EP3378797B1 - Container with deep-drawn tub and dosage units contained in same - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a container with a deep-drawn trough made of plastic and with at least one dosing unit located in a trough interior of the trough, which comprises at least one active ingredient and a water-soluble sheath of the active ingredient.

It is customary today to provide active ingredients from the group of laundry detergents, dishwashing detergents, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, etc. in a flowable or pourable form in pre-dosed units (metering units) which are stored in plastic containers and thus offered on the market. A simple and cost-effective production of the plastic container is to form an upwardly open pan by deep drawing from a sheet or a plastic sheet, which can then be closed with a separately prepared lid.

The handling of the dosing units is comparatively easy and comfortable for the user. The example of detergent as active ingredient is to illustrate this. The user buys a container filled with detergent dosing units. He takes after opening the lid from the tub a detergent dispensing unit and places it in the washing drum or in a detergent compartment of a washing machine. The water-soluble sheath ensures that the user does not come into contact with the detergent, which makes the handling of the detergent safer and easier. Due to the pre-dosage of the detergent, the user does not have to dose the detergent himself. This also simplifies the handling of the detergent.

High humidity can cause the water-soluble casing of the dosing unit to become somewhat sticky even when the tub is closed, and adheres to a floor or to a wall of the tub extending from the floor. This not only precludes easy handling of the detergent but also entails the risk that the casing will be damaged when the dosing unit is removed. This, in turn, may cause detergent to leak from the dosing unit and cause inconvenience.

EP 0 049 430 A1 describes a container with a deep-drawn pan made of plastic, wherein the tub has a bottom and a bottom wall extending from the tub. The tub wall has a plurality of projections directed from a base plane of the tub wall in the direction of the tub interior. The protrusions have a first rib extending along a longitudinal direction and further ribs which are parallel to the first rib and are constructed the same. The ribs have in cross section a first rib flank, a ribbed roof and a second rib flank, the first rib flank and the second rib flank bridging a distance between the ribbed roof and the ground plane of the tub wall. The container is used to contain an active substance (eg washing powder) inside the bath.

US 2008/008859 A1 describes a water-soluble substrate for producing water-soluble coatings which is provided with projections in the form of non-water-soluble particles embedded in the surfaces for the purpose of avoiding adhesions.

The invention is therefore based on the object to provide a container with at least one filled with an active ingredient dosing unit, which can be produced inexpensively and allows easy and safe handling of the drug contained in the metering unit.

The object underlying the invention is achieved with the feature combination according to claim 1. Embodiments of the invention can be taken from the subclaims.

Thus, according to the invention, inter alia, it is provided that the trough wall has a plurality of projections directed from a base plane of the trough wall in the direction of the trough interior, wherein a spacing of adjacent projections is smaller than a length and smaller than a width of the dosing unit. Due to the projections, the tub wall is given a surface structure, by means of which an effective contact surface of the metering unit on the tub wall is reduced. This reduction of the contact surface is associated with the fact that the disadvantageous adhesion or sticking of the dosing unit to the tub wall is prevented or at least reduced. Since the distance between adjacent projections with respect to the dimensions of the metering unit is small, a full-surface concerns of the metering unit on the tub wall can be virtually eliminated. Even if the water-soluble sheath has a certain stickiness, the metering unit can be taken out of the tub more easily due to the smaller contact area between the tub wall and the sheath.

The length of the dosing unit should be the largest dimension of the dosing unit in one of the three spatial directions. The width should be the second largest extent. A height of the dosing unit should be the smallest of the three spatial dimensions. In one embodiment, the distance between adjacent projections is also smaller than the height of the dosing unit, that is smaller than the smallest of the three dimensions in the x, y or z direction.

The spacing of adjacent protrusions may be less than half the length and less than half the width of the dosing unit. In this way, it can be ensured that, with a corresponding position of the dosing unit in the tub (for example, the dosing unit bears against the tub wall with its longest edge), the dosing unit bears against at least two projections. Depending on the distance and orientation to the tub wall, the dosing unit can also rest on three, four or even 15 projections at the same time.

According to the invention, the projections have a first rib extending along a longitudinal direction and further ribs which are parallel to the first rib. Further according to the invention, the construction of the further ribs corresponds to the structure of the first rib. Preferably, the tub wall has identically constructed ribs. The following description of the structure of the first rib can thus apply mutatis mutandis to the other ribs. A width of the first rib may be smaller than a distance between adjacent ribs. For example, the width of the first rib may be 5 to 25 mm. In a preferred embodiment, the width of the first rib is 10 mm. The distance between two adjacent ribs may be 5 to 30 mm, wherein in one embodiment the distance is 13 mm.

The first rib may extend from the floor toward an upper tub rim. Thus, the first rib extends vertically when the tub is on a horizontal shelf with the floor. The first rib may extend substantially the entire distance between the bottom and the upper tub rim. In the immediate vicinity of the bottom and / or in the immediate vicinity of the upper edge of the tub a rib-free area may be formed. This area may have a vertical height of 5 to 15 mm. Preferably, the vertical height of this area is smaller than the length and smaller than the width of the metering unit.

In one embodiment, a height of the first rib varies along the longitudinal direction. For example, the height of the first rib from the bottom in the direction of the upper rim of the tub can rise steadily, preferably linearly. Starting from the bottom, the first rib can start with a height equal to 0 mm and end near the upper rim of the tub with a height of 0.5 to 10 mm. In one embodiment, the first rib ends near the upper tub rim with a height of 1 to 3 mm.

It is also possible that the height of the first rib along the longitudinal direction is constant. Also in this embodiment, the height of the rib can be 0.5 to 10 mm or preferably 1 to 3 mm.

In principle, the first rib can have any rib contour in cross section. According to the invention, the ribs have in cross section a first rib flank, a ribbed roof and a second rib flank, wherein the first rib flank and the second flank flank bridge a distance between the ribbed roof and the ground plane of the tub wall. Thus, the rib roof is spaced from the base plane of the tub wall, wherein the distance between the ground plane and rib roof corresponds to the height of the rib. The ribbed roof essentially forms the contact surface for the at least one metering unit, which is located in the tub interior.

The first rib flank and the second rib flank may run obliquely to each other and enclose an angle of 60 to 120 °. In one embodiment, the angle is 80 to 100 °.

The tub wall may include a front wall, a rear wall, a first side wall and a second side wall, the front wall, the rear wall, the first side wall and the second side wall each having projections. This can ensure that the tub wall has no (larger) areas where it comes to a full-scale investment of potentially sticky enclosure of the metering unit on the tub wall.

An area of the bottom of the tub may be smaller than a surface of a tub opening. In the embodiment with front wall, rear wall, first side wall and second side wall For example, at least two opposing walls may diverge from the bottom towards the trough opening.

In cross-section, the trough may have a substantially rectangular basic shape. The corners between two abutting walls can be rounded. In one embodiment, the front wall is slightly curved outwards, while the rear wall and the two side walls are straight.

To close the tub, the container may have a lid with a fixed to the tub frame and with a flap which is pivotally mounted on the frame. In a closed position, the flap can be locked to the frame by means of locking means, which are preferably made childproof. Unintentional opening of the container can thus be avoided.

The water-soluble casing may be made of a water-soluble polymer such as polyvinyl alcohol. The dosing unit may comprise at least one second active substance, wherein the enclosure can then form not only one chamber, but two separate chambers. The active ingredients may differ in terms of chemical composition, color and / or presentation (liquid, solid, particle size). For example, a two-chamber dosing unit is possible in which one active ingredient is liquid and the other active ingredient is particulate.

Figur 1

in perspektivischer Ansicht eine Wanne eines erfindungsgemäßen Behälters;

Figur 2

einen Querschnitt der Wanne in stark schematisierter Form;

Figur 3

einen Schnitt eines weiteren Ausführungsbeispiels entsprechend dem Schnitt entlang der Linie III-III in Figur 1;

Figur 4

einen Schnitt des Ausführungsbeispiels der Figur 3 entsprechend dem Schnitt entlang der Linie IV-IV in Figur 1;

Figur 5

einen Teilschnitt entlang der Linie V-V in Figur 4; und

Figur 6

zwei perspektivische Ansichten einer Dosiereinheit (Figur 6A, 6B).

Reference to an embodiment shown in the figures, the invention is explained in detail. Show it:

FIG. 1

in perspective view a trough of a container according to the invention;

FIG. 2

a cross section of the tub in a highly schematic form;

FIG. 3

a section of another embodiment according to the section along the line III-III in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 4

a section of the embodiment of the FIG. 3 according to the section along the line IV-IV in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 5

a partial section along the line VV in FIG. 4 ; and

FIG. 6

two perspective views of a dosing unit ( Figure 6A, 6B ).

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a deep-drawn trough 10 made of plastic. The tub 10 has a bottom 11 and a peripheral tub wall 12 extending from the bottom 11 to an upper tub rim 13. The circulating tub rim 13 delimits a tub opening 14. The tub opening 14 can be closed by a cover, not shown here.

The tub wall 11 has a front wall 15, a rear wall 16, a first side wall 17 and a second side wall 18. Section views of in FIG. 1 illustrated tray 10 are in the FIGS. 3 to 5 shown.

The bottom 11 and the tub wall 12 define a tub interior 19 which serves to receive a plurality of metering units. The dosing units are in FIG. 1 not shown. But they are the Figures 2 and 6 to remove and provided there with the reference numeral 50.

The tub wall 12 has a plurality of ribs 20 which are arranged parallel to one another and extend from the bottom 11 in the direction of the upper tub rim 13. The ribs 20 each have a same structure.

FIG. 2 shows a cross section of the trough 10, it being noted that the FIG. 2 only a schematic representation of the tub 10 of FIG. 1 is. Due to the schematic representation, there are differences from the concrete embodiment according to FIG. 1 (For example, in terms of the number of ribs 20, the rib shape, configuration of the individual walls 15, 16, 17, 18).

Each of the ribs 20 has a first rib flank 21, a ribbed roof 22 and a second rib flank 23, wherein the ribs 20 are all directed in the direction of the tub interior 19. The rib flanks 21, 23 bridge a distance between a ground plane 24 of the tub wall 12 FIG. 2 this ground plane 24 is represented by a dotted line. The distance between the ground plane 24 and the ribbed roof 22 corresponds to a height 25. Since the rib flanks 21, 23 run obliquely from the ground plane 24, which is in FIG. 2 is illustrated by an angle 26, a width 27 of the first rib 20 (measured in the ground plane 24) is greater than a width 28 of the rib axis 22 in the schematic representation of FIG. 2 is a distance 29 between two adjacent ribs about as large as the width 27 of the rib 20th

FIG. 2 schematically shows in the tub interior 19 four metering units 50 each having a length L and a width B. A specific embodiment of this metering unit 50 can the FIG. 6 be removed (see Figure 6A, 6B ). In FIG. 6B In addition, a height H of the dosing unit 50 is entered. In the concrete embodiment of in FIG. 6 The dosing unit shown should be the length L 67 mm, the width B 60 mm and the height H 13 mm.

Again FIG. 2 The metering unit 50 are located on the ribs 20, in particular on the ribbed roofs 22, or also on the tub wall 12 in the region of the ground plane 24 on. Due to the ribs 20 and the associated surface structuring, however, the effective contact surface between the tub wall 12 and the metering units 50 is significantly reduced with respect to a tub wall without any ribs. Due to the reduced contact surface or the risk is significantly reduced that the dosing units 50 adhere to the tub wall 12 and their removal from the tub 10 could cause problems. In the presentation of the FIG. 2 the four metering units 50 lie in one plane. In practice, the metering units 50 may be arranged completely disordered in the tub interior 19.

The dosing unit 50 of FIG. 6 has a water-soluble coating 51 of polyvinyl alcohol. The envelope 51 is composed of a thermoforming film 52 and a cover 53 together. When thermoforming the thermoforming sheet 52 into a thermoforming mold, a first pocket 54 and a second pocket 55 are formed. This pocket 54, 55 serve to receive a first active ingredient or a second active ingredient, for example in the form of a detergent and a detergent additive. After filling of the active ingredients, the covering film 53 is placed on the open side of the pockets 54, 55 and sealed with the deep-drawn thermoforming film 52 in such a way that two separate closed chambers for the active substances are formed.

Again FIG. 3 can be removed, 16 nine ribs 20 are provided on the rear wall. It should be noted that the embodiment of the FIGS. 3 to 5 of the embodiment of FIG. 1 slightly different. Thus, the embodiment of the FIG. 1 For example, on the rear wall 16 only seven ribs 20. The length profile of each rib 20 will be apparent from the rib 20a on the first side wall 17 (here the left side wall). With increasing distance to the bottom 11, the height 25 of the rib 20 is larger. At a bottom-level shoulder 30, the rib 20a starts and starts with a height of 0 mm (height marked 25). This height 25 increases linearly with increasing distance to the shoulder 30 and reaches its maximum value immediately below the upper rim 13, where the rib 20a ends. The height 25 in the vicinity of the upper rim 13 is for example 12 to 1.8 mm. The width 27 should be 9 to 11 mm here. The distance 29 should be 12 to 14 mm. The capacity of the tub 10 may be, for example, 1000 to 5000 ml, preferably 2000 to 4000 ml.

The Figures 3 and 4 moreover, show that the first side wall 17 and the second side wall 18 do not run parallel in the vertical direction, but slightly diverge starting from the bottom 11. The same applies mutatis mutandis to the front wall 15 and the rear wall 16. Due to the running apart of the walls 15, 16, 17, 18, a surface of the bottom 11 is smaller than a Surface of the trough opening 14. From the Figures 3 . 4 it is also clear that the bottom 11 is slightly profiled. The floor has the basic shape of a hipped roof, the prince 31 does not extend over the entire width of the front wall 15 and the rear wall 16, but only over a central portion.

FIG. 5 also shows the trapezoidal basic shape of the rib 20. The angle 26 between the plane to the base plane 24 inclined rib flanks 21, 23 is here about 90 °. Accordingly, each rib edge 21, 23 to the ground plane 24 at an angle of about 45 °.

For labeling / application of the dosing units located in the tub 10, a circumferential band can be placed around the tub wall from the outside. The band is preferably made of paper or paperboard and may have a tear strip to allow easy release of the band, when the materials paper and plastic are separated after use of the container in the context of recycling.

Due to the comparatively flat running ribs 20 whose height increases only very slightly with the distance to the bottom 11, the tub 10 can be produced as a comparable tub without surface-structured tub wall by a deep-drawing process cost. The ribs 20 thereby effect that the effective contact surface between metering units 50 and the tub wall 12 is kept low. This ensures that the - possibly due to a certain humidity - adhering to the tub wall dosing units can be removed from the tub 10 in a simple manner.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

10

tub

11

ground

12

tub wall

13

upper tub edge

14

when opening

15

front wall

16

rear wall

17

first sidewall

18

second side wall

19

when the Interior

20

Rib (first rib, further ribs, rib 20a)

21

first rib flank

22

ribbed roof

23

second rib flank

24

ground plane

25

Height of the rib

26

corner

27

Width of the rib

28

Width of the rib roof

29

Distance between two ribs

30

paragraph

31

ridge

50

dosing

51

wrapping

52

Thermoforming film

53

cover

54

first bag

55

second bag

Claims (11)

1. A container having a deep-drawn tub (10) made of plastics material and having at least one dosing unit (50) located in a tub interior (19) of the tub (10), which dosing unit comprises at least one active ingredient having a water-soluble casing enclosing the active ingredient (51), wherein the tub (10) has a base (11) and a tub wall (12) that extends from the base (11), which base and tub wall define the tub interior (19), wherein the tub wall (12) comprises a plurality of projections which are directed toward the tub interior (19) from a datum plane (24) of the tub wall (11) and which have a first ridge (20) extending in the longitudinal direction and additional ridges (20) that are parallel to the first ridge (20), wherein a spacing of adjacent projections is smaller than a length (L) and smaller than a width (B) of the dosing unit (50), the ridges (20) each have a first ridge flank (21), a ridge top (22) and a second ridge flank (23) in cross section and the first ridge flank (21) and the second ridge flank (23) bridge a spacing between the ridge top (22) and the datum plane (24) of the tub wall (12).
2. The container according to claim 1, characterized in that the spacing of adjacent projections is less than half the length (L) and less than half the width (B) of the dosing unit (50).
3. The container according to claim 1, characterized in that a width (27) of the first ridge (20) is smaller than a spacing (29) between adjacent ridges (20).
4. The container according to one of claims 1 or 3, characterized in that the first ridge (20) extends from the base (11) toward an upper tub rim (13).
5. The container according to claim 4, characterized in that the first ridge (20) extends substantially over the entire distance between the base (11) and the upper tub rim (13).
6. The container according to claim 1 or one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that a height (25) of the first ridge (20) varies in the longitudinal direction.
7. The container according to claim 1, characterized in that the first ridge flank (21) and the second ridge flank (23) extend obliquely with respect to one another and form an angle (26) of 60 to 120°.
8. The container according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the tub wall (12) comprises a front wall (15), a rear wall (16), a first side wall (17) and a second side wall (18), the front wall (15), the rear wall (16), the first side wall (17) and the second side wall (18) each having the projections comprising the ridges.
9. The container according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that a surface area of the base (11) is smaller than a surface area of a tub opening (14).
10. The container according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that in order to close the tub (10), a cover having a frame that is fixed to the tub (10) and having a flap that is pivotally fastened to the frame is provided.
11. The container according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the dosing unit (50) comprises at least one second active ingredient.

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