Container as a safety cover

Abstract

Container (1) as a safety cover for objects, in particular for barrels (8) or the like for the transport and / or storage of liquid sulfur or sulfur compounds and / or other chemical or pharmaceutical compounds as well as other liquids and gases, comprising a flexible cover (2) with an opening (3) for inserting and removing objects and a closure (4) for gas-tight closing of the opening (3), characterized in that the container (1) is resistant to sulfur and sulfur compounds and / or other chemical or pharmaceutical compounds as well as liquids and gases.

Description

The invention relates to a container as a safety cover, in particular for barrels or the like for transporting and / or storing liquid sulfur or sulfur compounds and / or other chemical or pharmaceutical compounds and other liquids and gases, and to the use thereof.Natural gas, generally also referred to only as gas or also as city gas, generates heat in burners designed for this purpose, in order to make it possible, for example in private households, to supply hot water, to heat the building or to boil on gas ovens. In addition to private use, natural gas is also used for the production of industrial products such as glass vials / bottles or other industrial products. The natural gas is either stored in pressure tanks in the field of domestic use or industrial production or supplied via gas lines from external suppliers as required. The natural gas, see only by way of example the article "natural gas" in www.wikipedia.de is essentially odorless, but can, when a gas leak occurs, lead to severe health hazards to humans or animals, such as, inter alia, anaesthesia and, if appropriate, to death, and to undesired explosions, in particular in the case of spark formation.In order to warn of emerging natural gas, the natural gas is odourised. For this purpose, it is possible to use, inter alia, thioethers or alkanethiols, chemical compounds which each contain the element sulfur. Since sulfur commonly smells of faulous eggs, a user of the natural gas is thereby made aware of emerging natural gas in order to be able to trigger a gas alarm.As products for odorants, there are mainly known, among others, THT (tetrahydrothiophene), a mercaptan having a strong odor. In addition, there is a mixture of THT and a further mercaptan which has an odor about twice as strong as THT and is available on the market under the trade name of ARCEMA SA, Paris, SPOTLEAK. In addition to the sensory, human perception, both chemical compounds can also be registered by appropriately designed sensors in order to generate optical, acoustic or other warning signals and, if appropriate, to interrupt a further gas supply in order to avoid unfavouring. In addition, there are still other products on the market for odorizing.These sulfur compounds are usually supplied in barrels to a customer such as an urban natural gas supplier, these being stored in the barrel usually under pressure as a liquid. At the supplier, these sulfur compounds such as THT are then added to the natural gas in a corresponding amount, for example in Germany, up to a maximum of 15 milligrams per cubic meter, in order to ensure a gas alarm by sensor means or technically by the response of a sensor in the event of a gas leak.For this purpose, use is made, inter alia, of beer barrel-like stainless steel barrels having a capacity of, for example, 25 liters or 50 liters.Larger containers such as 100 liters or 200 liters or 1,000 liters capacity or more are also known.In particular, the 25 liter and 50 liter barrels are widely used and are transported in grid boxes or on Europallets, both the full barrels from the supplier back to the customer and the empty barrels back.For load protection during transport, the barrels are fixed in the grid boxes, for example using tensioning straps, and are possibly separated from one another by an abrasion protection such as cardboard sheets. Likewise, barrels on a Europallet or the like can be tightened by means of tensioning straps.After the barrel has been substantially emptied at the supplier, it may occur that a residue of the sulfur compound still remains in the barrel, which residue may be gaseous and / or liquid. In particular, it may occur that the corresponding filling or emptying connections have not been correctly closed. Therefore, in particular during the return transport from the customer to the supplier, this odour-intensive sulphur compound can escape from the transport container in an undesired manner and lead to a gas alarm, for example. This affects the supply chain and is economically disadvantageous.The object of the invention is to specify a container as a safety enclosure, in particular for the transport and / or storage of liquid sulfur or sulfur compounds. This also applies to other chemicals such as, among other things, pharmaceuticals and other liquids and gases.According to the invention, this object is achieved by the features of claim 1. A corresponding use of the container is also specified.The core idea of the invention is that the container comprises a flexible sleeve, wherein any desired objects per se can be introduced into the sleeve or the container per se through an opening in the sleeve, stored therein and transported for example and removed again. Furthermore, a closure is provided for closing the opening in a gas-tight manner. Finally, the container as a whole or its casing as well as the closure is designed to be resistant to sulfur and sulfur compounds.Within the scope of the invention, the container with the sleeve and the closure can be designed in any manner by the skilled person, but preferably as described below.With the flexible sleeve, the container can adapt to different objects which, for example, deviate from the shape of a standardized drum. The container is dimensioned as a safety jacket in such a way that, for example, commercially available 25 or 50 liters of barrels or even larger containers, which are filled with sulfur compounds or liquid sulfur or other chemical or pharmaceutical products or other liquids and gases, are located therein with all connections, valves, safety devices and the like. The container as a security sleeve can be closed by a closure such as a zipper, a flap or a type of lid flap, for example at the top and / or laterally or elsewhere, in order to form a closed transport unit.Within the scope of the invention, the container can be selected in any desired manner by the skilled person as a safety sleeve and its configuration, in particular a configuration that is gas-tight, odour-tight and liquid-tight, and the materials used for this purpose.The opening on the container as a safety cover can preferably be arranged at the top and / or laterally or at another location of the cover. In principle, two or more openings can also be provided. For example, two mutually opposite openings are provided in order to be able to push an object through the sleeve.It is understood that the entire container as a safety cover is resistant to weathering and temperature, among other things, in order not to be damaged during transport. Furthermore, it is preferably designed to be so stable that mechanical damage to its content is substantially avoided. It is also designed, inter alia, to be acid-resistant or resistant to the chemical action of sulfur or its compounds. This also applies to other chemicals such as, among other things, pharmaceuticals and other liquids and gases. Likewise, the container as a safety cover is advantageously watertight and does not corrode or rust.For this purpose, the container can consist as a safety cover, for example, of commercially available durable, watertight materials such as, inter alia, nylon, PVC or canvas (tent or lkw tarpaulin). For example, it can be a fabric with a corresponding coating / impregnation, preferably made of a chemical-resistant and gas-tight plastic.It is understood that the drum can be secured against slipping in the interior of the container as a safety cover or a plurality of drums, for example, by being inserted into a grid box and / or that the drum is inserted into a corresponding shape with the container in a force-fit manner. In a manner known per se, the container can be consolidated as a security sleeve with the drum therein on a Europallet or transported and stored in a grid box. The container serves simultaneously as an abrasion protection against adjacent barrels relative to their containers. For this purpose, the container is designed as a safety cover to be correspondingly abrasion-resistant.Preferably, the shell of the container is dimensioned and shaped in such a way that, for example, a known barrel can be introduced into the container with a substantially precise fit, so that the wall of the barrel rests substantially over the entire surface on the shell of the container.The advantage of the invention is that with the container according to the invention as a safety jacket, the particularly partially or completely emptied barrels for particularly liquid sulfur compounds can be transported or stored in an odour-neutral manner. Gas emerging from the drum is retained in the gas-tight container. In the context of the invention, this also applies to other chemical and / or pharmaceutical substances or other liquids and gases.The dependent claims represent advantageous embodiments of the invention.In a first embodiment, the container is equipped as a safety cover with one, two or more handles in order to be able to handle it manually more easily. For example, one or more handles in the form of brackets, handles or the like can be arranged or formed on the container as a safety cover. One and or more handles facilitate, among other things, opening and closing and handling of the container. In addition, the filled or completely or partially emptied drum can be moved manually to a desired location for transporting, for example, a sulfur compound.It is furthermore proposed that the container or its closure for the opening in the casing is equipped with a seal. This is preferably arranged in such a way that it seals the interior of the container and in particular the opening in the flexible sleeve in an air- and liquid-tight manner. Thus, if it is filled, for example, with a drum for sulfur compounds or other chemicals or pharmaceuticals or other liquids and gases that is not completely emptied, no disruptive odors can escape from the interior of the container or, in the extreme case, no liquids or gases that could be, among other things, environmentally harmful. Likewise, the penetration of moisture from the outside to the inside is avoided. The seal can be designed, for example, as an O-ring of a correspondingly resistant plastic material, which surrounds the opening and interacts, for example, with a flexible tab, flap or the like.Preferably, the container is made of a stable material which is resistant to abrasion, mechanical influences such as dropping or striking a sharp edge, weathering or other external influences. For example, as already described above, the container can consist of commercially available durable, watertight materials such as nylon, PVC or canvas. The flexibility of the sleeve allows the shape of the container to be adapted to the object to be received.Furthermore, the container can be equipped with a marking device. This can be done, for example, in the form of one or more arrows, so that the drum is inserted into the container in a preferably upright position for transport. The marking device can also be formed by an insertion tab into which the associated transport papers can be pushed or held with respect to the content, the hazardous material class and the like of the object such as the drum. Additionally or alternatively, the marking device can also be formed by a colored marking, in order to indicate the content, for example, by different colors or colored markings. A haptic marking device, such as, among other things, a raised dot pattern, is also possible. Likewise, the marking device can comprise personalization such as, among other things, information about the supplier / customer, owner of the product or barrel, batch number, the minimum date of durability of the product or barrel or of the container or of the casing, the number of revolutions of the container, of the casing until the next maintenance, gross and net weight and the like. This can also be realized by a bar code or QR code.In the same way, alternatively or additionally, a viewing window can be formed on the flexible sleeve of the container. This is made of a transparent plastic, for example, and is welded to the sheath, for example. A marking or marking of the object in the interior, for example a drum for transporting or storing sulfur, can be seen through the viewing window in order to check the content of the container.In addition, the container may be equipped with a filter device in its interior. For example, an open-gas cartridge with activated carbon is arranged in the interior of the container in order to filter out odors in the interior of the sealed container. The one or more cartridges can then be inserted into the container only loosely, for example, or can be releasably anchored at correspondingly designed holding points.To increase safety, in particular during transport and / or storage, the container can be equipped with a safety device. For example, a pressure valve opens when a preselected and adjustable internal pressure is exceeded to prevent container rupture. Within the scope of the invention, the term security device for containers is also to be understood as a locating device, i.e. for example an RFID chip, a GPS tracker or the like, in order to be able to locate the container preferably wirelessly. Thus, goods flows, number of revolutions and a minimum durability date, among other things, can be monitored and thefts can be avoided.In the foregoing, the invention has been described substantially in connection with the transport and / or storage of barrels, particularly for sulfur compounds. However, it is obvious that such a container can also be used in all other fields of technology in order to transport and store any desired objects and to protect them against external influences. For example, other chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and the like can be transported and stored, in a solid, liquid, or gaseous state.The container is preferably used for transporting and / or storing drums, wherein the drums contain in particular sulfur or sulfur compounds for odorants of natural gas. In principle, other objects or goods of any kind can also be transported and / or stored.The invention is explained in more detail below on the basis of an exemplary embodiment with reference to the associated drawing.The figure shows: FIG. 1 shows a container in cross section.In the purely schematic FIG. 1, the same reference numerals respectively denote the same components.The container 1 comprises a casing 2 made of a flexible material, preferably a weather- and chemical-resistant plastic or a correspondingly impregnated and / or coated fabric, in order to have sufficient tear strength and load-bearing capacity. The casing 2 is designed to be gas-proof and preferably watertight and is not damaged in particular by sulfur or sulfur compounds. An opening 3 is formed on the casing 2. Any desired object per se, preferably a drum 8 for transporting and / or storing chemicals or the like, in particular in liquid and / or gaseous form such as sulfur or a sulfur compound, can be introduced into the container 1 through the opening 3 and removed again.A closure 4 is assigned to the opening 3 in order to close the opening 3 in a particularly gas-tight manner. The closure 4 is designed here as a tab 6, which preferably consists of the same material as the sleeve 2. The likewise flexible tab 6 is welded, for example, to the casing 2. Similarly, additionally or alternatively, the closure 4 may comprise a gas tight zipper, a groove-and-strip seal, or the like.A seal 5 is assigned to the closure 4 in order in particular to prevent the escape of gas from the interior of the container 1. The seal 5 is designed, for example, as an O-ring, as indicated here by the hatching, which consists of an acid- and sulfur-resistant plastic such as silicone. It can also be a groove seal on the sleeve 2 which interacts with a corresponding sealing strip on the tab 6.To simplify the handling of the container 1, the latter is preferably equipped with one or more handles 7, which is indicated here only by way of example as a bow on the casing 2. A plurality of handles 7 or the like, which can also be ergonomically shaped, can also be provided.Inside the container 1 there is preferably arranged a drum 8 which contains, for example, a sulphur compound for odourizing natural gas. Barrel 8 may also contain chemicals or pharmaceuticals or other liquids and gases. The barrel 8 comprises the supply and discharge lines, safety valves and the like known per se. It is understood that the dimensions of the container 1 are preferably matched to the dimensions of the barrel 8 with its connections and the like.In particular, the sleeve 2 of the container 1 preferably abuts the barrel 8 over its entire surface and with an exact fit. The corrugated / arched configuration of the casing 2 relative to the drum 8 is selected here only for the sake of simpler illustration.Furthermore, the barrel 8 can be secured, for example, by fillers, molded parts, lashings or the like, against slipping within the container 1. Likewise, the container 1 can be fixed in a manner known per se, for example on a Europallet, or can be stored and transported in a grid box. The container 1 serves simultaneously as a scouring protection.Reference numerals denote reference numerals1 Container 2 Casing 3 Opening 4 Closure 5 Seal 6 Tab 7 Handle 8 BarrelReferences included in the specificationThis list of documents cited by the applicant has been produced in an automated manner and is only included for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent application or utility model application. The DPMA does not take any adhesion for any faults or omissions.Cited Non-Patent LiteratureNatural gas" at www.wikipedia.de

[0002]

Claims

Container (1) as a safety casing for articles, in particular for barrels (8) or the like for transporting and / or storing liquid sulphur or sulphur compounds and / or other chemical or pharmaceutical compounds and other liquids and gases, comprising a flexible casing (2) having an opening (3) for inserting and removing articles and a closure (4) for closing the opening (3) in a gas-tight manner, characterized in that the container (1) is resistant to sulphur and sulphur compounds and / or other chemical or pharmaceutical compounds and liquids and gases.Container (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the container (1) is equipped with one, two or more handles (5).Container (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that a seal (5) is arranged at the opening (3) of the casing (2).Container (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the container (1) consists essentially of nylon, PVC or canvas.Container (1) according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the container (1) comprises one or more marking devices and / or a viewing window.Container (1) according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that a flap (6) is arranged on the casing (2) as a closure (4).Container (1) according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the container (1) is equipped with a filter device in its interior.Container (1) according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterised in that the container (1) is equipped with a safety device.Use of a container (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 8 for transporting and / or storing an object, in particular a drum (8) for sulphur or sulphur compounds and / or other chemical and pharmaceutical compounds and gases.

Images