EP0946844A1

EP0946844A1 - Compressed-air cylinder

Info

Publication number: EP0946844A1
Application number: EP97911176A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Ulrich Klebe; Johann Pongraz; Klemens Thoma
Original assignee: Messer Griesheim GmbH
Current assignee: Messer Griesheim GmbH
Priority date: 1996-10-16
Filing date: 1997-10-04
Publication date: 1999-10-06
Anticipated expiration: 2017-10-04
Also published as: ZA978103B; ATE230836T1; DE59709122D1; WO1998016776A1; TW354359B; DE19642696A1; DE19642696B4; EP0946844B1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a compressed-air cylinder provided with one or more sheaths consisting of a partial or total covering. The sheaths can be either used for instance as a support for markings, signs or stickings, or functionalized. They consist of foil, fabric or web. During the process of forming, the compressed-air cylinders are provided with one or more sheaths, at least one of which has printings, markings, signs and one or more stickings and is either transparent or unicolor or multicoloured or functionalized.

Description

Designed pressurized gas bottle

Pressurized gas cylinders must be provided with several safety and product notes. In the medical field, batch numbers and expiry dates must also be attached.

Nowadays this happens with pre-printed stickers. Such stickers can only be removed with a large, labor-intensive workload or by external blasting of the compressed gas cylinders. After the external blasting, the bottles have to be painted again.

In addition to the already customary, sometimes two-tone painting of the compressed gas cylinders to identify the type of gas and its hazard potential, further colored markings will be required in the future. In the future, colored rings will be installed in the shoulder / neck area of the compressed gas cylinders. For industrial exterior painting, this creates great additional effort and corresponding additional costs.

When the compressed gas cylinders are transported on pallets, the exterior coating is often damaged due to the collision of the compressed gas cylinders. As a result, the appearance of the pressurized gas bottle deteriorates with increasing use, so that a renewed external painting is necessary. To remedy this, a rubber ring is attached in the shoulder / neck area or the bottles are covered with fishnet stockings. The rubber ring or fishnet stocking can slip during transport.

If gas mixtures are filled into the compressed gas cylinders, the composition of the cylinder contents and other information must also be noted on the cylindrical area. This is done by hand painting. The bottle is then set to fill with a certain gas mixture. If the mixture composition changes, this painted information must be removed again. In the case of small compressed gas cylinders for special applications, such as in the medical field, labeling is particularly complex because large-scale treatment by external blasting and painting is not necessary because of the small batches. In practice, this leads to a poor appearance of the rarely treated bottles.

A high-quality external appearance plays an increasing role. Especially in sensitive areas, such as medicine or measurement technology, there is a need to make the compressed gas cylinder available to the user in an aesthetically pleasing external form.

If the bottle contents consist of test gases or gases of high purity, the associated pressurized gas bottles are delivered together with the analysis results, which are currently hung around the bottle neck in a trailer with an inner pocket. It would be desirable, too

Specify product information on the bottle jacket, but this is not practiced due to the high costs.

The invention has for its object to design or label compressed gas cylinders at low cost and to provide compressed gas cylinders with the required information in an attractive external appearance at low cost.

This object is achieved in that compressed gas cylinders are partially or completely covered with one or more sleeves, the sleeves can be provided with information or the sleeves are used to fasten information-provided materials such as labels or stickers.

The invention thus relates to compressed gas cylinders which are partially or completely provided with one or more casings.

Another object of the invention is a method for designing, in particular marking, compressed gas bottles, the compressed gas bottle is provided with one or more sleeves and at least one of the sleeves is printed, labeled, marked, provided with one or more stickers, is transparent, monochrome or multi-colored or functionalized.

The invention furthermore relates to the use of one or more sleeves for labeling, protecting, functionalizing and / or designing compressed gas cylinders and the use of one or more sleeves for fastening stickers, labels and / or molded parts on compressed gas cylinders. Pressurized gas cylinders are usually metal cylinders, especially steel cylinders. Their size can vary a lot. Small compressed gas cylinders, for example with volumes in the range of 0.5 to 10 liters, are mostly used in medical applications or for test gases. Large bottles are usually used in the technical field, for example 50 liter bottles.

Sleeves are tight-fitting coverings, coats or coverings made from one sleeve material. The shells are generally cylindrical. The bottom or neck of the compressed gas cylinder can be covered by the cover. Foil, film, fabric or fleece are suitable as covering material. The casing material is generally made of plastic. The casing material can also consist of other materials such as metal (e.g. metal foil, especially aluminum foil), textiles containing natural fibers (e.g. cotton, cellulose, wool), paper. Plastics are, for example, thermoplastics such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC), or rubber-like plastics such as rubber, rubber or latex. The plastics can also be or contain thermoplastic elastomers.

The casing material is attached to the compressed gas bottle by gluing, welding or mechanically.

Gluing can take place over the entire surface of the compressed gas cylinder to be covered or over part of the surface. Usual adhesives, hot melt adhesives, single-sided adhesive tapes, double-sided adhesive tapes are suitable for bonding. It can also be used self-adhesive sleeve material or sleeve material provided with a self-adhesive strip.

For fastening by gluing, the casing material, for example a rectangular piece of film, can be placed cylindrically around the compressed gas bottle, so that the casing material overlaps on the long side of the compressed gas bottle. An adhesive seam can be applied in the area of the overlap. The overlapping cover material can also be connected with adhesive tape (one-sided or double-sided adhesive).

The fastening of the casing material by welding is primarily used for casing materials made of plastic, in particular thermoplastic materials. The welding can be carried out in the same way as gluing by means of a longitudinal weld seam. The formed envelope behaves like a tight-fitting hose. However, the casing material does not have to be welded to the compressed gas cylinder. The sleeve material can also be welded into a tube, which is then pulled over the compressed gas bottle. The weld can be a continuous or interrupted weld or consist of weld spots.

The casing material is generally mechanically attached to the compressed gas bottle by covering the compressed gas bottle with a tubular casing material or a tubular prefabricated casing. If the sleeve material is not tubular, the tube can be produced by gluing (e.g. glued seam) or welding (e.g. welded seam). It is advisable to mechanically widen or stretch the hose before attaching it to the compressed gas bottle. Expansion can also take place when exposed to heat or heat, the expansion being based on mechanical forces and / or thermal expansion. For example, a rubber hose is pulled over the compressed gas bottle, the restoring force generated by the expansion of the rubber hose securing the casing. Another mechanical fastening is achieved by thermally shrinking a shrinkable material (e.g. shrink tubing). The Mechanical fastening, in particular in the case of non-tubular casing material, can also be done by folding (e.g. in the case of metal foil) or by cords, fastening rings, fastening straps (e.g. rubber bands, plastic belts), buttons, snap buttons, Velcro fasteners (Velcro) or by applying another Cover.

Shrink sleeves are particularly suitable as cover material. Shrink sleeves are usually shrink sleeves made of PE, PP or PVC, for example.

The shell material generally has a wall thickness in the range between 30 μm and 5 mm, depending on the application in question and depending on the material. Shrink tube films generally have a wall thickness in the range from 50 to 300 μm. Particularly suitable shrink tube films have a wall thickness in the range from 50 to 150 μm. Rubber-elastic sleeves can be very thin (e.g. latex hoses) or quite thick, for example 1 to 3 mm for rubber hoses. The envelopes can be transparent, natural-colored or colored, or partially transparent or colored.

The sleeves can serve as carriers for stickers or other markings such as inscriptions or markings. Inscriptions and markings can be applied to the sleeves in an advantageous manner by means of a laser. This so-called laser inscription can be done in a variety of ways, for example by laser-induced carbonization of the shell material, by decomposition or fading of dyes or pigments, by thermal engraving. For laser marking, it is possible to specifically select casing materials that are particularly suitable, for example on the basis of the type of material, such as the type of polymer of a film, or of constituents contained, such as dyes or pigments. Suitable materials and methods for laser marking are known to the person skilled in the art.

Compressed gas cylinders can be designed in many ways according to the invention. The sleeves can not only be used for labeling, as advertising media or in color Serve design of compressed gas cylinders. The sleeves can also be functionalized, for example. The envelope or the envelope material is modified for functionalization. Such functionalizations are structures of the casing, for example for fastening parts of the casing or for better handling of the compressed gas bottle. For example, the shell can have one or more pockets, fastening devices such as tabs, tapes, snap fasteners, snap connections, Velcro fasteners or other shaped parts, grooves, beads, knobs, recesses in the material, patterns.

The functionalization can already have been carried out or can be present on the casing material. The functionalization can also only take place on the casing on the compressed gas cylinder.

Bags offer the advantage that information (e.g. product information) or documents such as test certificates, instructions for use, accompanying notes of various types or parts such as assembly accessories can be added to the compressed gas bottle, with the items removed from the bag and also deposited in the bag again can.

Grooves, beads, knobs or recesses in the material can be part of a pattern in or on the cover material. A corrugation as a pattern can be used, for example, to improve the grip of the gas cylinder. A pattern can also help secure a part from slipping. A sample can also be used to improve the appearance of the compressed gas bottle.

In many cases it is desirable that an envelope can be easily removed from the compressed gas bottle. It is advantageous here that the covers have one or more removal aids as a functionalization. A removal aid is, for example, a perforation or a tear thread. For example, a perforation can be made along the longitudinal axis of the compressed gas bottle. The perforation or perforations can also be designed so that part of the sheath is removed like a band or belt can be. For example, a partial removal of an envelope can serve to mark an empty compressed gas bottle as empty. For example, lettering, marking or color coding hidden by the sleeve section can appear. It is also possible that the envelope section is used for temporary labeling. It can be a hand-made label, for example a label with a ballpoint pen or felt-tip pen, which can be removed again. Instead of a shell part, a band-shaped shell - that is a shell that only covers part of the compressed gas bottle - can be equipped with a removal aid. In the case of multiple or multi-layer envelopes, all envelopes, some or only one envelope can be equipped with a removal aid.

The casings of the compressed gas bottles represent a kind of packaging. The casings can create a brand identity. The cover can also be used as a medium for advertising or for product information. The compressed gas bottle is given a different appearance by the casing. For example, the cover can be used to give the compressed gas bottle device character.

In the case of a method according to the invention, a shrink tube film serving as an identification carrier is made from a heat shrinkable one

Put plastic over the container and shrink it on the compressed gas cylinder due to the effects of temperature. The suitable temperature for the shrinking process of the plastic depends on the type of plastic and is known to the person skilled in the art. Temperatures in the range from 70 to 250 ° C. are generally used. Temperatures in the range from 80 to 120 ° C., in particular a temperature around 80 ° C., are advantageous. The shrinkage capacity of the plastic used is, for example, in the range from 10 to 300%, preferably at least 20%, particularly preferably at least 40%. A plastic is preferably selected whose shrinkage capacity is 40% when heated to a temperature in the range of 80 ° C. The shrink tube film can be shrink-wrapped in an oven or by hand. In the latter case, this is done with a device as shown in FIG. 10. The invention is explained in more detail in the following using exemplary embodiments with shrink tube film with the aid of schematic drawings. The exemplary embodiments can generally be transferred to casings made of other materials or can be carried out analogously.

Show it:

Fig. 1-9 each in the order from left to right to be carried out process steps in the generation of a

Identification of a compressed gas bottle in nine variants;

10 shows a device for shrinking a tubular film onto a compressed gas bottle.

The process examples shown in FIGS. 1-9 are described in the following progressively from left to right. The same or equivalent parts are provided with the same reference numerals. In Figure 1, 1 designates a compressed gas cylinder of the usual type. In a first step, the compressed gas bottle is provided with a coating in a cylindrical region 2. The pressure gas bottle is painted with a different color in its shoulder / neck area 3. In this way, a gas type indication is achieved from the two-tone paint.

In the second step, a rubber ring 4 is placed over the shoulder / neck area 3

Shock protection and to minimize noise when transporting bottles in pallets is pushed to a location that separates the painted area 2 from the unpainted area 3 of the compressed gas bottle.

In a third step, stickers are applied to the lacquered area 2 of the compressed gas bottle, for example a label 5 provided with a trademark and a label 6 provided with information on hazardous substances. In the fourth step, a clear tubular film 7, which is open at the top and is slightly shorter than the compressed gas bottle, is placed over the compressed gas bottle, which is easy to do because the inner diameter D of the tubular film 7 is significantly larger than the outer diameter of the compressed gas bottle 1 when it is not shrunk.

Finally, in the fifth step (seen on the far right in FIG. 1), the arrangement of pressurized gas bottle and transparent tubular film 7 placed over it is heated to the shrinking temperature (for example 80 ° C.), for example in an oven (not shown). At this temperature, the tubular film shrinks in such a way that it lies tightly against the outer circumference of the compressed gas bottle and in this way also fixes the rubber ring 4 in its position according to FIG. 1. At the same time, the clear tubular film covers the stickers and the paintwork, as well as the shoulder and neck area of the compressed gas bottle, so that they absorb shock and noise. The tubular film diameter D can, depending on the diameter of the

Pressurized gas bottle or other container in the range between 20 mm and 300 mm.

In the variant according to FIG. 2, it is different from FIG. 1 that the clear tubular film before the application of stickers 5, 6 on the

Compressed gas bottle is shrunk on. Only then are the stickers 5, 6 applied to the transparent film. In order to protect these stickers from premature damage, a second, shorter, clear tubular film 8 is pushed over the part of the compressed gas bottle provided with stickers 5, 6 and shrunk there under heat as well as the clear one, as shown clearly in the right part Tubular film 7.

The variant according to FIG. 3 differs from that according to FIG. 1 in that, instead of a clear tubular film, a tubular film 7, which in this case has a color covering beyond the rubber ring 4, is placed over the compressed gas bottle 1 and shrunk on as described above. Only in the uppermost area, which covers the shoulder / neck area 3 of the compressed gas bottle 1 this tubular film 7 clearly. This eliminates the need for previous painting (or repainting for older used bottles) of the cylindrical area 2 of the compressed gas bottle. Then, as in the variant according to FIG. 2, stickers 5, 6 are stuck onto the shrunk film 7. Thereafter, as in the embodiment according to FIG. 2, a second, shorter, clear tubular film 8 is shrunk on to protect and fix these stickers 5, 6.

In the variant according to FIG. 4, after a shock-absorbing rubber ring 4 has been pushed onto the unpainted compressed gas bottle, a clear-sighted one becomes clear

Tubular film 7 placed over the compressed gas bottle 1 in the manner described and then shrunk on under the action of heat. Thus, a label 9 attached directly to the container 1 remains visible in the shoulder / neck area 3 of the compressed gas bottle. After shrinking, a sticker 5 with, for example, a trademark is affixed to the shrunk film 7, and a sticker 6 with a certificate of analysis is in turn glued onto it.

Then, in a last step, an additional identification 11 in the form of the mixture composition is painted onto the shrunk-on transparent film 7 onto the lower section of the cylindrical region.

When changing the mixture composition, the film is simply removed and replaced with a new shrink-on film. In this way, the compressed gas bottle can be "reshaped" easily and at low cost.

In the variant according to FIG. 5, the tubular film 7, which is fully opaque up to the rubber ring 4 and is only transparent in the shoulder / neck area of the compressed gas bottle, is printed from the outset with a trademark 5 and with a hazardous substance information 6. This makes the steps of gluing and subsequent protection by another clear tubular film superfluous. The pre-printed tubular film 7 is the same as in the previous ones described variants placed over the gas cylinder and then shrunk.

The variant according to FIG. 6 corresponds in the first steps to that according to FIG. 2. Here, too, a completely clear tubular film 7 is placed over the pre-lacquered compressed gas bottle 1 provided with a rubber ring 4 and shrunk on, as described above. Then a front and back with markings 5, 6, 6 ', such as trademarks, hazardous substance information, company logo, pre-printed clear tubular film 8, is shrunk onto the upper section of the cylindrical region 2 of the compressed gas bottle 1.

7 shows a modification of the method variant according to FIG. 4, which differs on the one hand in that after the stickers 5 and 6 (certificate of analysis) have been stuck on, another clear tubular film 8 is shrunk onto the compressed gas bottle to protect these stickers 5, 6, and on the other hand in that the lacquered information about the composition of the gas mixture is omitted here.

8 shows a variant in which only the upper area of the compressed gas bottle is surrounded by a tubular film 7 shrunk on as described. This tubular film is provided with colored rings T, which serve for additional colored identification of the gas content of the compressed gas bottle in the shoulder / neck area 3.

The variant according to FIG. 9 serves a similar purpose, in which, however, the entire compressed gas bottle is again covered by a shrink-wrapped tubular film 7, the upper region 7a of which is clear-sighted and the subsequent ring regions 7b, 7c of one or more colors, depending on the type of gas, for specific gas types Marking are colored.

In the described examples according to FIGS. 1 to 9, the shrinking takes place by the action of temperature on the pressure gas bottle inverted tubular film. For larger series, the bottle provided with the tubular film put on it is transported through an oven (not shown) and exposed there to the shrinking temperature (for example 80 ° C.).

The shrinking can also be done in manual mode, e.g. for small series, for "embossing" etc.

A device suitable for this is shown in FIG. 10. This device includes a rotating device 10 with a rotating plate 11 for rotating a pressurized gas bottle 1 placed thereon with a tubular film (not shown) and a drive motor 12 for the rotating plate 11. Furthermore, this device includes a spring-loaded holder 13 for an overall reference number 14 designated stationary heater, which has a number of hot air blowers 15, which are arranged one above the other on the holder 13 and along a surface line of the gas cylinder with its mouths on the

Compressed gas bottle 1 are aligned. The hot air blowers can be set to temperatures between 40 ° C and 300 ° C.

The compressed gas bottle 1 is suspended in a horizontal support 16 of the holder 13 and spring-loaded in the direction of the turntable 11 by a spring, not shown.

By rotating the compressed gas bottle uniformly about its vertical axis A and simultaneously actuating the hot air blower 15, the tubular film 7 placed on the compressed gas bottle 1 is heated uniformly around the circumference and consequently shrinks evenly onto the jacket of the compressed gas bottle 1.

The invention is generally applicable to cylindrical containers. For example, it can be used to identify beer kegs.

The features defined in the above description, the claims and the drawing can be essential both individually and in any combination for the implementation of the present invention. example

A 101 gas pressure bottle with a diameter of 140 mm and a height of the cylindrical area without bottle neck of 880 mm (measurement of the height: lower edge of the pressure gas bottle until the beginning of the bottle embossing) is provided with a plastic cover.

A film made of rigid PVC with a wall thickness of 75 μm (source: Hälndler & Natermann GmbH, 34332 Hann. Münden) is used as the covering material, which is available as a flat (endless) roll material. The film can be colored or printed.

A tube is made from the sleeve material. The length L of the hose results from the height of the compressed gas bottle (distance from the lower edge of the compressed gas bottle to the beginning of the bottle embossing on the neck of the compressed gas bottle). The width B of the flat-folded hose corresponds to half of the compressed gas cylinder circumference, which is 5 percent larger. To produce the tube, a film section of length L and twice the width B is cut to size (for 101 compressed gas cylinders, the dimensions are L = 880 mm and W = 230 mm) and the film piece is folded in length. The folded piece of film is welded to the open long side. The one made in this way

The film tube is pulled from above (bottle valve) over the compressed gas bottle. The film tube then closes with the base of the compressed gas bottle and covers the cylindrical part of the compressed gas bottle. The film tube is shrunk under the influence of heat (hot air dryer).

Claims

claims

1. Provide a partial or complete pressurized gas cylinder with one or more envelopes.

2. Pressurized gas bottle according to claim 1, characterized in that the envelope is formed from a film, a film, fabric or fleece.

3. Pressurized gas bottle according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the envelope is made of a tubular material.

4. Pressurized gas bottle according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that a thermally shrinkable, elastic or rubber-elastic material is used to produce the envelope.

5. Pressurized gas bottle according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the envelope is produced by welding, gluing or shrinking or is mechanically fastened.

6. Pressurized gas bottle according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the envelope has a removal aid, printing, marking, labeling, laser-induced labeling, a sticker or a functionalization and / or the envelope is partially or completely transparent, monochrome or is multicolored.

7. Process for designing a compressed gas bottle, characterized in that that the compressed gas cylinder is provided with one or more sleeves and at least one of the sleeves is printed, labeled, marked, provided with one or more stickers, is transparent, monochrome or multi-colored or functionalized.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the casing contains a plastic, in particular polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride or rubber-like material, a natural material, paper or a metal.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the envelope is marked or labeled with the aid of a laser beam.

10. Use of one or more sleeves for marking, protecting, functionalizing and / or designing compressed gas cylinders.

11. Use of one or more sleeves for attaching stickers, labels and / or molded parts to compressed gas cylinders.