EP0051614B1 - Method of conditioning and box for its implementation - Google Patents

Abstract

PCT No. PCT/FR81/00061 Sec. 371 Date Dec. 23, 1981 Sec. 102(e) Date Dec. 23, 1981 PCT Filed May 5, 1981 PCT Pub. No. WO81/03162 PCT Pub. Date Nov. 12, 1981.Method and box for conditioning products which must be stored under determined temperature conditions, generally different from the conditions of the environment. The method consists in placing within an open, thermally insulated enclosure (1), some removable reserve elements (26 to 30), placing the products within the volume delimited by the reserve elements (26 to 30) inside the enclosure (1), removing the reserve elements (26 to 30), replacing them by heat or cold accumulating elements brought to the required predetermined temperature and having shapes and dimensions similar to those of the reserve elements (26 to 30), and closing the enclosure (1). Application to the conditioning of products sensitive to temperature, especially such as vaccines, serums, etc.

Description

The present invention relates to a packaging method and a box for its implementation.

More specifically, the present invention relates to the packaging of products which must remain subject to determined temperature conditions, generally different from the ambient conditions, for example for reasons of preservation as is the case with regard to certain fresh food products or the vaccines, which it is important to keep at a temperature below a determined temperature threshold, whatever the ambient temperature conditions, during their transport or their storage outside refrigerated rooms.

To transport or store such products fearing temperature rises outside of refrigerated rooms, or to transport or store products fearing a temperature drop, it is known to place these products in a thermally insulated enclosure and to enclose them in this enclosure with accumulators of frigories or calories respectively brought beforehand to a predetermined temperature required by the nature of the product, the thermal insulation characteristics of the enclosure, the ambient temperature conditions to which it will be subjected externally, and the storage time wish; for example, FR-A-1,124,663 describes a method of preserving a perishable product such as edible ice, consisting of garnishing with cold storage accumulators, suitably cooled, the inner faces of the bottom and of the lateral periphery of a usual corrugated cardboard box, before placing the product in the interior space thus delimited, then covering this product with another suitably cooled frigor accumulator element, and finally closing the box; with the exception of this last accumulator element, the accumulator elements are in this case all placed in the box before the product to be packaged.

Such a method of packaging can give any satisfaction when it comes to packing in a chamber a reduced number of objects, requiring only a short time of keeping the chamber in the open state and offering conveniences. rational positioning of the accumulator elements respectively of frigories or calories, that is to say generally a positioning of these elements along the insulating walls of the enclosure to create at this level a respectively cold or hot barrier, as it is the case in FR-A-1 124 663, more particularly concerned with the packaging of a single food ice cream of parallelepiped shape.

It is not the same when you have to package in a single enclosure a large number of individual products, such as ampoules of vaccine.

In this case, the known packaging technique consists in distributing arbitrarily between the products, as and when they are placed in the enclosure kept open, elements accumulating frigories (in the case of vaccines or sera ), brought to the required temperature.

On the one hand, the fact that the packaging of such products requires keeping the enclosure in the open state for a long time has the consequence that the accumulators of frigories placed as packaging progresses lose part of their frigories before the enclosure is closed, which removes their effectiveness and forces them to oversize or increase the number, without there being any certainty of total efficiency, particularly with regard to the elements placed first in the enclosure.

On the other hand, the random distribution of the accumulators of frigories within the packaged products gives rise to temperature heterogeneities inside the enclosure, and in particular to relatively hot points where the temperature can exceed the maximum threshold of temperature that the product to be conditioned cannot safely exceed; caution therefore also requires oversizing the accumulator elements, or providing for an excessive number.

Naturally, the same drawbacks are constant when, by this traditional method, products are packaged whose temperature must not drop below a determined threshold, in the presence of calorie accumulating elements.

In either case, it is necessary to oversize or multiply the accumulator elements, that is to say to reduce the useful capacity of the enclosure, that is to say further the amount of product packaged in an enclosure of determined interior dimensions.

In the particular case of packaging ampoules of vaccine or serum in the presence of accumulators of frigories distributed between these ampoules, there is also the disadvantage of a risk of perforation of the accumulators of frigories, generally produced under the form of bags containing a liquid accumulating frigories, which then spreads on the product and stains it.

The object of the present invention is to remedy these drawbacks, by offering the possibility of placing the elements which accumulate calories or frigories in the enclosure after the products to be packaged have been placed therein, with the possibility of optimal distribution of the accumulator elements, making it possible to use them to the best and consequently to reduce their number and their size to a minimum necessary.

To this end, the packaging method according to the invention, for products which must remain subjected to determined temperature conditions, generally different from the ambient conditions, consisting in placing in a thermally insulated packaging enclosure, initially open in a determined zone, removable reserve elements, then the products, in the volume delimited by the reserve elements in the enclosure, to then remove the reserve elements and replace them with calorie or frigory accumulator elements previously brought to a predetermined temperature required and having shapes and dimensions similar to those of the reserve elements, and in closing the enclosure, is characterized in that the interior periphery of the enclosure, open in said zone, is entirely covered with removable reserve elements before placing the products in the volume delimited by these elements inside the enclosure, then, after having placed the products, only part of the reserve elements are removed and replaced by accumulator elements brought to said temperature predetermined and having shapes and dimensions similar to those of the replaced reserve elements, then placed in the enclosure, at the level of said zone thereof, accumulator elements brought to said predetermined temperature and having shapes and dimensions such that '' they are contiguous with the previously placed accumulator elements, then the said zone of the enclosure is closed and the latter is reopened in a different zone, opposite the remaining reserve elements, then these are removed and replaced by accumulator elements brought to said predetermined temperature and having shapes and dimensions analogous to those of these replaced reserve elements, the elements ac accumulators being mutually contiguous along their entire periphery so as to define inside the enclosure a continuous barrier brought to the required predetermined temperature, and the enclosure is closed.

Thus, after closing the enclosure, a thermal barrier is obtained, at the predetermined temperature required, over the entire inner periphery thereof, which increases its insulating capacities; the use of reserve elements in a box during the placing of products to be packaged therein is already known in itself from US-A-3 188 884, which describes a packaging process using a cylindrical box of vertical axis, open at its upper part, which method consists in placing centrally in this box, vertically, a tubular reserve element, to be filled with material to be packaged, in practice cans, the space remaining between this element reserve and the wall of the box, substituting ice for the reserve element, and closing the box; this known method does not however make it possible to form a continuous wall of accumulators of frigories or calories around a packaged product, after the packaging of this product, as it is on the other hand the case of the process according to the present invention .

Naturally, reserve elements can also be distributed inside the enclosure with a view to subsequent replacement, after the product has been put in place, by accumulator elements, which makes it possible to obtain an internal compartmentalization of the enclosure by means of accumulator elements which lose practically nothing of the frigories or calories stored before the enclosure is closed.

This optimal distribution of the accumulator elements and this maximum use of their accumulation capacity makes it possible to reduce the number and the accumulated volume, and consequently to have a larger useful volume of the enclosure, if a comparison with traditional technique.

In addition, in the particular case of packaging of ampoules in the presence of accumulators of frigories, the possibility of a rigorous relative positioning of the latter and of the conditioned bulbs allows a judicious choice of this positioning and consequently a minimization of the risks. of perforation.

• La figure 1 montre une vue en perspective, avec arrachement partiel d'une boîte destinée à la mise en oeuvre du procédé selon l'invention, en position ouverte;
• la figure 2 montre une vue de cette boîte en coupe par un plan horizontal, c'est-à-dire parallèle à son fond, tel que le plan II-II de la figure 1;
• les figures 3 à 12 illustrent des étapes successives du conditionnement au moyen de la boîte illustrée aux figures 1 et 2, cette boîte étant vue en coupe par un plan vertical tel que le plan III-III de la figure 1.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description below, relating to a non-limiting mode of implementation, as well as from the appended drawings which form an integral part of this description.

• Figure 1 shows a perspective view, with partial cutaway of a box intended for the implementation of the method according to the invention, in the open position;
• Figure 2 shows a view of this box in section through a horizontal plane, that is to say parallel to its bottom, such as the plane II-II of Figure 1;
• FIGS. 3 to 12 illustrate successive stages of packaging by means of the box illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, this box being seen in section through a vertical plane such as the plane III-III of FIG. 1.

In its illustrated embodiment, the box has externally as internally the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped, particularly well suited to a stack and a juxtaposition of boxes in a minimal space, but it is naturally possible to implement the invention on boxes of different shape.

In order to thermally isolate the enclosure 1 from the outside, which it delimits internally, the box has walls having thermal insulation properties; thus, in the example illustrated, the box is defined by a corrugated cardboard envelope 2 integrally lined internally with plates 3 to 8 of a material having qualities of thermal insulation, such as for example a polyurethane foam. having in the form of plates or molded elements which, at their junction generally near an edge of the box, have a form of mutual interlocking in baffles; the thickness of these plates or insulating elements 3 to 8 is chosen as a function of the desired duration of conservation in the box of the products which it is desired to package therein, of the ambient temperature at which this box is intended to be exposed externally, and the nature of the products to be kept in this box.

The envelope 2 of corrugated cardboard is in the form, known per se in the field of packaging cartons, of a belt defined by four walls 9 to 12 rectangular, parallel two by two and identical two by two, that l 'We will assume oriented vertically and connected two by two, at right angles, along vertical edges of the envelope 2; each of these walls 9 to 11 carries, respectively along its upper horizontal edge and along its lower horizontal edge, flaps which, folded down and superimposed in a position which is supposed to be horizontal, respectively form a cover and a bottom for envelope 2; thus, in the example illustrated, the two vertical, parallel, identical walls 9 and 11 carry along their upper edge a rectangular flap, not visible for reasons of clarity as regards wall 9 but visible and designated by the reference 13 with regard to the wall 11, and along their lower edge a flap also invisible with regard to the wall 9 and designated by the reference 14 with regard to the wall 11; similarly, the pa identical vertical kings 10 and 12 carry along their respective upper edges a rectangular flap, respectively 15 and 16, and along their respective lower edges a second flap, respectively 17 and 18; note that these concepts of upper edge and lower edge refer to the position illustrated in Figure 1 and Figures 3 to 7, Figures 8 to 12 showing the box in a position where it is returned.

In a manner known per se, the envelope is completely closed when the flaps fitted to the upper edges of the four walls 9 to 12 are folded over each other at right angles to the walls 9 to 12, to define the cover of the envelope, as well as the flaps fitted to the lower edges of the walls 9 to 12 and which, folded over each other at 90 ° relative to these walls, define the bottom of the envelope.

When the box is closed, that is to say when the envelope 2 is closed and the elements of thermal insulation lining 3 to 8 are in place, each of these elements 3 to 8 has inwardly the box a flat face, respectively 19 to 24, parallel to the wall of the casing 2 that this element doubles, that is to say respectively to the walls 9 to 12, to the bottom wall and to the cover wall , these faces being contiguous to define the enclosure 1.

According to the invention, during the production of the box or prior to the packaging of a product inside thereof, the upper flaps being in the open position and the element 8 removed, the inside the enclosure 1 of the removable reserve elements, the role of which is to provide inside the enclosure, during filling thereof, volumes capable of receiving thereafter, before closing, elements which accumulate calories from frigories brought to a predetermined temperature required by the preservation of the packaged product.

These reserve elements can have various shapes and be distributed in various ways inside the enclosure 1, provided that they can be removed and replaced by calorie or frigory accumulating elements after at least partial filling, and preferably total, from enclosure 1 using the product to be packaged.

Thus, for example, in an embodiment shown diagrammatically in FIG. 2 by dashed lines 25, these reserve elements may constitute an interior partitioning of the enclosure 1, and be in the form of vertical panels 25 in the position of the box illustrated in FIG. 1, which can be extracted by the open cover of the latter, after filling with product to condition the volume which they delimit inside the enclosure 1, to replace them by accumulators of calories or frigories.

However, according to a preferred embodiment illustrated in solid lines, and which can advantageously be combined with the previous one, reserve elements fully cover the walls of the open box, inside the enclosure 1.

Thus, if we refer to Figures 1 to 3, we see that the face 23 is fully covered with a flat reserve element 26, whose plan shape is rectangular and whose plan dimensions are those of the face 26 delimited inside the enclosure 1 by the faces 19 to 22 of the insulating elements 3 to 6; these faces 19 to 22 are also entirely or almost entirely covered with reserve elements in the form of rectangular panels, respectively 27 to 30, contiguous in pairs and contiguous with the element 26.

The reserve elements 26, the only role of which is to temporarily reserve, during the filling of the enclosure 1, the volume necessary for the accumulators of calories or frigories, can be of very diverse realization; it may for example be thick corrugated cardboard, possibly in multiple thickness, but other embodiments could naturally be chosen without departing from the scope of the invention; advantageously, these elements are made of a sufficiently strong material so that they can be reused.

Before filling, the box is in the form illustrated in Figures 1 to 3, where the reserve panels 26 to 30 are in place against the corresponding faces and where, the upper flaps such as 13, 15 and 16 being placed in a position where they release the upper face of the box, the element 8 is removed to allow access to the interior of the enclosure 1; the bottom flaps such as 14, 17, 18 then temporarily occupy their closed position, where they are superimposed in a position at right angles to the side walls 9 to 12 of the envelope 2.

The volume delimited inside the enclosure 1 is filled with the reserve elements 26 to 30, as shown by the arrows 31 in FIG. 3, to a level at most equivalent to the level 24a which is intended to occupy the face 24 of the element 8 when the box is closed, and preferably only up to a level 24b lower than this level 24a by a distance equivalent to the thickness of an element 37 accumulator of calories or frigories that we will then place above the product 32 in the enclosure before closing it by the element 8 and then by superposition of the flaps such as 13, 15 and 16, as will appear below.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the box being always open at its upper part but the product 32 being in place in its final packaging position, the reserve elements 27 to 30 are released by sliding them upwards, c that is to say towards the outside of the box via the upper opening of the latter, between the product 32 and the faces, respectively 19 to 22, of the insulating elements 3 to 6 turned towards the inside of the pregnant; this movement is shown diagrammatically by arrows 33 in FIG. 4, where only the reserve elements 28 to 30 appear.

During the next stage of packaging, illustrated in FIG. 5, there are introduced into the space thus cleared around the product 32, inside the enclosure 1, elements accumulating calories or frigories whose shapes and dimensions are such that they fully occupy the volume thus released; thus, the reserve element 28 is replaced by an accumulator element 34 having an identical shape and dimensions, the element 29 by an accumulator element 35 having a shape and dimensions identical to those of this element 29, in element 30 an accumulator element 36 having a shape and dimensions similar to those of this element 30, and in element 27 an accumulator element not visible in the figures, and which has a shape and dimensions identical to those of element 27; the storage cells were previously brought to the required predetermined temperature.

The product 32 and the respective upper edges of the accumulator elements 34 to 36 and of the accumulator element substituted for the reserve element 27 are then covered, by means of a similar accumulator element 37, also brought beforehand to the predetermined temperature. required; taking into account the difference between levels 24a and 24b, the similarity of shapes and dimensions between the accumulator elements and the reserve elements which they replace, and the filling with product 32 up to level 24b during the step illustrated in FIG. 4, the element 37 is joined to the accumulator elements 34 to 36 and the analogous accumulator element substituted for the reserve element 27, at the level of the respective upper edges of these elements, and fully occupies the volume located inside the enclosure, between levels 24b and 24a.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the element 37 is then covered by means of the element 8, which closes the enclosure 1 at its upper part by fitting onto the respective upper edges of the insulating elements 3 to 6 and comes into contact through its face 24, at level 24a, with the accumulator element 37, then the envelope 2 is closed by folding and superimposing the flaps such as 15, 13 and 16 horizontally, which is then secured between them, which places the assembly in the state illustrated in FIG. 7, where the enclosure 1, around the product 32, is lined internally with accumulator elements such as 34 to 37, over its entire periphery at l except for its bottom corresponding to the face 23 of the insulating element 7, at the level of which it is still only doubled by the reserve element 26.

The next stage of packaging consists of inverting the box, which places the flaps such as 14, 17, 18 in an upper horizontal position, as well as the reserve element 26 and the insulating element 7, as shown in the diagram. figure 8.

The envelope is then opened by pivoting flaps such as 14, 17, 18, which releases the insulating element 7 which is then removed to open the enclosure and release the reserve element 26 , which we remove as shown diagrammatically the arrows 38 in FIG. 9.

As shown in FIG. 10, the reserve element 26 is then replaced by an accumulator element 39 brought beforehand to a required predetermined temperature and which, because of its shape and dimensions identical to those of the element 26, comes superimpose by its edges on the corresponding edges of the accumulator elements such as 34 to 36 doubling the respective faces 19 to 22 of the insulating elements 3 to 6.

The insulating element 7 is then replaced, which is superimposed on the element 39 and on the edges of the insulating elements 3 to 6 then turned upwards, as shown in FIG. 11, then the envelope 2 is closed by folding down the flaps such as 14, 17, 18 in a horizontal position, at 90 ° relative to the walls 9 to 12, position in which these flaps are secured.

The structure then presented by the packaging is illustrated in FIG. 12, where it can be seen that the product 32 is completely enveloped by a double barrier constituted towards the outside by the thermal insulating elements, of which only are visible in FIG. 12 the elements 4, 6, 7, 8, and inwards by the accumulator elements previously brought to the required predetermined temperature, and of which are visible in Figure 12 only the elements 34, 36, 37, 39; it will be noted that these two barriers are continuous, and that the barrier constituted by the accumulator elements brought to the required temperature is placed as late as possible during the packaging process, which makes it possible to place the conditioned product 32 in optimal conditions of storage at the predetermined temperature required.

Naturally, numerous variants of the embodiment described and shown can be provided, in particular with regard to the method of closing the envelope 2 which, in an alternative embodiment, employing for example two complementary insulating shells instead of the plurality of insulating panels 3 to 8 illustrated, could be omitted.

Naturally, depending on the embodiment of the box and the mode of implementation of the chosen packaging process, it may be necessary to give to the reserve elements, and to the elements accumulating calories or frigories which replace them, a shape and a structure different from those which have been described and represented.

Claims (3)

1. A method for conditioning products which are to be stored under predetermined temperature conditions which generally differ from the surrounding conditions, the method consisting in placing in a conditioning enclosure (1), thermally insulated (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), and initially open in a predetermined zone (13, 15, 16), removable reserve elements (27, 28, 29, 30), and then the products (32), in the volume bounded by the reserve elements in the enclosure (1); then removing the reserve elements (26, 27,28, 29, 30) and replacing them by elements (34, 35, 36, 39) which store heat or cold and which have previously been brought to a required predetermined temperature and have shapes and dimensions similar to those of the reserve elements (26, 27, 28, 29, 30), and then closing the enclosure, characterized in that the whole internal periphery of the enclosure (1), open in the said zone (13, 15, 16), is lined with removable reserve elements (26, 27, 28, 29, 30) before the products (32) are placed in the volume bounded by such elements (26, 27, 28, 29, 30) inside the enclosure (1); then, after placing-in the products (32), a portion (27, 28, 29, 30) only of the reserve elements (26, 27, 28, 29, 30) are removed and replaced by storage elements (34, 35, 36) brought to such predetermined temperature and having shapes and dimensions similar to those of the replaced reserve elements (27, 28, 29, 30); then in the enclosure (1), at the level of the said zone (13, 15, 16), storage elements (37) are placed which are brought to such predetermined temperature and have shapes and dimensions such that they engage the storage elements (34, 35, 36) previously placed in; then such zone (13, 15, 16) of the enclosure (1) is closed, and the enclosure (1) is reopened in a different zone (14, 17, 18) opposite the remaining reserve elements (26), whereafter the remaining reserve elements (26) are removed and replaced by storage elements (39) brought to such predetermined temperature and having shapes and dimensions similar to those of the replaced reserve elements (26), the storage elements (34, 35, 36, 39) engaging one another along their whole respective periphery, so as to define inside the enclosure (1) a continuous barrier brought to the required predetermined temperature, and then reclosing the enclosure (1).

2. A method according to claim 1, the said conditioning enclosure (1) having a base wall (14, 17, 18), at least one lateral peripheral wall (9, 10, 11, 12), and a cover wall (13, 15, 16) defining said initial opening zone of the enclosure (1), the said walls (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18) being thermally insulated (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), characterized in that the whole of the base wall (14,17,18) and the lateral peripheral wall (9, 10, 11, 12) of the enclosure (1), open in the said zone (13, 15, 16), are lined with removable reserve elements (26, 27, 28, 29, 30), inside the enclosure (1), before the products (32) are placed in the volume bounded by such elements (26, 27, 28, 29, 30) inside the enclosure (1); then, after the products (32) have been placed-in, the reserve elements (27, 28, 29, 30), corresponding to the lateral peripheral wall (9, 10, 11, 12), are removed and replaced by storage elements (34, 35, 36) brought to such predetermined temperature and having shapes and dimensions similar to those of the replaced reserve elements; then in the enclosure (1), at the level of the initial opening zone (13, 15, 16) of the enclosure (1), storage elements (37) are brought which are brought to the required predetermined temperature and have shapes and dimensions such that they engage the previously placed storage elements (34, 35, 36) over the whole of their periphery; then the initial opening zone (13, 15, 16) of the enclosure (1) is closed by means of the cover wall (13, 15, 16) and the enclosure (1) is reopened at the level of the base wall (14, 17, 18); the reserve elements (26) corresponding to the base wall (14, 17, 18) are removed and replaced by storage elements (39) at the required predetermined temperature and having shapes and dimensions similar to those of the replaced reserve elements (26), the storage elements (34, 35, 36, 39) engaging one another along the whole of their respective periphery so as to define inside the enclosure (1) a continuous barrier brought to the required predetermined temperature; whereafter the enclosure is reclosed by means of the base wall (14, 17, 18).

3. A box for the performance of a method according to claim 2, comprising a plurality of walls (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18) which are insulated (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) and which together define an enclosure (1) comprising a base wall (14, 17, 18); at least one lateral peripheral wall (9, 10, 11, 12); and at least one cover wall (13, 15, 16) adapted to disengage an aperture; and, inside the enclosure (1), removable reserve elements (26, 27, 28, 29, 30) which are adapted to be replaced by elements (34, 35, 36, 39) which store heat or cold and have shapes and dimensions similar to those of the replaced reserve elements (26, 27, 28, 29, 30), characterized in that the reserve elements (26, 27, 28, 29, 30) define inside the enclosure (1) a continuous lining along its lateral peripheral wall (9, 10, 11, 12) and its base wall (14, 17, 18), the base wall (14, 17, 18) being adapted to be opened and then reclosed.

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