EP0093480B1 - Improvements in or relating to vacuum packaging - Google Patents

Improvements in or relating to vacuum packaging Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0093480B1
EP0093480B1 EP83300134A EP83300134A EP0093480B1 EP 0093480 B1 EP0093480 B1 EP 0093480B1 EP 83300134 A EP83300134 A EP 83300134A EP 83300134 A EP83300134 A EP 83300134A EP 0093480 B1 EP0093480 B1 EP 0093480B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
support sheet
cover film
formation
product
collector
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
EP83300134A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0093480A3 (en
EP0093480A2 (en
Inventor
Ermanno Bortolani
Sandro Brembilla
Enzo Vassarotti
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Cryovac LLC
Original Assignee
WR Grace and Co
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by WR Grace and Co filed Critical WR Grace and Co
Publication of EP0093480A2 publication Critical patent/EP0093480A2/en
Publication of EP0093480A3 publication Critical patent/EP0093480A3/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0093480B1 publication Critical patent/EP0093480B1/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B31/00—Packaging articles or materials under special atmospheric or gaseous conditions; Adding propellants to aerosol containers
    • B65B31/02—Filling, closing, or filling and closing, containers or wrappers in chambers maintained under vacuum or superatmospheric pressure or containing a special atmosphere, e.g. of inert gas
    • B65B31/021—Filling, closing, or filling and closing, containers or wrappers in chambers maintained under vacuum or superatmospheric pressure or containing a special atmosphere, e.g. of inert gas the containers or wrappers being interconnected
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
    • B65B11/00—Wrapping, e.g. partially or wholly enclosing, articles or quantities of material, in strips, sheets or blanks, of flexible material
    • B65B11/50—Enclosing articles, or quantities of material, by disposing contents between two sheets, e.g. pocketed sheets, and securing their opposed free margins
    • B65B11/52—Enclosing articles, or quantities of material, by disposing contents between two sheets, e.g. pocketed sheets, and securing their opposed free margins one sheet being rendered plastic, e.g. by heating, and forced by fluid pressure, e.g. vacuum, into engagement with the other sheet and contents, e.g. skin-, blister-, or bubble- packaging

Definitions

  • the present invention provides an improved method and apparatus for producing a vacuum package, and in particular so as to avoid or reduce the incidence of "webbing" around tall products packaged on a relatively flat support.
  • the present invention provides a process for vacuum packaging, comprising placing at least one product article on a support sheet and covering that product article with a cover film sealed to the support sheet with the application of vacuum around the product article or articles and between the support sheet and cover film, as known e.g. from US-A-3 204 384, such process being characterised by the step of providing an upstanding or recess formation on the side of the support sheet to which the cover film is attached during the closing operation, such formation serving as a cover film "collector" to absorb material of the cover film which would otherwise form webbing on the adjacent product article.
  • the "collector" formation alongside the product article or array of product articles may comprise a thermoformed upstanding rib in the support sheet, or a filler strip laid on the support sheet, or an upstanding marginal rib in the case of a rigid support sheet, or a recess in the support sheet due to local downward deformation.
  • Each of these possibilities for the "collector” formation constitutes a particularly convenient way of defining a location to absorb surplus cover film material so as to avoid webbing.
  • the "collector" formation and the collected cover film material is subsequently trimmed from the finished pack to leave an attractive end product with no sign of the surplus cover film.
  • this process is incorporated in a fully automated packaging line by carrying out the packaging on a continuous cycle in which the support sheet and the cover film are advanced to a sealing station with a plurality of product articles on the support sheet; and, after sealing, the product articles which are packed simultaneously at the sealing station are trimmed from the continuous composite web comprising the support sheet and cover film.
  • Other ways of achieving the collector formation are well within the capability of the expert in this field.
  • the invention also provides apparatus for vacuum packaging, comprising: a vacuum chamber adapted to receive a support sheet and a cover film over the support sheet; and means for evacuating a space between the cover film and support sheet to form a vacuum pack of the cover film sealed to the support sheet around a product article; characterised by means defining an upstanding or recess formation in the cover film to define a cover film "collector" in the finished pack to absorb cover film material which would otherwise form webbing on a said product article being packed.
  • the means defining an upstanding or recess formation includes an adjustable rib projecting into the chamber, thereby allowing the height of the rib, and hence the volume of cover film "collected", to be adjusted according to the height of the product article being packaged.
  • means may be provided for retracting the rib and for extending it into the chamber once the chamber is closed.
  • the base mould has no upstanding formation to impede horizontal advance of a web of packs and indexing of a fresh product article or batch of product articles to the packaging station.
  • Figure 1 shows the package as comprising a support sheet 10 on which are placed product articles 11, 12, 13, 14 which are then covered by a cover film 15.
  • FIG. 3 shows an upstanding rib 17 which, in accordance with one form of the present invention, is positioned alongside the array of product articles.
  • Figure 4 shows the formation of such a package by placing a cover 19, having a downwardly concave cavity to define a vacuum chamber above the cover film 15, a base 20 co-operating with cover 19.
  • the "dummy products" are in the form of upstanding ribs formed in the support sheet 10 by liftable plates 21 each of which is actuated by a respective fluid pressure-operated ram (either pneumatic or hydraulic) 22 only one of-which is shown in Figure 4.
  • Figure 5 shows an overhead perspective view of the base 20 of Figure 4, including the two "dummy product"-defining plates 21 but, for the purpose of simplicity of illustration, the operating rams 22 have been omitted from this drawing.
  • the operation of the apparatus of Figures 4 and 5, and of the process exemplified by Figures 3, 4 and 5 is as follows:-
  • the "dummy product"-defining plates 21 are able to be retracted into the base 20 so that the support sheet 10 can be substantially flat as it is moved into position on the base 20.
  • the cover 19 descends and the vacuum chamber space defined in the clearance between the cover 19 and the base 20 is evacuated in such a sequence as to draw the cover film 15 down onto the support sheet 10.
  • the rams 22 are operated to raise the "dummy product"-defining plates 21 to a position shown in Figure 4 where they deform the now clamped support sheet 10, and the cover film 15 thereon, upwardly to define the illustrated "dummy product" ribs 17.
  • the cover film 15 is heated before this vacuum draping operation in which it is draped onto the support sheet 10.
  • the heating can be either by means of radiant heaters positioned in the path of the cover film 15 towards the sealing station defined by the chamber cover 19 and the base 20, or alternatively some heating means may be incorporated in the chamber cover 19 and the cover film 15 may be attracted into contact with the hot cavity within the cover 19 by a pressure differential.
  • the latter system will be substantially as disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 3,694,991 (Perdue et al).
  • Alternative processes may be substantially as disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 3,491,504 (Young et al), U.S. Patent No.
  • Figure 4 shows one form of means for opening and closing the chamber 19, 20, namely a fluid pressure-operated jack 23 programmed to operate in a repetitive cycle coordinated with operation of the feed means 25 for the support sheet 10 and the cover film 15 so that the film-advancing movement occurs while the chamber is open, and the film advance is interrupted as the chamber closes.
  • a suitable vacuum source is connected to the duct 24 for evacuating the space between the support sheet 10 and the cover film 15, the evacuation operation being coordinated, by means of a central programmer, with the operation of the chamber-opening and-closing means in a programme which is well known to the expert in this art.
  • any convenient number of such articles, even including only one article, may be packaged during each operating phase of the vacuum chamber 19, 20 defining the sealing station.
  • the package Upon completion of the sealing operation, the package will have the configuration shown in Figure 4 in that the raised "dummy product"- defining ribs 17 will remain in the support sheet 10 and the "webbing" 18 (not shown in Figure 4) will then extend outwardly towards the margin of the support sheet 10.
  • the support sheet 10 may itself be heated so as to undergo a degree of thermoforming in the deformation process.
  • the chamber cover 19 is then raised, and the composite sheet 10-15 is advanced to a trimming station where the lateral margins of the composite sheet 10, 15, including the remaining "dummy product"-defining ribs 17, are trimmed off and the package shown in Figure 3 is severed from a continuous strip of such packages having a succession of such rectangular arrays of product articles 11-14 thereon.
  • the individual product articles 11, 12, 13 and 14 in each array may then be severed from one another to provide four separate vacuum packages.
  • a rather more important advantage of the present process is that, by appropriate selection of the height of the "dummy product"-defining ribs 17, it is possible to reduce the magnitude of the "webbing” 18 to such an extent that there will no longer be a risk of leakage of the finished pack.
  • this array itself is substantially free of "webbing". It is, after all, vacuum on the product articles themselves which is being aimed for and thus it is the occurrence of "webbing" at those corners which could give rise to unacceptable leakage; this has been avoided by the process of the present invention.
  • the height of the "dummy product"-defining ribs 17 is preferably adjustable and consequently the raised position of each of the plates 21 is preferably itself adjustable by means such as the rams 22 shown in Figure 4, so as to allow optimisation of the height of the ribs 17 in dependence on the heights of the individual product articles 11-14.
  • the plates 21 may be normally fixed in use of the apparatus but adjustable in height to allow for different heights of product.
  • the height of the cavity in the underside of the cover 19 may be adjustable as disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 3835618.
  • the apparatus illustrated in Figure 4 is particularly advantageous in that it does not require the presence of partition walls between the individual product articles and consequently the same chamber configuration can be used for various different layouts of product articles on the support sheet 10.
  • An alternative embodiment of the process is one in which the plates 21 are no longer required but, instead, "dummy products" in the form of filler strips are laid on the support sheet 10 in the selvage region where the ribs 17 arise in Figures 3 and 4. These "dummy products” are preferably disposable items so that they can be discarded with the trimmed selvage at the subsequent trimming station.
  • a further possibility, particularly suitable in the case of packaging using relatively stiff backing boards, such as an expanded polystyrene tray coated with an air-impervious surface film to facilitate vacuum packaging, is one in which the lateral edges of a generally flat horizontal tray extend upwardly to define "dummy product" formations which will attract the "webbing" and can then be trimmed off as with the embodiment of package shown in Figure 4.
  • suspension display of the individual product articles 11, 12, 13 and 14 can be achieved by punching a suspension display hole (not shown) in the peripheral zone of the pack containing such an individual product article, the punching operation taking place simultaneously with the operation of severing the articles one from another.
  • any suitable medium may be used for the support sheet, ranging from a single or multi-layer film preferably having a heat-sealable upper surface, to a rigid or semi-rigid material, for example the above-mentioned expanded polystyrene board having a coating on its upper surface to hold vacuum and, preferably, to render it heat-sealable.
  • a heat sealing self-welding may be employed as the sealing mechanism, or an adhesive action may be used.
  • the cover film 15 may be of single layer or multi-layer construction, preferably having a heat-sealable layer coming into contact with the support sheet to facilitate sealing.
  • Such single layer or multi-layer films of self-welding or heat-sealable type are well known in the art.
  • Fig. 6 shows an alternative embodiment in which the cover film "collector" formation is defined not by a “dummy product” but instead by a local downwardly deformed region or recess formation 17a in the support sheet.
  • surplus cover film of the sheet 15 (around the adjacent product article 14) is absorbed in the recess on the upper concave face of depressed formation 17a and webbing at the product article 14 is considerably reduced and even substantially eliminated.
  • the recess type of "collector" formation defines an aperture of adequate size in the support sheet and may simply be a hole in the support sheet.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Dispersion Chemistry (AREA)
  • Vacuum Packaging (AREA)
  • Containers And Plastic Fillers For Packaging (AREA)
  • Blow-Moulding Or Thermoforming Of Plastics Or The Like (AREA)
EP83300134A 1982-04-30 1983-01-11 Improvements in or relating to vacuum packaging Expired EP0093480B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
IT21030/82A IT1151393B (it) 1982-04-30 1982-04-30 Procedimento e apparecchiatura per il confezionamento sotto vuoto
IT2103082 1982-04-30

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0093480A2 EP0093480A2 (en) 1983-11-09
EP0093480A3 EP0093480A3 (en) 1984-12-19
EP0093480B1 true EP0093480B1 (en) 1986-04-16

Family

ID=11175646

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP83300134A Expired EP0093480B1 (en) 1982-04-30 1983-01-11 Improvements in or relating to vacuum packaging

Country Status (8)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0093480B1 (it)
JP (1) JPS58193225A (it)
AU (1) AU561552B2 (it)
BR (1) BR8302137A (it)
CA (1) CA1259024A (it)
DE (1) DE3362974D1 (it)
DK (1) DK157742C (it)
IT (1) IT1151393B (it)

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
IT1153034B (it) * 1982-11-15 1987-01-14 Grace W R & Co Procedimento ed apparecchiatura per il confezionamento sottovuoto e reativa confezione
US4684025A (en) * 1986-01-30 1987-08-04 The Procter & Gamble Company Shaped thermoformed flexible film container for granular products and method and apparatus for making the same
GB2271546A (en) * 1992-10-19 1994-04-20 Grace W R & Co Vacuum packaging chamber and method

Family Cites Families (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3204384A (en) * 1962-09-13 1965-09-07 Ludlow Corp Skin packaging method and apparatus
US3835618A (en) * 1973-01-22 1974-09-17 Grace W R & Co Apparatus for producing vacuum skin packages in multiples
JPS54159090A (en) * 1978-06-05 1979-12-15 Ishikawa Seisakusho Kk Method of preventing creases in vacuum film wrapping

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
IT8221030A0 (it) 1982-04-30
EP0093480A3 (en) 1984-12-19
DK157742B (da) 1990-02-12
DE3362974D1 (en) 1986-05-22
CA1259024A (en) 1989-09-05
IT1151393B (it) 1986-12-17
AU1409583A (en) 1983-11-03
DK157742C (da) 1990-07-30
DK15283D0 (da) 1983-01-14
JPS58193225A (ja) 1983-11-10
BR8302137A (pt) 1983-12-27
AU561552B2 (en) 1987-05-14
EP0093480A2 (en) 1983-11-09
DK15283A (da) 1983-10-31

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