EP2485963A1

EP2485963A1 - A packaging pouch with tearing portion

Info

Publication number: EP2485963A1
Application number: EP10821596A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Xiaohai Lu
Original assignee: SC Johnson and Son Inc
Current assignee: SC Johnson and Son Inc
Priority date: 2009-10-10
Filing date: 2010-10-09
Publication date: 2012-08-15
Also published as: MX2012004246A; WO2011041987A1; EP2485963A4; BR112012008434A2; CN201770147U

Abstract

The present utility model provides a packaging pouch for storing and diluting liquid. The packaging pouch comprises an outer bag and an inner bag. The outer bag has a sealable opening and a spout, and the inner bag has a sealable feed-in opening for feeding content in and a sealed edge portion. The inner bag is positioned within the outer bag. The feed-in opening of the inner bag and the opening of the outer bag are aligned with each other and sealed together. The packaging pouch is characterized in further comprising a tearing portion which is formed between the outer bag and the sealed edge portion of the inner bag, and the tearing portion includes: at least two contiguous welded spots, one welded spot being welded to an internal wall of the outer bag on one side, and the other welded spot being welded to an internal wall of the outer bag on the opposite side; and at least one prefabricated slide opening which is provided between two contiguous welded spots and formed on the sealed edge portion, a length of the prefabricated slide opening being less than a width of the sealed portion. The packaging pouch of the present utility model is advantageous in simple structure, good stability and low cost.

Description

A PACKAGING POUCH WITH TEARING PORTION

Field of Invention

The present utility model relates to a packaging pouch, and more particularly, a packaging pouch for containing concentrated liquid and serving as a container for diluting the concentrated liquid to a ready-to-use concentration.

Background art

Recently, more and more liquid products, for example, detergent, disinfector and insecticide, are sold in high concentration and need to be dilute before use. This will save volume for storage, and thus the costs for stock and transportation will be saved and then the price of the product may be lower, when compared with those products sold in a ready-to-use concentration. However, in order to dilute the product to a usable concentration, consumers need to use additional containers. This would be uneconomical and the product may be stained during dilution. Additionally, it may be hard to control the amount of added water. Thus, consumers may not be interested in such concentrated products because it seems troublesome to use them. To facilitate the dilution of the product, the simplest way is to provide a packaging pouch big enough to accommodate both the concentrated product and diluent. However, when the concentrated product is corrosive, the material of the whole big packaging pouch should be chemical resistant, and thus the cost for the pouch would be high.

In this situation, "combined pack of inner and outer bags" becomes a good choice, in which an inner bag that contains the concentrated product is sealed in an outer bag. The outer bag can be filled with diluent through a spout before dilution of the product. In certain conditions, the inner bag can be torn open by outside forces, and the concentrated product therein flows out and mixes with the diluent in the outer bag so as to dilute the product. In this case, only the inner bag whose size is smaller need to be made of the expensive chemical resistant material, and the material of outer bag merely need to be resistant with the diluted product. With this structure, the packaging pouch may serve as a container for diluting the content contained therein. At the same time, the cost for material is low.

There are some "combined pack of inner and outer bags" existing in the prior art. Commonly, the inner bag is designed with some weak areas which can be broken by outside forces when needed. For example, Chinese patent application No. CN1096264A has disclosed a multi-chamber packaging, with each chamber containing different liquid. One of the chambers has a weak area on its sidewall, the weak area including a dotted line and a cap covering the dotted line. Outside forces applied from outside wall may cause the cap to be broken or fallen off. Then, the chamber tends to be torn open along the dotted line so that the liquid in that chamber goes out and mixes with a different liquid outside. However, this packaging is disadvantageous in that each chamber of the packaging is always filled with liquid, and thus the weak area always tends to be broken with any outside force applied. Therefore, such a packaging may be unstable during transportation and conveying, and may possibly be damaged before sold out.

Chinese utility model patent No. CN2230299Y discloses another packaging, with a heat welded portion on the inner bag, which is the weak area. Impact force applied on the outer bag may cause the hot welded portion to be broken. Several implementations are provided in this patent. For instance, the inner bag is provided with an outflow sealing with a hole in its center and a ball stem plugging in the hole, or alternatively, a cone whose tip pointing to one sidewall of the inner bag is provided. Obviously, the aforesaid forms are also unstable during transportation and conveying.

U. S. patent application No. US20070084736A1 discloses a storage bag comprising an inner bag and an outer bag, both of them containing liquid. The peripheral portion of the inner bag are welded to a rear wall of the outer bag, and the inner bag, at its middle portion of a small area, is welded to a front wall of the outer bag, and thus an opener portion is formed. When needed, the user may press at the opener portion of the inner bag along a suitable direction from the outside of the outer bag to break the inner bag. Compared with the aforesaid two inventions, this storage bag may be more stable in transportation and conveying, but at the same time, it may be hard to break the inner bag for the user. The outer bag may possibly be broken instead if the pressing direction is not correct.

To fulfill the requirement of industrial use, the packaging pouch must be stable enough because it may be subject to bumpiness and pressures during transportation, when piled on each other in storehouse, and when conveyed by consumers to another place for use, in the state of containing concentrated product therein. At the same time, the inner bag should be easy to be broken when users want to dilute the product. However, as to the "combined pack of inner and outer bags" of prior art, either the tearing portion is too weak and thus the packaging is unstable, or the tearing portion is firm but inconvenient for use so that the inner bag is not easy to be torn open when the user wants to dilute the product. Therefore, a need exists for a packaging pouch that can overcome the aforesaid disadvantages of the prior art. Summary of the Invention

The crux of the prior art is that the state of the packaging pouch cannot be changed, that is, each chamber or each of inner/outer bags always contains liquid. In this condition, if the tearing portion is weak enough, the package is easy to use but not stable; otherwise, if the tearing portion is firm, the package is inconvenient though stable. It can be seen, in the existing packaging, the degree of convenience and the stability of package are mutually exclusive, and such package cannot be both convenient and stable.

The present utility model solves the aforesaid conflicts mainly by providing improvements in the following two aspects. Firstly, a spout is provided in the packaging pouch according to the present utility model, so that the state of the packaging pouch can be changed, that is, to keep the outer bag of the packaging pouch empty during transportation and storage, and to inject the outer bag with diluent through the spout before use. In this way, the state of the packaging pouch is changed. Secondly, based on the fact that the state of the packaging pouch can be changed, a novel tearing portion on the inner bag is provided in the present utility model. With this tearing portion, the inner bag does not tend to be torn open when the outer bag is empty and will be easily torn open when the outer bag expands due to water injected. By this means, the packaging pouch of the present utility model solves the conflicts between stability and convenience. The present packaging pouch is both stable and convenient. Moreover, since only the inner bag contains content during transportation and storage, and the outer bag are not filled with diluent until use of the product, the volume of the packaging pouch and the product is reduced greatly. Therefore, not only the material costs for the packaging pouch, but also the costs for transportation and stock are saved.

One of the targets of the present utility model is to provide an improved packaging pouch comprising an inner bag and an outer bag, wherein the inner bag does not tend to be torn open when the outer bag is empty and will be easily torn open when the outer bag expands due to water injected. Another target of the present utility model is to provide an improved packaging pouch for containing concentrated liquid, and serving as a container for diluting the concentrated liquid.

The packaging pouch according to the present utility model comprises an outer bag with a sealable opening and a spout, and an inner bag with a sealable feed-in opening for feeding content in and a sealed edge portion, wherein the inner bag is positioned within the outer bag, the feed-in opening of the inner bag and the opening of the outer bag are aligned with each other and sealed together, the packaging pouch is characterized by further comprising a tearing portion which is formed between the outer bag and the sealed edge portion of the inner bag, the tearing portion including at least two contiguous welded spots, one welded spot being welded to an internal wall of the outer bag on one side, and the other welded spot being welded to an internal wall of the outer bag on the opposite side; and at least one prefabricated slide opening which is provided between two contiguous welded spots and formed on the sealed edge portion, a length of each prefabricated slide opening being less than a width of the sealed portion.

In the packaging pouch according to the present utility model, the tearing portion may be arranged on sealed edge portions on any one or more edges except the edge that includes a feed-in opening. Preferably, the aforesaid tearing portion of the packaging pouch is arranged on a sealed edge portion on the edge opposite to the edge that includes the feed-in opening of the inner bag.

In a preferred embodiment of the present utility model, the tearing portion includes three contiguous welded spots and two prefabricated slide openings, which are continuously arranged on the same edge.

Further, the spout is a two-way spout for injecting and discharging liquid.

When the packaging pouch is used to contain high concentrated and corrosive liquid, the material of the inner bag may be well chemical resistant, and the material of the outer bag may be resistant with the diluted corrosive liquid.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a diagram of packaging pouch according to an embodiment of the present utility model; Fig. 2 shows a construction of an inner bag of the packaging pouch shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 shows a construction of an outer bag of the package pouch shown in Fig.1;

Fig. 4 shows a state of the packaging pouch shown in Fig. l, containing content in the inner bag; Fig. 5 shows a state of the packaging pouch shown in Fig. l, with the content therein already been diluted;

Fig. 6 shows a diagram of packaging pouch according to another embodiment of the present utility model;

Fig. 7 shows a diagram of packaging pouch according to yet another embodiment of the present utility model; and

Fig. 8 shows a diagram of packaging pouch according to still another embodiment of the present utility model.

Detailed Description of the Invention

Now, the packaging pouch of the present utility model will be described in details by way of example, with reference to the drawings.

One embodiment of the packaging pouch according to the present utility model is shown in Fig.1. To illustrate the construction of individual parts of the packaging pouch clearly, the outer bag and the inner bag are shown in Figs.2 and 3 separately. In this embodiment, the content to be contained in the inner bag is corrosive and concentrated liquid, and the diluent is water. The inner bag is made of material with good chemical resistance, the material may be, for example but not limited to, PE film. This is only provided as an example, and those skilled in the art can easily understand that various known materials can be used alternatively, and the inner bag may be mono-layer material or multi-layer material, wherein the multi-layer material may be composed of different materials. The inner bag 1 may take the shape of rectangle, as shown in Fig.2. The inner bag 1 is sealed on three sides. The remaining one side of the inner bag 1 has a sealable opening (i.e., feed-in opening 11) for feeding content into the inner bag in sequent process. A sealed edge portion, with a width of d, is formed on a bottom edge 12 opposite to the edge that has the feed-in opening. A tearing portion is formed on the sealed edge portion, which can be easily torn open vertically (i.e. along the direction perpendicular to the bottom edge 12).

Fig. 3 shows the construction of the outer bag 2 in the present embodiment. In this embodiment, the outer bag 2 may take the shape of rectangular, with three sides sealed and the remaining side formed with an opening 21. On the side that has the opening 21, one corner of the rectangular is replace by a spout 3 for injecting diluent and discharging diluted product. A sealed cap may be provided on the spout 3. Preferably, the bottom of the outer bag 2 may include a folded and expandable portion, and the bottom may expand to a certain degree when filled with liquid. When expanded, the outer bag 2 may stand vertically. Alternatively, the two sides and the bottom part of the outer bag 2 may be folded and expandable so as to enlarge its volume.

As shown in Fig. l, the inner bag 1 is arranged within the outer bag 2, and the feed-in opening 11 of the inner bag 1 is aligned with the opening 21 of the outer bag 2. A tearing portion is arranged on the bottom edge 12 of the inner bag 1. The tearing portion includes welded spots and prefabricated slide openings, wherein each prefabricated slide opening is arranged between two welded spots. In this embodiment, the tearing portion includes three contiguous welded spots and two prefabricated slide openings, which are continuously arranged on the sealed edge portion of the inner bag, wherein one of the prefabricated slide openings is provided between the first and second contiguous welded spots, and the other one of the prefabricated slide openings is provided between the second and third contiguous welded spots. As shown in Fig. l, welded spots 4a, 4b and 4c are arranged at the center of the bottom edge 12 of the inner bag 1. Among them, welded spots 4a and 4c of the inner bag 1 are welded on the back wall inside the outer bag 2 (i.e., the backside of the outer bag shown in figs. 1 and 3), and the welded spot 4b that is positioned between welded spots 4a and 4c is welded on the front wall of the outer bag 2 (i.e., the front sideof the outer bag shown in figs. 1 and 3). In practical applications, the number and the position to arrange the welded spots can be changed as required, as long as every two contiguous welded spots are welded on opposite walls of the outer bag 2. Between every two welded spots, there is a prefabricated slide opening arranged. As shown in Fig. l, a prefabricated slide opening 5 a is arranged between the welded spots 4a and 4b, and a prefabricated slide opening 5b is arranged between the welded spots 4b and 4c. The length of each of slide openings 5a and 5b is less than a width d of the sealed edge portion on the bottom edge 12 of the inner bag 1. That is to say, initially, the slide openings 5a and 5b are shorter than the width of the sealed edge portion of the bottom edge 12, and thus the content in the inner bag 1 may not leak into the outer bag 2. Those skilled in the art will understand that, in the packaging pouch manufactured with the prior technique and process, it is the vacuum between the inner bag and the outer bag. Air will not go into the outer bag 2 before the spout 3 is open. This should be readily understood and thus details are omitted herein.

In the factory, when the present packaging pouch is used to package the product to be sold, the product is fed into the inner bag 1 through the feed-in opening 11. Then, the feed-in opening 11 of the inner bag 1 is aligned with the opening 12 of the outer bag 2 and they are sealed together. Those openings may be sealed by heat welding, but not limited to that. Thus, the product is sealed in the packaging pouch before leaving factory. Fig.4 shows the state of the packaging pouch with content sealed in the inner bag 1, wherein liquid level 6 illustrates the content sealed therein. When the user wants to use the product, he/she may open the seal cap of the two-way spout 3, injecting water through the two-way spout 3 into the outer bag 2. Preferably, the outer bag 2 may be transparent and scaled with numbers or marks indicating the water amount necessary for diluting the content in the inner bag. Alternatively, it may be designed in such a way that the necessary water amount is the full charge of the outer bag 2. The user may close the seal cap after water injection so as to seal the packaging pouch. At that time, the outer bag 2 expands due to the water injected, whereby the separation distance between the front wall and the rear wall of the outer bag 2 is enlarged. As described above, the welded spots 4a and 4c of the inner bag 1 are welded on the rear wall inside the outer bag 2, and the welded spot 4b is welded on the front wall inside the outer bag 2, while prefabricated slide openings 5a and 5b are provided between those the welded spots. At this time, a stripe formed between the prefabricated slide openings 5a and 5b is pulled toward the front wall inside the outer bag 2, while the other part of the bottom edge 12 of the inner bag is welded on the rear wall inside the outer bag 2 and thus immovable. In this state, when the user holds the corners of the outer bag 2 and shakes the packaging pouch, the inner bag 1 will be torn open along the prefabricated slide openings 5a and 5b by the impulse of the water flow (illustrated by 5a and 5b in Fig.5). Meantime, when the user shakes the packaging pouch, the content that flows from the inner bag 1 is mixed with the water in the outer bag 2, and thus diluted. Fig.5 diagrammatically shows the state of packaging pouch that the content therein has been diluted, wherein liquid level 7 indicates the amount of the diluted liquid in the outside bag. Then, the user may distribute some diluted liquid through the two-way spout 3, and close the spout 3 with the seal cap to preserve the remained diluted liquid for future use.

The packaging pouch according to the present utility model has been described with reference to aforesaid specific embodiment, but those skilled in the art will understand that, according to the principle of the present utility model, the shapes of the inner bag and the outer bag do not have to be rectangle, and may be designed as different shapes. Different embodiments of the packaging pouch according to the present utility model are illustrated in Figs.6-8. As shown in Figs.6-8, the inner bag and the outer bag may take different shapes, and the spout may be arranged at different positions on the outer bag. What is common with the embodiment shown in Fig.1 is that, the feed-in opening of the inner bag is aligned with the opening of the outer bag and sealed together, and the welded spots is arranged alternatively with the prefabricated slide openings so as to constitute the tearing portion. The present utility model is not limited to the aforesaid embodiments and the shapes illustrated in the drawings, obviously many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teaching. The inner bag or the outer bag may take any shape chosen from the group of rectangle, polygon, round, ellipse, irregular shapes or any combination thereof, and which will not go beyond the scope of the present utility model. Furthermore, the number and positions of the welded spots and the prefabricated slide openings of the tearing portion may be changed as required. For example, the number of the welded spots may be reduced to two, with one prefabricated slide opening arranged therebetween; or alternatively, the number of welded spots on one sealed edge portion may be four or more than four, with one prefabricated slide opening arranged between every two welded spots, so as to increase tearing-open points to ensure the inner bag to be torn open easily. Actually, the sealed portion and the tearing portion may be arranged on any edge of the inner bag except the edge having the feed-in opening.

From the above embodiments, it can be seen that when the packaging pouch according to the present utility model is under the state of containing product (as shown in Fig.1), no force is applied on the tearing portion of the inner bag along the prefabricated slide openings because it is vacuum between the outer bag and the inner bag. Therefore, the packaging pouch is stable. In addition, it is very convenient to use the present packaging pouch to dilute the content contained in the inner bag, that is, to inject water into the packaging pouch, hold the corners and shake the packaging pouch. Then, diluted and homogeneously mixed liquid is obtained.

The present utility model prevents liquid from leaking from the inner bag into the outer bag before the inner bag is torn open since the tearing portion does not have dotted line or similar structure.

The present utility model is advantageous in that the inner bag does not tend to be torn open when the outer bag is empty, and is easy to be torn open when the outer bag expands after being injected with water. The packaging pouch of the present utility model is also advantageous in simple structure, good stability and low cost. As to the costs, only the inner bag is made of material with good chemical resistance because the inner bag contacts with the concentrated product directly, and the material of outer bag merely needs to be resistant with the diluted product. Thus, the present packaging pouch is cost-saving.

The packaging pouch according to the present utility model may be used as packaging for, for example, but not limited to, home cleansers (such as, floor cleanser, toilet cleanser, kitchen cleanser and etc.), disinfectors, insecticides, and etc.

Claims

1. A packaging pouch, comprising an outer bag with a sealable opening and a spout, and an inner bag with a sealable feed-in opening for feeding content in and a sealed edge portion, wherein the inner bag is positioned within the outer bag, the feed-in opening of the inner bag and the opening of the outer bag are aligned with each other and sealed together, the packaging pouch being characterized in further comprising a tearing portion which is formed between the outer bag and the sealed edge portion of the inner bag, the tearing portion including:

at least two contiguous welded spots, one welded spot being welded to an internal wall of the outer bag on one side, and the other welded spot being welded to an internal wall of the outer bag on the opposite side; and

at least one prefabricated slide opening which is provided between two contiguous welded spots and formed on the sealed edge portion, a length of each prefabricated slide opening being less than a width of the sealed portion.

2. The packaging pouch of claim 1, wherein the tearing portion includes three contiguous welded spots which are continuously arranged on the sealed edge portion of the inner bag and two prefabricated slide openings, wherein one of the prefabricated slide openings is provided between the first and second contiguous welded spots, and the other one of the prefabricated slide openings is provided between the second and third contiguous welded spots.

3. The packaging pouch of claim 2, wherein the sealed portion that the tearing portion is provided on is positioned on a side opposite to the feed-in opening of the inner bag.

4. The packaging pouch of claim 1, wherein the spout is a two-way spout for injecting and discharging liquid.

5. The packaging pouch of claim 4, further comprising diluent injected into the outer bag through the two-way spout.

6. The packaging pouch of one of claims 1-5, wherein the material of the inner bag is well chemical resistant.

7. The packaging pouch of claim 1, further comprising the content fed in the inner