JP7590960B2 - Transport container and method of storage - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a transport container and a method of storage.
This application claims priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-094564, filed in Japan on May 20, 2019, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a constant temperature transport packaging device 1 that includes an insulated packaging container 2 that seals and stores an object to be transported 8, which is entirely wrapped in a thermal insulation sheet 4, with the space filled with a thermal insulation member 3 or the like. The thermal insulation sheet 4 includes a bag-shaped portion 4a1 that contains a temperature adjusting material 5 that changes state from liquid to solid when the temperature drops below a certain level.

JP 2006-089103 A

In the configuration described in Patent Document 1, the object to be transported (hereinafter, this may be referred to as the object) is entirely wrapped in a thermal insulation sheet 4 containing a cold storage material, etc. However, since the thermal insulation sheet 4 is secured in place with tape, etc., there are cases in which the thermal insulation sheet 4 and the object to be transported 8 are not sufficiently tightly attached to each other.

In view of the above, one aspect of the present invention provides a transport container that can achieve closer contact between the ice storage material and the object.

In order to solve the above problems, a transport container according to one embodiment of the present invention is a transport container comprising a main body having a bottom and side portions, and a lid configured to open and close an opening of the main body, the main body and the lid being elastic, and when an object surrounded by at least one cooling device having multiple connected cold storage sections, each of which holds a cold storage material inside, is placed inside the transport container, the volume of the transport container increases from the volume before the object is placed inside the transport container.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the cooling device that holds the cold storage material does not shift even if the state of the cold storage material changes, and there are no areas where the cooling device does not contact the object. This allows the cooling device to suppress heat inflow between the outside and the object, and provides a transport container and storage method that can strictly maintain the temperature of the object at the phase transition temperature of the cold storage material.

FIG. 1A is a front perspective view of a first embodiment of a shipping container in a closed state. FIG. FIG. 1B is a rear perspective view of the shipping container according to the first embodiment in a closed state. FIG. 1C is a schematic view of the transport container according to the first embodiment when opened. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a cooling device used in one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between the pressure applied to the cold storage unit and the height change of the cold storage unit relative to the pressure. 1 is a schematic diagram of a measuring device for measuring a pressing force on a cold storage unit and a relationship between the pressing force and a change in height of the cold storage unit. FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram of an object and a cooling device to be accommodated in a transport container according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5B is a schematic diagram of the contents according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram showing how objects are accommodated in a transportation container according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6B is a schematic diagram of the transportation container according to the first embodiment when an object is accommodated in the transportation container. FIG. 7 is a temperature characteristic diagram showing temperature changes over time in the transportation container of Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a transport container according to Comparative Example 2. FIG. 9 is a temperature characteristic diagram showing temperature changes over time in the transportation container of Example 1 and Comparative Example 2 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 10A is a schematic diagram showing how objects are accommodated in a transportation container according to the second embodiment. FIG. 10B is a schematic diagram of a transportation container according to the second embodiment when an object is accommodated in the transportation container. FIG. 11 is a temperature characteristic diagram showing temperature changes over time in Example 1 and Example 2 of the transportation container according to the first embodiment. FIG. 12A is a front perspective view of another shipping container according to the first embodiment in a closed state. FIG. 12B is a rear perspective view of another shipping container according to the first embodiment in a closed state. FIG. 12C is a schematic view of another shipping container according to the first embodiment in an open state. FIG. 13A is a schematic diagram of an object and a cooling device accommodated in a transport container according to the second embodiment. FIG. 13B is a schematic diagram of the contents according to the second embodiment. FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a transportation container according to the second embodiment when an object is accommodated in the transportation container.

Below, the embodiment of the present invention is explained with reference to the drawings.

[First embodiment]
1A, 1B, and 1C show a transport container 100 according to the present embodiment. Fig. 1A is a perspective view of the transport container 100 according to the present embodiment when closed, as seen from the front. Fig. 1B is a perspective view of the transport container 100 according to the present embodiment when closed, as seen from the back. Fig. 1C is a schematic view of the transport container 100 according to the present embodiment when opened.

1A, 1B, and 1C, the transport container 100 includes a body 101 having a bottom 107 and a side 108 and elasticity, and a lid 102 having an opening 106 of the body 101 that can be opened and closed and elasticity. The body 101 and the lid 102 may be thermally insulating, which suppresses the inflow of heat from the outside of the transport container 100 and lengthens the phase transition time of the cold storage material described below, thereby extending the cooling time of the object 501 to be transported.

The transport container 100 also includes a connection portion 105 that connects the main body portion 101 and the lid portion 102, and a fixing portion 103 that fixes the lid portion 102 to the main body portion 101 and fixes the opening portion 106 in an openable and closable manner.

The fastening portion 103 is, for example, a fastener, and is a line fastener as shown in Figures 1A, 1B, and 1C. The fastening portion 103 may be a hook-and-loop fastener or a point fastener.

The lid portion 102 has a plate-shaped upper surface portion 109 corresponding to the opening 106, and an extension portion 104 extending from the upper surface portion 109 toward the side portion 108 of the main body portion 101 when the opening 106 is closed by the lid portion 102.

The bottom surface portion 107 is provided with a bottom plate portion 110 that is less elastic than the main body portion 101. By providing the main body portion 101 with the bottom plate portion 110, even if the transport container 100 is highly elastic and prone to shape changes, the shape is stable and it stands on its own, eliminating the need to support the transport container 100 when storing the contents 300, making it easier to store the contents 300 described below in the transport container 100. Furthermore, by providing the bottom plate portion 110, the transport container 100 has higher insulation properties than if it did not have the bottom plate portion 110. The bottom plate portion 110 is made of, for example, EVA resin.

The volume of the transport container 100 increases when an object 501 (hereinafter, this may be referred to as the contained object 500) surrounded by the cooling devices 200A, 200B shown in Figure 2, each of which has multiple connected cold storage sections 201 that each hold a cold storage material inside, is contained inside the transport container 100.

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of the cooling devices 200A and 200B used in one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 2, the cooling devices 200A and 200B each include a plurality of cold storage parts 201 that hold cold storage material therein.

The material of the cold storage material held inside the cold storage unit 201 is, for example, a material that becomes solid at a certain temperature and changes shape from solid to liquid when the temperature rises. The cold storage unit 201 is connected by a seal part 202 formed by thermocompression bonding the upper and lower surfaces of the outer periphery of the cold storage unit 201. The seal part is also formed on the outer periphery of the cooling devices 200A and 200B.

Since the material forming the main body 101 and the lid 102 includes a rubber material such as chloroprene, the main body 101 and the lid 102 elastically deform, and the main body 101 and the lid 102 clamp the contents 300.

The lower the Young's modulus of the material forming the main body 101 and the lid 102, the more elastically the transport container 100 can deform and the more capable the transport container 100 can accommodate the contents 300, even if there is a large difference in volume between the transport container 100 and the contents 300.

Since the transport container 100 needs to be able to elastically deform, the upper limit of the Young's modulus of the material forming the main body portion 101 and the lid portion 102 is 100 MPa or less, and preferably 10 MPa or less.

The lower limit of the Young's modulus of the material forming the main body 101 and the lid 102 is such that the material has a Young's modulus that generates a pressure that can tighten the cold storage section 201 of the cooling device 200A, 200B in a liquid state so that the cold storage section 201 does not come off the object 501.

However, Young's modulus defines the one-dimensional elastic modulus of a material in the longitudinal direction, and it is difficult to define the degree of tightening when tightening a three-dimensional object 501 from all directions, as in one embodiment of the present invention, using only Young's modulus. Therefore, the pressure with which the main body 101 and the lid 102 tighten the object 501 and the cooling devices 200A, 200B is defined as shown in Figures 3 and 4 below. In Figure 3, the pressing pressure, which is the pressure with which the cooling devices 200A, 200B are pressed, is used to determine the tightening pressure.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between the pressure of the cold storage section 201 provided in the cooling device 200A, 200B and the displacement of the height of the cold storage section 201 relative to the pressure. Note that Figure 3 is obtained using a measuring device 400 that measures the relationship between the pressure and the displacement of the height of the cold storage section 201 shown in Figure 4.

The measuring device 400 includes a displacement measuring unit 401 that measures displacement and a rigid body 402 that does not deform when pressure is applied. Pressure is applied to the cold storage unit 201 via the rigid body 402, and the relationship between the applied pressure and the displacement of the height of the cold storage unit 201 from when no pressure is applied is measured.

3, it can be seen that the cold storage section 201 is plastically deformed, and the height of the cold storage section 201 is reduced in proportion to the pressure applied to the cold storage section 201. In addition, in region 302, it can be seen that the displacement of the height of the cold storage section 201 is constant regardless of the pressure applied to the cold storage section 201, and the shape of the cold storage section 201 is not changed by the pressure applied to the cold storage section 201. In addition, in region 303, it can be seen that the cold storage section 201 is broken, and the cold storage material held inside the cold storage section 201 is leaked out to the outside of the cold storage section 201.

The pressure for clamping the object 501 and the cold storage unit 201 made of the material forming the main body 101 and the lid 102 is equal to or greater than the pressure P1 at which the cold storage unit 201 stops after plastic deformation occurs when a pressure is applied to the cold storage unit 201. Note that pressure P1 is the pressure at the boundary between the region 301 and the region 302.

By tightening the pressure applied to the object 501 and the cold storage section 201 made of the material forming the main body section 101 and the lid section 102 to a pressure P1 or greater, the object 501 and the cold storage devices 200A, 200B are brought into close contact with each other.

In addition, by setting the pressure applied to clamp the object 501 and the cold storage section 201 made of the material forming the main body section 101 and the lid section 102 to a pressure P1 or greater, when the cold storage material flows due to the phase transition from solid to liquid, the cold storage section 201 changes shape to follow the shape of the object 501.

When the cold storage material flows due to the phase transition from solid to liquid, the cold storage section 201 changes shape to follow the shape of the object 501, so that the temperature of the object 501 can be maintained at the phase transition temperature of the cold storage material. On the other hand, if the tightening pressure exceeds pressure P2 and is high up to the area 303, the bag will break.

For the reasons stated above, it is preferable that the pressure for clamping the object 501 and the cold storage section 201 made of the material forming the main body section 101 and the lid section 102 is in the pressure range of region 302 which is greater than or equal to pressure P1 and less than pressure P2.

Next, a method of storing the contents 300 in the transport container 100 will be described with reference to Figures 5A, 5B, 6A, and 6B. Figure 5A is a schematic diagram of the object 501 and cooling devices 200A and 200B to be stored in the transport container 100 according to this embodiment.

Figure 5B is a schematic diagram of the contained item 300 according to this embodiment. Figure 6A is a schematic diagram of the object 501 contained in the transport container 100 according to this embodiment. Figure 6B is a schematic diagram of the object 500 contained in the transport container 100 according to this embodiment.

First, the worker surrounds the object 501 with cooling device 200A, which includes multiple cold storage parts 201 that are connected together and hold cold storage material inside, as shown in Figure 5A, and then surrounds the object 501 and cooling device 200A with cooling device 200B to form contained object 500. Figure 5B shows an overview of contained object 500 in which object 501 is contained.

As shown in Figures 5A and 5B, the object 501 is surrounded by the cooling device 200A and the cooling device 200B, and the cooling device 200A and the cooling device 200B have an area that intersects approximately perpendicularly to the direction in which the respective cold storage sections 201 are connected.

Since the cooling device 200A and the cooling device 200B have an area that intersects approximately perpendicularly to the direction in which the cold storage part 201 of the cooling device is connected, the object 501 can be surrounded from two directions, making it difficult for the object to be exposed. In addition, it is preferable that the height _l1 of the cooling device described later is longer than the length of any one side of the height h, width w, and depth d of the object described later. This makes it even more difficult for the object to be exposed, and the inflow of heat into the object can be suppressed.

Note that the object 501 may contain inclusions 502-505. For example, the inclusions 502-505 are four centrifuge tubes containing blood, and the object 501 is a plastic box, for example, shaped like a rectangular parallelepiped, that can protect the inclusions 502-505.

Next, the worker places the contained item 500 in the main body 101 of the transport container 100, which has a bottom surface 107 and a side surface 108, while stretching the main body 101, as shown in Figure 6A. Next, with the object 501 placed in the main body 101, the worker stretches the lid 102, which has a top surface 109 that is capable of opening and closing the opening 106 of the main body 101, and closes the opening 106 with the lid 102. When the opening 106 is closed, the transport container 100 takes on the shape shown in Figure 6B.

The worker described above follows the steps of surrounding the object 501 to form the contained item 500, placing the contained item 500 in the transport container 100, and closing the transport container 100, thereby causing the transport container 100 to contain the contained item 500.

When storing the contents 500 in the transport container 100 shown in Figure 6A, with the opening 106 closed by the lid portion 102, a portion of the contents 500 is hooked onto a portion of the extension portion 104 extending from the top surface portion 109 toward the side surface portion 108 of the main body portion 101.

When the lid portion 102 has the extension portion 104, if the volume of the contained item 500 is larger than the volume of the transport container 100, a part of the contained item 500 can be hooked onto a part of the extension portion 104, making it easier to fix the lid portion 102 to the main body portion 101 with the fixing portion 103.

When the lid portion 102 has the extension portion 104 in this manner, it becomes easier to fix the lid portion 102 to the main body portion 101 with the fixing portion 103, so that the contents 500 can be effectively stored in the transport container 100.

According to this embodiment, the main body 101 and the lid 102 of the transport container 100 have elasticity, so that the transport container 100 tightens the stored object 500. Since the transport container 100 tightens the cooling devices 200A and 200B included in the stored object 500, the cooling devices 200A and 200B are in close contact with the object 501 even when the transport container 100 is transported, so that the cooling devices 200A and 200B are less likely to slip off the object 501.

According to this embodiment, the main body 101 and the lid 102 of the transport container 100 have elasticity, so that the transport container 100 has approximately the same size as the contents 500 even when the transport container 100 contains the contents 500. Since the transport container 100 has approximately the same size as the contents 500 even when the transport container 100 contains the contents 500, the transport container 100 has excellent portability.

In addition, because the transport container 100 clamps the cold storage devices 200A and 200B contained in the stored object 500, the cold storage devices 200A and 200B do not bulge downward due to the weight of the cold storage material even when the cold storage material changes state from solid to liquid. This eliminates the density of the cold storage material in the cold storage section 201, and reduces the temperature variation in the target object 501.

According to this embodiment, the transport container 100 has heat insulation properties, and the cooling devices 200A and 200B have cold storage performance. Therefore, it is possible to cool only the cooling devices 200A and 200B in a freezer or the like, and the cooling devices 200A and 200B can be returned to a cold storage state in a short time.

Next, a specific example of this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to Figure 7. Figure 7 shows a temperature characteristic diagram showing the temperature change over time for Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 of the transport container according to this embodiment.

In Example 1, the height h of the empty transport container 100 is 120 mm, the width w is 210 mm, the depth d is 190 mm, the thickness f of the lid 102 is 30 mm, the material of the transport container 100 is chloroprene, and the thickness of the chloroprene is 5 mm. The volume and internal capacity of the transport container 100 are 7.5 L.

The cold storage devices 200A and 200B each have a weight of, for example, 500 g. The cold storage units 201 of the cold storage devices 200A and 200B have a height _l1 of 150 mm, a width _l2 of 40 mm, 30 ml of cold storage material is poured inside, and 16 units are connected together. The seal widths _l3 and _l4 of the cold storage units 201 are 10 mm. In this embodiment, the cold storage units 201 of the cold storage devices 200A and 200B are frozen in a freezer at, for example, -18°C.

In this embodiment, the operation of wrapping cooling device 200A and then wrapping cooling device 200B was repeated four times to form contained item 500. In this embodiment, four cooling devices 200A and four cooling devices 200B were used, so the total weight of cooling devices 200A and 200B was 4 kg.

In this embodiment, the cooling devices 200A and 200B are described as being wrapped four times around the object 501, but the cooling devices 200A and 200B may be wrapped around the object 501 once, or may be wrapped two or three times or any number of times.

The cold storage material can be selected from latent heat storage materials that are mainly made of water. In this embodiment, pharmaceuticals such as vaccines, blood, and cells are transported at temperatures between 2°C and 8°C, so a material with a melting point of 3°C was selected as the cold storage material.

The packaging material constituting the cooling devices 200A and 200B is a film laminated with 15 μm nylon, 12 μm aluminum-deposited PET, and 70 μm low-density polyethylene. The cooling devices 200A and 200B are configured so that the low-density polyethylene comes into contact with the cooling material. The seal portion 202 is formed by thermocompression bonding the opposing low-density polyethylene pieces together.

The inclusions 502-505 were four centrifuge tubes containing 10 ml of blood, and the object 501 had a height h of 40 mm, a width w of 192 mm, and a depth d of 150 mm. The transport container 100 containing the contents 500 consisting of the cooling devices 200A and 200B and the object 501 with the dimensions described above had a height h of 150 mm, a width w of 240 mm, and a depth d of 210 mm.

Since the transport container 100 containing the contents 500 is longer in all dimensions, height, width, and depth, than the empty transport container 100, it can be seen that pressure is acting on the contents 500 as indicated by the arrows in Figure 6B, which is causing the transport container 100 to return to its original shape.

This pressure causes the object 501 and the ice packs 200A, 200B to be clamped by the transport container 100, and by being clamped by the transport container 100, the object 501 and the ice packs 200A, 200B are in close contact with each other.

As Comparative Example 1 for comparison with Example 1, a polystyrene foam insulated container with a volume of 36 L and an internal volume of 20 L was used. A frozen cold storage material mainly made of paraffin with a melting point of 5°C was placed on each of the six walls inside this insulated container, and an object 501 was placed inside. In Comparative Example 1, the weight of the cold storage material was 4 kg.

In this embodiment, the transport container 100 and the insulated container of Comparative Example 1 were placed at rest at an ambient temperature of 35°C, and the temperature change over time of the object 501 was measured in this embodiment and Comparative Example 1.

Graph 701 in Figure 7 shows the change over time in the average temperature of the four centrifuge tubes of object 501 in this embodiment. Graph 702 in Figure 7 shows the change over time in the average temperature of the four centrifuge tubes of object 501 in comparison example 1. As can be seen from graphs 701 and 702, object 501 in this embodiment is maintained at 2°C to 8°C for a longer period of time than object 501 in comparison example 1.

In addition, in Example 1, polystyrene foam, which has a higher insulating effect than the chloroprene used as the insulating material in this embodiment, is used as the insulating material, and the volume of the transport container 100 in this embodiment is 1/5 smaller than that of the polystyrene foam in the comparative example.

In this manner, as in the present embodiment, by using an elastic material as the insulating material of the transport container 100 when transporting the object 501 to be kept cold, the cooling time for the object 501 to be kept at the desired temperature can be extended compared to when a non-elastic material is used.

In this embodiment, the transport container 100 may be further transported in a polystyrene foam case, in which case the cooling time for keeping the object 501 at the desired temperature will be even longer.

Next, as Comparative Example 2 for comparison with Example 1, a transport container 800 was prepared in which the contents 300 of Example 1 were not clamped by the body 101 and lid 102, as shown in Figure 8. When empty, the transport container 800 of Comparative Example 2 had a height h of 170 mm, a width w of 300 mm, a depth d of 280 mm, and a thickness f of the lid 102 of 30 mm, and the volume and internal capacity of the transport container 800 was 14.3 L.

The material and thickness of the transport container 800 are the same as those of the transport container 100 of Example 1, and the transport container 800 has the same insulating properties as those of Example 1. The contents 500 of Example 1 are contained in this transport container 800, but there is no extension of any side, and the contents 500 are not clamped by the main body 101 and the lid 102.

Next, as a transportation experiment, the transport container 100 and the transport container 800 were placed in a temperature-controlled room with an environmental temperature of 30°C, and the temperature change over time of each of the four centrifuge tubes of the inclusions 502 to 505 in this example and comparative example 2 was measured. Figure 9 is a temperature characteristic diagram showing the temperature change over time in example 1 and comparative example 2.

Graphs 901 to 904 in Fig. 9 show the temperature change over time of inclusions 502 to 505 in this embodiment. Graphs 905 to 908 in Fig. 9 show the temperature change over time of inclusions 502 to 505 in Comparative Example 2. Graph 909 in Fig. 9 shows the temperature change in the ambient temperature.

As can be seen from graphs 901-904 and 905-908, the time that inclusions 502-505 in this embodiment are maintained at 2°C to 8°C is longer than that of inclusions 502-505 in comparison example 2.

In Example 1, the contained object 500 is clamped by the main body 101 and the lid 102, and the object 501 and the cooling devices 200A, 200B are in close contact with each other, so that the cooling devices 200A, 200B do not shift from the object 501.

In Example 1, the insulation properties of the cooling devices 200A and 200B are maintained, so there is no heat inflow from outside the transport container 100, and the contents 502 to 505 can be kept cold for a long time at 3°C, which is the melting point of the cold storage material. Also, graph 901 in Figure 9 shows extremely small temperature variations compared to graph 902 in Figure 9, and the temperatures of the contents 502 to 505 are approximately the same.

This is because the fluidity of the cold storage material in the cold storage section 201 increases as the cold storage section changes phase from solid to liquid, but because the main body section 101 and the lid section 102 tighten the cold storage section, the cold storage material in the cold storage section 201 does not easily bulge downward or create areas of sparse and dense material, so that heat inflow from the outside is uniform and temperature variation within the object 501 is reduced.

Next, as Example 2, the same cooling devices as used in Example 1, each weighing 500 g, were wrapped twice with cooling device 1000A in the width and depth directions of object 501, and object 501 was wrapped twice with cooling device 1000B, as shown in Figures 10A and 10B.

Furthermore, object 501 was wrapped twice with cooling device 1000C in a direction rotated approximately 45 degrees clockwise relative to cooling device 1000A. Object 501 was also wrapped twice with cooling device 1000D in a direction rotated approximately 45 degrees clockwise relative to cooling device 1000B.

In Example 2, similar to Example 1, the object 501 was wrapped in a total of eight cooling devices weighing 4 kg to form the contained object 1000. Fig. 10A is a schematic diagram of the object being contained in the transport container according to Example 2. Fig. 10B is a schematic diagram of the object 501 being contained in the transport container according to Example 2.

Note that cooling devices 1000A and 1000B intersect with each other in a direction approximately perpendicular to the direction in which cold storage unit 201 is connected at the position where object 501 is placed. Similarly, cooling devices 1000C and 1000D intersect with each other in a direction approximately perpendicular to the direction in which cold storage unit 201 is connected at the position where object 501 is placed. Furthermore, cooling devices 1000A, 1000B and cooling devices 1000C, 1000D overlap at the position where object 501 is placed, rotated approximately 45 degrees.

As in Example 2, the object 501 can be surrounded from four directions, making it difficult for the object 501 to be exposed. For example, in Example 1, if the height _l1 of the cooling device is shorter than the length of any one side of the height h, width w, or depth d of the object and the object is surrounded from two directions with the cooling device, the corners of the object 501 will be exposed.

In contrast to this, in Example 2, in addition to the two directions mentioned above, the wire is wrapped around from a 45 degree angle, thereby preventing the object 501 from being exposed even in the case where the object 501 is exposed in Example 1.

Furthermore, in a transport experiment in which the transport container 100 contained the contents 1000 and the transport container 100 of Example 1 and the transport container 100 of Example 2 were placed in a temperature-controlled room with an environmental temperature of 40°C, the temperature change over time of the object 501 of Example 1 and Example 2 was measured. Figure 11 is a temperature characteristic diagram showing the temperature change over time of Example 1 and Example 2 of the transport container according to the first embodiment.

Graph 1101 in Fig. 11 shows the temperature change over time of object 501 in Example 2. Graph 1102 in Fig. 11 shows the temperature change over time of object 501 in Example 1. As can be seen from graphs 1101 and 1102, object 501 in Example 2 is maintained at 2°C to 8°C for a longer period of time than object 501 in Example 1.

In Example 2, compared to Example 1, the object 501 is also wrapped in a cooling device in a diagonal direction, and there is less heat inflow from the outside of the transport container 100, so the ability to cool the object 501 near the melting point of the cooling material is high. As a result, the object 501 is kept near 3°C, which is the melting point of the cooling material, for a long time, and the time it takes to exceed 8°C is longer.

In this embodiment, it is not necessary to provide the extension portion 104, as in the transport container 1200 shown in Figures 12A, 12B, and 12C. Figure 12A is a perspective view of another transport container according to this embodiment when closed, as seen from the front. Figure 12B is a perspective view of another transport container according to this embodiment when closed, as seen from the back. Figure 12C is a schematic view of another transport container according to this embodiment when opened.

Body portion 1201 corresponds to body portion 101, lid portion 1202 corresponds to lid portion 102, fixing portion 1203 corresponds to fixing portion 103, and connection portion 1205 corresponds to connection portion 105. Also, opening portion 1206 corresponds to opening portion 106, bottom surface portion 1207 corresponds to bottom surface portion 107, side portion 1208 corresponds to side surface portion 108, top surface portion 1209 corresponds to top surface portion 109, and bottom plate portion 1210 corresponds to bottom plate portion 110. Compared to transport container 100, transport container 1200 does not have extension portion 104, so there are fewer manufacturing steps and therefore lower manufacturing costs.

[Second embodiment]
In the first embodiment, the object 501 to be transported in the transport container 100 is described as having a rectangular parallelepiped shape, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the object 1301 may have a complex shape, such as a boat shape, as shown in Figure 13A.

13A, 13B, and 14, a method of storing the contents 1300 in the transport container 1400 will be described. Fig. 13A is a schematic diagram of the object 1301 and cooling devices 200A and 200B to be stored in the transport container 1400 according to this embodiment.

Figure 13B is a schematic diagram of the contained item 1300 according to this embodiment. Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of the contained item 1300 when it is contained in the transport container 1400 according to this embodiment. As with the transport containers 100 and 1200 in the first embodiment, the transport container 1400 contains a rubber material such as chloroprene, and therefore elastically deforms to tighten the contained item 1300.

14, the transport container 1400 of this embodiment includes a body 1401 having a bottom surface 1407 and a side surface 1408 and elasticity, as in the first embodiment, and a lid 1402 having an elasticity and allowing an opening 1406 of the body 1401 to be opened and closed. The body 1401 and the lid 1402 are thermally insulated to prevent the inflow of heat from the outside of the transport container 1400.

In addition, when an object 1301 (hereinafter, which may be referred to as contained object 1300) surrounded by cooling devices 200A, 200B having multiple connected cold storage sections 201 each holding a cold storage material therein, as in the first embodiment, is contained inside, the volume of the transport container 1400 increases from the volume of the transport container 1400 before the object is contained therein.

First, the worker surrounds the object 1301 with cooling device 200A, which includes multiple cold storage parts 201 that are connected together and hold cold storage material inside, and then surrounds the object 1301 and cooling device 200A with cooling device 200B to form the contained object 1300. Note that the object 1301 is, for example, a boat-shaped plastic container containing 25 ml of cell culture medium.

Next, the worker places the contents 1300 in the transport container 1400 via the opening 1406 having the fixing portion 1403, and closes the opening 1406 with the fixing portion 1403. Note that the fixing portion 1403 is a fastener, for example a linear fastener, but may also be a hook-and-loop fastener or a point fastener.

The transport container 1400 contains the object 1300 by the procedure of an operator surrounding the object 1301 to make it the contained object 1300, placing the contained object 1300 in the transport container 1400, and closing the transport container 1400. In this way, the transport container 1400 of this embodiment can obtain the same effect as the first embodiment even when the object 1301 having a shape other than a rectangular parallelepiped is contained as the contained object 1300.

Specifically, the transport container 1400 tightens the cooling devices 200A, 200B contained in the stored object 1300, so that even when the transport container 1400 is transported, the cooling devices 200A, 200B are in close contact with the object 1301, making it difficult for the cooling devices 200A, 200B to slip off the object 1301.

Specifically, let us take as an example a case where the height h of the empty transport container 1400 is 40 mm, the width w is 260 mm, and the depth d is 330 mm. In this case, when the object 1301 is stored in the transport container 1400 as the stored object 1300 using one each of the cooling devices 200A and 200B, the transport container 1400 has a height h of 100 mm, a width w of 265 mm, and a depth d of 335 mm.

In this case, the transport container 1400 is expanded in all directions, height h, width w, and depth d, so that the exterior is returning to its original dimensions. Note that the transport container 1400 may have a radiant heat reflecting layer such as aluminum formed on the outside to enhance the insulating effect by keeping the target temperature of the object 1301 for a long period of time.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible. For example, the configurations shown in the above-described embodiment can be replaced with configurations that are substantially the same as those shown in the above-described embodiment, that have the same effects, or that can achieve the same purpose.

Claims (12)

a main body having a bottom surface and a side surface;
A cover portion that can open and close the opening of the main body portion;
a cooling device in which a plurality of cold storage parts, each of which holds a cold storage material therein, are connected by a thin film packaging material;
A shipping container comprising:
The cooling device surrounds the object,
The main body and the cover have elasticity and stretchability .
When the object is accommodated inside the main body and the volume of the internal space formed by the main body and the lid is increased, the main body elastically tightens the object to bring the cooling tool and the object into close contact with each other.
Transport container. The transport container further comprises:
a connection portion that connects the main body portion and the lid portion;
a fixing portion that fixes the lid portion to the main body portion so as to open and close the opening portion;
Equipped with
2. The shipping container of claim 1. The fixing portion is formed of a fastener.
3. The shipping container of claim 2. The lid portion is
A plate-shaped upper surface portion corresponding to the opening;
an extension portion extending from the top surface portion toward the side surface portion of the main body portion when the opening is closed by the lid portion,
The transport container according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The bottom surface portion further includes a bottom plate portion having a lower elasticity than the main body portion.
The transport container according to any one of claims 1 to 4. The main body and the lid have thermal insulation properties.
The transport container according to any one of claims 1 to 5. The Young's modulus of the main body and the lid is 100 MPa or less.
The transport container according to any one of claims 1 to 6. The Young's modulus of the body and the lid is 10 MPa or less.
8. The shipping container of claim 7. The transport container includes an object surrounded by the cooling device, and when the object is stored in the transport container, the pressure applied to the object from the transport container is equal to or greater than the pressure at which the cooling device stops after plastic deformation occurs when the cooling device is pressurized, and is less than the pressure at which the cooling device does not break.
The transport container according to any one of claims 1 to 8. The at least one cooling device includes a set of at least two cooling devices, the object is surrounded by the set of cooling devices, and each cooling device included in the set of cooling devices intersects approximately perpendicularly with respect to a direction in which the cold storage unit is connected at a position where the object is placed.
The transport container according to any one of claims 1 to 9. The at least one cooling device includes two sets of cooling devices each consisting of the at least two cooling devices,
The two sets of cooling devices are arranged so that the cooling devices intersect approximately perpendicularly at a position where the object is placed with respect to a direction in which the cold storage units are connected, and the two sets of cooling devices are rotated approximately 45 degrees and overlap each other.
The transport container according to any one of claims 1 to 9. The material forming the body and the lid includes chloroprene.
The transport container according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

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