CN111201188A

CN111201188A - Container and unloading method thereof

Info

Publication number: CN111201188A
Application number: CN201780095169.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 谢尔盖·瓦西列维奇·诺瑟列夫
Original assignee: Xie ErgaiWaxilieweiqiNuoseliefu
Current assignee: Kota Technical Services (Shanghai) Co.,Ltd.
Priority date: 2017-09-26
Filing date: 2017-09-26
Publication date: 2020-05-26
Anticipated expiration: 2037-09-26
Also published as: EA202090794A1; WO2019066673A1; CN111201188B; EP3689782A4; EA039068B1; CA3111500A1; EP3689782A1; CA3111500C

Abstract

The present invention relates to a container for transporting and storing bulk goods, which complies with the ISO 1496 standard and its russian national standard and also relates to a method of unloading a container. The container comprises a frame with corner pieces, side walls, end walls and a bottom located in the lower part of the container, through which the container is unloaded. At least one longitudinal beam, which is parallel to the side walls and extends substantially along the entire length of the container, is arranged in the lower part of the container. The bottom is constructed in the form of at least one door which is pivotally secured to the lower part of the container. The container is provided with a locking member for locking the door in the closed position. At least one of the doors includes a support platform that is capable of interacting with the locking member to lock the door in the closed position. The unloading method of the container includes lifting the door to disengage the locking member from the support platform; and opening the at least one door to unload the container. The technical effect is to provide a reliable locking in the transport position, simplifying and speeding up the unloading of the container while maintaining a high ratio between the container occupation space and the loading volume.

Description

Container and unloading method thereof

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for transporting and storing cargo, and more particularly, to a container for transporting and storing bulk cargo in conformity with the ISO 1496 series standard and its russian national standard, and a method for unloading the container.

Background

A large variety of containers for transporting and storing bulk goods are known in the art. Typically, a container includes a frame with corner fittings, side walls, end walls, and a bottom located in the lower portion of the container. Additionally, the container may include a top cover with or without a hatch, the top cover being removable or fixed. Such containers can be unloaded through the roof opening or through one of the openable side walls. For unloading, the container is tilted or rotated by special mechanisms, such as spreaders. In the case of unloading via the top, a loading/unloading mechanism may also be used.

Unloading containers by tilting or rotating them or by loading/unloading mechanisms requires the use of complex dedicated equipment and can be quite time consuming.

Hopper cars for transporting cargo, including bulk cargo, are known. Such vehicles are unloaded through several hatches mounted in the bottom of the car compartment. Hopper cars are unloaded at dedicated sections of the railway and the unloading itself is quite time consuming, as determined by the design of the hatches. Furthermore, even temporary storage of bulk cargo in hopper cars is not reasonable from the standpoint of the relationship between the space occupied by the car and the cargo volume.

The task therefore exists of developing such a design of containers, in particular for transporting and storing bulk goods, to enable efficient use of the container space during transport and storage and to perform unloading simply and quickly.

Disclosure of Invention

The technical effect of the invention is a reliable locking, simpler and faster unloading of containers, while maintaining a high ratio between the space occupied by the container and the volume of the goods contained in the container.

The set task is solved and the above-mentioned technical result is achieved with a container comprising a frame with corner pieces, side walls, end walls and a bottom in the lower part of the container, through which the unloading takes place. Furthermore, the lower part of the container is provided with at least one longitudinal beam which is parallel to the side walls and extends substantially along the entire length of the container. The bottom is made in the form of at least one door which is hinged to the lower part of the container substantially along the long side of the door.

The container is provided with a locking member for locking the at least one door in the closed position. The at least one door includes a support platform configured to interact with a locking member to lock the at least one door in a closed position.

The bottom is made in the form of at least one door which can be reliably locked in the closed position and which is easily opened by means of the locking member and the support table, which enables unloading of the container through a wide opening which practically corresponds to the area of the at least one door, without the use of complicated special equipment for tilting or rotating the container. This significantly reduces the time for unloading the container while maintaining the useful space of the container.

Additionally, the container may include a roof with or without a hatch for loading. The cap may be made removable or fixed.

The at least one door may be hinged to the frame or to the at least one longitudinal beam. In particular, if two doors are used, they may each be hinged to a respective side of the frame to open in a direction downwards from the stringers. Alternatively, the two doors may be fastened to the stringers to open the doors on each side of the frame down from the frame.

Preferably, the locking member is made in the form of a rod supported by the frame or stringer and arranged on the frame or stringer with a first (or lower) push-in end, the rod being made rotatable about an axis of the rod extending parallel to the at least one door (or stringer, or side wall). The support table may be made in the form of an L-shaped plate. It is then expedient for the second (or upper or release) push-in end to be arranged in a corner of the L-shaped plate in the closed position of the door. All this enables to reliably lock and hold the door in the closed position.

The L-shaped plates may be mounted such that the second push end is prevented from movement in the closed position of the at least one door. The second push-in end may be movable from a corner of the L-shaped plate when the at least one door is slightly raised from the closed position, thereby enabling opening of the at least one door. This ensures that the blocking of the push-in end is simply and quickly eliminated after opening the door.

Preferably, at least one door is provided with a latch for controlling the movement of the door. These latches may be controlled manually or using corresponding means to accelerate the opening of the door or to subsequently return the door to the closed position.

The set task is solved and the technical result is achieved by the proposed unloading method of a container as described above, which comprises a frame with corner pieces, side walls, end walls and a bottom at the lower part of the container, which bottom is made in the form of at least one door hinged at the lower part of the container and provided with a support table, and locking members of the at least one door for locking the door in the closed position by interaction with the support table. According to the method of the invention, for opening the door and unloading the container, the door is raised slightly so as not to prevent the locking member of the at least one door from moving the door, disengaging the locking member from the support table, and the at least one door is opened, thereby unloading the container.

Drawings

The invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show possible embodiments of the claimed container and unloading method.

Figure 1 shows a partial cross-sectional view of a container.

Fig. 2 shows a door.

Fig. 3 shows an embodiment of the locking member.

Figure 4 shows the stage of not blocking the movement of the access end in a partial view from one end of the container.

Figure 5 shows a partial view from one end of the container showing the process of opening the door for unloading the container.

Detailed Description

A container (fig. 1) for transporting and storing bulk goods comprises a frame (1) with corner pieces (2), side walls (3), end walls (4) and a bottom located in the lower part of the container, through which the unloading takes place.

The container may also be provided with a roof (not shown in the figures) with or without a hatch for loading. The cover may be made movable or fixed.

At least one longitudinal beam (5) is arranged in the lower part of the container, which longitudinal beam is parallel to the side wall (3) and extends substantially along the entire length of the container. Thus, fig. 1 shows an embodiment of the container with one beam (5), but also more beams may be used, for example two beams (5).

The stringers (5) may be made in the form of space trusses to provide the required rigidity to the container.

The bottom is made in the form of at least one door (6) which is hinged in the lower part of the container. Fig. 1 shows an embodiment of a container with two doors (6), each arranged between a beam (5) and a respective side wall (3) and a respective side of the frame (1).

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that, for example, if there are two beams (5), one door (6) may be used which may be arranged between the two beams (5). The beams (5) may or may not abut respective sides of the frame (1), and in the latter case more than two doors (6) may additionally be arranged between the beams (5) and respective sides of the frame (1), so that the total number of doors (6) is three.

The doors (6) are hinged to the respective sides of the beam (5) or frame (1), for example by means of ball joints (7). In the first case shown in fig. 1, the door (6) can rotate about an axis extending in the vicinity of the beam (5) and is opened for unloading on the frame (1) side. In the case of doors (6) hinged on respective sides of the frame (1) (this container embodiment is not shown in the figures), the openings are located closer to the beams (5).

The door (6) includes a support table (8) for locking the door (6) in a closed position. In a particular embodiment of the invention, the support table (8) may be an L-shaped plate (as shown in fig. 4 and 5) or similar structure having at least one corner, the purpose of which will be explained below.

Further, the door (6) may be provided with a latch (9) for controlling the opening and closing of the door (6) (see fig. 2).

The container is provided with a locking member (10) for locking the door (6) in the closed position.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, as shown in fig. 3, the locking member (10) is made in the form of a rod (11) and is mounted thereon with a first (or lower) push-in end (12) of the rod (11). The lever (11) is rotatable in a bracket fixed to the frame (1) about an axis extending parallel to the door (6). When the lever (11) is rotated, the second (or upper or lower) push-in end (12) describes an arc of a circle.

The position of the L-shaped plate may be chosen such that the second push-in end (12) enters the corner of the L-shaped plate, as shown for example in fig. 4 a. Preferably, the second push-in end (12) is prevented from moving in the corner of the support table (8) in the position of the second push-in end (12) as shown in fig. 4a, which support table is made in the form of an L-shaped plate. This position corresponds to the door (6) being closed and prevents the door (6) from opening. If an attempt is made to rotate the lever (11) clockwise (with reference to fig. 4a) to disengage the second push end (12) from the L-shaped plate, the imaginary arc described by the second push end 12 in such a rotation will pass through the inner surface of the L-shaped plate in contact with it and accordingly prevent the second push end (12) from moving. This is the way in which the second push-in end (12) and the corresponding locking member (10) are blocked in the closed position of the door (6). The weight of the door (6) ensures the retention of the second push-in end (12); the heavier the cargo in the container, the more reliably the door (6) is locked.

In order to release the second push-in end (12) to enable the second push-in end (12) to move and thus open the door (6), it is necessary to slightly raise the door (6) as shown in fig. 4 b. When the door (6) is slightly raised, a gap is formed between the inner surface of the L-shaped plate contacting the second push-in end (12) and, in fact, the second push-in end. The gap may be small, for example in the range of 2mm to 4mm, but sufficient to allow free passage of all second push ends (12) of the respective locking members (10) when the movement of the respective locking members (10) is not prevented and the door (6) is subsequently opened. Larger gap values require the door (6) to be raised higher, which is generally not justified.

Then, as shown in fig. 4c, it is possible to start rotating the rod (11) clockwise (fig. 4 and 5), thereby rotating the second push-in end (12) and gradually disengaging the second push-in end (12) from the support table (8).

Further rotation of the lever (11) causes the second push-in end (12) to leave the area of engagement with the support table completely (fig. 5a) and the door 6 to open downwards under the effect of its own weight and the weight of the load (fig. 5 b).

The exact number of push-in ends (12) for each locking member (10) is not limited, but preferably ranges from two to eight, most preferably from four to six. On the one hand, a small number of push ends (12) may lead to an increased load on the area of the door (6) between two adjacent push ends (12). On the other hand, if the number of the push-in ends (12) is too large, the structure of the locking member 10 becomes more complicated.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate from the foregoing description that the number of doors (6) may vary, for example from one to three; and the door (6) may be hinged to both the beam (5) and the frame (1).

The invention thus enables unloading of containers in a simple and fast manner, without practically adversely affecting the space of the container, reliably locking the doors, preventing the doors from opening spontaneously when the container is in operation and in transit.

Claims

1. A container for transporting and storing bulk cargo, comprising:

a frame having a corner piece; a side wall; an end wall; and a bottom part, which is located at the lower part of the container and is used for unloading through the bottom part; at least one longitudinal beam parallel to the side walls and extending substantially along the entire length of the container is arranged in the lower part of the container; said bottom being made in the form of at least one door hinged at said lower part of said container; the container is provided with a locking member for locking the at least one door in a closed position; and the at least one door includes a support table capable of interacting with the locking member to lock the at least one door in the closed position.

2. A container as claimed in claim 1, in which the at least one door is hinged to the frame.

3. The container of claim 1, wherein the at least one door is hinged to the at least one stringer.

4. A container as claimed in claim 1, in which the locking member is made in the form of a rod and is mounted thereon with the first push-in end, the rod being configured to rotate about an axis of the rod extending parallel to the at least one door.

5. A container as claimed in claim 4, in which the support platform is made in the form of an L-shaped plate.

6. A container as claimed in claim 5, wherein in the closed position of the at least one door the second push-in end is disposed substantially in a corner of the L-shaped panel.

7. A container as claimed in claim 6, in which the L-shaped plate is mounted such that the second push end is prevented from movement in the closed position of the at least one door.

8. A container as claimed in claim 6 or 7, wherein the L-shaped panels are mounted such that: when the at least one door in the closed position is slightly raised, the second push-in end is not prevented from moving.

9. A container as claimed in claim 1, in which the at least one door is provided with a latch for controlling movement of the at least one door.

10. Method for unloading a container for the transport and storage of bulk goods, which container comprises a frame with corner pieces, side walls, end walls and a bottom at the lower part of the container, which bottom is made in the form of at least one door hinged at the lower part of the container and provided with a support table, and locking members of which at least one door is used to lock the at least one door in a closed position after interaction with the support table, according to which, in order to open the door and unload the container,

raising the door slightly so as not to impede movement of the locking member of the at least one door; disengaging the locking member from the support table; and opening the at least one door to unload the container.