Universal air-cushioning material

Abstract

The invention intends to cheaply provide a cushioning material that can pack articles to be packed different in shapes and dimensions with a simple structure and stably and that can withstand transportations for long periods under severe conditions. A universal air cushioning material is formed in such a manner that side portions forming end portions of above and below and left and right external frames of two superposed rectangular synthetic resin films made of a same raw material are thermally fused and, between the side portions, an intermediate portion thereof is arbitrarily thermally fused in accordance with a dimension and shape of the article to be packed to dispose a plurality of partitioned peripheral portions; at arbitrary positions in the vicinity of the side portions of the peripheral portions, at least a pair of notches is disposed horizontally symmetrically in accordance with a dimension and shape of the article to be packed and, in the peripheral portions, at least one air passage port is disposed to form a plurality of mutually communicated air chambers to enable to arbitrarily vary a contact area between the air chambers and the article to be packed or an inner wall of the transporting vessel; to at least one of the air chambers an air inlet port is disposed to inject air from the air inlet port to expand an entirety of the air chambers; and thereby an inside thereof is pressed against the article to be packed and an outside thereof is pressed against an inner wall of the transporting vessel.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a packaging member used when articles to be packed, which are made of medical equipment, various kinds of precision machine components, semiconductor products or glass products and have various shapes, are transported, in more detail, to a cushioning material that is interposed between an article to be packed, which is transported, and a transporting vessel that accommodates the article to be packed to protect the article to be packed from an external force such as an impulse, and in particular to a universal cushioning material preferably used when articles to be packed, which are made of various products and components of which shapes or dimensions are not finite are packed and transported over a long period under different atmospheres. BACKGROUND ART [0002] So far, when mass-market products having a finite shape are packed, molded articles of styrene foam have been used. However, as packaging materials or cushioning material...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010] In the invention, in order to overcome problems remaining from existing technologies, a further improvement is applied to the existing technologies. The invention intends to provide an air cushioning material that, in spite of a compact structure, can cope with a variety of articles to be packed. Specifically, the invention intends to form an air cushioning material from a single raw material and thereby to provide a universal air cushioning material that can package goods made of products or components having various dimensions and shapes, accommodate in a container and stably transport even under very severe conditions.

[0018] The universal air cushioning material according to the invention is provided with air chambers as mentioned above. Thereby, a contact area between goods to be packed or an inner wall of a transporting vessel (a container or the like) and the air chambers can be arbitrarily controlled. Accordingly, when air is injected from an air injection port disposed to at least one of the air chambers to expand the air chambers and thereby an inside thereof is pressed against the goods and an outside thereof is pressed against an inner wall of the transporting vessel to work as a cushioning material, a broad mutual contact area can be obtained. Accordingly, the stress can be previously inhibited from concentrating and thereby a stable cushioning function can be secured. As a result, to an extent that can flexibly cope with fluctuations of a temperature or pressure, internal pressure can be increased. Accordingly, a function as the cushioning material under severe conditions can be maintained over a long period.

[0019] Furthermore, in the cushioning material according to the invention, when, in accordance with a shape of an article to be packed, for instance, on an arbitrary position on a side surface thereof, at least a pair of notches is disposed horizontally symmetrically and remaining portions after the formation of notches are mutually thermally fused, a substantially horseshoe-shaped cushioning material can be formed. Thereby, with the cushioning material, corners of a rectangular article are not only simply sandwiched with two of the air cushioning materials like in the existing technology but also protected by strongly grasping. When, in addition to the above, edge portions vertically symmetrical are as well thermally fused to form a bottomed cylindrical cushioning material, for instance, bottles can be accommodated. When, without thermally fusing the remaining portions after notching, only edge portions vertically symmetrical are thermally fused or stitched to form a cylindrical cushioning material, cylindrical, columnar or circular articles can be protected.

[0020] Thus, in the air cushioning material according to the invention, in spite of being fundamentally simple in the structure, since a magnitude of a synthetic resin film can be arbitrarily varied and periphery portions or notched portions can be arbitrarily changed, a portion or a position that is thermally fused (or stitched) can be arbitrarily varied in accordance with a shape or a dimension of an article to be packed. Accordingly, literally, a universal air cushioning material that can readily cope with a variety of articles to be packed can be provided. Furthermore, the air cushioning material is packed in a space with a packaging container so as to grasp respective essential portions from side surfaces or up and down and interposed so as to dispose a constant gap between the article and the packaging container. Accordingly, even when a temperature or pressure varies to lower the pressure in the air chambers and thereby a cushioning effect becomes scarce, the article can be protected from the impulse.

[0021] In the universal air cushioning material according to the invention, when two films made of the same material, specifically, PE / PE cloth / PE or PP / PP cloth / PP, are superposed and used, an arbitrary position thereof can be freely thermally fused; accordingly, a process such as mentioned above can be realized. Furthermore, being the same raw material, maintenance such as repair can be readily applied and, after the use, it is expected to recycle to effectively use. Furthermore, different from the existing air cushioning material that wraps an article to be packed as a whole, the universal air cushioning material according to the invention, which protects only essential portions, being very compact in its body itself, can be reduced in the cost involving the storage and transportation in an unused state. Even when it is unavoidably incinerated to dispose, there is no anxiety of generating a poisonous material, and, not only effective use of the resources but also the environmental protection is sufficiently considered.

Problems solved by technology

Since the collapse of cargo in the container is not found apparently, there is fear that a large accident may be caused.

Owing to the projection-like deformation of the air cushioning material, goods such as products may be damaged.

However, the reinforced cardboard used is expensive and the suring cost including the reinforced cardboard becomes higher.

This is a problem to be urgently overcome.

In addition, when used packaging containers are world-widely attracting attention as the waste problem, the air cushioning materials in which many kinds of raw materials are combined are not preferable from viewpoints of recycling nor incineration.

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