Crate

Abstract

A crate comprises a bottom and two respective pairwise opposing side walls and end walls, wherein each side wall comprises a smooth inner surface being shaped in a convex form towards the outside of the crate, thereby providing an inner surface for accommodating products having rounded surface portions and avoiding damage of the products.

Description

[0001]The present invention relates to a crate for accommodating products such as fruits and vegetables, and in particular, to a banana crate.[0002]Crates for storing and transporting products such as fruits and vegetables are widely used in the market. Normally, such crates are light and stable, which makes them suitable for bringing the crops from the field to the customer. Especially for tropical fruits like bananas, it is common to harvest the crop while it is still unripe and pack it into the crates for subsequent shipping and transportation. On their journey, the fruits have time to ripe. Before the transport, the crates are usually stacked on top of each other and arranged side by side onto pallets. Here, often a specific crosstacking technique is used such as in case of a “five-down configuration”. In this five-down configuration, five crates are arranged adjacent to each other into a rectangular array, such that two of them form a row in the length direction and the other t...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]This insures a venting path for providing an optimum air flow between adjacent crates, which are, for example, arranged in the five-down configuration. Consequently, by this venting path, a fast and especially uniform airflow can be achieved, resulting in consistent temperature control for fruit quality.

[0012]According to a further embodiment, each side wall comprises a smooth inner surface being shaped in a convex form towards the outside of the crate, thereby providing an inner surface for accommodating products having rounded surface portions and avoiding damage of the products. The side walls and end walls may comprise stiffening members, which are provided on a respective outer surface of the side walls and end walls only. The side walls and the end walls may be made of plastic to provide the smooth inner surface (810). The convex-shaped smooth inner surface may have a lateral curvature dimension less than a maximum lateral dimension of the side wall, wherein the inner surface is substantially curved in a region of the side wall only, where non-continuous stiffening member extending along a vertical direction of the side wall are interrupted, and wherein the region is a central region

[0014]According to a yet another embodiment, the bottom is arch-shaped curving towards the interior of the crate, such that a space S between a lower surface of the bottom and a plane P defined by a lower end of the crate is provided. This, essentially, allows to stack two crates on top of each other without squeezing or damaging products protruding from the lower crate into the space S. The bottom may be arch-shaped along a direction of an end wall or along a direction of a side wall of the crate. The bottom may be wavy-shaped along a direction of the side wall in a border region of the side wall, a first portion of the wavy-shaped bottom may be at a height of the plane, and a second portion of the wavy-shaped portion may be maximally at a height of a lower end of the upper portion. The bottom may comprises an upper portion and a lower portion recessed with respect to the outer point of the walls, and a distance of the recess may be equal to a thickness of the walls, allowing for engagement of the lower portion with a top opening of a further crate. The lower portion may have an area defined by an outer perimeter of the lower portion, and the upper portion may have an area defined by an outer perimeter of the upper portion, the side walls and end walls may comprise inner surfaces and outer surfaces, wherein an inner area may be defined by the inner surfaces at a upper end of the crate, and wherein an outer area may be defined by the outer surfaces at the upper end of the crate, wherein the area may be approximately equal the area and the area may be approximately equals the area. Embodiments define a stack of two crates according to the invention wherein a first crate and a second crate are configured to provide an inner area defined by the inner surfaces at an upper end of the first crate and an area defined by an outer perimeter of the lower portion of the second crate, wherein the area and the area are equal, such that the movement between the first crate and the second crate is prevented, when the second crate is stacked on top of the first crate. The bottom of the second crate may comprise a plurality of vent openings being configured to provide a venting path between the first crate and the second crate.

Problems solved by technology

However, one problem is that in such a configuration, a free and uniform air circulation between a short side (end wall) and a long side (side wall) of adjacent crates according to the prior art is not guaranteed.

This is disadvantageous in that the fruits may not receive uniform temperature control during their transport and storage as a result of uneven distribution of air.

Another disadvantage of known crates is that the inner surfaces of their side walls are straight, very uneven and may comprise sharp and / or hard objects such as corners or edges.

Therefore, especially products having rounded surface portions such as bananas, apples or oranges may easily be damaged by such raw surfaces.

However, known crates do not offer this possibility, meaning that the controller has to partially disassemble and reassemble the stack, when taking a look into the interior of a specific crate is required.

This procedure is inefficient and also not convenient, thereby representing a further disadvantage.

Finally, a further disadvantage associated with known open-top crates is that in case of stacking two of them on top of each other, products slightly sticking out beyond the upper end of the lower crate (e.g. curved portions of a banana) may be contacted by a load of the upper crate, eventually leading to a damage of the product.

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