Transport and storage container for liquids

Abstract

The invention relates to a transport and storage container for liquids comprising a pallet-type understructure for an inner container (11) made of plastic, the inner container (11) having four side walls, a lower and an upper bottom (16, 17), a sealable filling socket (19) which is formed on the upper bottom (17) and an outlet socket which is formed on the lower portion of a side wall, said outlet socket having a tapping fitting, the transport and storage container comprising a cage (22) having horizontal and vertical bars (23, 24) made of metal for receiving the inner container (11), at least two vertical bars (24), which are disposed on opposite side walls, being connected at connecting portions (25) by means of a traverse bar (30) which extends over the upper bottom (17) of the inner container (11) and which is formed by a hollow profile, the vertical bars (24) which are connected to each other via the traverse bar (30) or the traverse bar (30) having a cross section recess for decreasing a shear force acting on the connecting screw in transition portions, which are formed adjacent to the connecting portions (25, 31).

Description

[0001] Transport and storage containers for liquids

[0002] The present invention relates to a transport and storage container for liquids, comprising a pallet-like base frame for an inner container made of plastic with four side walls, a lower and an upper base, a closable filler neck formed on the upper base, and an outlet neck formed on the lower section of a side wall with a discharge fitting, as well as a grid shell with horizontal and vertical grid bars made of metal for receiving the inner container, wherein ends of the vertical grid bars formed from a hollow profile are welded to a lower and an upper, circumferential edge profile of the grid shell, wherein the upper ends of the vertical grid bars have a connecting section with a flattened portion formed by forming the hollow profile for connection to the upper edge profile,wherein at least two vertical grid bars arranged on opposite side walls are connected at the connecting sections by means of a crossbar formed from a hollow profile extending over the upper bottom of the inner container, wherein in each case a connecting section of a vertical grid bar is connected to a connecting section formed at the ends of the crossbar by forming the hollow profile as a flattening by a screw connection,wherein the connecting sections of the crossbar are bent upwards relative to a longitudinal section extending over the upper bottom of the inner container and extend in the direction of the connecting sections of the vertical grid bars, and the connecting sections of the crossbar have a fastening opening with a reveal for producing a threaded engagement with a connecting screw guided through a through-opening of the connecting section of the vertical grid bar.

[0003] Transport and storage containers of the type mentioned above are subject to a design-dependent approval test to ensure that defined safety standards are met during use of the transport and storage containers, also known as IBCs. As part of such approval tests, a pressure resistance test of the transport and storage containers is carried out, in particular. During this test, the inner container is subjected to increased hydraulic pressure. Consequently, the corresponding deformation forces acting on the inner container must be absorbed by the mesh casing supporting the inner container.In this case, the screw connections formed between the connecting sections of the vertical lattice bars and the connecting sections of the truss bar are subjected to a particularly high degree of stress, such that transverse forces act on the screw connections in the area of ​​the connecting sections, which can lead to an expansion of the threaded bore formed in the connecting sections of the truss bar, with the result that the thread engagement between the connecting screws and the connecting sections of the truss bar is released and a corresponding component failure is the result.

[0004] The present invention is based on the object of proposing a transport and storage container which is characterized by an improved failure safety of the screw connection formed between the cross bars and the grid casing.

[0005] To achieve this object, the transport and storage container according to the invention has the features of claim 1.

[0006] According to the invention, the vertical lattice bars connected to one another via the crossbar or the crossbar in transition sections formed adjacent to the connecting sections in the transition to the hollow profile have a cross-sectional recess for shear force relief of the connecting screw.

[0007] As has been shown in tests, the shear force load relevant for the component safety of the screw connection is essentially due to the fact that when the inner container expands due to increased internal hydraulic pressure, the cross member is deformed in such a way that the transition section adjoining the connecting section of the cross member comes into contact with the screw end protruding from the fastening opening of the connecting section of the cross member, so that deformation forces act as shear forces on the connecting screw via the transition section and, as a result of the reveal of the fastening opening, the thread engagement between the connecting screw and the connecting sections of the cross member is released.

[0008] With the cross-sectional recess provided according to the invention, which can be formed in the transition sections of the vertical lattice bars or the transition sections of the crossbar or also in both the transition sections of the vertical lattice bars and the transition sections of the crossbar, the formation of physical contact between the transition sections of the crossbar and the connecting screw can be prevented, so that corresponding harmful transverse force loads on the connecting screw can be avoided.

[0009] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the cross-sectional recess in the transition sections of the crossbar is formed opposite a screw end protruding from the fastening opening to accommodate the screw end as the transition section approaches the screw end. Such a configuration of the cross-sectional recess enables an increase in the deformation path of the crossbar as a result of expansion of the inner container, without contact between the crossbar and the screw end occurring. Accordingly, physical contact between the crossbar and the screw end is avoided, or the possible deformation path of the crossbar before physical contact occurs is increased.

[0010] The cross-sectional recess in the transition sections of the crossbar can be designed as a trough or recess formed between the longitudinal edges of the crossbar. A trough design is particularly advantageous, as it maintains increased flexural rigidity of the crossbar in the transition section area, in contrast to a recess or recess extending across the entire width of the transition piece.

[0011] According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the cross-sectional recess in the transition sections of the vertical lattice bars is designed as a predetermined bending point, which, when a transverse force acts on the connecting sections via the crossbar, enables the connecting sections to pivot outwardly around the predetermined bending point, away from the inner container, about an axis parallel to the upper edge profile. In such an embodiment, the formation of physical contact between the crossbar and the screw end, which is detrimental to the strength of the screw connection, is avoided or delayed by the fact that, due to the reduced flexural rigidity of the transition section of the vertical lattice bars, the connecting sections of the vertical lattice bars execute an outward pivoting movement around the predetermined bending point in the same direction as the deformation of the crossbar.

[0012] It has been found to be particularly advantageous if the predetermined bending point is designed as a groove arranged on an outer side of the vertical lattice bars in the transition section, which groove extends parallel to the upper edge profile, so that a reduced bending stiffness desired in the area of ​​the predetermined bending point is achieved.

[0013] Preferred embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings. They show:

[0014] Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a transport and storage container with a lattice shell provided with cross bars on its upper edge profile;

[0015] Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of a crossbar connection area formed on the lattice shell;

[0016] Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the truss rod connection area shown in Fig. 2 along section line III-III in Fig. 2;

[0017] Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the traverse connection area shown in Fig. 3 in the case of an inner container of the transport and storage container shown in Fig. 1 which is under increased internal pressure.

[0018] Fig. 1 shows a transport and storage container 10 for liquids which can be used as a disposable and reusable container and which has an inner container 11 made of plastic with four side walls 12, 13, 14 and 15 and a lower and an upper base 16, 17, a filler neck 19 which is formed on the upper base 17 and can be closed with a lid 18, and an outlet neck 20 which is formed on the lower section of the front side wall 13 and has a withdrawal fitting 21, as well as an outer grid casing 22 made of intersecting horizontal and vertical grid bars 23, 24 made of metal for receiving the inner container 11. The vertical grid bars 24 are welded to an upper edge profile 26 by an upper connecting section 25 and to a lower edge profile 28 of the grid casing 22 by a lower connecting section 27. In addition, the grid casing 22 is connected to a pallet-like base frame 29 via its lower edge profile 28.

[0019] As shown in Fig. 1, the grid casing 22 is provided with two cross bars 30 extending over the upper base 17 of the inner container 11, which in the present case run parallel to each other and, as shown in Fig. 2, are connected in a force-fitting manner to the upper connecting section 25 of a vertical grid bar 24 via a screw connection 32 by means of connecting sections 31 formed at their respective longitudinal ends. As Fig. 3 shows, both the connecting section 31 of the truss bar 30 and the connecting section 25 of the vertical lattice bar 24 are each formed by a flattening of the truss bar 30 or vertical lattice bar 24 formed from a hollow profile 33 or 34 and are separated by a transition section 35 or 36 from a longitudinal section 37 or 38 formed by the hollow profile 33, 34.

[0020] As shown in particular in Fig. 3, the connecting section 31 of the truss bar 30 is bent upwards relative to the longitudinal section 37 of the truss bar 30 in such a way that the connecting section 31 of the truss bar 30 and the connecting section 25 of the vertical lattice bar 24 extend in substantially parallel planes, wherein the connecting sections 31, 25 are non-positively connected to one another by means of a connecting screw 39 which extends through a through-opening 40 formed in the connecting section 25 of the vertical lattice bar 24 and a fastening opening 41 formed in the connecting section 31 of the truss bar 30.

[0021] To establish the frictional connection, the connecting screw 39 is screwed into the fastening opening 41 designed as a threaded bore with a screw end 42 penetrating the fastening opening 41, in such a way that a threaded engagement is established between a reveal 43 of the fastening opening 41 and the screw end 42.

[0022] 2 and 3 show in particular, in the exemplary embodiment of the transport and storage container explained here, both the transition section 35 formed between the connecting section 31 and the longitudinal section 37 of the crossbar 30 and the transition section 36 formed between the connecting section 25 and the longitudinal section 38 of the vertical lattice bar 24 have a cross-sectional recess designed as a trough 44 or channel 45, wherein the trough 44 is opposite the screw end 42 protruding from the fastening opening 41 and the channel 45 is formed in an outer side 46 of the lattice bar 24 facing away from the inner container 11 and extends parallel to the upper edge profile 26.

[0023] To explain the advantageous effect of the trough 44 and the channel 46 in the case of an inner container 11 subject to increased internal hydraulic pressure, the deformation state in the region of the screw connection 32 is shown schematically in Fig. 4. As a comparison between the undeformed state of the screw connection 32 shown in Fig. 3 and the deformation state shown in Fig. 4 shows, the formation of the trough 44 in the transition section 35 of the cross member 30 enables the transition section 35 to approach the screw end 42 during deformation without physical contact forming between the screw end 42 and the transition section 35. The trough 44 forms a free space in the transition section 35 into which the screw end 42 can penetrate when the transition section 35 approaches the screw end 42. Furthermore, a comparison of the representations in Figs.3 and 4, that the groove 45 formed on the outer side 46 of the vertical grid bar 24 in the transition section 36 forms a predetermined kink point which, in the event of a transverse force acting on the connecting sections 31, 25 via the crossbar 30 as a result of the expansion of the inner container, enables the connecting sections 31, 25 to pivot outwards about the predetermined kink point about an axis parallel to the upper edge profile 26, so that the screw end 42 of the connecting screw 39 can, due to this pivoting movement, still avoid the approach of the transition section 35 of the crossbar 30 in addition to the possibility of immersion in the trough 44 explained above.

[0024] As can be seen from the above, both the formation of the trough 44 in the transition section 35 of the crossbar 30 and the formation of the groove 45 in the transition section 36 of the vertical lattice bar 24 make it possible to avoid physical contact between the transition section 35 of the crossbar 30 and the screw end 42, wherein the simultaneous formation of the trough 44 and the groove 46 in the illustrated embodiment enables a particularly advantageous superposition of the effects.

Claims

9 Claims: Transport and storage container (10) for liquids with a pallet-like base (29) for an inner container (11) made of plastic with four side walls (12, 13, 14, 15), a lower and an upper bottom (16, 17), a closable filling spout (19) molded onto the upper bottom (17), and an outlet spout (20) molded onto the lower section of a side wall (12) with a dispensing fitting (21), as well as a grid shell (22) with horizontal and vertical metal grid bars (23, 24) for receiving the inner container (11), wherein the ends of the vertical grid bars (24) formed from a hollow profile are welded to a lower and an upper circumferential edge profile (26, 28) of the grid shell (22), wherein the upper ends of the vertical grid bars (24) are for connection with the upper edge profile (26) have a connecting section (25) with a flattening formed by forming the hollow profile (34),wherein at least two vertical grid bars (24) arranged on opposite side walls ( 12, 14) are connected to the connecting sections (25) by means of a hollow profile extending over the upper floor (17) of the inner container ( 1 1 ). (33) formed crossbeam bar (30), wherein a connecting section (25) of a vertical grid bar (24) is connected to a connecting section (31) formed at the ends of the crossbeam bar (30) by forming a flattened hollow profile by means of a screw connection (32), wherein the connecting sections (31) of the crossbeam bar (30) are bent upwards relative to a longitudinal section (37) extending over the upper bottom (17) of the inner container (11) and extend in the direction of the connecting sections (25) of the vertical grid bars (24), and the connecting sections (31) of the crossbeam bar (30) have a fastening opening with a reveal for producing a threaded engagement with a connecting screw (39) guided through a through-opening (40) of the connecting section (25) of the vertical grid bar (24), characterized in thatthat the vertical grid bars (24) connected to one another via the crossbeam (30) or the crossbeam (30) have a cross-sectional recess in transition sections (36, 35) formed downstream of the connecting sections (25, 31) for relieving the lateral force on the connecting screw (39). Container according to claim 1, characterized in that the cross-sectional recess in the transition sections (31) of the crossbeam (30) is formed opposite a screw end (42) projecting from the fastening opening (41) for receiving the screw end (42) when the transition section (31) approaches the screw end (42). Container according to claim 2, characterized in that the cross-sectional recess is formed as one between longitudinal edges of the, 11 A recess (44) or a depression is formed in the transition section (31) of the crossbeam bar (30). A container according to claim 1, characterized in that the cross-sectional depression in the transition sections (25) of the vertical grid bars (24) forms a predetermined buckling point which, when a transverse force acts on the connecting sections (25, 31) via the crossbeam bar (30), enables the connecting sections (25, 31) to pivot outwards from the inner container (11) about the predetermined buckling parts about an axis parallel to the upper edge profile (26). A container according to claim 4, characterized in that the predetermined buckling point is formed as a channel (45) arranged on an outer side (46) of the vertical grid bars (24) in the transition section (25), which extends parallel to the upper edge profile (26).