FI126663B - Method of affixing a protective film to a pallet, pallet and packaging - Google Patents

Description

Method of affixing a protective film to a pallet, pallet and packaging

The invention relates to a method for attaching a protective film to a pallet according to the preamble of claim 1.

The invention also relates to a film pallet and a packaging formed by a film pallet.

In industry, transport and commerce, the most common method of transporting goods is to move them on pallets. These pallets are usually wooden planks with a low time j below the wooden load plane. The purpose of the leg posts is to raise the load plane slightly upwards so that the forks of the fork lift truck, pump trolley or other transfer device can be inserted under it. The pallet made of coarse wood does not meet very high hygiene requirements, so the surface of the pallet must be protected with sufficiently hygienic material if the transportability of the goods transported or the weather resistance of the load so requires. Similarly, if water or dust tightness is required for the package, the package must be sealed on the pallet side. In this case, a plastic film is usually placed over the load plane. The plastic film may be placed on a pallet, for example, in the case of shrink wrapping before transferring the goods to be transported to the pallet. The diaphragm is manually placed, and due to the design of the packaging machines, it may be difficult to realize an automatic plasticizer due to insufficient space. Thus, to make the packaging more efficient and to reduce the need for personnel, pallet protective plastics have been placed on the pallets at the pallet factory. In this case, of course, the protective plastics must be securely fastened to the pallets to prevent them from moving or even detaching from the pallets during transport and handling of the pallets.

One of the attachments to the protective plastics has been measuring with metal hooks. The protective plastic is then folded over the edges of the pallet and secured by riveting to the pallet body. Although this provides a reliable plastic fastener, customers receiving products on pallets do not always accept riveting fastening. Increasingly, the customer has to recycle pallets and other packaging material, thus separating the wooden parts of the pallet from the plastic. If the plastic is fastened with multiple metal rivets, removing the protective plastic is difficult and slow, and customers may not accept this extra work. Riveted bottom plastic can also interfere with the use of palletized sheets on a printing press as it may be difficult to replace the pallets with the press. Also, the fastening may not withstand the impact of handling empty pallets.

One factor contributing to the cost of packaging is the inadequate strength of the packaging under certain circumstances. This will require strapping around the package to tighten the package to the pallet. In order for the package to withstand transportation and strapping, it is necessary to use different wooden covers or other supports under the straps, which significantly increase the cost of packaging.

Known packaging solutions are disclosed in SE 525688, EP 1357044, US 3667598 and US 3906702.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method of attachment to pallet protective films, in particular plastics, which does not require manual work steps in the pallet packaging step and which allows easy removal of the film from the pallet.

The invention is based on the fact that the pallet protective film is fixed to the pallet by means of a rim that rotates around the pallet.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a material suitable for recycling with the protective film, preferably the same plastic material as the protective film, is used as the fastening rim. More specifically, the method according to the invention is characterized in what is stated in the characterizing part of claim 1.

The pallet according to the invention, in turn, is characterized by what is stated in the characterizing part of claim 4.

A loader formed by a pallet according to the invention is characterized by what is stated in the characterizing part of claim 8.

The embodiments of the invention provide significant advantages.

The method according to the invention has great potential for use in all types of shrink-wrapping, which requires sealing and often also hygienic packaging. These include packaging for the food industry and packaging for paper and board for hygienic packaging in the forest industry. The invention provides a reliably sealed package in which the product is completely enclosed within a shrink wrap, thereby preventing impurities or moisture from being transported by air or otherwise into the product to be packaged. The bottom plastic, i.e. the pallet protective plastic fastened in the manner of the invention, does not make it difficult to open the package and to change the sheet pallet thus packaged by a printing press. When the bottom plastic is securely attached to the pallet, better packing resistance during loading and transport is achieved. Rim-tensioned bottom plastic strengthens the packaging and can significantly reduce the use of different deck structures and strapping in product packaging.

The invention is believed to result in considerable savings in the automatic packaging of carton sheets and the like for food use and in raising the degree of automation.

The invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 shows a pallet according to the invention on the first side.

Figure 2 shows the pallet of Figure 1 from one side.

Figure 3 illustrates the application of a pallet bottom plastic to a strap hand clamp according to one embodiment of the invention.

Figure 4 illustrates the use of a pallet according to the invention in carton packaging.

Figure 5 shows a ready-made pallet packed cardboard stack in a shrink wrap. The present invention can be applied to the wooden pallets described in the following example, as well as to any other type of pallet intended to be moved by forks. In addition to wood, pallets are made of ordinary cardboard and polymer materials.

Pallets are usually standardized in construction and dimensioning because the transport and storage systems are designed to handle standard length packages. The pallet 1 of Figures 1 and 2 has two pallet halves 2, each comprising a lattice-like load plane 5 of boards and benches in each corner 4 below the plane which raise the load plane 5 off the floor so that a fork fork can be pushed under it. The posts 4 and the support boards 12 thus form a load-bearing substructure. The pallet halves 2 are bonded to each other around the parallel poles 4 by plastic strips 3. Thus, the two smaller pallets can be formed into a pallet 1 with a higher load level.

The load plane 5 is covered with a plastic film 6, which in this case is polyethylene. Polyethylene is reasonably priced and easily recyclable. It will be appreciated that the base plastic may be any film material which provides the packaging with the desired protective effect. The film 6 may be, for example, a multilayer barrier material or a metal film. The edges of the plastic film 6 fold over the edges of the load plane in the direction of the posts and partially overlap them. The amount of plastic film extending over the edges is dimensioned so that it is narrower than the height of the posts 4 so that the edges of the plastic film 6 do not reach under the pallet. The plastic film 6 is secured in place by a rim 7 extending around the edges of the pallet 1. The strap 7 can preferably be positioned around the perimeter of the load plane, whereby it is pressed as accurately as possible against the edges of the loading platform and firmly clamps the plastic film. Alternatively, the strap 7 may be positioned lower to rotate the pallet pillars 4, but in this case the clamping force may be less and there is a risk of the posts being twisted at high clamping force. Of course, however, the strap 7 must always be located over the load edge of the protective film. The material of the rim 7 is most preferably made of the same plastic material as the plastic film. Since the common packaging material in the shrink wrap is polyethylene, the shrink wrap over the edges of the plastic foil 6 and the rim is adhered to the plastic foil and the rim during the shrinking step. At the same time, since the strap 7 tightens the plastic film to the pallet, a rigid package is provided in which both the plastic film 6, the strap 7 and the shrink plastic wrap form a rigid uniform support at the base of the package. In many cases, this allows the package to be transported without additional support, such as straps or straps.

Rims suitable for carrying out the invention are made, inter alia, of metal, polypropylene, polyester and polyethylene tape. As mentioned above, it is preferable that the material of the strap be adhered to either the bottom shielding film or the packaging material, most preferably both.

Figure 3 shows the attachment of the base plastic 6 by a rim 7 by a hand-held rim tensioner 8. When the molding is done by hand, a plastic film 6 is first placed on the pallet and its edges are pivoted over the edges of the load plane. Thereafter, a sufficient amount of strap 7 is pulled from the rim stimulation 8 and wrapped around the pallet. The strap can then be tightened around the pallet with a tensioner. The plasticization is now complete and the pallet can be taken to the packaging line for packaging.

Because large volumes of plastic pallets are needed, it is advantageous to automate the fastening of the plastic. The plastic film can then be dispensed from the roll by pulling the end of the plastic film slightly over the pallet to be plasticized. When the plastic film is slightly wider than the pallet, the necessary overhangs are also obtained on the sides of the pallet. The edges of the plastic film can be pressed over the edges of the pallet even with the press ring, after which the rim is wrapped around the pallet with an automatic strapping head and tightened, the plastic film end is cut and the press or other presser is lifted off the pallet.

Figure 4 shows by way of example one application of the pallets according to the invention. This is a sheet stacking device in which the cut sheets 9 are fed to the rod grate 10 during the exchange of pallet 1. The pallet 1 is under the rod grate 10 where it is carried by the conveyor 11. When the pallet 1 is fed under the rod grate 10, the grate 10 is pulled under the sheets 9 and the stacking of the sheets 9 continues on the pallet 1 until a stack of the desired height is achieved. Next, the pallet 1 with its stacks is transported to a thermoplastic package where a plastic bag is formed on it. The entire package is heated to tighten the shrink wrap around the package and bind the stack to a uniform package. At the same time, the shrink plastic bag tightens around the plastic film 6 and its rim 7 and forms a strong and tight connection between the pallet and the sheet stack. Since the shrink plastic bag is attached to the plastic film 6 and the rim 7 and the plastic film 6 is further tightened by the rim 7 to the pallet, the package cannot be moved on the pallet without breaking the structure, thus providing a very strong packaging.

It is advantageous to form the shrink wrap or wrap by curtain wrapping so that the operation can be easily automated. The wrapper is wrapped by wrapping the plastic roll around the wrapper by pulling the wrapper around the wrapper around its circumference as well as through the top end to obtain a sealed bag completely surrounding the wrapper. The bag material thickness can be adjusted by changing the number of turns. Curtain wrappers are well known in the packaging industry, so there is no need to describe them in detail here. A pre-formed pouch may be used instead of a curtain wrap, but it has the disadvantage that the pouch may have to be inserted manually. On the other hand, automatic bagging machines are usually more expensive than wrapping machines. In the context of this application, the periphery of a pallet is defined as the periphery of the pallet with all its periphery extending away from the load plane. Load periphery refers to the periphery formed by the load rim and structures in substantially the same plane as the rim. In practice, in the case of a wooden pallet, the periphery of the platform is formed by the ends and edges of the boards of the platform.

Claims (8)

A method of attaching a protective film to a pallet [1] comprising at least one loading plane (5), wherein: - a plastic film [6] passing over the edges of the plane of the pallet (1) is arranged and - the plastic film (6) is attached to the pallet [1] by means of a belt (7) which is constituted by a belt strip and which surrounds the perimeter of the pallet, by clamping the band strip around the pallet by means of a tensioning device, characterized in that the plastic film (6) and the [7] materials are selected in such a way that they connect to each other when heated. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the belt (7) is arranged around the perimeter of the loading plane (5). Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the belt [7] is arranged at a distance from the perimeter of the loading plane (5) away from the loading plane [5]. Cargo pallet, comprising at least one cargo plane (5) and a cargo plane covering plastic film (6) extending over the edges of the cargo plane, and a band (7), which is constituted by a strip of strip around the cargo pallet, by means of which the plastic film band (6) ) on the portion extending over the edges of the loading plane (5) is attached to the pallet (1), characterized in that the material of the plastic film (6) and the strip (7) adhere to each other. Cargo pallet according to claim 4, characterized in that the belt (7) is arranged around the perimeter of the cargo plane (5). Cargo pallet according to claim 4, characterized in that the belt [7) is arranged at a distance from the perimeter of the cargo pallet [5] away from the cargo plane [5). Cargo pallet according to one of claims 4-6, characterized in that the plastic film [6] and the strip (7) are made of polyethylene. Packaging comprising a pallet and a shrink-wrapped packaged, transportable product, characterized in that the pallet is a pallet according to any one of claims 4-7.