Thermally insulated shipping container

Abstract

A thermally insulated shipping container comprises an inner structure including an inner base, a front inner wall, a rear inner wall opposed to the front inner wall, a pair of opposed side inner walls each extending between the front and rear inner walls and an inner lid; an outer structure including an outer base, a front outer wall, a rear outer wall opposed to the front inner wall, two side outer walls each extending between the front and rear outer walls and an outer lid; and a cavity extending at least between the inner and outer walls, the cavity being arranged to receive a plurality of cool packs; wherein the container, when empty, is arranged to be transported disassembled in a flat packed state prior to being assembled for use.

Claims

1. A thermally insulated shipping container comprising: an inner structure including an inner base, a front inner wall, a rear inner wall opposed to the front inner wall, a pair of opposed side inner walls each extending between the front inner wall and the rear inner wall and an inner lid; an outer structure including an outer base, a front outer wall, a rear outer wall opposed to the front outer wall, two side outer walls each extending between the front outer wall and the rear outer wall and an outer lid; and a cavity between the inner structure and the outer structure arranged to receive a plurality of cool packs; wherein the container, when empty, is arranged to be transported disassembled in a flat packed state prior to being assembled for use, wherein respective first portions of both of the two side outer walls are joined substantially at right angles to respective ends of the front outer wall or the rear outer wall to form a U-shaped outer wall component, and wherein the inner lid, the rear inner wall, the front inner wall and the side inner walls are arranged so that they are configured to be stacked flat upon the inner base, wherein the lengths of the two first portions of the side outer walls are sufficient that when the inner base is on the outer base and remaining components of the inner structure are stacked flat upon the inner base, the U-shaped outer wall component is configured to be placed inverted on the outer base such that it forms a bridge over the components of the inner structure.

2. The container of claim 1, wherein the remaining front outer wall or rear outer wall with respective second portions of the side outer wall folded flat against it, is configured to be placed on and supported by the U-shaped outer wall component.

3. The container of claim 1, wherein materials and dimensions of the container are selected such that in a flat packed state the U-shaped outer wall component is designed to be of sufficient strength to permit at least two identical flat packed containers to be supported by it when it is inverted on the outer base.

4. The container of claim 2, wherein the components of the container are attached and arranged such that the container is configured to be transported in a flat packed state without the need to package the container in a sleeve.

5. The container of claim 1, wherein a height of the outer walls is between 80 to 100 percent of a length of one side of the container, such that the U-shaped outer wall section is configured to be positioned over 80 to 100 percent of the outer base.

6. The container of claim 1, wherein the inner base and the outer base are formed from a common component.

7. The container of claim 1, wherein the outer base is mounted on a pallet.

8. The container of claim 1, wherein the inner structure is arranged such that the inner walls are configured to be positioned around an edge of the inner base and the inner lid placed on top of the inner walls to define a payload space within the inner structure, the components of the inner structure being arranged to engage with each other such that the inner structure is self-supporting.

9. The container of claim 8, wherein at least two of the front inner wall, the rear inner wall and the two inner side walls are hinged to the inner base so that they are configured to be folded from a flat state, where they lie substantially flat over the inner base to a vertical position.

10. The container of claim 9, wherein at least three of the front inner wall, the rear inner wall and the two inner side walls are hinged to the inner base so that they are configured to be folded from a flat state where they lie substantially flat over the inner base to a vertical position.

11. The container of claim 1, wherein a portion of each of the two side inner walls is hinged at one end to a respective end of the front inner wall or the rear inner wall.

12. The container of claim 1, wherein a plurality of retainers are secured to the outer surfaces of the inner walls, wherein the retainers are arranged to retain a plurality of cool packs in place prior to and after the outer walls are positioned in place.

13. The container of claim 12, wherein the plurality of retainers are extruded channels.

14. The container of claim 12, wherein the plurality of retainers are formed from two co-extruded materials, with edges of the plurality of retainers formed of a softer material than central regions of the plurality of retainers.

15. The container of claim 1, wherein the inner structure and the outer structure are made of rigid thermally insulating materials and material of the inner structure has a greater density than material of the outer structure.

16. The container of claim 1, wherein the container is configured to be assembled and taken apart and put back into a flat pack state ready to be reused without a requirement to replace any components of the container.

17. The container of claim 1, wherein the respective first portions of the side outer walls are fixed substantially at right angles to respective ends of the front outer wall or the rear outer wall.

18. The container of claim 17, wherein each of the side outer walls further comprise a respective second portion arranged to abut against the respective first portion, the second portions being hinged to respective ends of the remaining front outer wall or rear outer wall.

19. The container of claim 1, wherein the respective first portions of the side outer walls are hinged to respective ends of the front outer wall or the rear outer wall.

20. The container of claim 19, wherein each of the side outer walls further comprise a respective second portion arranged to abut against the respective first portion, the second portions being fixed substantially at right angles to respective ends of the remaining front outer wall or rear outer wall.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(1) One embodiment of the present disclosure will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a flat packed pallet shipper in accordance with the present disclosure;

(3) FIG. 2 illustrates the shipper of FIG. 1 partly unpacked;

(4) FIG. 3 illustrates a shipper of FIGS. 1 and 2 after further unpacking;

(5) FIG. 4 illustrates a shipper of FIG. 1 with an inner wall partly constructed;

(6) FIG. 5 shows the shipper of FIG. 4 once the inner wall has been completed and the inner lid has been placed upon the shipper;

(7) FIG. 6 illustrates the shipper of FIG. 5 once some of the cool packs have been placed around the inner wall;

(8) FIG. 7 illustrates the outer wall being assembled on the shipper;

(9) FIG. 8 illustrates the shipper with the outer lid in position and the shipper ready for shipment;

(10) FIG. 9 is a cross-section through an edge protector used on the shipper of FIGS. 1 to 8;

(11) FIG. 10 is a cross-section through a cool pack retainer of the container of FIGS. 1 to 8;

(12) FIG. 11 is a cross-section through a corner post and hinge of the containers of FIGS. 1 to 8;

(13) FIGS. 12 and 13 illustrate an alternative configuration of inner structure for the container; and

(14) FIG. 14 is cross section through an inner hinge assembly seen in embodiment of FIGS. 12 and 13.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(15) Referring to FIG. 1 there is illustrated a thermal insulated pallet shipping container shipper 1. The shipper 1 comprises a pallet 2 on which is mounted a base 3. Loosely positioned on the base 3 are inner wall sections 4 and 5 and an inner lid 6, 7. Positioned over these in a bridge-like manner is a U-shaped outer wall section 8, which turn supports a further folded outer wall section 9 and an outer lid 10. The outer wall section 8 is strong enough to permit at least another 2 flat pack shippers to be stacked on the shipper 1.

(16) FIGS. 2 to 8 illustrate how the flat pack shipper 1 is first unpacked and then assembled ready for shipment. With reference to FIG. 2, the outer lid 10 and outer wall section 9 are first removed and placed to one side. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the U-shaped outer wall section 8 and inner lid 6, 7 can be removed, together with first folded inner wall section 4, leaving the second folded inner wall section 5 on the base 3.

(17) With reference to FIG. 4, the second inner wall section 5 is shown with inner side wall portions 11 and 12 unfolded relative to inner rear wall portion 13. These inner side wall portions 11 and 12 are held in place by hinges 14 and 15, only one of which is seen in FIG. 4. (Alternatively the inner wall section 5 could be made from a laminate foam board with the board being scored through from one side through one layer of laminate only, to form an in-built hinge). Regardless of the hinge construction, the inner wall section 4 of FIG. 3 can then be erected in a similar manner and positioned so that it abuts inner wall section 5, as shown in FIG. 5, with the bottom edges of the inner wall sections 4 and 5 sitting in channel 16, seen in FIG. 4, of base 3. The container may be filled with a product (not shown) to be shipped when in the state illustrated in FIG. 4, especially if the product is itself on a pallet. The inner lid, comprising two sections 6 and 7 is then put in place as shown in FIG. 5, completing the inner structure of the shipper 1. Preassembled on the inner wall sections 4 and 5 are a plurality of cool pack retainers 17. As shown with reference to FIG. 6, these receive cool packs 18 in a predetermined order. The cool packs may be either frozen, indicated by a ? sign, or chilled, as indicated by a + sign. Once an appropriate number of cool packs 18 have been inserted in the retainers 17 and placed in recesses 19 in inner lid 6 and 7, the outer wall section 9 is infolded in the same manner as the previously described inner wall sections 4, 5 and the outer wall sections 8 and 9 are abutted together, as shown in FIG. 7, prior to outer lid 10 being mounted on the top edge of the outer walls sections 8 and 9 to complete the shipper. The outer lid 10 and base 3 have a number of small PVC extrusions 20 that sit in the top surface of the outer lid and the bottom surface of the base to provide strapping points to secure the system and to prevent any damage to the outer lid or base.

(18) Although it is not immediately apparent from the figures, the base and lid have the same outer edge stepped profile. Likewise the top and bottom edges of the outer wall sections 8 and 9 also have the same stepped profile, thus avoiding the requirement for the outer wall sections 8 or 9 to have up and down orientation. Similarly, the top edges of the inner wall sections 4 and 5 and bottom edges of the inner wall sections 4 and 5 may have the same profile with a groove similar to the groove 16 in the base 3 provided on the under surface of inner lid 6, 7. In this manner the inner wall sections 4 and 5 may be arranged to have no up or down orientation, thus assisting pack out.

(19) Referring to FIGS. 9 to 11 there is shown in cross-section the profile of the extruded components used in the container 1 of FIGS. 1 to 8. FIG. 9 shows the cross section of the strapping point extrusions 20 and it can be seen that this has two barb-like sections 21 and 22 for engaging in the material of the outer lid 10 or base 3, which may typically be a low density expanded polystyrene.

(20) Referring to FIG. 10 there is shown the cross-section of a cool pack retainer 17. Again this has barb-like members 23 and 24 by which the retainer 17 engages with inner wall sections 4 and 5 of the shipper 1, which sections may again be made of expanded polystyrene but with a higher density than the polystyrene used in the outer wall sections 8 and 9, to give the inner wall sections 4 and 5 of the shipper 1 greater strength. (As an alternative to the barb-like members 23 and 24, the cool pack retainers could be assembled by being secured with the inner wall sections 4 and 5 for example, by being screwed from behind). The cool packs sit in channels 25 and 26 and are retained in place by the retainer 17 formed of PVC. The retainer 17 is co-extruded and the end sections 27 are formed of a softer compound to avoid the possibility of injury when loading the cool packs.

(21) Referring to FIG. 11, there is shown the cross-section of one of the corner hinges 14. This is extruded from PVC and hinge member 28 permits the first section 29 to pivot relative to the second section 30. An extension 31 to the first section 29 engages with recess 32 in the second section 30 to lock wall sections mounted in the hinge 14 so that the wall sections extend perpendicularly away from each other.

(22) Referring now to FIG. 12, there is shown an alternative arrangement which may be used for the inner structure of the shipper of FIGS. 1 to 8. Here three sections 33, 34, 35 are shown hinged by hinges 36 to a base 37 and these may simply be raised to define a payload space into which a product can be loaded prior to the final section 38 being dropped into a channel 39 and an inner lid 40, with a similar channel being placed on the inner walls to complete the inner section of the shipper 1. The hinges 36 are shown in cross-section in FIG. 14. These are again formed from extruded PVC and are hinged by hinge member 42, the extruded hinge having a locking mechanism 43 identical to that described with reference to FIG. 11.

(23) It will be appreciated that the present disclosure has been described by way of example only and that many alternative configurations and arrangements will be apparent to the person skilled in the art, which alternations and configurations may fall within the scope of the appended claims.