PACKAGE MEMBER

Abstract

A package member includes a first cushioning member and a bottom supporting member that supports the first cushioning member. The first cushioning member includes concave portions in which bottoms of a plurality of packaged articles are fitted, and a convex portion that is inserted between the packaged articles. A predetermined space is formed at backsides of the concave portions. The bottom supporting member is arranged in the predetermined space in contact with the backside of any of the concave portions of the first cushioning member and is inflatable when filled with air.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-201762, filed on Aug. 5, 2008, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The embodiments discussed herein are directed to a package member, more particularly, to a package member that makes packaging simpler and reduces impact on an object being transported.

BACKGROUND

Upon transportation of electronic components, assembly components, or electronics, a cushioning member is generally placed between an external box and a separate box to protect a packaged article from impact during the transportation. The cushioning member is selected from various types in consideration of the impact resistance, dust aversion, size and weight of an object to be transported, and the size and material of the external box.

For example, for transporting assembly components such as head gimbal assembly (HGA) of magnetic heads that are used in a magnetic memory device, a plurality of HGAs are housed in which dedicated trays. The dedicated trays are stacked and housed in a separate box, and a plurality of separate boxes are housed in an external box to be transported. At that time, a cushioning member formed of polystyrene foam is used to absorb impact.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a package example when polystyrene foam is used as a cushioning member. As illustrated in FIG. 8, four separate boxes 100 are housed in an internal box 210, and the corners of the internal box 210 are fixed in an external box 200 by using cushioning members 300 formed of polystyrene foam. In FIG. 8, although the corners of the lower portions of the separate boxes 100 are fixed by the cushioning members 300, the corners of the upper portions of the separate boxes 100 are also fixed by the cushioning members 300 (not illustrated).

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the cushioning members 300 are respectively sandwiched between the inner surfaces of the external box 200 and the corner surfaces of the internal box 210 to form a space. When impact is applied to the external box 200, the impact is not directly introduced into the internal box 210 via the space from the external box 200, but is introduced into the internal box 210 via the cushioning members 300 from the external box 200 and is further introduced into the separate boxes 100. Because most of impact energy is absorbed by the cushioning members 300, large impact energy is not directly added to the separate boxes 100.

At the time of the transportation of general electronics, a cushioning member shaped of plastic sheet is used in addition to a cushioning member shaped of polystyrene foam. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of cushioning members 400 and 401 formed of plastic sheet and the separate boxes 100. Four concave portions 410 for fitting therein the separate boxes 100 are formed in the cushioning member 400. Convex portions are formed around the concave portions 410. Moreover, edges 430 are formed to project outward from the bottom of the cushioning member 400. The edges 430 are in contact with the inner surface of an external box (not illustrated). The backsides of the concave portions 410 are positioned at a position, at which the backsides are higher than the edge 430 by a predetermined height, to form a space between the backsides and the external box. The cushioning member 401 has concave portions, convex portions, and edges similarly to the cushioning member 400.

The cushioning member 400 is arranged on the inside bottom of the external box and the cushioning member 401 is arranged to cover the tops of the separate boxes 100 that are fitted in the concave portions 410 of the cushioning member 400. When the cushioning member 401 covers the tops of the separate boxes 100, concave portions 411 of the cushioning member 401 are fitted in the upper portions of the separate boxes 100. Therefore, a part of convex portions 420 and 421 of the cushioning members 400 and 401 are inserted between the separate boxes 100 so that the separate boxes 100 are not in contact with each other.

When impact is applied to the external box (not illustrated), the most of impact energy is absorbed by the plastic sheet of the cushioning members 400 and 401 and the convex portions 420 and 421 of the plastic sheet. Therefore, large impact energy is not directly added to the separate boxes 100.

For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 05-51070 discloses a conventional technology related to a cushioning member for packages, in which a cushioning member is produced by shaping corrugated fiberboard. The conventional technology considers an environment and improves recycling efficiency by using corrugated fiberboard instead of a plastic sheet.

Further, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 05-16670 discloses a conventional technology using a pouched member having a gas space, of which a volume is variable by sealing air, as a cushioning member. The pouched member functions as a cushioning member by putting therein gas. Then, the pouched member is easily collected and discarded by drawing gas after transportation.

As described above, at the time of the transportation of assembly components such as HGA, a cushioning member made by shaping polystyrene foam has been used. However, because HGA has a sensitive structure, there has been a demand for developing a packaging method for easily absorbing impact at the time of transportation compared with a conventional packaging method.

The method of using the cushioning member formed of plastic sheet as illustrated in FIG. 9 achieves better effect by shaping the cushioning member with the aid of the elasticity of plastic sheet when the weight of a package is small (light). Generally, when a cushioning member is shaped to have a thin sheet thickness (for example, the sheet thickness of plastic sheet is 0.5 to 0.8 millimeter), an effect acting as the cushioning member can be expected because the rigidity becomes small. However, when a plurality of separate boxes is accommodated, the cushioning member is bended due to the weight of the separate boxes by making the sheet thickness thin. This leads to decline the separate boxes that are fitted in the concave portions of the cushioning member. Therefore, it is difficult to cover the tops of the separate boxes with another cushioning member.

With reference to FIGS. 10 and 11, an example will be described in which the cushioning member is bent when the separate boxes are arranged on the cushioning member as described above. FIG. 10 illustrates a state in which the cushioning member 400 is bended due to the weight of the separate boxes 100 and the separate boxes 100 are inclined toward the center of the cushioning member 400 when the separate boxes 100 are placed in the cushioning member 400 (are fitted in the concave portions). In FIG. 10, the external box is not illustrated. In this state, the cushioning member 401 cannot cover the tops of the separate boxes.

FIGS. 11A to 11C illustrate a bending procedure of the cushioning member 400 when being cut by an A surface of FIG. 10. FIG. 11A illustrates a state in which the cushioning member 400 is arranged in the external box 200. FIG. 11B illustrates a state in which the separate boxes 100 are arranged on the cushioning member 400 from the state illustrated in FIG. 11A. At this time, the cushioning member 400 is bended due to the arrangement of the separate boxes 100. For this reason, the separate boxes 100 are inclined toward the center of the cushioning member 400. FIG. 11C illustrates a state in which the upper gap between the separate boxes 100 becomes narrow due to the inclination of the separate boxes 100 and the convex portion 421 of the cushioning member 401 cannot be easily inserted between the separate boxes 100. Therefore, a packaging work becomes difficult because the upper portions of the separate boxes 100 cannot be fitted in the concave portions 411 of the cushioning member 401.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of an embodiment, a package member includes a first cushioning member and a bottom supporting member. The first cushioning member includes concave portions in which bottoms of a plurality of packaged articles are fitted, and a convex portion that is inserted between the packaged articles. The predetermined space is formed at backsides of the concave portions. The bottom supporting member is arranged in the predetermined space in contact with the backsides of the concave portions of the first cushioning member and that is inflatable when charged with air.

The object and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is an example plan view of a cushioning member according to a first embodiment;

FIG. 1B is an example side view of the cushioning member according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 2A is an example schematic diagram of a bottom supporting member according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 2B is an example schematic diagram of the bottom supporting member when assembled according to the first embodiment;

FIGS. 3A to 3C are example schematic diagrams for explaining a packaging procedure according to the first embodiment;

FIGS. 4A to 4C are example schematic diagrams for explaining a packaging procedure according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5A is an example schematic diagram of a cushioning member according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 5B is an example schematic diagram of a bottom supporting member according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 6A is an example schematic diagram for explaining a packaging procedure according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 6B is an example bottom view of the bottom supporting member according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a comparative example of an impact value between a cushioning member of the embodiment and a cushioning member of a conventional technology;

FIG. 8 is an example perspective view of a conventional cushioning member formed of polystyrene foam;

FIG. 9 is an example perspective view of a conventional cushioning member formed of plastic sheet;

FIG. 10 is an example perspective view of a wrong arrangement of the cushioning member formed of plastic sheet; and

FIGS. 11A to 11C are example schematic diagrams for explaining a procedure of wrong arrangement of the cushioning member formed of plastic sheet.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT(S)

Exemplary embodiments of the invention will be explained in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A package member of a first embodiment includes a cushioning member and a bottom supporting member. With reference to FIGS. 1A to 4C, a description will now be given of the shape of a package and how to use the package.

FIG. 1A illustrates an example of the shape of a cushioning member 500 made by shaping flexible plastic sheet according to the first embodiment. FIG. 1B illustrates an example of the shape of the cushioning member 500. The cushioning member 500 according to the first embodiment is made by shaping polystyrene sheet of 0.8 millimeter (mm) thickness. In the cushioning member, its width is 460 mm, its depth is 400 mm, and its height is 110 mm.

The first embodiment describes an example of packing four separate boxes in an external box. The cushioning member 500 includes four concave portions 510 (its height is 55 mm) tailored to the width and depth of the separate box. Two cushioning members are arranged at the upper and lower sides of the external box, and the separate boxes are respectively fitted in upper and lower concave portions. Convex portions 520 are formed to be linked to the concave portions 510 and be crossed in the center of the cushioning member. The convex portions 520 are inserted between the four separate boxes. In other words, the separate boxes are fitted in the concave portions 510 by inserting the convex portions 520 between the separate boxes. In the separate box, its width is 140 mm, its depth is 110 mm, its height is 200 mm, and the weight is 600 grams.

A hollow 530 illustrated in FIG. 1A permits the passage of a pipe of a gas charge/discharge unit 620 of the bottom supporting member 600 described below.

A space 512 is formed at the backsides of the concave portions 510 as indicated by dotted lines of FIG. 1B as a cross section. The bottom of the cushioning member 500 is opened. When the cushioning member 500 is arranged in the external box, a side portion 540 and a bending portion 541 bent at the bottom side of the cushioning member 500 contact the inner surface of the external box. Therefore, the separate boxes arranged in the cushioning member 500 are supported by the cushioning member 500 at the center of the external box in a state where the separate boxes are floating in the external box.

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of the bottom supporting member 600 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram of the bottom supporting member 600 when assembled according to the first embodiment. The bottom supporting member 600 includes a gas accommodating unit 610 that is filled with gas like a balloon to inflate it and the gas charge/discharge unit 620 that charges and discharges gas to and from the gas accommodating unit 610.

The gas accommodating unit 610 includes a volume varying unit 611 that swells out by charging gas and coupling units 612 and 613 that are connected to the volume varying unit 611 to be coupled with another gas accommodating unit or the gas charge/discharge unit 620.

The gas charge/discharge unit 620 includes a charge/discharge port 621 that charges and discharges gas, a pipe 622 that is connected to the charge/discharge port 621 to permit the passage of gas into the volume varying unit 611, a coupling unit 623 that is coupled with the gas accommodating unit 610. In addition, the charge/discharge port 621 includes a cock that locks and unlocks the gas that is charged in the gas accommodating unit 610.

FIG. 2B illustrates the bottom supporting member 600 made of four gas accommodating units (610) and one gas charge/discharge unit (620). According to the first embodiment, the gas accommodating units 610 of the bottom supporting member 600 are arranged at the backsides of the four concave portions 510 of the cushioning member 500 illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B.

In the first embodiment, the bottom supporting member 600 is made of polyvinyl chloride. However, the bottom supporting member 600 may be made of materials other than polyvinyl chloride if the bottom supporting member made of the other materials can be inflated by charging gas and have mechanically sufficient intensity. When seeing the gas accommodating unit 610 from the upper side, its shape is a circle and its diameter is 100 mm. When seeing the gas accommodating unit 610 from the lateral side, its shape is an ellipse and its thickness is 55 mm (gas-charged state) as illustrated in FIG. 2B.

Next, an example of a procedure of packing four separate boxes by using the cushioning member 500 and the bottom supporting member 600 as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A to 4C. FIGS. 3A to 4C are cross-sectional views for easy understanding of the function of the bottom supporting member 600.

First, in FIGS. 3A to 3C, the bottom supporting member 600 is arranged on the inside bottom of the external box 200 in which the gas charge/discharge unit 620 is arranged along the inner surface of the external box 200 to project the charge/discharge port 621 out of the upper side of the external box 200. Then, the charge/discharge port 621 is opened to put therein air with a pressure of 3 Kg/cm² and its cock is locked after inflating the gas accommodating units 610. The position of the gas accommodating units 610 placed on the bottom of the external box 200 is modified so that the four inflated gas accommodating units 610 are arranged substantially just under the four concave portions 510 of the cushioning member 500 to be arranged next. In addition, charging air into the gas accommodating units 610 can be performed before putting the bottom supporting member 600 in the external box 200 (FIG. 3A).

Next, the cushioning member 500 is arranged from the top of the bottom supporting member 600. The backsides of the concave portions 510 of the cushioning member 500 contact the gas accommodating units 610 of the bottom supporting member 600. The gas charge/discharge unit 620 is arranged through the hollow 530 (see FIG. 1A) of the cushioning member 500 (FIG. 3B).

The lower portions of the separate boxes 100 are respectively fitted in the four concave portions 510 of the cushioning member 500. Because the gas accommodating units 610 are arranged at the backsides of the concave portions 510, the cushioning member 500 is not bended due to the separate boxes 100 fitted in the concave portions 510 (FIG. 3C).

An upper cushioning member 501 covers the separate boxes 100 arranged in the cushioning member 500 from the top of the box. Although the cushioning member 500 and the cushioning member 501 have the same shape, a member disposed at the bottoms of the separate boxes 100 is the cushioning member 500 and a member disposed at the tops of the separate boxes 100 is the cushioning member 501. At this time, the concave portions of the cushioning member 501 are fitted in the upper portions of the separate boxes 100. As a result, the convex portions of the cushioning member 501 are inserted between the separate boxes 100 (FIG. 4A).

When the arrangement of the cushioning member 501 is finished, the cock of the charge/discharge port 621 of the bottom supporting member 600 is opened to draw the air charged in the gas accommodating units 610. In this way, the gas accommodating units 610 wither away, and thus the gas accommodating units 610 is downward detached from the backsides of the concave portions 510 of the cushioning member 500 (FIG. 4B).

If the upper cover of the external box 200 is closed, the packaging work is finished (FIG. 4C).

As illustrated in FIG. 4C, the separate boxes 100 are supported by the cushioning members 500 and 501 at the center of the external box 200. By employing such a configuration, most of impact energy can be absorbed by the elasticity of the cushioning members 500 and 501 when the external box 200 is shocked from the outside.

According to the first embodiment, the package member accommodates the four separate boxes in the external box. The gas accommodating units of the bottom supporting member respectively contact the bottoms of the separate boxes via the cushioning member. According to a second embodiment, a package member accommodates eight separate boxes in an external box. The package member includes two upper cushioning members, two lower cushioning members, and a bottom supporting member having two gas accommodating units. The second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 5A to 7.

FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram of a cushioning member 700 according to the second embodiment. FIG. 5B is a schematic diagram of a bottom supporting member 800 according to the second embodiment. The cushioning member 700 includes four concave portions 710 similarly to the cushioning member 500. The cushioning member 700 is different from the cushioning member 500 in minor ways and is similar to the cushioning member 500 in most ways.

The bottom supporting member 800 includes two gas accommodating units 811 of which diameters are 200 mm. The other of the bottom supporting member 800 is similar to the bottom supporting member 600.

An example of packing using the cushioning member 700 and the bottom supporting member 800 will be below explained. FIG. 6A illustrates a state where air is charged into the bottom supporting member 800 that is arranged on the bottom of an external box 201, the two cushioning members 700 are arranged thereon, the eight separate boxes 100 are arranged on the cushioning members 700, and the two cushioning members 701 covers the separate boxes 100. Because air is not yet drawn, the gas accommodating units 811 of the bottom supporting member 800 are in contact with the backsides of the concave portions 710 of the cushioning members 700.

After the work as illustrated in FIG. 6A, air is drawn from a charge/discharge port 821 of the bottom supporting member 800, and the cover of the external box 201 is closed to finish the packaging work.

FIG. 6B is a bottom view of the bottom supporting member 800 when seeing the bottom supporting member 800 from beneath after removing the bottom of the external box 201. The gas accommodating units 811 of the bottom supporting member 800 are respectively arranged at the substantially central position of the cushioning members 700. Even when employing such a configuration, the bending caused by the weight of the separate boxes 100 of the cushioning members 700 can be prevented.

FIG. 7 is a table indicating a comparison example of impact values acting on the separate boxes when the cushioning members 700 and 701 formed of plastic sheet of the embodiment are used and when the cushioning member 300 formed of polystyrene foam according to the conventional packaging example illustrated in FIG. 8 is used. In both the embodiment and the conventional technology, eight separate boxes are packed. In the conventional technology, eight separate boxes are housed in an internal box. Impact values are acceleration values when a wireless impact sensor is provided in the separate box 100 and the package member is dropped to a plastic tile from the height of 80 centimeters. As can be seen from FIG. 7, the method of the embodiment improves an impact value by 15% to 50% compared with the conventional method. The impact values of the conventional method are large and have fluctuation. This reason is that the separate boxes 100 move inside the internal box 210 because the separate boxes 100 housed in the internal box 210 are not individually separated.

As described above, according to an embodiment, a plurality of packages are fitted in the concave portions of the first cushioning member, and the convex portion of the first cushioning member is inserted between the packages. Further, a bottom supporting member is arranged between the backsides of the concave portions of the first cushioning member and the bottom surface of the external box, which prevents a lower cushioning member from bending when the packages are arranged on the lower cushioning member if the bottom supporting member is filled with air.

Moreover, a bottom supporting member filled with air is arranged at the backsides of the concave portions of the first cushioning member. Therefore, the cushioning member is not bend when packaged articles are fitted in the concave portions of the cushioning member. Thus, a convex portion of a cushioning member can be easily inserted between the packaged articles, and the efficiency of a packaging work can be improved. Moreover, because the bottom supporting member suppresses the bending of the first cushioning member, the thickness of the first cushioning member can be made thin and impact at the time of transportation can be absorbed.

All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions, nor does the organization of such examples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority and inferiority of the invention. Although the embodiment(s) of the present inventions have been described in detail, it should be understood that the various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A package member comprising:

a first cushioning member that includes concave portions in which bottoms of a plurality of packaged articles are fitted, a convex portion that is inserted between the packaged articles, and a predetermined space that is formed at backsides of the concave portions; and

a bottom supporting member that is arranged in the predetermined space in contact with the backsides of the concave portions of the first cushioning member and that is inflatable when charged with air.

2. The package member according to claim 1, further comprising a second cushioning member that includes concave portions in which upper portions of the packaged articles are fitted, and a convex portion that is inserted between the packaged articles.

3. The package member according to claim 1, wherein the bottom supporting member includes a gas charge-discharge unit that charges air into and discharges air from the bottom supporting member, and a shutoff cock that opens and closes the gas charge-discharge unit.

4. The package member according to claim 2, wherein the bottom supporting member includes a gas charge-discharge unit that charges air into and discharges air from the bottom supporting member, and a shutoff cock that opens and closes the gas charge-discharge unit.

5. The package member according to claim 1, wherein the bottom supporting member is arranged in contact with backside of at least one of the concave portions of the first cushioning member.

6. The package member according to claim 2, wherein the bottom supporting member is arranged in contact with backside of at least one of the concave portions of the first cushioning member.

7. The package member according to claim 3, wherein the bottom supporting member is arranged in contact with backside of at least one of the concave portions of the first cushioning member.