Apparatus and method to treat materials for pest control and storage
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture
InventorYong-Biao Liu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention is directed to an apparatus and method of treating agricultural commodities for pests. It is a portable, dismantleable box that can be erected around a stack or array of loaded shipping containers. An impermeably envelope is wrapped around the box and is used to create a controlled atmosphere for treatment of the contents of the shipping containers. This is achieved by creating hypobaric conditions inside the impermeable envelope, by introducing pesticide to the impermeable envelope, or by some combination of both vacuum and pesticide. Finally, the apparatus may be used for postharvest storage of materials that are susceptible to spoilage or pest damage.
Claims19
An apparatus for treating materials, which comprises:
- a. an array of rigid panels adapted to substantially surround an array of containers containing materials and to form a dismantleable enclosure around said array of containers;
- b. an impermeable envelope adapted to form a flexible enclosure around said dismantleable enclosure;
- c. at least one port in said impermeable envelope for passage of gas;
- and
- d. means attached to said port to treat the materials inside the impermeable envelope.
A method for treating materials comprising the following steps:
- a. providing an array of containers containing material to be treated;
- b. substantially surrounding said array of containers with an array of rigid panels to form a dismantleable enclosure around said array of containers;
- c. surrounding said dismantleable enclosure with a flexible impermeable envelope;
- and
- d. creating a controlled atmosphere inside said impermeable envelope.
An apparatus for treating materials, comprising:
- a. a substantially symmetrical stack of boxes containing the materials to be treated;
- b. a shell around said boxes, said shell formed by application of a rigid panel to each side of said stack, each of said panels being of approximately the same size and shape of the side to which it is applied;
- c. an impermeable envelope wrapped around said shell;
- d. at least one port in said impermeable envelope for passage of gas;
- and
- e. means attached to said port to modify the atmospheric conditions inside the impermeable envelope.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.