WO2009040475A1

WO2009040475A1 - Mineral wool product package

Info

Publication number: WO2009040475A1
Application number: PCT/FI2008/050534
Authority: WO
Inventors: Esa SEPPÄNEN
Original assignee: Paroc Oy Ab
Priority date: 2007-09-28
Filing date: 2008-09-25
Publication date: 2009-04-02
Also published as: EP2205504A1; DK2205504T3; EP2205504B1; UA96667C2; RU2469935C2; FI20075680A0; RU2010116107A; PL2205504T3; ATE511480T1; FI20075680L

Abstract

This invention concerns a mineral wool product package (3), wherein mineral wool (1) is rolled up to its desired size and wrapped in a packaging material (2) which, at least in the package's (3) end face regions, has been made at least partially sealed. The package according to the invention has its packaging material formed with at least one perforation (4, 4') in a circumferential direction of the package.

Description

MINERAL WOOL PRODUCT PACKAGE

The present invention relates to a mineral wool product package, wherein mineral wool is rolled up to its desired size and wrapped in a packaging material which, at least in the package's end face regions, has been made at least partially sealed.

It is well-known in the prior art that rolled-up mineral wool products (e.g. mineral wool mats) are wrapped in a plastic packaging material, such that the packaging plastic is interposed between the end of a rolled-up mineral wool product's outermost layer and an underlying layer of mineral wool in such a way that, in the rolled-up product, the packaging plastic extends over an appropriate distance, e.g. over 15 cm, from a lengthwise-of-the package running edge of the roll product's outermost layer in between said layers, and thereafter the packaging plastic is wrapped around the rolled-up product in at least a single layer. In view of protecting the product, the packaging plastic has been thereafter melted, during the manufacturing process, to the ends of a product roll, which is why the packages have been difficult to open at the time of use. As a matter of fact, the use of a knife or a similar tool has been necessary for opening the packages, but the opening process has still been difficult.

In addition, plastic as a material is combustible, i.e. increasing the fire load. Thus, the delivery of plastic to its ultimate worksite increases a fire hazard at the worksite. An example of worksites, at which a fire hazard is constituted by plastic, is e.g. shipbuilding and in paper and pulp industry it is caused by plastic ending up in a digester along with chips. In power plant sites, on the other hand, packaging plastic can be ignited by a welding spark during an installation process.

One object of this invention is to provide an easier-to-open package of rolled- up mineral wool products. In order to achieve this, a package according to the invention is characterized in that the packaging material consists of a plastic which, in order to hold the package together, is made in the package's end face regions at least partially sealed by melting it at each opposite end face of the package, and that the packaging material has been formed with at least one perforation in a circumferential direction of the package.

In a preferred embodiment of the package according to the invention, the at least one perforation is placed in the vicinity of at least one end face of the package. Still more preferably, there are two perforations and those are placed in the vicinity of either end face of the package.

It is preferred that the packaging material, which preferably consists of a plastic, has its outermost layer in the vicinity of its edge extending in a longitudinal direction of the package, at least over its section present between the perforations, at least in spots, or even continuously over its entire breadth, i.e. lengthwise of the package, bonded firmly to an underlying layer of packaging material.

The mineral wool product can be e.g. a roll-up mineral wool mat provided with a mesh or glass fabric.

A mineral-wool containing package of the invention is opened by tearing at least one perforation at least substantially apart, after which the product can be removed from the package.

In such a preferred embodiment of the package according to the invention, which, at each end of the package near the end face, has one perforation along a circumference of the package, and the packaging plastic in the package end face regions is made at least partially sealed by melting it at each opposite end face of the package or, preferably, when additionally the packaging material has its outermost layer in the vicinity of its edge extending in a longitudinal direction of the package, at least over its section present between the perforations, at least in spots, or even continuously over its entire breadth, i.e. lengthwise of the package, bonded firmly to an underlying layer of packaging plastic, the product package is opened by tearing the section of packaging plastic existing between the perforations in a circumferential direction along the perforations apart and away from the product, after which the plastic caps left on the product's end faces are removed at once or later, e.g. at a worksite.

The invention will be described more closely in the following example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

fig. 1 shows a completed package for a product of mineral wool, in a side view, fig. 2 shows in a perspective view a process of opening the package along a central section b of the packaging material, and fig. 3 shows in a side view a process of opening the package from its ends.

Example

In this example, the breadth of a product/product roll is 900 mm (a+b+a in fig. 1) and that of a packaging material is 1300 mm. The product 1 is in this example a rolled-up rock wool mat, one side of which is reinforced with a metal mesh, and the packaging material 2 consists of a plastic. Such a product is presented in fig. 1.

The packaging plastic is perforated at a distance of 250 mm from either face, with a 4 mm hole and a 2 mm web, in a longitudinal direction of the packaging plastic. The perforation process is carried out on-line. The mineral wool product 1 is rolled up (on-line) and the perforated packaging plastic 2 is interposed between the end of an outermost mineral wool layer of the rolled-up mineral wool product 1 and an underlying mineral wool layer, such that the plastic extends advisably over a distance of about 150 mm from a lengthwise-of-the package running edge of the rolled product's outermost layer in between said layers. However, placing the packaging plastic 2 between the end of said outermost mineral wool layer of the mineral wool roll 1 and the underlying mineral wool layer is not absolutely necessary, because a coherent product package can be established even without it. This is followed by wrapping the packaging plastic 2 around the rolled-up mineral wool product 1 for at least a single layer in such a way that the rolled-up product has its end faces surpassed by equally wide circumference-encircling plastic sections, i.e. plastic strips of about 200 mm in width, at the extremity of each end face of the rolled-up product.

Having been wrapped around the rolled-up mineral wool product 1, the packaging plastic 2 is cut in a lateral direction of the plastic. This cut-off end of the plastic is here referred to as "a trailing end" of the plastic (while the plastic's end, which is interposed between the end of an outermost mineral wool layer of the rolled-up mineral wool product 1 and the underlying product layer, can be referred to as "a leading end" of the plastic). Because the trailing end of the packaging plastic 2, i.e. the one of the two ends of the plastic which is the last of these two to be wrapped around the product, in other words the end which after the wrapping process is the outermost one of these two ends, has at this point an adhesive applied to its inside, it can be bonded, for rounding up the wrapping process, firmly to the underlying, second outermost plastic layer. Preferably, however, the furthest marginal area of the packaging plastic's trailing end does not have adhesive applied thereto in order to make the package easier to open by pulling on this adhesive-free skirt available for gripping. Finally, the plastic sections surpassing the rolled-up product's 1 end faces are fused for establishing package end faces 5 sealed at least to such a degree that the product is certainly able to retain its coherence within the plastic package. Thus, the package end faces 5 may include e.g. one or even several holes. On the other hand, if the purpose is to block the access of dirt or moisture to the product, it will be advisable to melt the plastic to a totally sealed condition at the end faces 5.

Thus, by melting the packaging plastic 2 at both end faces of the package 3, there is provided an at least partially sealed and coherent product package 3 for the rolled-up product 1, whose packaging plastic 2 includes two perforations 4, 4' in a circumferential direction of the package 3 and whose end faces are provided with end caps 5 formed of the melted packaging plastic and protecting the end faces of the mineral wool product 1. In a completed package 3, the circumferentially directed perforations 4, 4' are located at a distance (a) of about 50 mm from the package's 3 end faces. Fig. 1 depicts a perforated package 3 as described above.

The package 3 can be opened by removing the melted end face plastic of the package or, in other words, by removing the above-mentioned end caps 5 along the perforations 4, 4' from both ends without tools, while the prior art method requires the use of a knife. Such a novel way of opening is illustrated in fig. 3.

Alternatively, the package 3 can be opened as shown in fig. 2, prior to the delivery to a final worksite, by pulling on the above-mentioned adhesive-free ready-to-grip skirt of an 800 mm broad plastic section b, which remains between the packaging plastic's 2 two co-directional perforations 4, 4', the packaging plastic off in the direction of an arrow v, such that the end face plastics 5 are left in place for holding the product roll together for the duration of a final transport. As already stated above, depending on the insulation site, the harmful delivery of plastic to a final worksite (for example, a fire hazard in shipbuilding) or, in paper and pulp industry, the ending up of plastic in a digester along with chips, can be reduced.

The foregoing example is not to be construed in the way that would limit the scope of protection defined in the claims.

Claims

1. A mineral wool product package (3), wherein mineral wool (1) is rolled up to its desired size and wrapped in a packaging material (2) which, at least in the package's (3) end face regions, has been made at least partially sealed, characterized in that the packaging material (2) consists of a plastic, which in the package's end face regions is made at least partially sealed by melting it at each opposite end face of the package (3), and that the packaging material has been formed with at least one perforation (4, 40 in a circumferential direction of the package.

2. A package according to claim 1, characterized in that said at least one perforation (4, 40 has been made in the vicinity of at least one end of the package (3).

3. A package according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that each end of the package (3) is provided near the end face with at least one perforation (4, 40 along the package's circumference.

4. A package according to claim 3, characterized in that the packaging material (2) has its outermost layer in the vicinity of its edge extending in a longitudinal direction of the package (3), at least over its section (b) present between the perforations (4, 40, at least in spots, or even continuously over its entire breadth, i.e. lengthwise of the package, bonded firmly to an underlying layer of packaging plastic.