EP3621891A1

EP3621891A1 - Tube skirt and head assembly

Info

Publication number: EP3621891A1
Application number: EP17742198.9A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Thierry Maurice; Jean-Claude Jammet
Original assignee: Albea Services SAS
Current assignee: Albea Services SAS
Priority date: 2017-07-07
Filing date: 2017-07-07
Publication date: 2020-03-18
Anticipated expiration: 2037-07-07
Also published as: EP3621891B1; WO2019007537A1

Abstract

An assembly of a tube head (1) and a skirt, said tube head being capable of being associated with the skirt (4) in such a way as to form an inner volume of the tube, the tube head (1) comprising a body (11), said body comprising a neck (3) and a shoulder (2) connected to the neck (3), the tube head (1) further comprising an insert (6) arranged in contact with said shoulder (2), so as to form a barrier between the body (11) and the product contained in the inner volume, said insert (6) closing the neck (3), the shoulder (2) having a peripheral portion (70) orientated along a longitudinal axis of the skirt (4), the insert (6) comprising a peripheral extension (72) orientated parallel to said longitudinal axis.

Description

Set of a head and a tube skirt

The present invention relates to the field of flexible tubes, and more specifically the heads of such tubes.

Flexible tubes commonly consist of a tube head associated with a skirt, the tube head comprising a neck for extracting a product contained in the tube, while the skirt forms the internal volume of the tube adapted to receive a product.

The skirt is conventionally formed of a multilayer sheet, adapted to exhibit satisfactory mechanical strength and sealing properties.

The tube head, however, is commonly made by injection of plastic material, which may be unsatisfactory for certain applications because of the highly reactive nature of certain products and the penetration of certain gases and liquids into the tube. which alters the contents of the tube, or on the contrary the leakage of certain components of the contents of the tube, which leads to the degradation of the product itself as well as to the deterioration of the visual appearance of the tube.

In order to answer this problem, several solutions have been proposed. In particular, it is possible to place in the region of the tube head an insert, or washer, conforming to the inner face of the shoulder of the tube head so as to form a protective barrier separating the tube head of the product. contained in the tube. It thus makes it possible to limit the infiltration and leakage of undesirable components through the head of the tube and protects the head of the tube and the contents of the tube. This insert typically comprises a metal layer and / or an ethylene-vinyl alcohol layer (EVOH). Such tube head structures, however, are complex and expensive to achieve. In particular, it is difficult to position, in particular to center, the insert so that the shoulder of the tube head is properly protected. However, the insert must be well positioned, particularly in the case of metal inserts to limit the corrosion of the insert, for example. Misplacement could also lead to significant plastic deformations of the insert and diminish its barrier properties. The extended periods of storage of the product could then lead to deterioration of the tube head and / or the product.

There is also a discontinuity of the barrier effect in the connection zone of the skirt to the tube head.

The present invention aims at providing a structure that does not have such disadvantages. For this purpose, the present invention provides an assembly of a tube head and a skirt, said tube head being adapted to be associated with the skirt so as to form an internal volume of the tube, said tube head comprising a body, said body comprising a neck and a shoulder connected to the neck, said tube head further comprising an insert disposed in contact with said shoulder, so as to form a barrier between the body and the product contained in the internal volume, said insert closing the neck, said shoulder having a peripheral portion oriented along a longitudinal axis of the skirt, said insert comprising a peripheral extension oriented parallel to said longitudinal axis. By its orientation, the extension according to the invention improves the good positioning of the insert on the tube head by a centering effect. This ensures a correct protection of the shoulder of the tube head. In addition, it limits the risk of plastic deformations thereof that could cause a weakening of its barrier properties. In parallel, said extension makes it possible to limit the discontinuity of the barrier effect between the skirt and the insert. The invention thus makes it possible to have a tube head having an insert forming an insulating operculum in a particularly efficient manner the internal volume of the tube prior to its first use. According to various embodiments of the invention, which may be taken together or separately:

said body is made of plastics material,

said neck has at a first end an opening through which a product is extracted from the internal volume of the tube,

said shoulder is connected to a second end or foot of the neck opposite the first end, said insert comprises a central portion closing the neck, in other words, said central portion is the portion of the insert lying in the extension of a conduit for passing the product through the neck, in other words, said central portion is the part of the insert corresponding to the projection of said duct on said insert in a direction of extension of the neck,

said central portion forms a non-open disc adapted to close the neck,

said central portion comprises a deformation which makes it possible in particular to reinforce the centering of the insert on the tube head,

said deformation is configured to cooperate with the neck,

said deformation is in alignment with the neck, in other words, the peripheral edges of the deformation correspond to an inner peripheral edge of a lower longitudinal end of said neck,

said deformation is a deformation of at least a part of the insert, in particular of its central portion

said deformation is preformed on the insert,

said deformation is oriented towards the inside of the neck,

said deformation is concave, in particular in the shape of a dome,

said deformation, in particular said dome, is circular of diameter D _d and height h _d , D _d being substantially identical to or smaller than the diameter of the internal section of said neck and / or a ratio h _d / D _d being less than 1 / 3, or even 0.15, in particular 0.10,

said insert is disposed substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the neck,

said insert is formed of a multilayer material,

said multilayer material comprises a metallic barrier layer made of aluminum and / or an ethylene-vinyl alcohol barrier layer (EVOH),

said central portion comprises a flat portion at right of the foot of the neck, said insert further comprising a first frustoconical zone extending said flat portion and a second zone having a stronger trunconicity, said second zone connecting the first zone and the peripheral extension of the insert,

said peripheral extension of the insert forms an angle a between 120 and 160 ° with the second zone of the insert,

said skirt covers said tube head at said peripheral portion extending towards the neck, in particular at the right of the second frustoconical zone of the insert, said flat part of the insert is connected to said deformation, in particular to said dome, in particular according to a rounding,

said insert comprises a peripheral region corresponding to a portion of the insert mounted in abutment against a complementary surface of the body, said peripheral region or part of said region having a shape of revolution not extending beyond a cylindrical volume of diameter D and height h, a ratio of the value h / D being less than 0.1, preferably 0.08, even more preferably 0.065, the diameter D corresponding to the diameter of the insert.

In other words, according to this last aspect of the invention, said insert is substantially flat, at least considering the insert without its possible deformation. Moreover, it can be seen that in such a configuration, the correct positioning of the insert in the tube head is all the more problematic. Indeed, the more the insert is flat, the more its centering on the tube head is difficult since the shape of the insert itself then no longer contributes to its positioning. The correct positioning of the insert will therefore all the more depend on the peripheral extension, reinforced if necessary by a centering effect provided by the deformation. The ratio hd / h may in this sense be advantageously greater than 0.2, even 0.3 or even 0.35.

The assembly according to the invention may further comprise:

- a plug,

said plug is adapted to be screwed onto said neck,

said plug comprises a perforator adapted to allow the perforation of said insert to make an opening in the insert,

said perforator is configured to pierce the insert around said deformation, in particular at the base of the dome. Other characteristics, objects and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description which follows, which is purely illustrative and nonlimiting, and which should be read with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of a tube head according to one aspect of the invention,

- Figure 2 illustrates a detail, marked A in Figure 1. In all the figures, the common elements are identified by identical reference numerals.

Figure 1 shows a sectional view of a tube head 1 according to one aspect of the invention. The tube head 1 comprises a body 1 1 comprising a shoulder 2 and a neck 3 connected to the shoulder 2. The body 1 1 is typically made of plastic, for example polyethylene and / or polypropylene.

The shoulder 2 is connected to a skirt 4, partially illustrated, in dotted lines, forming the body of the associated tube and thus defining an internal volume of the tube.

The neck 3 defines an internal conduit 5 for dispensing a product contained in the internal volume of the tube. In the embodiment shown, the neck 3 comprises an external thread 31 adapted to allow screwing a stopper on said neck 3.

The tube head 1 is connected to the skirt 4, typically by overmolding the tube head 1 on the skirt 4, or for example by welding or gluing by assembling the skirt 4 on the previously formed tube head 1, in particular by injection or by injection compression, or by any other technique.

The skirt 4 is typically formed of plastic and / or laminated metal; for example a multilayer assembly comprising one or more layers of metallic material such as aluminum, and one or more layers of plastic, such as polyethylene.

The tube head 1 further comprises an insert 6 disposed in contact with the shoulder 2, typically in contact with a face 21 of the shoulder 2 facing the internal volume of the tube defined by the skirt 4. The insert 6 is thus disposed in direct contact against the face 21 of the shoulder 2, this bringing into contact being achieved by overmolding the body 1 1 of the tube head 1 on the insert 6 which allows in particular to fix the insert 6 to body 1 1 of the tube head 1. Said face 21 of the shoulder 2 thus defines a flat bearing surface or substantially flat so as to receive the insert Typically said insert 6 is formed of a multilayer material comprising a barrier layer limiting infiltration and leakage of undesirable components through the head of the tube. The commonly used inserts 6 are typically composed of two layers of plastic material surrounding the intermediate barrier layer. The two layers of plastic material serve to isolate the metal layer of the product contained in the tube, which is likely to deteriorate. The barrier layer typically comprises a metal layer, in particular aluminum, and / or an ethylene-vinyl alcohol layer (EVOH). An example of an insert structure 6 is a multilayer insert of Polyethylene-Aluminum-Polyethylene type.

The insert 6 here comprises a central portion 63 and a peripheral region 64, the central portion 63 forming a non-open disc adapted to close the neck 3 of the tube head 1.

The insert 6, and more particularly its central portion 63 thus forms a seal, sealing the internal volume of the tube defined by the skirt 4 and protecting the product contained therein.

According to the invention and as is more visible in FIG. 2, said shoulder 2 has a peripheral portion 70 oriented along a longitudinal axis of the skirt, here identical to the longitudinal axis X of the neck, and said insert 6 comprises a peripheral extension 72 oriented parallel to said longitudinal axis. Such a longitudinal extension promotes the continuity of the barrier effect and a good positioning of the insert relative to the shoulder 2. Said peripheral extension 72 has a limited axial length, typically less than 1 mm, or even 0.5 mm. In the illustrated embodiment, said central portion 63 comprises a flat portion 74 to the right of a foot 76 of the neck. Said insert 6 further comprises a first frustoconical zone 78 extending said flat portion 74 and a second zone 80 having a stronger tronconicity, said second zone 80 connecting the first zone 78 and the peripheral extension 72 of the insert. In other words, the first and second frustoconical zones 78, 80 form with the peripheral extension the peripheral portion 64 of the insert 6. Advantageously, said central portion 63 comprising a deformation 8 which may contribute to the centering of the insert. This is a dome-shaped deformation located in the alignment of the neck 3. Said deformation 8 is, in particular, concave, that is to say protruding inside the neck.

Advantageously, said dome is circular in diameter D _d and height h _d as shown in Figure 1 where the height h _d and the diameter D _d to be taken into account have been indicated. The diameter D _d is substantially identical to or smaller than the diameter of the internal section of said neck 3. The ratio h _d / D _d is less than 1/3, preferably less than 0.15, in particular 0.10.

If necessary, the deformation is preformed on the insert 6. Such a deformation is thus easily detectable to allow the proper positioning of the insert 6 and more particularly its centering in the tube head 1. Said deformation may also occur during overmolding of the tube head 1.

That being said, according to another embodiment, not illustrated, said deformation of the insert may be convex, that is to say protruding towards the inside of the internal volume.

In either case, it is possible that said deformation of the insert 6 is configured to cooperate with a molding punch of said tube head 1. Advantageously, the peripheral region 64 of the insert 6 or a portion of the peripheral region 64 is substantially flat. By way of example, for a tube head 1 having a form of revolution, it is comprised in a cylindrical volume of diameter D and height h, a ratio of the value h / D being less than 0.1, preferably 0 , 08, still more preferably 0.065, the diameter D corresponding to the diameter of the insert 6, as shown in Figure 1 where the height of h to be taken into account has also been indicated.

In other words, even if the insert 6 has one or more frustoconical portions, the latter has a sufficiently large apex angle, especially greater than 80 °, or even 85 °, at least for the first frustoconical zone 78. Said second zone frustoconical 80 may have an upper apex angle, for example between 40 and 60 °.

Such a feature has the advantage of limiting the stresses that brings to the insert 6 conical shapes too marked, that is to say, with a vertex angle too low. Indeed, such shapes cause work of the insert 6 during its formation, such work may weaken said insert 6, in particular its metal barrier layer. For the same purpose, said peripheral extension 72 of the insert 6 forms an angle α between 120 and 160 ° with the second frustoconical zone 80 of the insert. In this way, too sharp an angle is avoided between said peripheral extension 72 and said second frustoconical zone 80. In these different embodiments, the peripheral region 64 is mounted in contact with a complementary surface of the body 1 1, while the portion central 63 forms a lid adapted to close the neck 3 of the tube head 1 prior to its first use wherein said central portion is perforated at least partially by a perforator.

The insert 6 is advantageously rounded between its flat portion 74 and the dome 8. An angle between said flat portion 74 and a tangent to the dome at its periphery is, for example, between 0 and 15 °, in particular between 5 and 10 °. Preferably, for improving the continuity of the barrier effect, said skirt 4 covers said tube head at said peripheral portion 70, extending towards the neck, in particular at the right of the second frustoconical zone 80 of the insert 6. An inner face of said skirt 4 is located facing an outer face of the shoulder 2. An inner face of said shoulder 2 is located opposite an outer face of said insert 6. An inner face of the insert 6 is located opposite the inside of the tube. Advantageously, said peripheral extension 72 has a distal portion 82 protected by the material of the shoulder 2. The perforation of the insert 6 by the perforator forms an internal peripheral edge of the insert through which the metal intermediate layer is exposed. However, given the life of such a tube after its first use, the risk of degradation of the insert 6 after its perforation is negligible.

Indeed, the shelf life of a tube in its state with the non-perforated insert, corresponding for example to its storage, handling, transport, is conventionally much higher than its shelf life after its first use.

The protection of the insert 6 prior to the first use of the associated tube and therefore its good positioning in the tube head 1 is an important factor in the good preservation of the product contained by the tube, which allows the present invention to be achieved.

The tube head according to the invention is typically associated with a perforating plug, not shown.

The perforator plug is, for example, reversible. It has a first end provided with an internal thread adapted to cooperate with the external thread 31 of the neck 3 and thus screw the perforator plug on the tube head 1, and a second end provided with a perforator adapted to be inserted into the tube. neck 3 and perforate all or part of the insert 6, and more precisely all or part of its central portion 63 closing the neck 3.

The perforator is advantageously dimensioned so that when the perforating plug bears against the neck 3, the piercing end of the perforator comes to exceed the position of the insert 6 in the tube head 1 and can perforate it, thus allowing the user to make an opening communicating the internal volume of the tube and the inner conduit 5 of the neck so as to use the product contained in the internal volume.

Claims

claims

1. A tube head (1) and a skirt assembly, said tube head being adapted to be associated with the skirt (4) so as to form an internal volume of the tube, said tube head (1) comprising a body (1 1), said body comprising a neck (3) and a shoulder (2) connected to the neck (3), said tube head (1) further comprising an insert (6) disposed in contact with said shoulder (2) ), so as to form a barrier between the body (1 1) and the product contained in the internal volume, said insert (6) closing the neck (3), said shoulder (2) having a peripheral portion (70) oriented according to a longitudinal axis of the skirt (4), said insert (6) comprising a peripheral extension (72) oriented parallel to said longitudinal axis.

2. Assembly according to the preceding claim, wherein said insert (6) comprises a central portion (63) closing the neck (3), said central portion comprising a deformation (8).

3. Assembly according to the preceding claim, wherein the deformation (8) is in alignment with the neck (3).

4. An assembly according to any one of claims 2 or 3, wherein the deformation (8) is a deformation of at least a portion of said central portion (63) of the insert (6).

5. An assembly according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein said deformation (8) is preformed on the insert (6).

6. An assembly according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein said deformation (8) is oriented towards the inside of the neck (3).

An assembly according to any one of claims 2 to 6, wherein said deformation (8) is dome-shaped.

8. An assembly according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein said deformation (8) is circular in diameter D _d and height h _d , D _d being substantially identical to or smaller than the diameter of the inner section of said neck (3) and / or a ratio h _d / D _d being less than 1/3,

9. An assembly according to any one of claims 2 to 8 wherein the insert (6) is relatively flat.

10. An assembly according to any one of claims 2 to 9 wherein said central portion (63) comprises a flat portion (74) to the right of a foot (76) of the neck (3), said insert (6) comprising in in addition to a first frustoconical zone (78) extending said flat portion (74) and a second zone (80) having a stronger truncation, said second zone (80) connecting the first zone (78) and the peripheral extension (72) of the insert (6).

1 1. Assembly according to the preceding claim wherein said peripheral extension (72) of the insert (6) forms an angle α between 120 and 160 ° with the second zone (80) of the insert (6).

12. An assembly according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said skirt (4) covers said tube head at said peripheral portion (70) extending towards the neck.

13. Assembly (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a cap adapted to be screwed onto said neck (3), said cap comprising a perforator adapted to allow the perforation of said insert (6) to achieve an opening in the insert (6).

14. Tube head for an assembly according to any one of the preceding claims.