Ventilated containers for transporting freight

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to ventilated containers for transporting freight which must be kept dry but ventilated.

[0002] It is known to ventilate cargo containers used for transporting such commodities as coffee or other perishables which would otherwise be subject to mildew caused by condensation within the container as a result of the very nature of the commodities and the warm, humid climates of the geographical areas where the containers are loaded.

[0003] Attempts have been made to overcome this problem by providing ventilators in the side panelling of the containers. However, such ventilators have proved unsatisfactory in that sea water for example easily contaminates the perishables during transportation of the container at sea. Improved ventilators such as that disclosed in British Patent Specification 2068900A have to a substantial extent overcome this problem by providing ventilators having a tortuous inner path which attempts to prevent entry of sea water into the container. Published U.K. Patent Application 2068900 in fact discloses a ventilated cargo container having permanently open substantially large ventilators at least at or toward the upper end of one or more vertical side walls of the container. The remainder of the side wall is corrugated with equally formed troughs and crests. A roofed ventilation chamber is located within each trough along the side wall. An outer panel member extends downwards below the level of a ventilation opening in the panel portion to an external ventilation opening at the bottom of the ventilation chamber communicating with atmosphere.

[0004] Such a construction is disadvantageous in that the strength of the container structure is substantially reduced. Furthermore, whilst the tortuous path provided by the ventilators has proven to reduce sea spray entering the container through the ventilator complete dryness within the container has not been satisfactorily obtained.

[0005] Furthermore, the complex nature of the construction of the prior container results in large areas or pockets within the container which are totally and inadequately treated against corrosion. Consequently such containers have a reduced useful working life span than conventional containers.

[0006] Applicants seek to overcome these problems by providing according to the present invention a ventilated cargo container having a ventilated side or end wall, the ventilated wall having flat panel portions at intervals along the length of the wall, each flat panel portion having at least one ventilation opening therethrough, adjacent flat panel portions being separated by vertically corrugated wall portions, the crests of the corrugations projecting towards the outside from the plane of the flat panel portions, the wall further including, on its outer surface, roofed ventilation chambers associated with each ventilation opening, each ventilation chamber having an outer panel member which is located between two adjacent corrugations spaced from the flat panel portions, the panel member extending downwards below the level of the ventilation opening in the panel portion to an external opening at the bottom of the ventilation chamber communicating with the atmosphere, the height of the panel member being greater than its width, characterised in that the width of the flat panel portions is at least twice the width of the- individual corrugations, in that the panel member is secured by fastener devices to the adjacent corrugations, and in that the lower portion of each panel member is louvred in a region spaced below the ventilation opening.

[0007] The precharacterising features to the above statement of invention are disclosed in the container described in GB-A-2068900.

[0008] Within the ventilated cargo container according to the present invention, the ventilated side wall can be constructed by the same techniques as are used for conventional closed containers having corrugated sheet metal side walls, the ventilated wall being assembled from corrugated and uncorrugated sheet portions which may be separate or integral as required, the sheet portions being welded together to form the side wall withiri a suitable frame formed by vertical posts at each end and upper and lower horizontal rails. The container wall thus formed can be prepared and painted in the normal manner employed when constructing conventional closed containers. However, the outer wall (conveniently incorporating the roof) of each ventilated chamber is constructed separately end can be electrolytically galvanized and/or painted as required and then be attached to the container wall, with the interposition of a suitable sealing strip if required, the fastening devices being conveniently in the form of rivets.

[0009] With this arrangement, there is assurance that the interior of each ventilation chamber will be protected against corrosion to the same standard as the rest of the container.

[0010] The opening at the bottom of the ventilation chamber may be formed partly by a gap between the bottom of the panel member and the panel portion and partly by louvres in the lower part of the panel portion.

[0011] Each ventilation chamber has a height greater than its width and acts somewhat as a chimney.

[0012] An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

_. Figure 1 is an elevational view of a side wall of a ventilated dry freight container;

Figure 2 shows the upper and lower portions of a vertical section on the line II-II of Figure 1 on an enlarged scale;

Figure 3 is an elevational view from the right of the upper part of Figure 2 with some portions broken away;

Figure 4 is a horizontal cross-section on the line IV-IV of Figure 3,

Figure 5 is an exploded view of the components shown in Figures 3 and 4, and

Figure 6 shows a modified form of Figure 2.

[0013] The general construction of the container, parts of which are shown in the drawings, is that of a standard dry freight container which does not require detailed description. Thus, the side wall shown in Figure 1 has a bottom rail 1, a top rail 2 and panelling 3 interconnecting, and extending the full height between the top and bottom rails. The panelling 3 is formed with corrugations 4. However, instead of the corrugations being uniformly distributed along practically the whole of the length of the wall, some portions of the wall are uncorrugated and form flat panels 5 of a width at least twice the width of the individual corrugations and greater than that of the channels 6 in the corrugations 4, this width being at least 200 mm and preferably at least 210 mm.

[0014] At the upper end of each flat panel 5 and near the lower end thereof are formed rectangular ventilation opening 7, preferably at least 210 mm wide.

[0015] At this stage of construction, all of the surfaces of the structure are readily accessible for shot blasting and spray painting in the normal manner.

[0016] To complete ventilation chambers over the opening 7, louvred panel members 13 are riveted to corrugations 4 with suitable sealing means where required.

[0017] Each panel member 13 is formed from a piece of sheet steel and has an outer vertical wall 21 (about 460 mm high and 230 mm wide), flanges 22 along each side of the wall 21 and sloping top and bottom flanges 23 and 24, the top flange having a fastening lip 23a. The side flanges 22 are bent inwards at an angle such that they sit flat against the side walls 25 of the corrugations 4. The bottom flange 24 is cut away by about 6 mm over most of its width to form a ventilation opening 26. Further ventilation openings 27 are formed by five louvres 28 in the lower part of the vertical front wall 21. The panel member is electrolytically galvanised.

[0018] To secure the panel member 13 in position, blind rivets or bolts inserted from within the container are passed through holes predrilled in the corrugation side walls and panels 5 into corresponding holes in the side flanges and lip 23a and are then expanded or fastened. The vertical wall is then flush with the outer walls 29 of the corrugations 4.

[0019] The panel member 13 and flat panel portions 5 thus define vertical ventilation chambers about 210 mm wide and 38 mm deep.

[0020] The vertical distance between the centre louvre 28 and the centre of the opening 7 is about 340 mm (and preferably at least 300 mm).

[0021] Prior to installing the panel member 13, plates . 16 may be secured over the ventilation opening 7. The plates 16 are perforated with the required number of holes to obtain the required total flow area through the plate 16, while meeting internationally agreed Customs (TIR) requirements. These holes are conveniently formed by a set of punches arranged in a grid, only the required number of such punches are used.

[0022] The ventilation chambers do not have any internal sloping deflector baffles. Accordingly, fragments of cargo are much less likely to be caught in inaccessible locations within the chambers. Thus the risk of infestation is correspondingly reduced.

[0023] In the modified construction shown in Figure 6, the roof 23' of each ventilation chamber is separate from the panel 13' and is welded (at 23a') to the container wall during fabrication and is accessible for preparation and painting with the remainder of the basic container.

[0024] The roof 23' terminates in a downwardly extending flange 61 to which the top margin of the panel 13' is subsequently fastened by rivets.

[0025] The lower edge of each plate 16 may be extended and bent outwardly and downwardly to form a water rejecting lip (as shown at 62 in Figure 6).

[0026] Further ventilation openings of any desired shape may be formed in the walls 25 at the level of the opening 7.

[0027] The container shown in Figure 1 is a standard length of 20 foot (6058 mm) and each side wall has 12 upper and 12 lower ventilation chambers, i.e. one upper chamber and one lower chamber for about 500 mm of side wall length.

Claims

1. A ventilated cargo container having a ventilated side or end wall, the ventilated wall having flat panel portions at intervals along the length of the wall, each flat panel portion having at least one ventilation opening therethrough, adjacent flat panel portions (5) being separated by vertically corrugated wall portions (4), the crests (29) of the corrugations projecting towards the outside from the plane of the flat panel portions, the wall further including, on its outer surface, roofed ventilation chambers associated with each ventilation opening (7), each ventilation chamber having an outer panel member (13) which is located between two adjacent corrugations spaced from the flat panel portions, the panel member extending downwards below the level of the ventilation opening in the panel portion to an external opening (26) at the bottom of the ventilation chamber communicating with the atmosphere, the height of the panel member (13) being greater than its width, characterised in that the width of the flat panel portions (5) is at least twice the width of the individual corrugations, in that the panel member (13) is secured by fastener devices to the adjacent corrugations, and in that the lower portion of each panel member (13) is louvred (28) in a region spaced below the ventilation opening (7).

2. A container according to claim 1, characterised in that the roof of each ventilation chamber is formed by a top flange (23) on the panel member (21).

3. A container according to claim 1, characterised in that the roof of each ventilation chamber is formed by an element (23) permanently secured to the container wall (5).

4. A container according to claim 1, characterised in that the width of each ventilation chamber is 210 mm.

5. A container according to claim 4, characterised in that upper ventilation chambers and lower ventilation chambers are arranged in each long wall with one upper and one lower chamber for approximately each 500 mm of wall length.

Ansprüche

1. Belüfteter Frachtgutbehälter mit einer belüfteten Seiten- oder Stirnwand, die in ihrer Längsrichtung in Abständen voneinander angeordneten, ebene Plattenteile besitzt, von denen jeder von mindestens einer Belüftungsöffnung durchsetzt ist, wobei einander benachbarte ebene Plattenteile (5) voneinander durch vertikal gewellte Wandteile (4) getrennt sind, deren Wellenberge (29) von der Ebene der ebenen Plattenteile auswärts vorstehen, die Wand ferner auf ihrer Außenfläche mit oben geschlossenen Belüftungskammern versehen ist, die je einer der Belüftungsöffnungen (7) zugeordnet sind und je eine Außenplatte (13) besitzen, die zwischen zwei einander benachbarten und im Abstand von den ebenen Plattenkörpern angeordneten Wellen vorgesehen ist und sich bis unter das Niveau der Belüftungsöffnung dieses Plattenteils zu einer Außenöffnung (26) erstreckt, die am Boden der Belüftungskammer angeordnet ist und mit der Atmosphäre in Verbindung steht, und die Höhe der Platte (13) größer ist als ihre Breite, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Breite der ebenen Plattenteils (5) mindestens das Doppelte der Breite der einzelnen Wellen ist, daß die Platte (13) mit Befestigungseinrichtungen an den benachbarten Wellen befestigt ist und daß der untere Teile jeder Platte (13) in einem im Abstand unterhalb der Belüftungsöffnung (7) angeordneten Bereich mit jalousieartigen Schlitzen (28) ausgebildet ist.

2. Behälter nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Decke jeder Belüftungskammer von einem oberen Flansch (23) der Platte (21) gebildet wird.

3. Behälter nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Decke jeder Belüftungskammer von einem dauerhaft an der Behälterwand (5) befestigten Element (23) gebildet wird.

4. Behälter nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß jede Belüftungskammer eine Breite von 210 mm hat.

5. Behälter nach Anspruch 4, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß in jeder Längswand obere und untere Belüftungskammern angeordnet sind und zwar pro etwa 500 mm Wandlänge eine obere und eine untere Kammer.

Revendications

1. Conteneur ventilé de cargo ayant une paroi latérale ou une paroi terminale ventilée, la paroi ventilée comportant des portions de panneaux plats à des intervalle le long de la longueur de la paroi, chaque portion de panneau plat présentant au moins une ouverture de ventilation, les portions adjacentes de panneaux plats (5) étant séparées par des portions de paroi verticalement ondulées (4), les crêtes (29) des ondulations faisant saillie vers l'extérieur à partir du plan des portions de panneaux plats, la paroi comprenant en outre, sur sa surface extérieure, des chambres de ventilation avec un toit associées à chaque ouverture de ventilation (7), chaque chambre de ventilation ayant un élément de panneau extérieur (13) qui est disposé entre deux ondulations adjacentes espacées des portions du panneau plat, l'élément de panneau s'étendant vers le bas au dessous du niveau de l'ouverture de ventilation dans la portion du panneau vers une ouverture externe (26) dans le fond de la chambre de ventilation communiquant avec l'atmosphère, la hauteur de l'élément de panneau (13) étant supérieure à sa largeur, caractérisé en ce que la largeur des portions de panneaux plats (5) est au moins double de la largeur des ondulations individuelles, en ce que l'élément de panneau (13) est assujetti par des dispositifs de fixation aux ondulations adjacentes et en ce que la portion inférieure de chaque élément de panneau (13) présente un auvent (28) dans une zone espacée au dessous de l'ouverture de ventilation (7).

2. Conteneur selon la revendication 1, caractérisé en ce que le toit de chaque chambre de ventilation est formé par un rebord supérieur (23) sur l'élément de panneau (21).

3. Conteneur selon la revendication 1, caractérisé en ce que le toit de chaque chambre de ventilation est formé par un élément (23) fixé à demeure à la paroi du récipient.

4. Conteneur selon la revendication 1, caractérisé en ce que la largeur de chaque chambre de ventilation est de 210 mm.

5. Conteneur selon la revendication 4, caractérisé en ce que les chambres supérieures de ventilation et les chambres inférieures de ventilation sont ménagées dans chaque grande paroi de façon qu'une chambre supérieure et une chambre inférieure s'étendent sur environ 500 mm de la longueur de la paroi.

Drawing