GB2131537A

GB2131537A - Stacking containers which have different heights, and which are traversed by a conditioning medium

Info

Publication number: GB2131537A
Application number: GB08329296A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Soren Ohlsson
Original assignee: Stal Refrigeration AB
Current assignee: Stal Refrigeration AB
Priority date: 1982-11-26
Filing date: 1983-11-02
Publication date: 1984-06-20
Also published as: SE8206757D0; JPS59115288A; SE8206757L; SE438496B; DE3341848C2; KR930008962B1; GB8329296D0; KR840006791A; JPH0455951B2; DE3341848A1; GB2131537B

Abstract

In which for example, ships there are transported stacks of containers (13, 14) which have openings (15, 16) for circulation of conditioned air through the containers. The openings in the containers are connected to openings (19, 18) in units (17) which are stationarily arranged in the ship and supply the conditioned air to the containers. The containers (13, 14) have a height of h or H. In order to make it possible to use containers of different heights alternately in the same stack while simultaneously being connectible to the conditioning units (17), spacers (22) having the height H-h are arranged to be insertable on top of the lower containers (13) having the height h. The spacers are pivotally mounted about vertical axes adjacent to the corners of the stack. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Arrangement in a stack of containers having different heights, which are traversed by a conditioning medium The invention relates to an arrangement for causing a conditioned gaseous medium to flow through parallelepipedic containers, which are arranged one above the other in a stack shaft, which containers may have a certain lower height or a certain greater height, whereby the respective container has an inlet opening for the medium and an outlet opening for the medium, said openings in all containers being located at the same vertical distance from each other and from the bottom of the container, whereby the device also comprises devices for conditioning the medium, which devices have openings for the supply of the medium to the inlet openings of the containers and openings for receiving medium supplied by the outlet openings of the containers.

An arrangement of the above kind is known from GB Patent No. 1,498,839, whereby in front of each container in the stack shaft there is arranged a stationary unit which sucks out the medium from the container, conditions it and pumps it back to the container.

The containers which are served by the abovementioned unit normally have two different sizes, which only differ from each other by the height of the container, which may be either 8 feet (2.44 m) or 8 1/2 feet (2.59 m).

The units are arranged with such mutual distances in the vertical direction that they may either serve a stack consisting of only the smaller containers, or a stack consisting of only the larger containers.

An arrangement of the kind mentioned in the introduction is also known from Swedish published patent application 7612243-1, whereby in front of the containers in the stack shaft there are arranged stationary conduits for the supply of conditioned medium to the containers and for discharge of the medium from the containers. The conduits have openings which are arranged in a certain way substantially right in front of the openings in the containers and are provided with rotatable connection pieces, constructed in a certain manner, which connect the openings in the conduits with the openings in the containers. The connection pieces may be rotated in such a way that the conduits may either serve a stack consisting of the smaller containers only, or a stack consisting of the larger containers only.

The known devices have the disadvantage that they are not able to supply a stack consisting of a mixture of small and large containers with the conditioned medium. The object of the invention is to make possible such a mixture.

This object is achieved with the device according to the invention by using distance members having a height which is equal to the difference in height between a container with the greater height and a container with the lower height, which distance members are arranged on a structure, which surrounds the stack shaft, in order to serve as spacers between a container with the lower height and a container which is placed on top of said container with the lower height.

By arranging the spacer on top of each container with the lower height, it will be possible to cause the openings in the containers in a stack of a mixture of small and large containers to become placed right in front of the openings, located at stationary levels, of the members which condition the medium.

Usually the stack shaft is surrounded by four vertical guide means, which, with individual Lshaped pockets, surround the vertical edges of the containers. In these pockets the containers exhibit a strong corner structure, which is well suited for taking up vertical forces between the containers. According to a further development of the invention, therefore, the spacer between two containers consists of distance elements, each of which being insertable in one of the L-shaped pockets.

The guide means should be utilized for holding the distance elements since they offer an excellent means of attachment therefor.

In addition, the distance elements should take up little space outside the stack shaft when they are not utilized as spacers. According to another development of the invention, therefore, the respective distance element is arranged so as to be insertable into the the L-shaped pocket of the respective guide means by rotation around a vertical axis of a joint member, which is secured to the guide means.

When the distance element is swung into the L-shaped pocket above a container, it must be made sure that the distance element is free of the container. This is ascertained by a further development of the invention by holding the distance element in a lifted position by a spring when it is swung in over a container of the lower height and is unloaded by a container lying above it.

Several distance elements should suitably be capable of being operated from a central position, and.for this purpose, according to another development of the invention, the respective distance element is provided with a motor to bring the distance element into, and out of, the stack shaft.

An embodiment of a device according to the invention will be described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a view towards the side of a stack of five containers, in which containers numbers two and three from the bottom have a lower height, and wherein means for conditioning a medium, which is brought to circulate through the containers, are arranged in front of the containers; Figure 2 is a view of the members for conditioning the medium seen in the direction of the arrows Il-Il in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a view of the stack of containers seen in the direction of the arrows Ill- Ill in Figure 1; Figure 4 is a view from above of the stack of containers seen in the direction of the arrow IV in Figure 1;Figure 5 is a view of an end of a container with the lower height, Figure 6 is a view of an end of a container with the greater height; Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view through an L-shaped guide means included in the device, in the L-shaped pocket of which a motor-driven distance element is swung in; and Figure 8 is a sectional view taken along the line Vill-Vill in Figure 7.

With reference to Figures 1 and 4, the numeral 11 designates four guide means having L-shaped profile and being stationarily arranged in, for example the hold of a ship. The guide means form the corners of a shaft 1 2, in which the containers 1 3, 14 with parallelepipedic shape are lowerable, guided by guide means 11, one above the other.

The containers may have two different sizes, namely one, 13, which has a lower height h, and one,14, which has a greater height H, whereby, more particularly, h is equal to 8 feet (2.44 m) and H is equal to 8 1/2 feet, (2.59 m). In one end wall of the respective containers 1 3, 14 there are arranged an inlet opening 1 5 and an outlet opening 1 6 for conditioned, for example cooled, air which is brought to circulate through the containers. In all the containers 13 and 14, the openings 1 5 and 1 6 are located at the same vertical distance A from each other and at the same vertical distance B and C, respectively, from the bottom of the container.

Outside each container 13, 14 there is arranged a unit 17, which sucks in the medium from the containers through an inlet opening 18, conditions it and pumps the medium back to the container through an outlet opening 1 9. The openings 18 and 19 are located at stationary levels above the bottom 20 of the shaft 12 in such a way that the openings 18 will be positioned right in front of the openings 16 of the containers and the openings 1 9 will be positioned right in front of the openings 1 5 of the containers, when a stack of only container 14 with the greater height H is in the shaft 12.

The openings 18 and 19 may, for example, consist of the free ends of couplings 21, which are expandable towards the openings in the containers, for example such couplings (5) which are disclosed in GB Patent 1,498,839. To prevent the couplings from being damaged by the containers when these are lowered down into the shaft 12, the couplings are held withdrawn outside the shaft 12 during the lowering operation and are expanded towards the openings 1 5, 1 6 of the containers only when these are in position in the shaft 1 2.

In order that the shaft 12 shall also be able to contain one or more containers 1 3 with the lower height h and these shall also be connectible to the units 17, distance elements 22 are arranged on the guide means 11. These distance elements, which have the height H-h, are located at those levels above the bottom of the shaft 12 at which they will be positioned when the shaft is filied with containers 1 3 with the lower height h only and distance elements 22 are placed between all the containers 13.

At each such levei there are four spacing elements 22, which can each be swung into an Lshaped pocket 23 (see Figure 7) of the guide means 11 which limit the corners of the stack shaft 12.

The distance element 22 comprises a circularcylindrical central portion 23, at the ends of which circular plates 24 are secured. The central portion 23 is arranged displaceable in a sleeve 25 and rests against this via a spring 26. The sleeve 25 is fixedly connected to one end of an L-shaped arm 27, the other end of which is fixedly connected to a pin 28. At one end the pin 28 is rotatably journalled in a sleeve 29 around an axis 30. The sleeve 29 is fixedly connected to the guide means 11. A gear wheel 31 is fixedly connected to the other end of the pin 28. The gear wheel cooperates with gears on a rod 32, which is connected to a piston 33, which is displaceable in a cylinder 34. The piston 33 and the cylinder 34 constitute a motor for bringing the spacing element 22, via the gear wheel 31, into the pocket 23 or out of the pocket to the position marked by dash-dotted lines.

The task of the spring 26 is to hold the distance element in such a lifted position that it is safely free of and not prevented by the container 13, over which it is swung in.

In Figures 1 and 3, the stack of containers comprises two containers 1 3 of the lower height h. According to the invention, the distance elements 22 are placed above these containers to make it possible for all the containers in the stack shaft 12 to be connected to the conditioning unit 17.

The distance D=H-A in Figure 2 is obtained with the aid of Figures 5 and 6: D=H-(A+ B)+ B=H-A-B+B=H-A

Claims

1. An arrangement for causing a conditioned gaseous medium to flow through parallelepipedic containers which are arranged one above the other in a stack shaft, which containers may have a certain lower height or a certain greater height, the respective containers having an inlet opening for the medium and an outlet opening for the medium, said openings in all containers being located at the same vertical distance from each other and from the bottom of the container, the device also comprising devices for conditioning the medium, said devices having openings for supply of the medium to the inlet openings of the containers and openings for receiving medium supplied by the outlet openings in the containers, the arrangement further comprising distance members having a height which is equal to the difference in height between a container with the greater height and a container with the lower height, said distance members being arranged on a structure which surrounds the stack shaft to serve as spacers between a container with the lower height and a container which is placed on top of said container with the lower height.

2. An arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the structure which surrounds the stack shaft comprises four vertical guide means which, with an L-shaped pocket each, surround the vertical edges of the containers, the spacer between two containers consisting of distance elements which are insertable into each of the Lshaped pockets.

3. An arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the respective distance element is arranged to be insertable into the L-shaped pocket of the respective guide means by rotation around a vertical axis of a joint member, which is attached to the guide means.

4. An arrangement according to claim 3, wherein the distance element is held in a lifted position by a spring when it is swung in over a container of the lower height and is unloaded by a container lying above it.

5. An arrangement according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the respective spacer is provided with a motor to move the distance element into, and out of, the stack shaft.

6. An arrangement for causing a conditioned gaseous medium to flow through parallelepipedic containers, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.