Patent Publication Number: US-2023144970-A1

Title: Pallet component structure and packaging system

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This patent application is based on and claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-182457, filed on Nov. 9, 2021, in the Japan Patent Office, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Technical Field 
     Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a pallet component structure body and a packaging system. 
     Discussion of the Background Art 
     As an example of a pallet component structure body and a packaging system, a pallet component is known on which a packaged cargo or a packaged object is loaded and which enables transportation in a unit load form. Further, a technology has been proposed to prevent a packing box placed on a pallet from displacing during loading/unloading work and transportation, and to improve strength characteristics of a paper pallet while saving the amount of paper used as much as possible. In this case, the paper pallet has a structure in which the core of a top plate is wrapped with a surrounding plate, a spacer is enclosed in a rectangular tube body formed by connecting the top plate, bottom plate, and both side plates, and the spacer has a structure in which a vertically oriented paper tube is wrapped in a horizontally oriented rectangular tube, and a plurality of rows of reinforcement bands is attached to the lower surface of the bottom plate. 
     SUMMARY 
     According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a pallet component structure body for loading a packaged object. The pallet component structure body includes a pallet component and a frame structure forming component. The frame structure forming component is secured on the pallet component. The frame structure forming component is foldable flat in a state where adjacent ones of frame structure parts of the frame structure forming component are joined in advance. 
     According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a packaging system that includes the pallet component structure body and the packaged object loaded on the pallet component structure body. The packaged object is an image forming apparatus. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The aforementioned and other aspects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure would be better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG.  1    is a schematic perspective view of a pallet component structure body according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG.  2    is a schematic perspective view of the pallet component structure body according to the embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG.  3    is a schematic front view of a state in which the pallet component structure bodies according to the embodiment of the present disclosure are loaded; 
         FIGS.  4 A and  4 B  are schematic plan views of a frame structure forming component according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIGS.  5 A and  5 B  are schematic plan views of a frame structure forming component according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIGS.  6 A and  6 B  are schematic plan views of a frame structure forming component according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIGS.  7 A and  7 B  are schematic plan views of a frame structure forming component according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG.  8    is a schematic plan view of a frame structure forming component according to a fifth embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIGS.  9 A and  9 B  are schematic views of a main part of the frame structure forming component according to the present embodiment; 
         FIG.  10    is a schematic plan view of a frame structure forming component according to a sixth embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIGS.  11 A and  11 B  are schematic views of a main part of the frame structure forming component according to the present embodiment; 
         FIG.  12    is a schematic perspective view of a frame structure forming component according to another embodiment of the present disclosure; 
         FIG.  13    is a schematic perspective view of a packaged object stored in a pallet component structure body according to a comparative example and an outer box covering the packaged object; 
         FIG.  14    is a schematic perspective view of a pallet component structure body according to a comparative example; 
         FIG.  15    is a schematic perspective view of the pallet component structure body of  FIG.  14   ; 
         FIG.  16    is a schematic view of the pallet component structure body of  FIG.  14   ; and 
         FIG.  17    is a schematic front view of dead spaces created by the pallet component structure body of  FIG.  14   . 
     
    
    
     The accompanying drawings are intended to depict embodiments of the present disclosure and should not be interpreted to limit the scope thereof. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered as drawn to scale unless explicitly noted. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In describing embodiments illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology is employed for the sake of clarity. However, the disclosure of this patent specification is not intended to be limited to the specific terminology so selected and it is to be understood that each specific element includes all technical equivalents that operate in a similar manner and achieve similar results. 
     Although the embodiments are described with technical limitations with reference to the attached drawings, such description is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure and all of the components or elements described in the embodiments of this disclosure are not necessarily indispensable. 
     Referring now to the drawings, embodiments of the present disclosure are described below. In the drawings for explaining the following embodiments, the same reference codes are allocated to elements (members or components) having the same function or shape and redundant descriptions thereof are omitted below. 
       FIGS.  1  and  2    are schematic perspective views of a pallet component structure body  10  according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     The pallet component structure body  10  according to the embodiment of the present disclosure is a pallet component structure body  10  for loading a packaged object  25  ( FIG.  13   ), and includes a pallet component  9  and a flat-foldable frame structure forming component  1  fixed on the pallet component  9 . The frame structure forming component  1  according to the embodiment of the present disclosure has a bottom surface  2  and four side walls  3  adjacent to the outer periphery of the bottom surface  2 , and is located on the pallet component  9 . 
     Referring to  FIG.  1   , the side walls  3  of the frame structure forming component  1  are raised, and the frame structure forming component  1  forms a frame structure body raised along the four sides of the outer periphery of the pallet component  9 . On the other hand, referring to  FIG.  2   , the side walls  3  of the frame structure forming component  1  are folded inward, and the frame structure forming component  1  stays within the pallet component  9  without protruding from the area of the pallet component  9  in plan view. That is, the frame structure forming component  1  can be folded flat in a state in which adjacent frame structure parts of the frame structure forming component  1  are joined in advance by the joining parts  5 . 
     The pallet component  9  includes a lower plate, a block member arranged on the lower plate, an upper plate arranged on the block member, and the like. The pallet component  9  has a fork insertion port for inserting a fork of a forklift. The detailed structure of the pallet component is described in, for example, the U.S. patent application publication No. 2010/0213088, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     The frame structure forming component  1  is fixed onto a deck board plate member constituting a plane of the pallet component  9  with screws or the like. 
     Referring to  FIG.  1   , two each adjacent side walls  3  are simply joined to each other with the joining part  5  which is a part of the side wall  3  by the pallet manufacturer using a glue, stitcher, or the like. Since the joining parts  5  are joined by the pallet manufacturer, the manufacturer of the packaged object  25 , which is the user, is not required to perform the joining work. 
     On the other hand, for example, in the comparative example illustrated in  FIG.  13   , a sheet component on a deck board of a pallet component  9  on which a packaged cargo or a packaged object  25  is loaded and which enables transportation in a unit load form. The sheet component is folded and fixed to form frame structure parts  29  that are raised along the four sides of the outer periphery of the pallet component  9 . The frame structure parts  29  constituting the side walls of the four sides sufficiently restrict the packaged cargo or the packaged object  25  loaded on the pallet component  9  from moving in the front-rear and left-right directions due to vibration or impact during transportation. In addition, joining the frame structure parts  29  with an outer box  21  further restricts the movement of the outer box  21 . 
     In addition, the frame structure forming component  1  constituting such frame structure parts  29  may be made of one sheet-shaped component. For example, in the example illustrated in  FIGS.  14  and  15   , the frame structure part  29  are formed by forming side walls by raising the four sides of outer periphery of the sheet component and then joining the side walls by additional processing using fixing units  27  such as bonding components, joining components, or a bonding agent. 
     If the frame structure part of the pallet component structure including the pallet component  9  and the frame structure forming component  1  are formed and fixed at the time of manufacturing at the pallet manufacturer, stacked pallet component structure bodies may be of a great height while the pallet component structure bodies are distributed from the pallet manufacturer to the manufacturer of a packaged object  25 . Consequently, the number of loading stages of the pallet component structure bodies at the time of transportation decreases, the number of the pallet component structure bodies transported at the time of truck transportation decreases, and the transportation cost increases. 
     As a countermeasure against this disadvantage, as in the example illustrated in  FIG.  16   , pallet component structure bodies of different sizes may be stacked, specifically, a pallet component structure immediately of a relatively small size may be located below a certain pallet component structure body. In this case, however, the upper exterior box is not completely placed on the lower pallet component structure body, and the pressure strength of an outer box  21  may be impaired. In addition, a frame structure forming component  1  protrudes outward from the lower pallet component structure body, so that the frame structure forming component  1  may come into contact with other cargo and suffer damage. 
     For this reason, as in the example illustrated in  FIG.  14   , a pallet component structure body may be transported with side walls opened without raising. In such a case, the manufacturer of a packaged object  25  who is a user raises the side walls of the pallet component structure body at the time of use, and joins the side walls by additional processing work such as bonding with tapes to form the frame structure parts  29 . Such additional processing work may be a burden on the user. 
     In this case, as illustrated in  FIG.  17   , in the pallet component structure body and the transportation mode thereof, there are generated dead spaces  31  indicated by hatching immediately below the side walls due to the opened side walls. Therefore, the loading efficiency may decrease at the time of truck transportation although not as much as the decrease in the number of stacking stages due to the raised side walls. In addition, the thin side walls in a protruding state might be damaged due to contact with other cargo during distribution. 
       FIG.  3    is a schematic front view of a state in which the pallet component structure bodies  10  according to the embodiment of the present disclosure are loaded. 
     As illustrated, according to the present embodiment, the pallet component structure bodies  10  can be loaded without generating dead spaces  31  (see, e.g.,  FIG.  17   ) in the left-right direction. 
     According to the pallet component structure body  10  according to the present embodiment, the above-described disadvantages can be solved by the following factors.
         As illustrated in  FIG.  2   , since the frame structure forming component  1  can be folded inward at the time of distribution, it is possible to eliminate dead spaces at the time of transportation as illustrated in  FIG.  3   , thereby improving the loading efficiency at the time of truck transportation.   As illustrated in  FIG.  2   , since the frame structure forming component  1  can be folded inward at the time of distribution, the thin side walls  3  are placed on the upper plate of the pallet component  9  without contact with other cargo, so that it is possible to prevent damage to the side walls  3 .   Since the frame structure forming component  1  is folded flat in a state where the adjacent frame structure parts (specifically, the side walls  3 ) of the frame structure forming component  1  are joined together in advance, it is not necessary to add a complicated processing work of joining the four corners in order to form the frame structure after raising the side walls. Since the four side walls  3  rise in conjunction with each other (semi-automatically), the frame structure parts can be easily formed. Therefore, it is possible to simplify the work that puts a heavy burden on the human operator, and also simplify the work process by a robot.       

       FIGS.  4 A and  4 B  are schematic plan views of the frame structure forming component  1  according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG.  4 A  is a schematic plan view of the frame structure forming component  1  before joining, and  FIG.  4 B  is a schematic plan view of the folded frame structure forming component  1 . 
     Referring to  FIG.  4 A , the frame structure forming component  1  has a square shape as a whole, and includes the bottom surface  2 , the four side walls  3  forming frame structure parts adjacent to an outer periphery of the bottom surface  2 , the joining parts  5  for joining four corners of the frame structure forming component  1 , and fold lines  8  for folding the side walls  3 . As illustrated in the drawing, the frame structure forming component  1  has four cuts  6  extending in parallel with the left and right sides of the frame structure forming component  1 . Therefore, the frame structure forming component  1  has the joining parts  5  at the four corners where the left and right side walls  3  are positioned vertically.  FIG.  4 A  is a development view of the frame structure forming component  1 , where these joining parts  5  are joined in advance to a part of the side walls  3  adjacent to each other with the cut  6  in between. Hatched sections in the drawing are overlapping regions/joining regions of the joining parts  5  and the side walls  3  adjacent thereto. The cuts  6  before joining are formed as slits and have no width. 
     Two fold lines  8  are obliquely formed on the two each opposing side walls  3  in order to fold the side walls  3  forming the frame structure parts, and function as mountain fold lines at the time of folding in plan view. Dotted lines in the drawing function as valley fold lines. That is, in a state where the joining parts  5  are joined, making valley folds along the dotted line and making mountain folds along the fold lines  8  forms a folded state as illustrated in  FIG.  4 B . By making mountain folds along the fold lines  8 , the side walls  3  of the frame structure forming component  1  can be entirely folded inside the pallet component  9  (see, e.g.,  FIG.  4 B ). 
       FIGS.  5 A and  5 B  are schematic plan views of a frame structure forming component  1  according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG.  5 A  is a schematic plan view of the frame structure forming component  1  before joining, and  FIG.  5 B  is a schematic plan view of the folded frame structure forming component  1 . 
     Two fold lines  8  for folding are obliquely formed on the two each opposing side walls  3  in order to fold the side walls  3  forming the frame structure parts, and function as valley fold lines at the time of folding in plan view. Dotted lines in the drawing function as valley fold lines. That is, in a state where the joining parts  5  are joined, making valley folds along the dotted line and making valley folds along the fold lines  8  forms a folded state as illustrated in  FIG.  5 B . By making valley folds along the fold lines  8 , the upper and lower side walls  3  of the frame structure forming component  1  are folded inside the pallet component  9 , and the left and right side walls  3  are folded outside the pallet component  9  (see, e.g.,  FIG.  5 B ). This also makes it possible to eliminate left and right dead spaces as illustrated in  FIG.  17   . That is, the pallet component structure bodies  10  can be arranged adjacent to each other in the vertical direction in  FIGS.  5 A and  5 B , and the pallet component structure bodies  10  can also be stacked in the height direction as illustrated in  FIG.  3   . 
       FIGS.  6 A and  6 B  are schematic plan views of a frame structure forming component  1  according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG.  6 A  is a schematic plan view of the frame structure forming component  1  before joining, and  FIG.  6 B  is a schematic plan view of the folded frame structure forming component  1 . 
     In the present embodiment, unlike the first embodiment illustrated in  FIGS.  4 A and  4 B , in order to fold the side walls  3  forming the frame structure parts, one fold line  8  is obliquely provided on a joining part  5  in a side wall  3  having the joining part  5 , one fold line  8  is obliquely provided on the side wall  3 , two fold lines  8  are obliquely provided on a side wall  3  opposing to the side wall  3 , and one fold line  8  is obliquely provided on a side wall  3  adjacent to the joining part  5  having the fold line  8  with a cut  6  in between. These fold lines function as mountain fold lines. Dotted lines in the drawing function as valley fold lines. That is, in a state where the joining parts  5  are joined, making valley folds along the dotted line and making mountain folds along the fold lines  8  forms a folded state as illustrated in  FIG.  6 B . As a result, since each of the four side walls  3  is folded on the adjacent side wall  3  (see, e.g.,  FIG.  6 B ), the posture of the side walls  3  in the folded state is stably fixed during storage or transportation of the components. 
     According to the frame structure forming components  1  according to the first to third embodiments described above, the joining parts  5  for joining the four corners of the frame structure forming component  1  have a square shape. This allows the four corners of the frame structure forming component  1  to be joined with a sufficient area, thereby securing a sufficient fixing force. 
       FIGS.  7 A and  7 B  are schematic plan views of a frame structure forming component  1  according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG.  7 A  is a schematic plan view of the frame structure forming component  1  before joining, and  FIG.  7 B  is a schematic plan view of the folded frame structure forming component  1 . 
     In the present embodiment, unlike the first embodiment in  FIGS.  4 A and  4 B , cuts  6  have a triangular shape, and similarly, joining part  5  also have a triangular shape. Each joining part  5  overlaps a part of an adjacent side wall  3  with the cut  6  therebetween in the hatched section, and is fixed to each other in advance by using a glue, a stitcher, or the like. 
     In order to fold the side walls  3  forming frame structure parts, one fold line  8  is obliquely formed on the left side wall  3 , and two oblique fold lines  8  are formed on the opposing right side wall  3 . These fold lines  8  function as mountain fold lines. Dotted lines in the drawing function as valley fold lines. That is, in a state where the joining parts  5  are joined, making valley folds along the dotted line and making mountain folds along the fold lines  8  forms a folded state as illustrated in  FIG.  7 B . By making mountain folds along the fold lines  8 , the side walls  3  of the frame structure forming component  1  can be entirely folded inside a pallet component  9  (see, e.g.,  FIG.  7 B ). 
     According to the frame structure forming component  1  according to the fourth embodiment, the joining parts  5  for joining the four corners of the frame structure forming component  1  have a triangular shape. Making the triangular cuts  6  for forming the triangular joining parts  5  decreases by one the number of joining parts  5  overlapping at the time of folding of the joining parts  5  as compared with the case of the square shape, so that it is possible to suppress the instability of the posture due to the overlapping at the time of folding. 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  1   , according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the side walls  3  forming the frame structure parts include joining holes  7  to receive insertion of joining components  23  for joining the side walls  3  to the outer box  21 . This allows the frame structure forming component  1  and the outer box  21  to be joined to each other by the joining components  23 , so that the frame structure forming component  1  and the outer box  21  can be firmly fixed to each other (see, e.g.,  FIG.  13   ). 
       FIG.  8    is a schematic plan view of a frame structure forming component  1  according to a fifth embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG.  8    is a schematic plan view of the frame structure forming component  1  before joining. 
       FIGS.  9 A and  9 B  are schematic views of a main part of the frame structure forming component  1  according to the fifth embodiment.  FIG.  9 A  is a schematic perspective view of the raised frame structure forming component  1 , and  FIG.  9 B  is a schematic perspective view of the folded frame structure forming component  1 . 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  8   , a side wall  3  forming a frame structure part has a slit  13  to receive insertion of a joining part  5  at the time of folding. The slit  13  extends in an arc shape from a joining part  11  between a bottom surface  2  and the side wall  3  adjacent to the bottom surface  2  toward the outside of the side wall  3 . Accordingly, as illustrated in  FIG.  9 A , when the raised side wall  3  is folded to make a valley fold along the fold line  8 , the corner of the raised side wall  3  can be inserted into the slit  13  as illustrated in  FIG.  9 B . As a result, the folded state of the side wall  3  can be maintained by being inserted into the slit  13 . 
       FIG.  10    is a schematic plan view of a frame structure forming component  1  according to a sixth embodiment of the present disclosure.  FIG.  10    is a schematic plan view of the frame structure forming component  1  before joining. 
       FIGS.  11 A and  11 B  are schematic views of a main part of the frame structure forming component  1  according to the present embodiment. 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  10   , a side wall  3  forming a frame structure part has a fixing part  15  for fixing the side walls  3  to each other and two insertion holes  17  and  19  to receive insertion of the fixing part  15 . The insertion holes  17  and  19  are provided at positions overlapping the fixing part  15  when the side wall  3  is folded. The fixing part  15  has a T-shape. As a result, as illustrated in  FIGS.  11 A and  11 B , when the frame structure forming component  1  is folded, the fixing part  15  can be raised and inserted into the two insertion holes  17  and  19 , and the folded state of the side wall  3  can be hooked and held on the T-shaped portion of the fixing part  15 . 
     Referring to  FIG.  1   , in the frame structure forming component  1  according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the joining parts  5  for joining four corners of the frame structure forming component  1  are overlapped and joined to the outside of the side walls  3 . Since the joining parts  5  for joining the four corners of the frame structure forming component  1  do not enter the inside of the frame structure parts, it is possible to secure a sufficient storage space inside the frame structure parts. 
       FIG.  12    is a schematic perspective view of a frame structure forming component  1  according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     As illustrated, joining parts  5  for joining the four corners of the frame structure forming component  1  are overlapped with and joined to the inside of the side walls  3 . Since the joining parts  5  for joining the four corners of the frame structure forming component  1  do not protrude to the outside of the frame structure parts, it is possible to suppress interference of the joining parts  5  (damage due to friction or the like) when a certain pallet component is transported side by side with another pallet component. 
     The frame structure forming component  1  according to the embodiment of the present disclosure is formed of corrugated cardboard. Since the frame structure forming component  1  is made of cardboard which is a material having excellent cyclability, it is possible to promote the recycling of the pallet component structure body  10 . 
     In the frame structure forming component  1  according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the joining parts  5  for joining the four corners of the frame structure forming component  1  are joined with stitches. This makes it possible to secure a sufficient force for fixing the side walls  3  of the frame structure forming component  1 . 
     In the frame structure forming component  1  according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the joining parts  5  for joining the four corners of the frame structure forming component  1  are joined with an adhesive. As a result, it is not necessary to use a joining component made of a material different from that of the frame structure forming component  1 , and this eliminates the need to perform disassembly and separation work at the time of discarding the frame structure forming component  1 . 
     In the pallet component structure body  10  according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the pallet component  9  as a pallet base structure is a pallet made of cardboard. 
     In the pallet component structure body  10  according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the pallet component  9  is a plywood pallet. Since the plywood pallet has high rigidity, the highly rigid pallet component structure body  10  can be realized. 
     In the pallet component structure body  10  according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the frame structure forming component  1  and the pallet component  9  are joined with an adhesive. As a result, it is not necessary to use a joining component made of a material different from that of the frame structure forming component  1 , and this eliminates the need to perform disassembly and separation work at the time of discarding the frame structure forming component  1 . 
     In the pallet component structure body  10  according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the frame structure forming component  1  and the pallet component  9  are joined with stitches. This makes it possible to secure a strong fixing force. 
     In the pallet component structure body  10  according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the frame structure forming component  1  and the pallet component  9  are joined by screwing. This makes it possible to secure a strong fixing force. 
     Further, according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, in the packaging system including the pallet component structure body  10  and the packaged object  25  loaded on the pallet component structure body  10 , the packaged object  25  is an image forming apparatus. 
     As described above, according to the present disclosure, the following effects can be obtained.
         It is possible to eliminate the dead spaces  31  (see, e.g.,  FIG.  17   ) at the time of transportation of the pallet component structure body  10  unlike in the related art, thereby improving the loading efficiency at the time of truck transportation (see, e.g.,  FIG.  3   ).   Since the thin side walls  3  are placed on the top plate of the pallet component  9  and do not come into contact with other cargo unlike in the related art, it is possible to prevent damage to the side walls  3  (see, e.g.,  FIG.  2   ).   It is not necessary to perform an additional processing work of joining the four corners in order to raise the side walls  3  to form the frame structure parts unlike in the related art, the side walls  3  on the four sides can be semi-automatically raised. Therefore, since the frame structure parts can be easily formed, it is possible to eliminate a high-load work for the worker, and easily achieve the automation of work process by a robot.       

     Numerous additional modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the above teachings, the present disclosure may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. With some embodiments having thus been described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the scope of the present disclosure and appended claims, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure and appended claims.