JP7647401B2 - Shock-absorbing materials, packaging materials, and packaging systems - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to shock-absorbing materials, packaging bodies, and packaging systems.

Packaging materials for precision machinery products are fitted with shock-absorbing cushioning materials to prevent fragile packaged items from being deformed or damaged by vibrations or dropping impacts received during logistics. This cushioning material can absorb the impact, i.e., the impact acceleration, acting on the packaged item through its own deformation and buckling action. For example, even if the packaged item is subjected to an impact acceleration of up to several hundred Gs, there is known technology that can reduce this to less than 100 Gs by using cushioning materials.

Conventional cushioning materials are provided with an impact-absorbing rib structure that is formed with a structural strength that matches the mass of the packaged item and the expected drop height (see Figure 1), and the impact-absorbing function is achieved by the compressive stress characteristics resulting from the compressive deformation of the impact-absorbing rib structure. Furthermore, the maximum efficiency point for impact absorption due to this compressive stress characteristic is when the compressive strain is between 0.5 and 0.65, and it is already known that this is the limit of the impact-absorbing function of this configuration.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a packaging box in which the top or bottom of the product is supported by a cushioning member formed by folding the tip of the inner flap of the top or bottom panel.

These conventional cushioning materials and the packaging box disclosed in Patent Document 1 have a simple structure and good shock-absorbing properties, but the compressive stress characteristics of the shock-absorbing rib structure are limited, making it difficult to achieve a high level of shock-absorbing properties.

The present invention aims to provide an impact cushioning material with an impact cushioning rib structure that can improve impact cushioning performance compared to conventional shock cushioning materials.

The above problem is solved by an impact cushioning material comprising a base structure having a storage space for a packaged item, and an impact cushioning rib structure provided on at least one surface of the base structure, wherein the impact cushioning rib structure is configured by arranging in parallel a main cushioning section that is fixedly supported by the base structure , has a cubic or rectangular parallelepiped shape, and is compressively deformed when subjected to an external impact , and an auxiliary cushioning section that is supported by the base structure at both ends, has an arch-like shape spaced apart from the base structure and the contact portion between the base structure and the packaged item , and is compressed and bent when subjected to an external impact, and wherein the combination of the main cushioning section and the auxiliary cushioning section generates a composite stress action .

The shock-absorbing material of the present invention has a shock-absorbing rib structure that is composed of a main shock-absorbing section that undergoes compressive deformation and an auxiliary shock-absorbing section that undergoes compressive and bending deformation. The main shock-absorbing section exerts compressive stress, and the auxiliary shock-absorbing section exerts compressive and bending stress. Therefore, the shock-absorbing rib structure produces a composite stress action, and can improve shock-absorbing properties compared to conventional methods.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a shock absorbing material according to a conventional specification. 1 is a perspective view of a shock absorber according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing stress acting on the shock absorbing material of FIG. 2 . 13A is a graph showing the characteristics of each buffer section, and FIG. 13B is a graph comparing the characteristics of the present embodiment with those of the conventional specification. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a shock absorbing material having a plurality of shock absorbing rib structures. 3 is a perspective view of a shock absorber in which the arrangement of a main shock absorber and an auxiliary shock absorber is changed from that of the shock absorber of FIG. 2 . FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram (part 1) of an impact-absorbing material made by stacking and bonding multiple flat plates. This is a schematic diagram (part 2) of an impact cushioning material made by stacking multiple flat plates together. 1 is a perspective view of an impact cushioning material that does not have a space for accommodating a packaged object. FIG. FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing variations in the shape of the auxiliary buffer portion; FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the shock absorber with the main shock absorber section deformed. 11 is a perspective view of an impact cushioning material having an opening for accommodating a deformed portion of an auxiliary cushioning portion; FIG. FIG. 13 is a side view of the shock absorber shown in FIG. 12 .

Figure 2 is a perspective view of an impact cushioning material according to one embodiment of the present invention. This impact cushioning material 1 is composed of a base structure 10 having a storage space 5 for a packaged object (e.g., a copier), and an impact cushioning rib structure 20 provided on the upper surface of the base structure 10.

This shock-absorbing rib structure 20 is composed of a main buffer section 12 that is supported by the base structure section 10 and has a cubic or rectangular parallelepiped shape, and an auxiliary buffer section 14 that is supported by the base structure section 10 at both ends and has a shape that is spaced apart from the base structure section 10 between both ends.

Specifically, one main buffer section 12 is provided at the center of the top surface of the base structure section 10, and two auxiliary buffer sections 14 are provided on either side of it. The auxiliary buffer sections 14 are shaped like an inverted V (or arched) and are intended to cause bending deformation.

A packaged object such as a copier is fitted with shock-absorbing material 1 and packed in a packaging material. When the packaging material is subjected to vibration and/or a drop impact, as shown in FIG. 3, compressive stress is applied due to compressive deformation of the main cushioning section 12, and at the same time, compressive and bending stresses are applied due to bending deformation of the auxiliary cushioning section 14.

In the conventional specifications (see Figure 1), shock is absorbed only by the compressive deformation and compressive stress of a single shock-absorbing rib structure, but in this embodiment (see Figure 2), a composite stress action is generated by the main shock-absorbing section 12 and the newly installed auxiliary shock-absorbing section 14. This absorbs shock with greater shock absorption efficiency than the conventional specifications, and can reduce the maximum impact force even when the same packaged object is used.

Figure 4(a) is a graph showing the characteristics of each buffer section, and Figure 4(b) is a graph comparing the characteristics of the conventional specification and this embodiment. In both (a) and (b), the horizontal axis is the deformation amount (mm) and the vertical axis is the applied reaction force (N).

As shown by the bottom line in (a), initially the auxiliary buffer section is primarily subjected to compressive stress, and then bending stress due to bending deformation acts on it. It can be seen that the reaction force drops significantly when bending deformation occurs, and then rises gradually.

On the other hand, as shown by the middle line in (a), compressive stress acts on the main buffer section, so the reaction force increases monotonically. Therefore, as shown in the top graph in (a), the combined force (reaction force) of the main buffer section and auxiliary buffer section rises faster and is larger than when only the main buffer section is used.

In addition to the above, in this embodiment, by reducing the area of the main buffer that receives the impact and making it a small volume, the reaction force in the main buffer can be reduced. That is, as shown in the graph in (b), the impact buffer of this embodiment can increase the start and value of the reaction force at the start of deformation, and can reduce the reaction force acting on the packaged object after a certain deformation compared to buffers with conventional specifications.

The shock absorbing material 1 in FIG. 2 has one main shock absorbing section 12 and two auxiliary shock absorbing sections 14 on one side of the base structural section 10, but is not limited to this. At least one main shock absorbing section 12 and one auxiliary shock absorbing section 14 may be provided on at least one side of the base structural section 10. An appropriate shock absorbing rib structure can be selected for the shock expected from the mass of the packaged item and the expected drop height.

Next, we will explain the advantageous configurations of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a shock-absorbing material having multiple shock-absorbing rib structures. The main shock-absorbing section 12 and the auxiliary shock-absorbing section 14 can be provided on multiple faces of the base structure section 10 (up to five faces, including the back face, which is hidden in Figure 5). The shock-absorbing material 1a has shock-absorbing rib structures 20 on multiple sides, so it can provide shock-absorbing function on multiple sides.

The shock absorbing material 1a is not limited to a hexahedron such as a rectangular parallelepiped or a cube, but may have a three-dimensional shape with more faces, and each face may have a shock absorbing rib structure 20.

The arrangement (positioning) of the main buffer section 12 and the auxiliary buffer section 14 will now be described. When the center of gravity of the packaged object is toward the center, it is appropriate to provide the main buffer section 12 between two auxiliary buffer sections 14 on the same surface of the base structure section 10, as shown in Figure 2 above.

On the other hand, if the center of gravity of the packaged object is biased to one side (off-center of gravity), it is appropriate to provide the auxiliary buffer section 14 between two main buffer sections 12 on the same surface of the base structure section 10, as shown in FIG. 6. This shock absorber 1b can suppress the tilt that occurs during shock absorption.

Figures 7 and 8 are schematic diagrams of shock absorbers made by stacking multiple flat plates together. Shock absorber 1c can be made by stacking multiple plate-like members 30a, b, and c. Shock absorber 1d can also be made by stacking multiple plate-like members 30d, e, and f. Each plate-like member 30 can be easily manufactured without using advanced molding techniques such as injection molding, so shock absorbers can be manufactured efficiently and inexpensively.

Figure 9 is a perspective view of an impact cushioning material that does not have a storage space for a packaged object. This impact cushioning material 1e is composed of a flat base structure 10e and an impact cushioning rib structure 20e provided on one side of the base structure 10e.

This shock-absorbing rib structure 20e is composed of a main buffer section 12 that is supported by a base structure section 10e and has a cubic or rectangular parallelepiped shape, and an auxiliary buffer section 14e that is supported by the base structure section 10 at both ends and has a shape that is spaced apart from the base structure section 10 between both ends.

This shock-absorbing material 1e differs from the shock-absorbing material 1 in FIG. 2 in that the base structure 10e does not have a space for accommodating the packaged object. The shock-absorbing material 1e absorbs the shock applied to the packaged object by attaching the shock-absorbing rib structure 20e formed in a flat shape to the packaged object.

In this configuration, as in the case shown in Figure 2 above, a compound stress action is generated between the auxiliary buffer section 14e and the main buffer section 12, which provides greater shock absorption efficiency than the conventional specifications (see Figure 1) and reduces the maximum shock force applied to the packaged item.

Figure 10 is a perspective view showing various shapes of the auxiliary shock absorber. The auxiliary shock absorber 14 can take on various shapes depending on the packaged object to which it is attached and/or the expected impact.

The auxiliary buffer section 14 shown in (a) is composed of two vertically arranged support columns 16 and a horizontal beam section 18 that is supported by the support columns 16 and spaced apart from the surface of the base structure section 10. This auxiliary buffer section 14 is structured so that the horizontally arranged beam section 18 receives an evenly distributed load, and has the effect of exerting a large bending stress when a localized load is received. This is suitable for packaged objects with a large mass.

The auxiliary buffer section 14 shown in (b) is made up of two support columns 16 that are arranged at an angle to the surface of the base structure and intersect with each other. This auxiliary buffer section 14 is prone to bending when subjected to a local load, and can apply a small bending stress. This is suitable for packaged items with a small mass.

The auxiliary buffer section 14 shown in (c) is composed of two support columns 16 each arranged at an angle to the surface of the base structure, and a beam section 18 supported by the two support columns 16 and arranged horizontally to the surface of the base structure 10. This auxiliary buffer section 14 is structured so that the horizontally arranged beam section 18 receives an evenly distributed load, while the two support columns 16 are more likely to bend due to the longer distance between them, allowing a small bending stress to be applied. This is also suitable for packaged items with a small mass.

The auxiliary buffer sections 14 shown in (d), (e), and (f) are arranged in a series of two or more in the longitudinal direction. These auxiliary buffer sections 14 have a short distance between each support section, making it easier to obtain the effect of a large bending stress acting on them. This is suitable for packaged objects with a large mass.

Figure 11 is a perspective view of the shock absorber with the main buffer section deformed. The main buffer section 12f has a slope on both sides in the longitudinal direction, and the area of the bottom surface of the main buffer section 12f supported by the base structure section 10 is larger than the area of the top surface. In other words, the main buffer section 12f has a tapered structure.

As the compressive deformation of the main buffer section 12f progresses, the area of the compressed portion increases, allowing it to absorb a greater amount of impact energy. Note that the main buffer section 12f may have at least one pair of opposing side surfaces with a slope.

Figure 12 is a perspective view of an impact cushioning material having an opening that accommodates the deformed portion of the auxiliary cushioning section. As shown in Figure 12, the base structure 10g has an opening 8 directly below the auxiliary cushioning section 14 in the vertical direction. When the auxiliary cushioning section 14 is bent and deformed, the deformed portion is accommodated in the opening 8 (see Figure 13). Even if the auxiliary cushioning section 14 is significantly deformed, it does not fall into a state of only compressive deformation, but can assume the desired bending deformation state, so that a composite stress can be generated together with the main cushioning section 12.

These shock absorbers 1 (1a to 1g) are preferably made of foamed resin shock absorbers. However, this is not a limitation.

The shock absorbing material of this embodiment is attached to an image forming device (e.g., a copier, a printer, etc.) as a packaged object, and is then packed in a packaging material (e.g., a cardboard box). This packaging material is used in a packaging system that includes packaging machinery and equipment.

(Comparative verification test)
A comparative verification test of impact acceleration was carried out between a conventional shock absorber and a shock absorber according to the present invention.
Verification method: The impact acceleration was compared between the conventional specification (Fig. 1) and the specification of the present invention (Fig. 2) at the same buffer distance.
Conditions: The impact cushioning material used was expanded polyethylene (EPE: apparent density 22.5 kg/ ^m3 ).
Results: As shown in Table 1, the average impact acceleration of the present invention was approximately 20% lower than that of the conventional specification.

The present invention has been described in detail above using an embodiment. This embodiment is merely an example, and can be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, multiple embodiments may be combined with each other.

Reference Signs List 1, 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e Impact buffer material 5 Storage space 8 Opening 10, 10e, 10g Base structure 12, 12f Main buffer section 14, 14e Auxiliary buffer section 16 Support section 18 Beam section 20, 20e Impact buffer rib structure 30a-f Plate-shaped member

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 09-328172

Claims (17)

A shock absorbing material including a base structure having a space for accommodating an object to be wrapped, and a shock absorbing rib structure provided on at least one surface of the base structure,
The shock absorbing rib structure is
A main buffer portion that is fixed to and supported by the base structure portion, has a cubic or rectangular parallelepiped shape, and is compressively deformed by an external impact ;
the package is supported at both ends by the base structure, and the portion between the two ends has an arch-like shape spaced apart from the contact portion between the base structure and the packaged object, and is configured by arranging in parallel an auxiliary buffer portion which is compressed and bent by an external impact,
An impact cushioning material characterized in that a composite stress action is generated by the combination of the main cushioning portion and the auxiliary cushioning portion . The shock absorbing material according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one of the main buffer section and the auxiliary buffer section is provided on one side of the base structure section. The shock absorbing material according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the main buffer section and the auxiliary buffer section are provided on multiple surfaces of the base structure section. The shock absorbing material according to claim 3, characterized in that the main shock absorbing portion and the auxiliary shock absorbing portion are provided on five surfaces of the base structure portion, respectively. The shock absorber according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the main buffer section is provided between two of the auxiliary buffer sections on the same surface of the base structure section. The shock absorber according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the auxiliary buffer section is provided between two of the main buffer sections on the same surface of the base structure section. The shock absorbing material according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that it is made by stacking multiple plate-shaped members. A shock absorbing material including a flat base structure and a shock absorbing rib structure provided on one surface of the base structure,
The shock absorbing rib structure is
A main buffer portion that is fixed to and supported by the base structure portion, has a cubic or rectangular parallelepiped shape, and is compressively deformed by an external impact ;
the package is supported at both ends by the base structure, and the portion between the two ends is configured by arranging in parallel the base structure and an auxiliary buffer section which has an arch-like shape spaced apart from the contact portion between the base structure and the packaged object, and which is compressed and bent by an external impact, and is attached in contact with the packaged object ;
An impact cushioning material characterized in that a composite stress action is generated by the combination of the main cushioning portion and the auxiliary cushioning portion . The auxiliary buffer unit includes:
Two support columns provided perpendicular to a surface of the base structure;
9. The shock absorbing material according to claim 1, further comprising a beam portion supported by the two support columns and disposed horizontally apart from the surface of the base structure. The auxiliary buffer unit includes:
9. The shock absorber according to claim 1, characterized in that it is composed of two support pillars each disposed obliquely with respect to a surface of the base structure and intersecting each other. The auxiliary buffer unit includes:
Two support columns each provided at an angle to a surface of the base structure;
9. The shock absorbing material according to claim 1, further comprising a beam portion supported by the two support columns and disposed horizontally relative to a surface of the base structure. The shock absorbing material according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that two or more of the auxiliary buffer sections are arranged in series in the longitudinal direction. The main buffer portion supported by the base structure portion has at least one pair of opposing side surfaces provided with a slope;
13. The shock absorber according to claim 1, wherein an area of a bottom surface of the main shock absorber supported by the base structure is larger than an area of an upper surface of the main shock absorber. The shock absorbing material according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that the base structure has an opening directly below the auxiliary shock absorbing part in the vertical direction. The shock absorbing material according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that it is made of a foamed resin cushioning material. A packaging material for packaging an object to be packaged that is equipped with the shock absorbing material according to any one of claims 1 to 15. A packaging system using the packaging material according to claim 16.

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