DE20209034U1 - Multi-chamber sealed pouch with inner sealing tip - Google Patents

Description

Meissner, Bolte & Partner

Law firm GbR

PO Box 860624
81633 Munich

Huhtamaki Ronsberg, June 11, 2002

Branch of Huhtamaki M/VRG-039-DE/G

Germany GmbH & Co. KG MB/PO/LZ/ir/fr

Heinrich-Nicolaus-Str. 6
D-87671 Ronsberg/Allgäu

Multi-chamber seal bag with inner seal tip

Description

The invention relates to a multi-chamber sealed bag according to the preamble of claim 1.

Multi-chamber sealed bags are already known, for example in the form of multi-edge sealed bags. Examples of these are DE 77 23 214 Ul or DE 34 26 465 Al. A corresponding construction is also shown in WO 95/05327. These multi-edge sealed bags consist of at least two chambers separated from one another in a fluid-tight manner by a sealing seam. The sealing seam which separates the chambers from one another is designed in such a way that it at least partially tears open under the influence of external pressure, so that a fluid connection is established between the separated chambers and mixing of the respective chamber contents is possible.

In the multi-edge or multi-chamber sealed bags known to date, these are essentially arranged next to one another, so that complete mixing of the bag contents is problematic depending on their consistency, such as viscosity or particle size. Another problem is the sealing seam separating the chambers from one another. This must be significantly less strong than the edge seams. This is the only way to ensure that under the influence of external pressure only the sealing seam separating the chambers from one another tears open, but that the chambers do not leak outwards. The functional reliability of the multi-chamber bags known to date leaves much to be desired.

Meissner, Bolte & Partner

M/VRG-039-DE/G

The invention is based on the object of developing known multi-chamber bags, the chambers of which are separated from one another by a welded or sealed seam, in such a way that the functional reliability is increased and rapid miscibility of the substances present in the chambers is ensured.

This object is achieved by a multi-chamber sealed bag according to claim 1.

In particular, the object is achieved by a multi-chamber seal bag with a first chamber and at least one second chamber, which are arranged fluid-tightly separated from one another by a weld or seal seam, wherein the weld or seal seam separating the chambers from one another tears open at least partially under the influence of pressure and creates a fluid connection between the separated chambers, wherein a front wall and a rear wall are welded or sealed to one another along their outer edges and define the first chamber between the front wall and the rear wall, wherein the at least one second chamber is arranged within the first chamber.

An essential point of the invention is that the at least one second chamber is arranged within the first chamber. When pressure is exerted on the weld or sealing seam by which the at least one second chamber is separated from the first chamber,

the welds or sealing seams connecting the front and rear walls, which are located on their outer edges, remain completely unaffected, so that there is no risk of this seal being broken. This safely eliminates the risk of leakage to the outside.
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Another essential point of the invention is that the arrangement of the second chamber(s) within the first chamber ensures rapid and complete mixing of the chamber contents if the weld or sealing seam (hereinafter referred to as separating seal) is broken, since the inner chamber can enter into fluid communication with the first, outer chamber from at least two sides - depending on the embodiment also from three or from all sides.

Meissner, Bolte & Partner

M/VRG-039-DE/G

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According to one embodiment of the invention, the at least one second chamber is formed by welding or sealing the front wall and the rear wall together. This is particularly advantageous because no additional material costs are incurred for the production of the at least one second chamber, but rather the same front wall and rear wall that already form the first chamber are used to form the at least one second chamber.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the sealing seam separating the chambers from one another is narrower, preferably 30% - 80% narrower and particularly preferably 50% - 75% narrower than the sealing seam along the outer edges. This ensures that the sealing seam separating the chambers from one another is weaker than the two outer sealing seams, so that the risk of the bag contents accidentally leaking outwards is optimized and thus significantly reduced in addition to the spatial separation of the separating seal from the outer seal. Due to the narrower design of the sealing seam separating the chambers from one another, only a small amount of pressure is required on the separating sealing seam to ensure fluid communication between the at least two initially separated chambers of the sealed bag.

According to a further preferred embodiment, the sealing seam separating the chambers from one another has at least one predetermined breaking point, in particular in the form of a tip protruding into a chamber. With this design, it is possible to break the separating seal, in addition to applying pressure vertically to it, also by applying pressure to the part of the sealing bag into whose chamber the tip protrudes; thus to produce a peeling effect on the tip, so that the seal breaks at the point of the tip and fluid communication is possible between the originally separated chambers. The design of the predetermined breaking point in the form of a tip is particularly advantageous because the pressure forces that occur when the part of the sealing bag into which the tip protrudes is compressed act on the tip from all sides, so that the point of the greatest peeling effect is concentrated at the tip. A further advantage of this design is that, due to the homogeneous pressure distribution within a liquid, several identical separating seals on several second chambers can be broken essentially simultaneously or, depending on the seal strength, in a certain gradation.

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Meissner, Bolte & Partner

M/VRG-039-DE/G

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Thus, a further preferred embodiment of the invention consists in designing the tip in such a way that when pressure is applied to the chamber into which the tip extends, the maximum pressure prevails at the tip and peeling of the sealing seam is triggered.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the outer angle of the tip is more than 270°, preferably more than 300° and particularly preferably between 330° and 345°. This advantageously allows the pressure required to peel the separating seal to be adjusted via the "tip degree". The more obtuse the outer angle at the tip, the higher the pressure required to break the separating seal. Conversely, the pressure required to break the separating seal is lower the more pointed the tip of the separating seal is, or the larger the outer angle of the tip.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the sealing seam separating the chambers from one another has a lower strength, preferably 20% - 80% lower and particularly preferably 50% - 75% lower, than the edge sealing seams. The edge sealing seams are therefore preferably sealed more tightly than the separating sealing seams. This feature contributes significantly to the functional reliability of the multi-chamber sealing bag.

0 According to a further embodiment of the invention, the at least one second chamber is arranged at the edge of the first chamber in such a way that the first chamber and the second chamber have at least one, optionally also two or more common external seals or welds. In this way, it is possible to close the at least two chambers in a fluid-tight manner after filling by means of a common seam.

According to the invention, the at least one second chamber can be arranged in a corner of the first chamber. In this way, two inner separating seal seams and at least one point for breaking open the separating seal seam are available for mixing the respective chamber contents. However, it is also possible to integrate the at least one second chamber on a long side of the outer seal of the first chamber, so that in a triangular embodiment of the at least one second chamber one point is available, and in a square or pentagonal embodiment two or three points are available. At this point, it should be emphasized that both the first chamber and the at least

Meissner, Bolte & Partner

M/VRG-039-DE/G

a second chamber can have irregular shapes. They can be rectangular or in the shape of a circle, for example, but also star-shaped or in almost any other three-dimensionally structured shape. By rounding off a point, which may occur with one shape, the peeling effect at this point can be reduced, so that functional reliability is maintained even with unusual shapes of the multi-chamber sealed bag. If it is desired to break open the first chamber towards the outside, the outer edge seal can also be broken at a point provided for this purpose, where a point is formed, for example, by applying increased pressure after the inner separating seal has been broken. It is of course also possible to open the sealed bag from the outside using a notch as is usual with such bags.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the sealed bag has a bottom wall in the form of a W-fold. This bottom wall can advantageously serve as a standing base. This has a substantially oval-shaped standing surface after the multi-chamber bag has been filled.

According to a further embodiment, the front wall, the rear wall and the base wall are made in one piece from a common film cut. This advantageous design further contributes to the functional reliability of the sealed bag, since with such a one-piece design variant there is no risk of the seal breaking or the individual wall parts being welded together. Likewise, a one-piece basic bag shape significantly reduces the number of work steps for producing the bag, since the base wall no longer has to be sealed between the front and rear walls. This means that the number of sealing steps can be reduced. This of course also applies to a design of the multi-chamber sealed bag without a separate base wall.

Preferably, the outer edges of the bottom W-fold facing each other have a punched-out area so that in this area the edges of the W-fold facing away from each other or the outer edges of the front and back of the bag can be welded or sealed directly together. This holds the multi-chamber bag together in the area of the two outer edges of the W-fold. As already mentioned above, this creates an approximately oval-shaped

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Meissner, Bolte & Partner

M/VRG-039-DE/G

Standing area. If necessary, the edge seal of the W-fold can be separated so that the bag can be spread out in a V shape at the bottom without forming a static standing base. In any case, the edge punching in the area of the base fold ensures that there is no weakening of the seal, which would occur when sealing from four layers of film to two layers of film.

Further embodiments of the invention emerge from the subclaims.

The invention is described below using an embodiment, which is explained in more detail with reference to the figures. Here:

Fig.1

a first schematic embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the schematic embodiment of the invention according to

Fig. 1, and

Fig.3

a detailed section of the embodiment according to Fig. 1.

In the following description, the same reference numbers are used for identical and equivalent parts.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic representation of a multi-chamber sealed bag 10, which consists of a front wall 14 and a rear wall (not shown). The front wall and the rear wall are connected to one another via sealed outer edges 18 and form a first chamber 12. A second chamber 13 is arranged within the first chamber 12, which is separated from the first chamber 12 by separating seal seams 11. The second chamber is provided in a corner region of the multi-chamber sealed bag 10. The first chamber and the second chamber 13 have common seams 19, which are part of the outer edges 18 of the multi-chamber sealed bag 10. In the lower region of the outer edges 18, punched-out areas can be seen on both sides, through which, in the case of an embodiment that includes a bottom wall (not visible), a two-layer film seal is possible.

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Meissner, Bolte & Partner

M/VRG-039-DE/G

Fig. 2 shows a side view of a multi-chamber sealed bag 10. The multi-chamber sealed bag 10 is made in one piece from a front wall 14, a rear wall 15 and a bottom wall 16 in the form of a W-fold 17. The front wall 14, the rear wall 15 and the bottom wall 16 are sealed together via common outer edges 18 and form a first chamber 12. A second chamber 13 is separated from the first chamber 12 by a separating seal seam 11. A common seam 19 closes both chambers 12 and 13.

Fig. 3 shows a section of Fig. 1, showing how the pressure forces that build up in the chamber 12 when external pressure is applied act on the sealing tip 21. As can be clearly seen, these peeling forces act from all sides, i.e. not only directly from the front on the tip, but also from the side and from almost the back on the tip. As soon as the peeling effect of the pressure forces on the sealing tip 21 has caused the chamber 13 to break open, the separating seal 11 continues to separate, thus enabling optimal mixing of the bag contents of the two chambers 12 and 13. As already shown in Fig. 1, a common seam 19 serves as a sealing closure for the chambers 12 and 13.

At this point, it should be noted that all of the parts described above, viewed individually and in any combination, in particular the details shown in the drawings, are claimed as essential to the invention. Modifications to this are familiar to the person skilled in the art.

List of reference symbols

10 Multi-chamber seal bag 11 Separating seal seam 12 first chamber 13 second chamber 14 Front wall 15 Back wall 16 Floor wall 17 W-fold

Meissner, Bolte& Partner m/vrg-039-de/g

18 Outer edges 19 common seam 20 Punching 21 Great

Claims (12)

1. Multi-chamber seal bag ( 10 ) with a first chamber ( 12 ) and at least one second chamber ( 13 ), which are arranged so as to be separated from one another in a fluid-tight manner by a weld or seal seam ( 11 ), wherein the weld or seal seam ( 11 ) separating the chambers from one another tears open at least partially under the action of pressure and creates a fluid connection between the separated chambers ( 12 , 13 ), characterized in that a front wall ( 14 ) and a rear wall ( 15 ) are welded or sealed to one another along their outer edges ( 18 ) and define the first chamber ( 12 ) between the front wall ( 14 ) and the rear wall ( 15 ), wherein the at least one second chamber ( 13 ) is arranged within the first chamber ( 12 ). 2. Sealed bag according to claim 1, characterized in that the at least one second chamber ( 13 ) is formed by welding or sealing the front wall ( 14 ) and the rear wall ( 15 ) together. 3. Sealed bag according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the sealing seam ( 11 ) separating the chambers ( 12 , 13 ) from one another is narrower, preferably 30%-80% narrower and particularly preferably 50%-75% narrower than the sealing seam along the two outer edges ( 18 ). 4. Sealed bag according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sealing seam ( 11 ) separating the chambers ( 12 , 13 ) from one another has at least one predetermined breaking point, in particular in the form of a tip ( 21 ) protruding into a chamber. 5. Sealed bag according to claim 4, characterized in that the tip ( 21 ) is designed in such a way that when pressure is applied to the chamber into which the tip ( 21 ) projects, the maximum pressure prevails at the tip ( 21 ) and triggers peeling of the sealing seam ( 11 ). 6. Sealed bag according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the outer angle of the tip ( 21 ) is more than 270°, preferably more than 300° and particularly preferably between 330° and 345°. 7. Sealed bag according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sealing seam ( 11 ) separating the chambers ( 12 , 13 ) from one another has a lower, preferably 20%-80% lower and particularly preferably 50%-75% lower strength than the edge sealing seams. 8. Sealed bag according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least one second chamber ( 13 ) is arranged at the edge in the first chamber ( 12 ) such that the first chamber ( 12 ) and the second chamber ( 13 ) have a common external seal or weld ( 19 ). 9. Sealed bag according to claim 8, characterized in that the two chambers ( 12 , 13 ) are closed fluid-tight after filling by means of a common seam ( 19 ). 10. Sealed bag according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a bottom wall ( 16 ) in the form of a W-fold ( 17 ) is provided. 11. Sealed bag according to claim 10, characterized in that the front wall ( 14 ), the rear wall ( 15 ) and the bottom wall ( 16 ) are made in one piece from a common film blank. 12. Sealed bag according to one of claims 10 or 11, characterized in that outer edges of the bottom-side W-fold ( 17 ) facing each other have a punched-out portion ( 20 ), so that in this region edges of the W-fold ( 17 ) facing away from each other or the outer edges of the front and back of the bag can be welded or sealed directly to one another.