INSULATING PACKAGE

Abstract

A package comprising compressed mineral wool insulation blowing wool fibres held by at least one retainer is configured to expand substantially along a single expansion axis upon release of the retainers.

Claims

1. A package comprising compressed mineral wool insulation blowing wool fibres and at least one retainer which retains the mineral wool insulation blowing wool fibres under compression within the package; characterised in that upon release of the retainer, the mineral wool insulation blowing wool fibres expand substantially along a single expansion axis.

2. The package of claim 1, wherein the retainer comprises one or more securing straps arranged around the package.

3. The package of claim 1, wherein the package comprises a flexible plastics film enveloping the blowing wool fibres.

4. The package of claim 3, wherein the flexible plastics film enveloping the blowing wool fibres comprises: (i) an upper portion covering an upper surface and at least an upper part of the lateral surfaces of the package; and (ii) a separable lower portion covering a lower surface and at least a lower part of the lateral surfaces of the package.

5. The package of claim 4, where the flexible plastics film enveloping the blowing wool fibres further comprises: (iii) a middle portion covering the lateral surfaces and partially overlapping a part of the upper portion and a part of the lower portion.

6. The package of claim 1, wherein the expansion of the package along the expansion axis is at least 20 cm and/or at least 20%, notably at least 50 cm and/or at least 50%, more notably at least 75 cm and/or at least 75%.

7. The package of claim 1, wherein the blowing wool fibres are glass wool fibres, preferably binderless glass wool fibres.

8. The package of claim 1, wherein the compressed mineral wool insulation has a density of at least 80 kg/m.sup.3, preferably at least 100 kg/m.sup.3, more preferably at least 150 kg/m.sup.3.

9. The package of claim 1, wherein the package has a mass of at least 80 kg, preferably at least 100 kg, more preferably, at least 140 kg.

10. The package of claim 1, wherein the package has a length of at least 0.9 m a width of at least 0.75 m and a height of at least 0.8 m.

11. The package of claim 1, wherein the package is supported on a pallet and in which the expansion axis is a substantially vertical axis.

12. The package of claim 1, wherein the lateral surfaces of the package are substantially planar.

13. A method for manufacturing a package of compressed mineral wool insulation blowing wool fibres comprising sequentially: Compressing the mineral wool insulation blowing wool fibres with a press along a single axis to produce a compressed bulk of blowing wool fibres; and retaining the compressed bulk of blowing wool fibres with at least one retainer.

14. The package of claim 13, wherein the package is the package of claim 1.

15. A method of introducing mineral fibre blowing wool from a package selected from the package of claim 1 and a package manufactured according to the method of claim 13 into a blowing machine comprising: removing the retainer(s) from the package and removing any enveloping film covering an upper surface of the blowing wool package; displacing mineral wool fibres from the upper surface of the package to an inlet of a blowing machine.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the package is displaced vertically with respect to a fibre unloader which displaces mineral wool fibres from the upper surface of the package to an inlet of a blowing machine.

Description

[0026] An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:

[0027] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a package in a retained configuration;

[0028] FIG. 2 a perspective view of a package in a released configuration;

[0029] FIG. 3 is a schematic cross section of a machine for manufacturing a package;

[0030] FIG. 4 is a schematic cross section of a bale conditioning system.

[0031] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a package in a retained configuration;

[0032] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the package of FIG. 5 in a retained configuration positioned for transportation;

[0033] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the package of FIG. 5 in a released configuration;

[0034] FIG. 8 is an end view of an alternative package in a retained configuration;

[0035] FIG. 9 is a side view of the package of FIG. 8; and

[0036] FIG. 10 is a top view on the package of FIG. 8.

[0037] The compressed package of glass blowing wool of FIG. 1 is a six-sided package (1) comprising an upper surface (10), a lower surface (11) and four lateral surfaces which are two end surfaces (12, 12) and two side surfaces (12) (only one side surface is visible in FIG. 1). The package (1) in its retained configuration is substantially a rectangular parallelepiped, having a length of about 1 m, a width of about 0.8 m and a height of about 1 m. The blowing wool fibers are loose, binderless glass wool fibers having an average diameter in the range 3.5 m to 6.5 m preferably manufactured by an internal spinning process.

[0038] The package (1) has a density of about 150 kg/m.sup.3 and a mass of about 145 kg; it is supported by a pallet (14).

[0039] The package (1) is enveloped by three portions of a plastics enveloping film (131, 132, 133). The upper portion (131) of the enveloping plastic film covers the upper surface (10) and about 15 cm of the upper part of the four lateral surfaces (12, 12, 12). The lower portion (133) of the enveloping film covers the lower surface (11) and of about 15 cm of the lower part of the four lateral surfaces (12, 12, 12). The middle portion (132) of the enveloping film covers the four lateral surfaces (12, 12, 12) and overlaps about 5 cm of the upper portion (131) and about 5 cm of the lower portion (133) of the enveloping film.

[0040] The package (1) also comprises retainers in the form of five plastics securing straps (13) arranged around the package (1) over the enveloping film and passing over the upper surface (10), the lower surface (11) and the two side surfaces (12). The securing straps (13) tightly secure the package and maintain it under compression; they may produce some deformation and/or non-planarity of the upper, lower and side surface (not shown). The end surfaces (12, 12) are free of retaining straps and are planar.

[0041] The securing straps may be cut using scissors in order to be removed from the package. When thus released, the package expands uniquely along its vertical expansion axis (z) from its retained configuration (shown in FIG. 1) to its released configuration (shown in FIG. 2). In its released configuration the four lateral surfaces (12) are substantially planar. Release of the retainers causes the height of the package to increase as the compression in the packaged blowing wool is released but as the expansion is only along the vertical axis (z) none of the loose blowing wool spills over beyond the package's footprint.

[0042] The blowing wool package is manufactured by a baler (2) illustrated in FIG. 3. A desired mass of loose blowing wool (not shown) collected in a weighing hopper (31) is discharged in to a rectangular section loading zone (32). A loading piston (33) pushes the weighed blowing wool horizontally along the loading zone (32) in to a compression zone (34) having the lower portion (133) of an enveloping film (not shown) pre-positioned at a base 35. The upper portion (131) of the enveloping film (not shown) is positioned between an upper surface of the blowing wool and a compression piston (36) which compresses the mineral wool along a vertical axis. The compressed bulk of blowing wool fibres is then transferred, whilst being maintained under compression, from the compression zone to a packaging and strapping unit (37) at which the middle portion (132) of the enveloping plastic film is arranged around the four lateral surfaces (12) and the retaining straps (13) are secured. When removed from the packaging and strapping unit (37) and arranged on a pallet the retaining straps maintain the package under compression.

[0043] The package (1) is a stable, self-standing machine loadable package particularly suited for transport to and loading in to a blowing machine (4), as illustrated by FIG. 4. The blowing machine may be used to introduce blowing wool in to cavities of pre-fabricated building walls during their manufacture or in to cavities of metal building panels.

[0044] Once transported to the location of the blowing machine (4) the retainers (13) are removed from the package (1) and the blowing wool fibres expand along the vertical axis but without overflowing beyond the footprint of the package. The upper portion (131) and central portion (132) of the enveloping plastics film is then removed in order to provide a package loadable into a bale conditioning system (3) which comprises: [0045] an elevator (41) on which the package (1) on the pallet (14) is placed; [0046] a fibre unloader (42) at a upper portion of the bale conditioning system; and [0047] an outlet (43) leading to an inlet feeder (44) of a blowing machine (4).

[0048] The fibre unloader (42) comprises a belt (45) or alternatively a moving, rotating or reciprocating bar which, during raising of the package on the elevator, causes claws (46) to collect fibres from an upper surface of the package and deposit then in the outlet (43) from where they are fed to the inlet of the feeder (44) of the blowing machine. The raising of the package on the elevator and the displacement of the fibres from the upper surface of the package to the inlet of the blowing machine may be continuous or sequential.

[0049] The lower portion (133) of the enveloping plastics film may be secured to the pallet, for example by staples, to avoid any risk of it being detached and fed to the blowing machine.

[0050] FIG. 5 also shows a package in a retained configuration, the curvature of the upper and lower surfaces being exaggerated. FIG. 6 shows the package of FIG. 5 which has been pivoted and laid on one of its lateral surfaces on a pallet so as to take advantage of the planarity of the side surface for additional stability for transportation. Such a configuration may also facilitate stacking a package or pallet on top for transport and/or storage. FIG. 7 shows the package of FIG. 6 in a released configuration after having been pivoted back to its initial position and after removal of the securing straps.

[0051] The package illustrated in FIG. 8, FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 has a width w of 80 cm, a total height ht of 120 cm, a side height hs of 100 cm and a length l of 120 cm. Four retaining straps (91, 92, 93, 94) encircle the top, bottom, front and rear surfaces to retain the blowing wool contained within the package. The first (91) and fourth (94) retaining straps are positioned at a distance d of between 3 and 7 cm from their adjacent end faces. The spacing s between each adjacent strap is substantially the same, for example about 380 cm.

[0052] The package is enveloped by three portions of a plastics enveloping film (not shown). An upper portion of the enveloping plastic film covers an upper surface (80) and about 25 cm of the upper part of the four lateral surfaces (101, 102, 103, 104). A lower portion of the enveloping film covers a lower surface (81) and of about 25 cm of the lower part of the four lateral surfaces (101, 102, 103, 104). A middle portion of the enveloping film covers the four lateral surfaces (101, 102, 103, 104) and overlaps about 25 cm of the upper portion and about 25 cm of the lower portion (133) of the enveloping film.