Liquid transport and storage containers

Abstract

The present invention relates to a liquid transport and storage container comprising: a plastic inner container (17); an outer jacket made of metal and preferably configured as a lattice structure; and a pallet-type base frame configured to be handled by a forklift or similar transport means, having a sheet metal support bottom (15) on its upper side for supporting the inner container (17) which has at least one filling neck, wherein an intermediate container made of sheet metal and accommodating the entire surface of the inner container (17) is provided between the inner container (17) and the outer jacket. The present invention relates to a transport and storage container, wherein the intermediate container comprises a jacket case (16), a container lid connected to the jacket case (16), and a container bottom liquid-tightly connected to the jacket case (16), the jacket case (16) having an access opening, the access opening being liquid-tightly closed by a metal front lid (19), and the access opening partially overlapping with an outlet opening configured as a bottom outlet (18) in the inner container (17).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a pallet-type base frame for a liquid transportation and storage container, which comprises a plastic inner container, a metal outer jacket preferably realized as a lattice structure, and a sheet metal support bottom for supporting the inner container configured to be handled by a forklift or similar transportation means and provided with at least one filling neck on its upper side. An intermediate container made of sheet metal and accommodating the entire surface of the inner container is provided between the inner container and the outer jacket. The intermediate container has a jacket case, a lid of the container connected to the jacket case, and a container bottom formed by the support bottom of the base frame and connected to the jacket case in a liquid-tight manner.

Background Art

[0002] Known transportation and storage containers of the type mentioned at the beginning are mainly used for liquid transportation and, within the scope of corresponding regulations regarding fire protection rules, it is also possible to store the liquid in the same container after filling and transporting the liquid in the container.

[0003] In order to comply with the corresponding fire protection rules, when the plastic inner container is damaged due to thermal overload, in order to prevent the highly flammable liquid contained in the container from leaking around the container, from WO2017 / 108, it is known to connect the jacket case surrounding the inner container in a liquid-tight manner to the container bottom formed by the support bottom of the base frame, thereby constituting a liquid-tight container that prevents the highly flammable liquid from flowing out from the inner container to the surrounding environment of the transportation and storage container when the plastic inner container is damaged due to thermal overload.

[0004] In the case of transport and storage containers known from WO2017 / 108288A1, in order to enable both filling and discharging of an inner container housed in a jacket case, the inner container may have both a filling opening and a discharging opening on its upper side so that both filling and discharging of liquid can be performed from above. However, if the discharging opening is located on the upper side of the inner container, then the installation of a special discharging element for discharging liquid from the inner container is also required, and such discharging element extends into the inner container from the top to the bottom, and a special pumping device is required for their operation.

[0005] Conventional discharge elements are used in inner containers with a bottom outlet and are characterized by their particularly simple design, allowing the container to be emptied purely by gravimetric analysis without the use of a pump; therefore, they are not suitable for known fire-resistant transport and storage containers. This is particularly disadvantageous when the inner container contains a highly viscous liquid. This highly viscous liquid requires particularly high pumping capacity to be removed through a discharge opening located at the top of the inner container. [Overview of the project]

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to propose a transport and storage container that is fire-resistant and / or airtight in the event of a fire, which allows the liquid contained in the inner container to be removed using a conventional discharge valve provided to be connected to the bottom outlet of the inner container.

[0007] To achieve this objective, the transport and storage container according to the present invention has the features described in claim 1.

[0008] According to the present invention, the jacket case has an access opening, which is liquid-tightly closed by a metal container lid, and the access opening partially overlaps with an outlet opening configured as a bottom outlet in the inner container.

[0009] Access to the discharge valve located at the bottom outlet of the inner container is possible through the access opening, and since the inner container has a bottom outlet for connecting the discharge valve, it is possible to empty the inner container by gravimetric analysis when placed in a jacket case, in combination with the jacket case surrounding the inner container, without compromising the suitability of the transport and storage container for safely storing flammable liquids in accordance with the fire protection regulations in effect at the storage location. Rather, in addition to the known advantage of preventing the liquid contained in the inner container from leaking into the surrounding environment of the transport and storage container due to container rupture of the inner container, the transport and storage container according to the present invention also offers the further advantage that, in the case of such a fire-resistant transport and storage container, it is possible to extract the liquid by gravimetric analysis.

[0010] Preferably, the front cover can be connected to the jacket case by a clamping ring closure means to provide a liquid-tightly sealed access opening.

[0011] The seal between the front cover and the opening end of the access opening, which is substantially achieved by the surface pressure generated by the clamping ring, can be further improved by additional sealing elements, thereby improving the seal between the front cover and the access opening, particularly the creep strength, under extreme temperature loads. Therefore, it may be preferable to provide additional appropriate insulation outside the sealed area. For example, this may be a coating that forms an insulating layer such as an expandable lacquer, a protective cap with insulation, a fiber-based insulation, or a combination of the aforementioned options.

[0012] To achieve a reliable sealing effect even with relatively low clamping force, the access opening may have a flanged rim for implementing a clamping ring closing mechanism and a complementary flanged rim of a front cover that engages with the flanged rim.

[0013] Furthermore, this allows any possible shape or dimensional tolerances between the contact surface realized on the front cover and the opening end of the access opening to be compensated for by the corresponding deformation of the flanged rim.

[0014] It is particularly preferable that the transport and storage container has a fire-resistant structure from the outset, that is, a structure equipped with a container lid, and that the front lid covers the discharge valve located at the outlet opening, so that the liquid can be removed from the inner container by a conventional discharge valve immediately after the container lid is removed.

[0015] To allow the front lid to be removed particularly easily from the access opening provided in the jacket case, the outer jacket of the transport and storage container is provided with a removal opening on the opposite side of the front lid for removing the front lid from the access opening.

[0016] If the removal opening is defined by the distance between adjacent, continuously configured horizontal or vertical bars of the outer jacket, which is configured as a grid structure, the removal opening is predetermined by the grid structure so that no special measures are required for the grid structure.

[0017] If the regular grid structure of the outer jacket does not yet provide a removal opening that allows the front lid to be removed from the transport and storage container, it is preferable that the grid structure of the outer jacket has gaps to form a removal opening such that the horizontal or vertical bars of the grid structure have gaps between the bars that partially overlap with the front lid, and the front lid can be removed through the gaps between the bars from an access opening provided in the jacket case.

[0018] To ensure that the residual liquid level inside the transport and storage container is kept to a minimum, regardless of the position of the front lid, even when the access opening of the jacket case is opened, it is preferable that the front lid be positioned above the joint where the material is connected between the jacket case and the support base.

[0019] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in further detail below with reference to the drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0020] [Figure 1] Figure 1 shows an isometric view of a transport and storage container equipped with a front lid positioned at the front of the bottom outlet area. [Figure 2] Figure 2 shows a front view of the transport and storage container shown in Figure 1, which has an access opening that opens after the front lid is removed. [Figure 3] Figure 3 shows a partial cross-sectional view of the transport / storage container shown in Figure 1, along the cross-section III shown in Figure 1, and illustrates the discharge valve connected to the bottom outlet of the inner container of the transport / storage container. [Figure 4] Figure 4 shows a magnified view of a portion of the cross-sectional view shown in Figure 3. [Figure 5] Figure 5 shows a magnified detail view of the clamp ring closing section shown in Figure 4. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0021] Figure 1 shows a transport and storage container 10 comprising a pallet-type base frame 11 with an outer jacket 12 configured as a grid structure. The outer jacket 12 is composed of horizontal bars 13 and vertical bars 14 and is connected to the support bottom 15 of the base frame 11 via a continuously circulating lower horizontal bar 13. The support bottom 15 is shown in particular in Figure 3. A jacket case 16 is also connected to the support bottom 15. The jacket case 16 is positioned within the outer jacket 12 such that it is located between the outer jacket 12 and an inner container 17 made of plastic and positioned on the support bottom 15. The metal jacket case 16 is liquid-tightly connected at its lower end to a sheet metal support base 15, and together with the support base 15, it forms a refractory tank in which the inner container 17 is housed, so that even if the container is damaged due to thermal overload of the plastic material of the inner container 17, the liquid held inside the inner container 17 may actually leak out of the inner container 17, but there is no risk of it flowing into the surrounding environment of the transport / storage container 10. In this case, a material joint configured as a welded joint is provided to create a liquid-tight connection between the jacket case 16 and the support base 15.

[0022] As seen in the combination of Figures 1-3, the jacket case 16 has an access opening 20 on its front surface in the area of ​​the bottom outlet 18 formed in the inner container 17, and a front cover 19 is provided over the access opening. The access opening 20 is positioned to cover the bottom outlet 18 and / or the discharge valve 21 connected to the bottom outlet 18, so as shown in Figures 2 and 3, the discharge valve 21 connected to the bottom outlet 18 of the inner container 17 can be accessed through the access opening 20, which is opened after the front cover 19 is removed, and as a result the discharge valve 21 can be moved to an open or closed position so that the liquid can be removed from the inner container 17 in a prescribed manner by driving the discharge valve 21 with a valve handle 22 configured on the discharge valve 21.

[0023] In the case of the exemplary embodiments shown, as is particularly apparent from the combination of FIGS. 3 - 5, the front cover 19 is connected to the jacket case 16 by the clamp ring closure 23 in the position where the access opening 20 is sealed. For this purpose, the open end of the access opening 20 is configured as a flanged rim 24, and a complementary flanged rim 25 of the front cover 19 engages with the flanged rim 24. In this arrangement on the access opening 20 of the front cover 19, particularly shown in FIG. 5, a groove-shaped clamp ring 26 engages both with the flanged rim 25 of the front cover 19 and the flanged rim 24 of the access opening 20. After turning the clamp lever 27 that connects the ends of the clamp ring 26 to each other, a sufficiently large pressing force is applied to the flanged rim 25 of the front cover 19 to achieve that the flanged rim 25 is in sealing contact with the flanged rim 24 of the access opening

[0024] Furthermore, it may be necessary to provide an additional seal (not shown in detail in this case) between the partially overlapping flanged rims {24} and {25} especially after the clamp ring closure has been used repeatedly.

[0025] As shown in FIGS. 1 - 3, in the case of a continuous configuration of the horizontal bar, the access opening 20 and / or the horizontal bar 13 that partially overlaps with the front cover 19 arranged at the access opening 20 has a bar gap 28 such that a gap is formed in the lattice structure of the outer jacket 12 in the region of the access opening 20. As a result, an extraction opening 29 is formed in the lattice structure, and the extraction opening 29 is large enough to allow the front cover 19 to be removed from the access opening 20 formed in the outer jacket 16 and to access the discharge valve 21 without being obstructed by the lattice structure of the outer jacket 12.

Claims

1. A plastic inner container (17), An outer jacket (12) made of metal and preferably configured as a lattice structure, A pallet-type base frame (11) configured to be handled by a forklift or similar means of transport, having a sheet metal support base (15) on its upper side for supporting the inner container (17) having at least one filling neck, A liquid transport and storage container (10) equipped with, An intermediate container made of sheet metal and which accommodates the entire surface of the inner container (17) is provided between the inner container (17) and the outer jacket (12). The aforementioned intermediate container is Jacket case (16) and The lid of the container connected to the jacket case (16), The container bottom is formed by the support bottom (15) of the base frame (11) and is liquid-tightly connected to the jacket case (16), It has, The jacket case (16) has an access opening (20), The access opening is sealed liquid-tight by a metal front cover (19). The access opening partially overlaps with the outlet opening configured as a bottom outlet (18) in the inner container (17). Transport and storage containers.

2. The front cover (19) is connected to the jacket case (16) by a clamp ring closing portion (23). A transport and storage container according to claim 1.

3. The access opening (20) has a flanged rim (24) that constitutes the clamp ring closing portion (23), The complementary flanged rim (25) of the front cover (19) engages with the flanged rim (24). The transport and storage container according to claim 2.

4. The front cover (19) covers the discharge valve (21) located at the outlet opening. A transport and storage container according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. A removal opening (29) for removing the front cover (19) from the access opening (20) is provided on the outer jacket (12) of the transport and storage container on the opposite side of the front cover (19). A transport and storage container according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. The removable opening (29) is defined by the distance between adjacent, continuously configured horizontal bars (13) or vertical bars (14) of the outer jacket (12), which is configured as a grid structure. A transport and storage container according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. The lattice structure of the outer jacket (12) has gaps for forming the outlet (29) such that the horizontal bars (13) or vertical bars (14) of the lattice structure have gaps (28) between the bars that partially overlap with the front cover (19). A transport and storage container according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

8. The front cover (19) is positioned above the material joint between the jacket case (16) and the support base (15). A transport and storage container according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. The material joint in the first stage is constructed as a welded joint. The transport and storage container according to claim 8.

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