Construction element for a container, door for a container and a container

A construction element includes a first wall, and a second wall. The walls are arranged at a distance from one another, forming a space wherein at least one sheet component is arranged, and where the sheet component is arranged to the first wall and to the second wall, and where concrete is arranged in the space between the first wall, the second wall, and the sheet component.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY

The present invention relates to construction elements for containers. The invention further relates to doors for containers. The invention further relates to containers.

Safe or secure storage of articles, goods or property is important to protect valuable articles, to secure high value, to prevent access to unauthorized or unqualified persons, or for burglary protection. Further reasons to store content in a controlled environment could also include protecting the contents from damage during a flood, fire, or natural disaster.

For specific articles, such as weapons, certain medical and/or chemical articles and explosives, access prevention is required by law in many locations/jurisdictions. Access prevention for certain articles could also be required for insurance purposes.

A safe is commonly used for storing the valuable articles, and the safety level of the safe is commonly tested by a certification company/organization such as UL, TÜV or RISE (formerly SP Sveriges Tekniska Forskningsinstitut in Sweden) in accordance with a specific standard, such as EN 1143-1. Commonly the safe or lock is graded with a certain protection level. A safe with a high protection grade requires a long time and much effort to force.

An example of a storage container arranged with a construction element is described in patent application WO2005/069747 A1. A drawback with currently existing solutions according to WO2005/069747 A1 is that the described construction element has a wide cross section, leading to thick walls with a large amount of concrete that is thus leading to heavy containers.

Further problems which the present invention aims to solve will be elucidated below in the detailed description of the various embodiments.

It is desirable to provide a novel and improved construction element for a container and specifically a safe container.

The invention relates, according to an aspect thereof, to a construction element for a container where the construction element comprises a first wall, and a second wall, arranged at a distance from one another, forming a space where at least one sheet component is arranged, and where the sheet component is arranged to the first wall and to the second wall, and where concrete is arranged in the space between the first wall, the second wall, and the sheet component.

According to further aspects of the improved construction element for a container, the construction element further comprises that;

the sheet component is arranged transversally to the first and second walls.

the sheet component is made of steel and is welded to the first wall and to the second wall.

the sheet component comprises at least one hole for a rebar.

the sheet component comprises at least one opening.

the sheet components are arranged with a separating distance between them.

the separating distance is between 100 mm to 250 mm.

at least one of the first wall and the second wall is made of steel plate armour.

a first sidewall and a second sidewall are arranged to the first wall and the second wall to mutually form a die for casting of concrete and holding the concrete after pouring the concrete.

the concrete comprises at least one additive selected from wood pellets, plastic pellets, and/or metal pellets.

the thickness of the construction element is in the range of 100 mm-140 mm.

The invention further relates, according to an aspect thereof, to an improved door comprising a construction element, at least one lock, and at least one hinge.

The invention further relates, according to an aspect thereof, to an improved container comprising at least one construction element and a door.

Advantages of aspects of the present invention includes that safety of containers is improved and that the wall thickness of the construction element is reduced which results in lower total weight of the construction element and thus the container.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG.1shows a figure of a construction element1according to one embodiment of the invention. The construction element is in particular a wall element, a door element, a lower element or an upper element of a container. Containers, also known as intermodal containers, are means to bundle cargo and goods into larger, unitized loads, that can be easily handled, moved, and stacked, and that will pack tightly in a ship or yard. Intermodal containers are designed to function with different modes of transportation, so that the transported goods do not have to be reloaded during the transport. Such reloading would in itself pose a risk for theft, damage etc. of the goods.

Intermodal containers share a number of key construction features to withstand the stresses of intermodal shipping, to facilitate their handling and to allow stacking, as well as being identifiable through their individual, unique reporting mark according to ISO 6346.

Lengths of containers vary from 8 to 56 feet (2.4 m to 17.1 m). Most commonly used containers are twenty (6.1 m) or forty (12.2 m) foot standard length boxes of general purpose or “dry freight” design. These typical containers are rectangular, closed box models, with doors fitted at one end, and made of corrugated weathering steel (commonly known as corten) with a plywood floor. Corrugating the sheet metal used for the sides and roof contributes significantly to the container's rigidity and stacking strength.

ISO containers have castings with openings for twistlock fasteners at each of the eight corners, to allow gripping the box from above, below, or the side, and they can be stacked up to ten units high. Regional intermodal containers, such as European and U.S. domestic units however, are mainly transported by road and rail, and can frequently only be stacked up to three laden units high.

Container capacity is often expressed in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU, or sometimes teu).

As seen inFIG.1, a construction element1comprises a first wall element10and a second wall element20. The wall elements10,20are preferably made of steel, commonly the wall elements of containers are made of corrugated steel. The reason corrugated steel is used is mainly to increase the rigidity of the container and thus allow stacking of containers.

In a container utilizing the described construction element1there is no specific need to utilize corrugated walls since the rigidity of the containers is increased by the described construction element1. Corrugated wall elements could nevertheless be used in the described construction element1to further increase rigidity, or so that a container manufactured with the described construction element1gives the visual impression to be an ordinary container.

Commonly the material used in the wall elements10,20is corten steel or some other material with an increased resistance to corrosion compared to ordinary steel. The wall elements10,20could also be armoured steel to further increase the resistance of the construction elements1to external forces.

Armoured steel must be hard, yet resistant to shock, in order to resist high velocity metal projectiles. Steel with these characteristics is produced by processing cast steel billets of appropriate size and then rolling them into plates of required thickness. Hot rolling homogenizes the grain structure of the steel, removing imperfections which would reduce the strength of the steel. Rolling also elongates the grain structure in the steel to form long lines, which distribute stress loaded onto the steel throughout the metal, avoiding a concentration of stress in one area. This type of steel is called rolled homogeneous armour or RHA. RHA is homogeneous because its structure and composition is uniform throughout its thickness. The opposite of homogeneous steel plate is cemented or face-hardened steel plate, where the face of the steel is composed differently from the substrate. The face of the steel, which starts as an RHA plate, is hardened by a heat-treatment process.

A number of sheet elements30are arranged side by side in the construction element1between the wall elements10,20. The sheet elements30are, in the preferred embodiment generally a sheet metal component welded to the wall element10and to the wall element20. The sheet elements30are arranged with a number of holes32for arrangement of transversal rebar in the holes32. The sheet elements30are further arranged with a number of openings34to allow for concrete to be distributed in the construction element1when the concrete is poured into the construction element1. In the preferred embodiment shown inFIG.1, the sheet elements30are vertically arranged in relation to the surface of the wall elements10,20.

FIG.2shows the construction element1in a view from above in an embodiment with six sheet elements30. The sheet elements30are preferably separated with a distance d of 100 mm to 250 mm.

The construction element1is filled with concrete, i.e. a composite of at least cement and construction aggregate. Construction aggregate is a broad category of coarse to medium grained particulate material used in construction, including sand, gravel, crushed stone, slag, recycled concrete and/or geosynthetic aggregates. Aggregates are a component of composite materials such as concrete and asphalt concrete; the aggregate serves as reinforcement to add strength to the overall composite material. As an option, the concrete may also comprise a concrete additive, selected from wood pellets, plastic pellets, and/or metal pellets. Concrete additives with a low density serve to reduce the total weight of the construction element1. Concrete additives with a high density will increase the total weight, but are an option for providing the concrete with desirable properties, such as an increased resistance to cutting.

The sheet elements30are preferably made of metal such as steel or other metal possible to weld to the steel walls10,20. The sheet element could be manufactured through metal punching, laser cutting or other means. The thickness of the sheet element is between 1 mm-5 mm and the width and height is arranged in accordance with the dimensions of the construction element1. The width of the sheet element30is preferably the same as the distance between the first wall element10and the second wall element20. The sheet element30is arranged perpendicular from the first wall element10and from the second wall element20.

The construction element1comprises at least four elements, two steel walls10,20, concrete40, and the sheet element30. In case there is an intention to force or break through the construction element1, the first wall element10is the first surface that has to be forced. To penetrate the steel wall10, a gas burner or blowtorch or other heat generating means could be used. When the first wall element10is penetrated the next step would be to penetrate the concrete40. Concrete is preferably penetrated by drilling and/or sawing or some other cutting operation.

By adequate selection of the material and placement of the sheet components30such as to inhibit the cutting operation, the time needed to penetrate the concrete/sheet component combination of the constriction element1is prolonged. When the concrete/sheet component combination has been penetrated, the second wall20has to be penetrated and heat generating means needs to be used once again. In one embodiment a first sidewall50and a second sidewall60are arranged at the lateral ends of the first wall10and the second wall20, to form a mould or die formed space in which a number of sheet components30are arranged together with rebar or reinforcing bars. The rebar is preferably arranged in the holes32of the sheet components30before pouring of the concrete40. The concrete is poured into the void space made up of the four wall elements, the first sidewall50, the second sidewall60, the first wall10and the second wall20, and the sheet components30where the openings34of the sheet components30allow the concrete to be distributed in the construction element1so that there are no unfilled spaces in the construction element1. The thickness t of the construction element1is preferably in the range of 100 mm to 140 mm.

The general idea of the construction element is hence making penetration thereof as complicated, and as time-consuming, as possible. Thereby there is an increased risk of discovery of an attempt of forced entry before it has been completed. The different materials in the construction element require different means for the penetration thereof. The heat generating means required to penetrate the outer first and second walls10,20are inefficient for penetration of the concrete40/sheet component30combination.

The cutting means required for penetration of the concrete will be adversely affected by the metal material encountered when the sheet components30are encountered. The metal of the sheet components30has a dulling effect on the cutting means, thereby making it less efficient, for cutting through construction element1.

Since the sheet components30are spaced apart at a fairly limited distance d, the probability of encountering metal material when trying to cut through the concrete is fairly high, especially when cutting a hole that is large enough for useful access to the interior of the container. Also, since the sheet components30are arranged transversally to the outer first and second walls10,20, once a sheet component30has been encountered on cutting through the wail of the container, it will be an obstacle to the cutting operation all through the wall element1. It is not a temporary, limited hindrance, since it continues to extend in the direction of cutting, in contrast to the outer first and second walls10,20. Also, the sheet component30extends in parallel with the concrete40, thereby posing conflicting requirements on the means needed for penetration of the wall element1. Hence penetration of the wall element1will be difficult and time consuming.

FIG.3shows a container100. A container100in a typical embodiment has an upper element, a lower element and four wall elements and at least one door. In traditional transport containers, the doors are commonly a two part construction arranged at one of the side walls. In a security container a single door is preferable. The container shown inFIG.3comprises a first wall element102, a second wall element104, and a third wall element106. The container further comprises a door element108arranged to the frame200holding the door element108. The door element108is preferable arranged with a lock, not shown inFIG.3, arranged behind a lock protector shield110. The container100further comprises an upper element112and a lower element114.

FIG.4shows the frame200for a container. The frame has a shape where bars extend along the edges of an imagined cuboid, and it is preferably be made of steel, concrete or some other material with sufficient strength. The frame200is preferably made of twelve bars201,202,203,204,205,206,207,208,209,210,211,212arranged to forma frame200. In a container100a number of construction elements1are arranged, preferably an upper element112, a lower element114and three wall elements102,104,106and at least one door element108, to a frame200. The construction elements1are secured to the frame200by fastening means such as bolts, rivets or other fastening means. Holding means for the door element108are hinges arranged to the frame200. The hinges are not visible in the drawings, but they are of any form known to the skilled person, preferably provided with means for preventing the door element108from being lifted off of the hinges.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments specifically shown, but can be varied in different ways within the scope of the patent claims.

It will be appreciated, for example, that the size, material and how the components of the construction element are arranged, as well as the integral elements and component parts, are adapted to the needs of the user and/or customer of the construction element, and other current design characteristics.