Thermal insulating container, method of manufacturing thereof and hermetic closing kit therewith

Abstract

A thermal insulating container for containing substances and maintaining substances at a determined temperature is disclosed. The container has a continuous containment wall which extends in a single body and defines an inner containment region with an opening. The containment wall has a first, or outer layer, of ceramic material, and a second, or inner layer, facing towards the inner containment region of ceramic material and separated from the first layer forming a gap region inside which a vacuum is created. The outer layer has a hole for exit of the air during the step of firing the ceramic material and for extraction of air and creation of the vacuum inside the gap following the firing. The container also has closing means for hermetically closing the hole once the vacuum has been created.

1 . A thermal insulating container for containing one or more substances and maintaining the substances at a determined temperature, the container comprising a continuous containment wall which extends in a single body and defines an inner containment region with an opening, the containment wall having an edge portion in proximity of the opening, wherein the containment wall is constituted by:
 a first layer, or outer layer, of ceramic material, and a second layer, or inner layer, facing towards the inner containment region of ceramic material and separated from the first layer so as to form a gap region inside which the vacuum is created, in which the outer layer comprises at least a hole for exit of the air during the step of firing the ceramic material and for extraction of the air and creation of the vacuum inside the gap following said firing and wherein the container further comprises closing means for hermetically closing the hole once the vacuum has been created.   
     
     
         2 . The container according to  claim 1 , wherein the ceramic material is hard feldspathic porcelain. 
     
     
         3 . The container according to  claim 1 , wherein the ceramic material of the first and second layer prevalently comprises feldspar, quartzes and kaolin and variable densities of material due to structures similar to sponges and/or nanospheres. 
     
     
         4 . The container according to  claim 1 , wherein the first layer forms a continuous body with the second layer and is in direct contact with the second layer at least at the edge portion of the containment wall. 
     
     
         5 . The container according to  claim 1 , wherein the first layer is never in direct contact with the second layer and the container further comprises a junction element of ceramic material positioned at the edge portion of the containment wall for an indirect connection between the first and the second layer. 
     
     
         6 . The container according to  claim 5 , wherein ceramic material of the junction element comprises a spongy reticulated material or nanospheres made of a hard feldspathic porcelain defining a density of the material which is lower than the density of the first and second layer. 
     
     
         7 . The container according to  claim 1 , wherein the containment wall comprises at least a region having low heat conduction at the edge portion, wherein the ceramic material of the first and second layer in said region comprises a spongy reticulated material or nanospheres made of a hard feldspathic porcelain defining a density of the material which is lower than the density of the material outside said region. 
     
     
         8 . The container according to  claim 1 , wherein the closing means are kept in position by a pressure variation exerted on said closing means by the vacuum created inside the gap. 
     
     
         9 . A hermetic closing kit comprising a container according to  claim 1  and a closing element to be positioned at the edge portion of the containment wall of the container so as to close the opening of said container, the closing element being constituted by two layers of ceramic material separate from one another and defining a gap inside which the vacuum is created and at least a sealing element made of a polymeric material coupled to the closing element, wherein, in a closed configuration, the sealing element is in direct contact with the containment wall of the container for hermetically closing the opening. 
     
     
         10 . A method for realising a thermal insulating container according to  claim 1 , the method comprising following steps:
 realising a first layer, or outer layer, of ceramic material with a firing process at a temperature T 1 , said first layer defining the outer continuous containment wall of the container, realising a second layer, or inner layer, of ceramic material with a firing process at a temperature T 2 , equal to T 1 , said second layer defining the inner continuous containment wall of the container and being separated from the first layer so as to form a gap region, and create the vacuum inside the gap formed between the first and the second layer, wherein the creation of the vacuum takes place by extracting the air through a hole present on the outer layer, said hole being previously used for exit of the air during the firing step of the ceramic material and maintaining the vacuum inside the gap is done by use of closing means which hermetically close the hole once the vacuum has been created.   
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the first layer and the second layer are made contemporaneously with a single firing process, the first layer forming a continuous body with the second layer and being in direct contact with the second layer at least at the edge portion of the containment wall. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 10 , further comprising, before creating the vacuum inside the gap, a step of realising a junction element of ceramic material by a firing process at a temperature T 3  and hermetically fixing said junction element at the edge portion of the containment wall for an indirect connection between the first and the second layer. 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 12 , wherein the step of hermetically fixing the junction element to the containment wall takes place by a firing process at a temperature T 4 , much lower than T 1 , or by means of a gluing or welding process. 
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the closing means are held in position by a pressure change exerted on said closing means by the vacuum created inside the gap. 
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the hermetic closing of the hole using a robotic system guarantees a null or very nearly null value of the pressure inside the gap.