U.S. patent application number 10/407808 was filed with the patent office on 2004-01-22 for floor plate for a cooling freight.
This patent application is currently assigned to Waggonbau Elze GmbH & Co.. Invention is credited to Homes, Gunter.
Application Number | 20040011797 10/407808 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 28051139 |
Filed Date | 2004-01-22 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040011797 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Homes, Gunter |
January 22, 2004 |
Floor plate for a cooling freight
Abstract
A floor plate for a cooling container of sandwich construction
in which an upper cover plate and a lower cover plate are bridged
by a rigid foam. The gooseneck tunnel of the floor plate is
insulated by a vacuum insulated plate which can contain a support
medium and which is embedded in the surrounding foam.
Inventors: |
Homes, Gunter;
(Salzhemmendorf, DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
THE FIRM OF KARL F ROSS
5676 RIVERDALE AVENUE
PO BOX 900
RIVERDALE (BRONX)
NY
10471-0900
US
|
Assignee: |
Waggonbau Elze GmbH &
Co.
Besitz
DE
|
Family ID: |
28051139 |
Appl. No.: |
10/407808 |
Filed: |
April 4, 2003 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
220/628 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B60P 3/20 20130101; B65D
90/06 20130101; B65D 90/022 20130101; B65D 88/745 20130101; B62D
33/048 20130101; B65D 90/028 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
220/628 |
International
Class: |
B65D 025/24; B65D
090/12 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Apr 5, 2002 |
DE |
10215129.6 |
Claims
I claim:
1. A floor plate for a cooling container comprising: a sandwich
structure formed by an upper cover plate, a lower cover plate and a
rigid insulating foam between said cover plates; a T-section
grating forming passages for cooling air; and a gooseneck tunnel
formed in said floor plate and insulated by a vacuum insulated
plate.
2. The floor plate for the cooling container as defined in claim 1
wherein the vacuum insulated plate is fixed to the lower cover
plate.
3. The floor plate for the cooling container as defined in claim 2
wherein the vacuum insulated plate is embedded in the rigid
foam.
4. The floor plate for the cooling container as defined in claim 3
wherein the vacuum insulated plate is embedded by foaming the rigid
foam around edges of the vacuum insulated plate.
5. The floor plate for the cooling container as defined in claim 3
wherein the vacuum insulated plate is composed of a flat
rectangular box structure in an interior of which a vacuum is
maintained.
6. The floor plate for the cooling container as defined in claim 5,
further comprising a support medium within said box structure.
7. The floor plate for the cooling container as defined in claim 6
wherein the support medium is composed of diatomaceous earth.
8. The floor plate for the cooling container as defined in claim 6
wherein the support medium is composed of rock wool.
9. The floor plate for the cooling container as defined in claim 6
wherein the support medium is composed of plastic grid.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a floor plate for a cooling
container of a sandwich construction and provided with cooling
passages formed by a T grating (a grating composed of T-section
members) which is closed by an upper cover plate and wherein a
rigid foam is provided as an insulation between the upper and lower
cover plates.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Floor structures for containers which are provided with
cooling passages are described, for example, in DE 44 33 728A and
DE 597 02 926.
[0003] Such floor structures are widely used in cooling containers
which are used to ship freight which must be cooled or at least
prevented from excess heating. They are largely successful because
they can take substantial loads and have excellent insulating
properties. The insulation is primarily the rigid foam mentioned
previously.
[0004] However, rigid insulating foams must comply with
environmental standards, especially with respect to the use of
fluorinated-chlorinated hydrocarbons. Since rigid foams have been
developed, the use of fluorinated-chlorinated hydrocarbons as
foaming agents for polyurethanes have been banned and products
which contain such foams are increasingly being eliminated from
commerce the use of fluorinated-chlorinated hydrocarbons containing
foaming agents has the additional drawback that the foams which are
produced are more limited in effectiveness than more recently
developed commercial foams. The increased thickness which is
required for the less efficient foams results in a reduction of the
container volume and cooling containers with the prior foams for
that disadvantage.
[0005] An especially critical point with respect to the insulation
is the so-called gooseneck tunnel in which the insulating layer can
only have about {fraction (1/5)} of the main layer thickness for
the remaining regions of the floor plate. The insulating action of
the foam utilized in this region is an order of magnitude less than
what is generally deemed to be necessary and hence effective
insulation in the gooseneck tunnel region is a significant
problem.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
[0006] It is, therefore, the principal object of the present
invention to provide a floor plate for a cooling container,
especially of the type in which the floor plate is provided with
passages is a cooling medium, in which the gooseneck tunnel has
substantially the same insulating effect as other regions of the
floor plate.
[0007] Another object of the invention is to improve the insulating
effectiveness of floor plates for cooling containers so that the
aforementioned drawback is avoided.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] These objects and others which will be apparent hereinafter
are attained, in accordance with the invention by providing the
region of the gooseneck tunnel as a vacuum insulated plate.
[0009] By providing one or more vacuum insulated plates if the
insulation of the floor of the cooling container, at least in the
region of the gooseneck tunnel, is significantly lower thermal
transfer characteristics of the vacuum insulated plate, by
comparison with rigid foams, can be utilized to increase the
insulating character of the gooseneck tunnel structure so that, in
the region of the gooseneck tunnel, the insulation effect is at
least equal to that of the floor plate elsewhere. The vacuum
maintained in the plate or plates delimiting the gooseneck tunnel,
of course, accounts for the enhanced insulating effect.
[0010] As a consequence, despite the significantly reduced layer
thickness of the insulation in the gooseneck tunnel region an
insulating effect can be obtained which is equivalent to the full
insulating effect elsewhere on the floor plate even in the critical
region of the gooseneck tunnel.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0011] The above and other objects, features, and advantages will
become more readily apparent from the following description,
reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which:
[0012] FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view through a floor plate in
the region of the gooseneck tunnel;
[0013] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a vacuum insulated plate
which is utilized in the floor plate of FIG. 1;
[0014] FIG. 3 is a partial section through the vacuum insulated
plate; and
[0015] FIGS. 4 and 5 are cross sectional views similar to FIG. 3
showing alternative support media for the vacuum insulated
plate.
SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION
[0016] The floor plate 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a sandwich
construction and is provided with passages two through which
cooling air is forced as defined by a T grating 3, namely, a
grating composed of T-cross section bars. The switch structure has
an upper cover plate 4 and a lower cover plate 5 between which a
rigid insulating foam 6 is provided. In the region of the gooseneck
tunnel 7, however, the insulation for the floor plate 1 is provided
by a vacuum insulated plate 8. This vacuum insulated plate 8 can
span the entire region of the gooseneck tunnel 7. It is fixed on
the lower cover plate 5 and can extend into and be embedded in the
adjoining rigid foam 6, i.e. foamed therein.
[0017] The vacuum insulated plate 8 can be composed of a
rectangular box structure 9 (FIG. 2) which is sealed around its
edges and has an interior 10 in which a vacuum is sustained. The
interior may also contain a packaging medium to support the broad
walls defining the interior 10. The packing 11, which is porous and
can provide sufficient interstitial spaces for the vacuum to remain
effective, can be composed of a low thermal conductivity material
like diatamaceous earth as shown at 11. The packing material
prevents collapse of the vacuum insulated plate by the prevalent
atmospheric pressure acting on all sides thereof and affords
mechanical strength to the vacuum insulated plate. The support
medium 11 can alternatively, be rock wall, a plastic grid or some
other structure of low thermal conductivity, capable of supporting
the walls without comprising the ability to evacuate the plate. The
walls of the plate can be composed of metal, e.g. stainless steel
or some other material impermeable to gases.
[0018] FIG. 4 shows an alternative in which the support structure
12 for the vacuum insulated plate 8 is rock wool. FIG. 5 shows a
support structure consisting of a plastic grid 13 as the support
structure for a vacuum insulated plate.
* * * * *