Packaging insulation

Abstract

A sheet material blank 10 for insulating packaging comprising a body with nine panels arranged into four pairs of panels 30, 30’, 30’’, 30’’’ surrounding a central panel 12, each pair of panels has an

Description

The present invention relates to packaging. More particularly, the present invention relates to insulation for packaging. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to cardboard insulation for packaging. Increasingly, many items susceptible to variations in temperature, requiring a better temperature controlled environment, be it warm or cold, are obtained by consumers via a mail delivery service. This includes temperature sensitive food stuffs, in particular. More often than not, in the delivery food industry, the temperature of the food be it hot or cold is ideally maintained within an optimum range during transit. Therefore, the use of material with low heat conductivity and / or resistance to deformation is known to be used in providing insulation and structural support in packaging containing the food stuff. Such insulation may also reflect heat back away from the goods around which they are wrapped via thermal emissivity, such as foil-lined insulation solutions, providing improved temperature control whilst in transit. Commonly used materials include expanded polystyrene and polyethylene foam, however, the green credentials of such materials is poor. They are not biodegradable and they are not easily recyclable. More environmentally-friendly alternatives have been used, such as wool, to mitigate the issues associated with plastics-based insulation but these can be more expensive. Other attempts include the use of a flexible paper envelope sandwiching a paper matrix that is provided on a roll for a user to tear off an appropriate length to place into a container to fill any void and offer some thermal insulation for the product to be transported. However, whilst the environmental credentials are an improvement, the solution does not confer any structural support, and the thermal insulating properties are relatively poor. Other examples include the use of cardboard inserts for cardboard containers where a cruciform cardboard shape is inserted into a box and which cover the base and side walls with a single layer of insulation. The main issue with this cruciform style design is that it only provides a single layer of insulation per insert, giving minimal insulation and structural support properties, and there is a lot of waste cutting the cardboard cruciform blank for the insulating insert, with the pre-cut blank being a square or rectangle and the four corner quadrants being removed as waste material. An attempt to improve this technology has been the use of two cardboard inserts that are folded in such a way as to provide a triple walled insulation on the side walls and hextuplet insulation on the base when assembled - a second folded cardboard insert overlies the first and is orientated 90 degrees to the first to form a cruciform shape that is then inserted into a box to provide a triple walled side wall insulation and six layers on the base. This too is more difficult and costly to produce and is a heavier and over-engineered solution for many food and drink delivery applications. In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sheet material blank for insulating packaging, the blank comprising: A body comprising nine panels arranged into four pairs of panels surrounding a central panel, wherein each pair of panels has an anchored panel sharing an edge with and connected to the central panel and having a fold line therebetween, and a free panel sharing an edge with and connected to the anchored panel and having a fold line therebetween, Wherein the free panel does not share an edge with the central panel, and Wherein each free panel has a cut line along an edge adjacent to the anchored panel of an adjacent pair of panels. The present invention may provide an insulation for packaging that is light, recyclable, insulate against temperature changes, and / or minimize freight cost. The present invention may provide optimisation of cold chain packaging for a variety of freight requirements, including food, medical supplies, reagents and / or the like. The present invention may be environmentally friendly, renewable, biodegradable, and prove a curb-side recyclable solution. The blank may be a generally planar sheet. The blank may have a generally quadrilateral shape. The blank may have a square shape. The body and / or panels may have a generally quadrilateral shape. Advantageously, the panels are planar square in shape. The blank is capable of being folded to form an open box with overlapping sidewalls that provide improved structural strength for a package into which it is inserted and also providing improved insulating properties. Advantageously, the blank has a folded configuration wherein panels are folded along fold lines to form an open box having double walled thickness side walls and the central panel forms the base and the pairs of panels form the (overlapping) side walls. Advantageously, one edge of the free panels comprises a tab correspondingly shaped to a slot disposed on a free panel of the adjacent pair of panels, proximal to the fold line disposed between the anchored panel and the free panel of an adjacent pair. The tab is received by the slot when the blank is in its folded configuration to provide greater structural integrity to better maintain the folded configuration. The blank may be manufactured from any suitable sheet material. The sheet material may comprise foldable sheet material such as paperboard, corrugated board, cardboard, plastic, combinations thereof, and the like. Advantageously the blank comprises cardboard. The sheet material may comprise any number of layers that will be capable of being folded. Advantageously, the blank is manufactured from double walled sheet cardboard having a fluted core. The fold lines may be perforated lines, score lines or the like. The fold lines may be formed by any suitable technique such as die cutting and / or laser cutting. In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sheet material blank for insulating packaging, the blank comprising: A quadrilateral body consisting of nine quadrilateral panels arranged into four pairs of panels surrounding a central panel, wherein each pair of panels has an anchored panel sharing an edge with and connected to the central panel and having a fold line therebetween, and a free panel sharing an edge with and connected to the anchored panel and having a fold line therebetween, Wherein the free panel does not share an edge with the central panel, and Wherein each free panel has a cut line along an edge adjacent to the anchored panel of an adjacent pair of panels. A specific embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: Fig. 1 shows a blank in accordance with the present invention; and Fig. 2 shows the blank of Fig. 1 in a folded configuration. Fig. 1 shows a cardboard blank 10 comprising a square quadrilateral having a number of panels arranged in a nine-panel grid. A central square panel 12 has an inner face 14, an outer face 16 and four edges 20, 22, 24, 26. Arranged around the central panel 12 are eight square panels arranged into four pairs 30, 30’, 30”, 30”’. Each pair of panels has an anchored square panel 32 and a free panel 34. Each anchored panel 32 has an inner face 36, an outer face 38 and four edges 40, 42, 44, 48. Each free panel 34 has an inner face 50, an outer face 52 and four edges 54, 56, 58, 60. Each anchored panel 32 shares an edge with the central panel 12 that is defined by a fold line 70. Fold lines are illustrated as dashed lines in Fig. 1. Each free panel 34 shares an edge with the anchored panel 32 that is defined by a fold line 72. The edges 60 and 42 (shown as solid lines between panels in Fig. 1) between the free panel 34 and the anchored panel 32 of an adjacent pair, is defined by a cut line 80 that extends along the length of the respective panel. Disposed on the leading edge 58 of each free panel 34 is a securing tab 90 that is received by a complementarily shaped slot 92 disposed in the anchored panel of an adjacent pair and proximal to the edge defined by fold line 72. Each securing tab 90 is disposed centrally along the leading edge 58, whilst each slot 92 is disposed centrally along the edge defined by fold line 72. To assemble, the panels are folded along the respective fold lines and the tabs are located in the corresponding slot to form an open box (Fig. 2) 100 having overlapping side walls and the central panel forming the base. In so doing the insulating properties of the folded blank are significantly improved as is the structural strength conferred to any package into which it is inserted.

Claims

1. A sheet material blank for insulating packaging, the blank comprising:a body comprising nine panels arranged into four pairs of panels surrounding a central panel, wherein each pair of panels has an anchored panel sharing an edge with and connected to the central panel and having a fold line therebetween, and a free panel sharing an edge with and connected to the anchored panel and having a fold line therebetween;wherein the free panel does not share an edge with the central panel;wherein each free panel has a cut line along an edge adjacent to the anchored panel of an adjacent pair of panels.

2. A blank as claimed in claim 1 wherein the blank is capable of being folded to form an open box with overlapping sidewalls that provide improved structural strength for a packaging into which it is inserted and also providing improved insulating properties.

3. A blank as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the blank has a folded configuration wherein panels are folded along fold lines to form an open box having two layers on the side walls and the central panel forms the base and the pairs of panels form the side walls4. A blank as claimed in any one of the preceding claims having means to maintain the folded configuration.

5. A blank as claimed in claim 4 wherein the means to maintain the folded configuration comprises a mating pair.

6. A blank as claimed in claim 5 wherein the mating pair comprises any one or more of a tab and complementarily shaped slot, hook and loop fastenings and / or adhesive tabs.

7. A blank as claimed in claims 4, 5 or 6 wherein one member of the mating pair is disposed on one or more free panel.

8. A blank as claimed in claim 7 wherein each free panel comprises one member of a mating pair.

9. A blank as claims in any one of claims 4 to 8 wherein one edge of the free panel comprises a tab correspondingly shaped to a slot disposed on a free panel of the adjacent pair of panels, proximal to the fold line disposed between the anchored panel and the free panel of an adjacent pair.

10. A blank as claimed in any one or more of the preceding claims wherein the blank is manufactured from sheet material.

11. A blank as claimed in claim 10 wherein the sheet material is selected from the group comprising paperboard, corrugated board, cardboard, plastic, andcombinations thereof.

12. A blank as claimed in claim 11 wherein the blank is manufactured double walled sheet cardboard having a fluted core.

13. A blank as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein when the blank is folded it forms a cube, open on one side.

14. A blank as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the blank is manufactured from cardboard.

15. A method of forming insulation for packaging comprising a blank as claimed in any one of the preceding claims comprising folding the panels of the blank along their fold lines and optionally, mating any respective mating members.

16. Packaging comprising a blank as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 14.

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