circulation of air inside the container (represented by arrows) and therefore, the ventilation of the four walls of the box 1.

[0050] According to FIG. 10b, the air circulation flow into the container and between the boxes, enters through ventilation openings 19 preferably located in the corners of the container and in the vertical pillars 14 joined by the separator element 31.

[0051] As shown in FIG. 11, the top face of the container may comprise marks 34 to indicate box orientations. In the illustrated example, said marks consist of arrow-shaped reliefs pointing towards one of the larger walls of the box.

[0052] According to FIG. 12, a third embodiment of the container of the present invention is observed, which consists of a collapsible container with collapsible walls comprising wall connectors 40 at its corners to detachably join two adjacent walls. In addition, the container may comprise in the upper part a system of tensioning tie rods made up of tie rods 50 that are connected to at least two walls of the container and that are hooked with each other by means of connecting tie rods. 51.