A DISCHARGE FOR A TRANSPORT OR LIQUID CONTAINER

Abstract: An outlet for a transport container having a substantially rigid container frame is secured to a flexible bag for the transport of a fluid. The contents of the bag are discharged through the outlet arranged in the bottom of the container. The outlet has a flange by means of which it is fixed to the transport bag, as well as a discharge opening. The outlet is in the form of a hollow housing with the discharge opening arranged at one side of the housing so that discharge takes place at a distance from the fixing flange.

Description: A discharge for a transport or liquid container The invention concerns an outlet for a transport or liquid container and of the type stated in the introductory por- tion of claim 1. Liquid containers are well-known and comprise a frame having walls to provide a closed container or box-shaped container. The container contains a bag with the fluid to be transported. An example is given in the Danish patent application 1787/86. The bag, which is frequently a dis¬ posable bag, is placed in the container, which is collaps¬ ible, and consequently reuseable, and then the bag is filled. The bag, which is preferably flexible and has a not insignificant tear strength, may be made of several layers of thin plastics, such as polyethylene. The bag im¬ parts the desired tightness to the container, while the actual container frame with walls provides the necessary mechanical stability. The containers can therefore be con- structed rather big, box-shaped and typically with a capa¬ city of more than 1 m 3 . Unloading and loading therefore take place using a fork truck. It is a very attractive way of handling fluids - not only liquids, but also granulates and other grain material being involved - since the trans- port volume has a very high degree of utilization in con¬ trast to barrels and other tanks, where the inexpedient geometric shape occupies a considerably waste volume. Since the container is collapsible, the space requirement is minimized considerably when the container is returned. However, a problem of the prior art is the discharge of the contents of the container, because this is done through an outlet provided on the bag to which a discharge tube is secured. Since the containers are adapted to be discharged from a position on the substrate, the dis- charge, which is merely a plastics outlet having a plane flange for welding to the bag and a discharge tube secur¬ ing sleeve protruding perpendicularly therefrom, is pro¬ vided somewhat upwardly on the side of the container, mak- ing it impossible to empty the container without manual or automatic tilting since, otherwise, part of the contents of the container will remain in the bag. * US patent specification 5 064 096 discloses a bag which serves as a protective liner for a tank having a bottom outlet. An outlet with a protruding tube fitting is at¬ tached to the bag through a welded flange. The tube fit¬ ting is adapted to be received in a sleeve on an outlet in the bottom of the tank. To prevent escape of liquid be- tween the tank and the liner, a press fit is provided be¬ tween the tube fitting and the sleeve on the outlet. In other words, it is difficult to arrange the bag so as to obtain a tight coupling between the outlet of the bag and the outlet of the tank. This structure lends itself for stationarily mounted storage tanks, but is not useful for transport containers where the bags are frequently ex¬ changed. GB patent specification 2 245 883 discloses a liner for a transport container, where the liner at the bottom is pro¬ vided with a flexible tube which serves as an outlet. The tube is passed through an opening in the bottom of the container and is secured with external threads and a ring having internal threads to a wall having a bore for the tube in a housing in the bottom pallet of the container. It is easy to discharge the contents of the bag, but it is difficult to secure the tube when the bag is mounted, be¬ cause the space below the container is very limited, and actually only permits a fork truck to move its forks in- wardly below the legs of the pallet. The object of the invention is therefore to provide an outlet structure to be mounted on the bag of a liquid or fluid container, making it easy to arrange the bag in the container prior to filling and to discharge the bag subse- quently. The outlet defined in the characterizing portion of claim 1 solves the above-mentioned problems of emptying the con¬ tainer, since the outlet has a flange by means of which it can be fixed to the bag in a manner known per se, and additionally comprises a substantially rigid housing, which extends from the flange and has a discharge opening at one side. The rigid walls ensure that the discharge opening is stable with respect to the fixing flange, and that work can be performed on the opening, e.g. mounting of an external discharge tube, without further bracing of the housing being required. Thus, the outlet may be mounted on the bottom of the bag and, protected by the U- shaped legs of the container, be connected from one side of the container. The discharge opening is preferably arranged so that the discharge direction is substantially perpendicular to the normal of the plane formed by the fixing flange. If the bag is a disposable bag, the discharge opening is preferably sealed by a wall which is broken prior to draining. In case of reuseable bags the wall may be pro¬ vided on screw caps, so that it is only this which is destroyed and has to be rejected when the wall has been broken. The wall is preferably cut up along part of its periphery, the features defined in claim 4 ensuring that the wall functions as several segments hinged together with film hinges, enabling substantially free passage although the wall is still secured to the outlet along part of the frame. As stated in claim 5, the housing preferably has an in¬ clined guide wall opposite the discharge opening, enabling faster discharge because turbulence in the outlet is re¬ duced. The termination of the outlet, as stated in claim 6, allows an external discharge tube to be mounted for emptying purposes. The features defined in claim 7 ensure that the wall in the discharge is cut up along part of its circumference, when a knife is provided interiorly in the mouthpiece of the discharge tube. The invention will be explained more fully below in con¬ nection with a preferred embodiment and with reference to the drawing, in which fig. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of an outlet according to the invention, fig. 2 is a sectional lateral view of the outlet shown in fig. 1, fig. 3 is a front view of the outlet shown in fig. 1, fig. 4 is a sectional view of a mouthpiece for a discharge tube for connection with the outlet shown in fig. 1, fig. 5 shows the position of the outlet on a bag for use in a liquid container, and fig. 6 shows a the bottom frame of a liquid container and how the outlet is positioned. Figs. 1-3 shows the outlet of the invention, which is ge¬ nerally designated by the reference numeral 10. The outlet has a plate-shaped flange part 15, by means of which it is attached to a bag (fig. 5) for use in a liquid container. The bag 5 is often manufactured of three or more layers of thin polyethylene, so that it can be welded on the upper side 14 of the flange part 15. This attachment is provided using a technique which will be known to a skilled person. The outlet has a housing 20 extending from the flange part 15, and one side of the housing 20 has a discharge opening 21 through which discharge of the bag 5 takes place. The discharge opening 21 is blocked by a wall 24 which is re¬ moved prior to the discharge of the bag contents. The dis¬ charge opening 21 is provided with internal threads 25. The interior of the housing 20 will be filled with liquid during transport, and the bag can easily be emptied by breaking the wall 24. The housing 20 has a rear wall 22 which is inclined with respect to the partition 24. When liquid is discharged, the rear wall 22 serves as a guide wall, ensuring fast emptying of the contents of the bag because turbulence is hereby avoided. The partition 24 is provided with a row of radially ex¬ tending weakenings 26. When the partition 24 is cut away along part of the edge of the partition, e.g. 270°, for discharge of the contents of the bag, the weakenings en¬ sure that the partition bends around its center line so as to ensure a substantially free passage when the contents of the bag are discharged. The pressure from the liquid results in a substantially free access through the dis¬ charge opening 21. If the partition 24 was not provided with weakenings, the wall would only bend quite slightly outwards if it was still secured to the housing along e.g. k of its periphery. The discharge rate is hereby increased considerably by the provision of the weakenings 26. It is noted that the flange part 15 is rounded upwardly so that the outlet has no sharp edges facing the bag. Fig. 4 shows a mouthpiece for a discharge tube for connec¬ tion to the outlet 10. The mouthpiece 30 has external threads 31 adapted to cooperate with the threads 25 of the outlet. At one side the mouthpiece 30 has an obliquely sharpened cylindrical knife 32 which cuts up the wall 24 along the periphery when the mouthpiece is screwed on to the outlet 10. The threads 25 and 31 may advantageously be provided with such a great pitch that the knife 32 cuts the wall 24 to pieces along approximately % of its circum¬ ference before the threads of the mouthpiece have been screwed home. The mouthpiece, which is known per se, is secured to a tube member 34 and can rotate with respect to the member. An 0-ring gasket 35 provides the necessary seal. Fig. 5 shows the bag 5 with mounted outlet 10. Further, a liquid connecting part 8 is mounted on the upper side of the bag, so that the bag can be filled with liquid. As will be seen, the outlet 10 is mounted in the bottom of the bag, while the connection of the liquid discharge tube can still take place along the side of the bag. Fig. 6 shows a base structure for a liquid container. The base frame 6 here has three U-shaped legs 7 by means of which the liquid container rests on the substrate. Spaces are provided between these U-shaped legs for the forks of a fork truck. At the central one of these U-shaped legs the base frame is provided with a hole 4 to receive the liquid outlet 10 on the bag 5. A recess 3 is provided in the base plate along the edge at the hole 4, said recess being adapted to receive and guide the flange 15 into position. This ensures that the entire contents of the bag can be discharged through the outlet 10, because this will be the lowest point of the bag. Thus, it is not necessary to tilt the container. An example of a container of the present type is described in the Danish patent application 1787/86. Being provided at the bottom of the container, the outlet is well-protected by the central one of the U- shaped legs 7. Thus, the outlet 10 will not be subjected to rough handling, because the metal legs 7 provide good protection of it, while there is free access to the out¬ let.

Claims: P a t e n t C l a i m s 1. An outlet (10) for a transport container of the type having a substantially rigid container frame in which a flexible bag (5) for the transport of a fluid is received, the contents of the bag (5) being discharged through the outlet (10) arranged in the bottom of the container, said outlet having a flange (13) by means of which it is fixed to the transport bag ( 5) as well as a discharge opening (21), c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the outlet (10) is in the form of a hollow housing having rigid walls (22) , said housing extending outside the surface of the bag (5) and being provided with the outlet opening (21) at one side of the housing such that discharge takes place at a distance from the fixing flange (13) . 2. An outlet according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r ¬ i z e d in that the outlet forms a passage extending between the fixing flange (14) and the discharge opening (21), and that the channel is bent so that a plane defined by the fixing flange (14) is substantially perpendicular to a plane transversely to the discharge direction of the discharge opening (21). 3. An outlet according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i z e d in that the discharge opening (21) is blocked by a wall (24) which is removed prior to dis¬ charge. 4. An outlet according to claim 3, wherein the wall is substantially circular, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the wall (24) has a number of weakenings (26) in a radial direction. 5. An outlet according to claims 1-4, c h a r a c t e r ¬ i z e d in that the passage defined with the housing has an inclined guide wall (22) in a side positioned opposite the discharge opening (21). 6. An outlet according to claims 1-5, c h a r a c t e r ¬ i z e d in that the passage in the form of a tube member with interior threads (25) extends past the discharge opening (21) blocked by the wall (24). 7. An outlet according to claim 6, c h a r a c t e r ¬ i z e d in that the internal threads (25) have a pitch of the same order as the thickness of the wall (24).

Inventors: SKARSO HANS JORGEN, SKARSOE, HANS, JOERGEN
Applicants: LB SYSTEMER AS, SKARSO HANS JORGEN, LB SYSTEMER A/S
Application year: 1993
Main classification: B65D90
IPC codes: B65D77, B65D88, B65D90