JP4330458B2 - Cold container made of synthetic resin foam - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cold storage container made of a synthetic resin foam, and in particular, contains food or the like and pre-cools it in a refrigerated room, and stores an appropriate refrigerant when necessary after pre-cooling for transport and storage of the stored items. It relates to the cold storage container made.

  Fresh foods such as vegetables, frozen foods or refrigerated foods are stored and transported at low temperatures in a predetermined temperature environment before reaching consumers. For that purpose, since it is lightweight and has a good heat insulating property, for example, a cold container made of a synthetic resin foam such as a polystyrene resin foam is often used.

  The cold storage container includes a container body and a lid, and the interior of the container body is substantially shielded from the outside air with the lid being covered. For this purpose, there are cases in which an article to be kept cool and a refrigerant such as dry ice are simultaneously stored in the container body and covered, and the stored items are cooled and kept cool during storage or distribution. However, there are cases where sufficient cooling effect may not be obtained only by the cold heat of the refrigerant contained in the container, and even if obtained, a large amount of refrigerant is required. Articles placed in a refrigerated warehouse and housed with cold air in the warehouse are pre-cooled to a required temperature.

  Patent Document 1 (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 57-9766), Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-323761), and the like describe a cold container suitable for use for such a purpose. FIG. 5 a shows a cold storage container described in Patent Document 1, which includes a container body 10 made of polystyrene resin foam and a lid 20. The container body 10 has two or three notches 13 formed on the upper edge 12 of the four-sided side wall 11, and concave grooves 14 and 15 are formed on the inner side and the bottom of the side wall 11. . On the other hand, the lid 20 has a protrusion 23 corresponding to the notch 13 at the lower peripheral edge of the side wall 21, and the inside of the container body 10 is substantially cut off from the outside air with the lid 20 put on. . As shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 5b, the notch 13 includes a bottom surface portion 13a and a side surface portion 13b that expands obliquely upward from both ends thereof. The bottom surface portion 13a is a horizontal plane parallel to the bottom portion, that is, the side wall inner edge. 13a1 and the side wall outer edge 13a2 are at the same height level.

  FIG. 6 shows a state in which food or the like is pre-cooled using the above-described cold insulation container. In consideration of planar and three-dimensional space efficiency, in the usual case, only the container bodies 10 containing vegetables and frozen food P are stacked in multiple stages as shown and placed in a refrigerated warehouse in a cold air environment. It is burned. The cold air enters the container as indicated by an arrow from the notch 13 formed in the container body 10 and cools (pre-cools) the stored article P. Further, the cold air enters and moves downward along the concave groove 14 formed on the inner side of the side wall, and reaches the concave groove 15 formed at the bottom. Thereby, cooling of the accommodated article proceeds substantially uniformly.

  The container is placed in that state for the required time, and when desired cooling progresses, each container body 10 is filled with a refrigerant such as dry ice, if necessary, and covered with a lid 20. In this state, it is taken out from the refrigerated warehouse, transported, and transported to a relay point or final destination.

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-9766 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-323761

  A cold storage container made of a synthetic resin foam as described above is extremely effective for pre-cooling articles stored in a refrigerator. The present inventors have experienced a lot of pre-cooling of frozen products and refrigerated products using the container body of such a cold storage container, but in the process, the cold air intake (notch 13) is somewhat small. Therefore, the amount of cold air entering the container body 10 may not be sufficient, and it has been experienced that the desired pre-cooling cannot be obtained within the scheduled time.

  Although the desired pre-cooling can be obtained by reducing the number of articles to be accommodated, it is not a cost-effective solution. The problem can also be solved by increasing the cold air intake (notch 13). However, increasing the area by expanding in the width direction is not preferable because it causes a decrease in strength when stacking, and the depth is reduced. Increasing the area by increasing the depth is also not preferable because the effective volume that can accommodate the article decreases.

  The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances as described above, and the amount of cold air entering from the cold air intake (notch 13) can be reduced without reducing the strength of the container body or reducing the effective storage volume. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cold storage container made of an improved synthetic resin foam, which can be made large and thereby achieve a desired precooling (cooling) state in a shorter time.

  The present inventors have repeated many experiments on the shape of the cold air intake so as to solve the above-described problem, and thus the bottom surface portion of the notch that is the cold air intake is simply inclined from the outside to the inside. I learned that the cooling environment inside the container is greatly improved. The present invention is based on the knowledge obtained through the above experiments, and the cold insulation container made of the synthetic resin foam according to the present invention is composed of a container main body and a lid, and the container main body has an appropriate number on the upper edge of each side wall of the four circumferences. The lid has a protrusion corresponding to the notch at the lower peripheral edge, and the inside of the container body is substantially shielded from the outside air with the lid on. In the container, the bottom surface portion of the cutout of the container body is characterized in that the side wall inner edge is an inclined surface that is lower than the side wall outer edge.

  As shown in the examples described later, when the cold container according to the present invention is used, the amount of temperature drop over time of the stored item is larger than that of the conventional cold container, and the amount of cold air from the notch is reduced. It can be seen that the amount of penetration has increased. This is presumed to be due to the fact that the cold air has a high specific gravity, so that it easily flows downward along the inclined surface of the bottom surface of the notch, and as a result, the warm air in the container can be easily replaced with the cold air during pre-cooling. The

  The inclination angle of the bottom portion is preferably in the range of about 2 to 45 degrees. If it is less than 2 degrees, no substantial improvement in cold air intake is observed. On the other hand, if the angle is greater than 45 degrees, the strength of the portion is lowered and easily broken, which is not preferable.

  Preferably, a concave groove or a protrusion is formed on the inner side and the bottom of the side wall. By forming such concave grooves or ridges, the intruded cool air easily turns around the bottom of the container, and the pre-cooling of the accommodated articles proceeds more effectively. The depth of the groove or the height of the ridge is preferably in the range of about 5 mm to 30 mm. If it is 5 mm or less, no substantial improvement is observed in the wrapping of the cold air, and if it is larger than 30 mm, the effective capacity of the article decreases when the outer dimensions are the same. If an effective storage volume is to be ensured, the outer dimensions become large, resulting in useless space during storage or transportation.

  Examples of the synthetic resin foam constituting the container body and the lid include styrene resin foams such as polystyrene resins and copolymers mainly composed of styrene, polyolefin resin foams, polyester resin foams, and the like. it can.

  In the cold insulation container made of the synthetic resin foam according to the present invention, the amount of cold air entering from the cold air intake can be increased without causing a decrease in strength of the container body or a reduction in the effective capacity. Thereby, a desired cooling (precooling) state can be easily achieved in a shorter time.

  The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a cold storage container according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a cross section of a container body constituting the cold storage container. The cold insulation container A includes a container body 10A and a lid 20A, both of which are molded articles of a synthetic resin foam such as expanded polystyrene. Further, except for the notch 30 formed on the container body 10A and the protrusion 40 formed on the lid 20A, other configurations may be the same as those of the cold insulation container shown in FIG. Are given the same reference numerals.

  The container body 10A is a box-shaped container having four side walls 11 and opened upward, and one notch 30 (30A, 30B) is formed on the upper edge 12 thereof. Further, a concave groove 14 running in the vertical direction is formed inside the side wall 11 so as to reach the bottom surface, and a concave groove 15 continuous to the concave groove 14 is also formed on the bottom surface. In the illustrated example, one notch 30 is formed at the upper edge of each side wall 11, but a plurality of notches 30 may be formed in the same manner as shown in FIG.

  In the container body 10A, the notch 30 includes a bottom surface portion 31 and side surface portions 32, 32 at both ends thereof, and the bottom surface portion 31 is inclined such that the side wall inner edge 31a is lower than the side wall outer edge 31b. The surface, that is, the inclined surface is such that the article housing space side is low. Although the inclination angle is about 10 degrees in this example, it is desirable that the inclination angle be in the range of about 2 degrees to 45 degrees. Although it is desirable that the bottom surface portion 31 has an equal inclination angle in all the cutouts 30, a part of the inclined surface may have a different angle depending on the required cooling environment. Only the bottom surface portion 31 may be an inclined surface. Furthermore, although the long side cutout 30A and the short cutout 30B are illustrated as having different widths, they may have the same shape. In addition, the side surface portions 32 and 32 are vertical surfaces in the illustrated example, but may be of course inclined outwardly.

  The lid 20A has a protrusion 40 corresponding to the notch 30 at the lower part of each peripheral edge 22 of the four side walls 21, and the inside of the container body 10A is substantially shielded from the outside air by the lid 20A. State. That is, the protrusion 40 has a size and a shape that allows air to enter the notch 30, and the bottom surface 41 of the protrusion 40 has an inclined surface having the same angle as the bottom surface portion 31 of the notch 30 formed in the container body 10. It has become. A wall surface 23 that fits in the container body 10A in an airtight manner is formed inside the peripheral edge 22 to further ensure the airtightness of the internal space when the lid is closed.

  When this container body 10A is stacked in multiple stages as shown in FIG. 6 and left in a refrigerated warehouse in a cold environment, heavy cold air tends to flow downward along the inclined surface of the bottom surface portion 31 of the notch 30, As a result, it has been experimentally confirmed that more cold air enters the inside of the container than when the bottom surface portion is a horizontal surface. As a result, the replacement of warm air and cold air reliably proceeds, and the cooling drop of the housed articles becomes rapid. In the illustrated example, the concave grooves 14 and 15 for circulating cold air are formed on the inner surface side, and a uniform cooling effect can be obtained. Furthermore, the bottom portion of the notch of the conventional container main body is simply inclined, so that the molding process is easy and the strength of the container main body and the effective storage volume are not reduced.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to examples and comparative examples.

[Example 1]
A container body 10A having the shape shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 was prepared. The material was a foam of polystyrene resin, the outer dimensions were 630 × 370 × 495 mm, and the thickness of the side wall and the bottom was 40 mm. The long side notch 30A had a width of 280 mm, a depth of 30 mm on the outside of the side wall, and an inclination angle of the bottom surface portion of 3 degrees. The short side cutout 30B had a width of 160 mm, a depth of 30 mm on the outside of the side wall, and an inclination angle of the bottom surface portion of 3 degrees. Further, the concave groove 14 on the inner surface of the side wall has a length of 280 mm, a width of 35 mm, and a depth of 3 mm, and the concave grooves 15 formed in the cross on the bottom surface have a width of 32 mm and a depth of 3 mm.

[Comparative Example 1]
A container body 10B was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1. However, the depth of the notches formed on the long side and the short side was 30 mm both on the side wall outside and on the inside of the container, that is, a horizontal bottom surface portion without inclination. Other than that was the same as Example 1.

[Example 2]
A container body was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1. However, the groove on the inner surface of the side wall had a length of 280 mm, a width of 15 mm, and a depth of 7 mm, and the grooves formed in the cross on the bottom surface both had a width of 15 mm and a depth of 7 mm. Other than that was the same as Example 1.

[Comparative Example 2]
A container body was prepared in the same manner as in Example 2. However, the depth of the notches formed on the long side and the short side was 30 mm both on the side wall outside and on the inside of the container, that is, a horizontal bottom surface portion without inclination. Other than that was the same as Example 2.

[Comparison test]
As shown in FIG. 3, all of the container bodies shown in Examples 1 and 2 and Comparative Examples 1 and 2 store frozen products P having an initial temperature of −9 ° C. in three layers, and each container body. Were stacked in three stages and housed in a -25 ° C constant temperature warehouse. 3a is an example product, and FIG. 3b is a comparative product. And the temperature sensor T was attached to the lowermost frozen product accommodated in the lowermost container main body, and the temperature change for every hour was measured over 12 hours. The resulting graph is shown in FIG.

[Evaluation]
As can be seen from the graph showing the change in temperature with time in FIG. 4, the temperature drop amount of the frozen products stored in the container main body 10A of Example 1 and Example 2 is stored in the container main body 10B of Comparative Example 1 and Comparative Example 2. The temperature drop amount of the frozen product is larger than that of the frozen product, and in the container body according to the present invention, the effect of inclining the bottom portion of the notch toward the inside clearly appears.

The perspective view which shows an example of the cold storage container by this invention. Sectional drawing which shows the container main body which comprises a cold storage container. The figure explaining the state of the Example goods and comparative example goods when a cooling test is done. The graph which shows the time-dependent change of the temperature in an Example and a comparative example. It is a figure explaining an example of the conventional cold storage container, FIG. 5a is a perspective view of the whole, FIG. 5b is an enlarged perspective view of a notch part. The figure which shows the state which stacked the container main body of the cold storage container shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  A ... Cold container, 10A ... Container body, 11 ... Side wall, 12 ... Upper edge of side wall, 30 (30A, 30B) ... Notch formed in container body, 31 ... Bottom part of notch, 31a ... Side wall of bottom part Inner edge, 31b ... Side wall outer edge of bottom face part, 32 ... Side face part of notch, 20A ... Lid, 40 ... Projection formed on the lid

Claims (1)

It consists of a container body made of a synthetic resin foam and a lid. The container body has an appropriate number of notches formed on the upper edge of each side wall of the four circumferences, and the lid has a protrusion corresponding to the notch at the lower peripheral edge. And the inside of the container body is in a state of being shielded from the outside air with the lid closed, and the bottom portion of the cutout of the container body has a side wall inner edge lower than the side wall outer edge. A cold insulating container, wherein the inclined surface has an inclination angle in a range of 2 to 45 degrees, and a groove or a ridge is formed on the inner side and bottom of the side wall .

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