GB2564851A

GB2564851A - A reusable, recyclable dispensing package for flowable materials

Info

Publication number: GB2564851A
Application number: GB1711586.6A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Allen Chipawe Tinashe
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2017-07-19
Filing date: 2017-07-19
Publication date: 2019-01-30
Also published as: GB201711586D0

Abstract

A reusable, recyclable dispensing package for liquids comprises a bottle (1, fig. 1) with an opening 2 to receive an internal bladder (3, fig. 1.1) in a sealing relation, forming a pressure sealed chamber 22 around the bladder. A valve 23 allows air to be inducted into the chamber to relieve pressure. The bottle has an elastically deformable region 21 so that when pressed the pressure in the chamber increases to compress the bladder and returns to its original shape when released, inducting air through the valve. The bladder has a discharge nozzle (9, fig. 3.1) with a one-way valve 13 to allow flowable material out of the bladder when the pressure in the chamber is increased. The bladder includes a charging port (19, fig. 3.1.2) whereby fluid can be injected into the bladder. The bladder may comprise an envelope and a cap which may couple the bladder into a collar on the bottle. The charging port may be formed integrally in the cap. The bladder or the bottle may have weakened regions forming hinging annuli to encourage compression like a bellows. The bottle and bladder may be formed from a plastics material which may be the same plastics material.

Description

[ooi] The present invention relates to the technical field of packaging and in particular a package which can be reused, preferably wholly reused an indefinite number of times and then recycled. The package provides a container for a consumable flowable material, including any one of a liquid, gel, suspensions of solid particulates in liquids, gels and pastes. By way of non-limiting examples the package may contain and dispense cosmetic creams, tooth paste, shaving gel, antiseptics, cleaning compositions, foodstuffs such as sauces, certain classes of adhesives or filler.

Prior Art [002] Historically flowable materials have commonly been packaged in a “tube” such as a tube of toothpaste or adhesive. The tube comprises an envelope or bladder of flexible foil fabricated from a metal alloy or more recently a plastics material. The envelope is closed by a nozzle fabricated from plastics or metal. The nozzle can usually be closed by a screw on, or press fitted cap. The flowable material is filled into the envelope and discharged through the nozzle by applying pressure (squeezing) the exterior of the bladder. It is impractical to clean and refill the bladder to reuse the tube and it is often difficult to recycle the tube materials because the different components are difficult to separate and being formed from different materials cannot be processed for reuse while joined. The tube is also limiting in terms of designability, placing narrow constraints on the designers of packaging.

[003] An alternative prior art package, particularly for liquids is a self-supporting squeezable elastic bottle which can be squeezed to press the contents out of a nozzle. A problem with this is that the bottle must collapse to accommodate the change in volume, which stresses the bottle unequally, may make it unstable, so it no longer stands upright and is aesthetically displeasing. Alternatively ambient air is inducted into the bottle which is often unacceptable where the contents are vulnerable to oxidation, microbial contamination or moisture. In every case it is difficult or impossible to fully discharge the flowable contents of the package.

[004] A common solution to the problem of ejecting materials from a self-supporting bottle is to incorporate a pump mechanism. However, these are complex, requiring the use of several different materials, eg injection moulded plastics, extruded plastics and metal springs, which are impractical to separate for recycling and still need to induct air into the bottle in order to compensate for the volume of flowable material discharged.

[005] US4909416. discloses a package comprising a self-supporting bottle of elastically variable volume containing a flexible bladder. The bladder contains the flowable material and communicates with a discharge nozzle provided with a one way discharge valve. Air is trapped in a chamber between the bladder and the bottle. The bottle contains a one way air valve which allows ambient air to flow into the chamber. When the bottle is squeezed the air in the chamber is compressed. The bladder is formed with a side wall so that it can collapse like a bellows. The air compressed in the chamber compresses the bladder causing the flowable material to discharge through the one way valve in the nozzle. The elasticity of the self-supporting bottle urges it to recover its shape and expand the volume of the chamber, this causes a pressure drop in the chamber which opens the air valve allowing air to flow into the chamber. Thus the bottle can readily recover its shape and the reduction in volume of the bladder is compensated by the increased volume of air in the chamber. When the flowable material is exhausted the bottle is opened and the bladder is replaced with a charged bladder. The exhausted bladder is disposed of to waste, usually land fill.

[006] It is an object of the present invention to provide a package, capable of storing and dispensing a flowable material from a bladder, without contaminating the flowable material with air or air borne contaminants. The package should be capable of fabrication from a single class of plastics material to facilitate recycling. It is an object that the package can be indefinitely reused until worn out and then recycled. The package will be capable of meeting the functional and aesthetic design requirements for packaging cosmetic products.

Statement of Invention [007] A reusable, recyclable dispensing package for flowable materials comprising:

a reusable self-supporting external bottle having:

an opening to receive a bladder in sealing relation to form a pressure sealed chamber surrounding the bladder;

a one way pressure relief valve to allow ambient air to be inducted into a bottle chamber formed between the bottle and the bladder;

an elastically deformable region so that when the package is pressed to apply an external force, the bottle deforms elastically from its original condition whereby the pressure of the air in the bottle chamber is increased to compress the bladder, and on relief of the external force the bottle recovers to its original condition inducing a vacuum in the bottle chamber and inducting air through the pressure relief valve to compensate for the change in volume of the bladder;

said compressible bladder capable of containing a flowable material and having a discharge nozzle including a one way valve to allow a flowable material contained in the bladder to discharge from the bladder when the package is pressed, characterised in that the bladder includes a charging port whereby cleaning fluid and/or flowable material can be injected into the bladder to prepare the bladder for reuse.

[008] Preferably the bladder includes a cap part and an envelope part. The cap part may advantageously be fabricated to be relatively rigid and provides: the discharge nozzle, the charging port and a coupling part to sealingly couple the bladder into a collar formed on the bottle. Preferably the discharge nozzle and/or the charging port is integral with the cap part. The discharge nozzle may incorporate a one way discharge valve provided by either of a duck bill valve or a dome valve. The one way valve is preferably integrally formed with the cap part. The charging port may be provided by a conical port valve to receive and be opened by a charging needle. Preferably the conical port valve is integrally formed with the cap part.

[009] The cap part may advantageously be secured by press fitting into the bottle collar. However the cap may be secured by additional securing means such as a screw thread, bayonet fitting or snap engaging cooperating parts.

[010] The envelope of the bladder is preferably formed with regions weakened to form hinging annuli so that the bladder is encouraged to compress like a bellows. The bladder may advantageously depend from the cap part so that it is suspended from the collar in the bottle. The bladder can thus collapse progressively under the action of pressure from the part of the envelope remote from the collar. Preferably the cap and envelope forming the bladder are formed integrally or may be formed separately and permanently fastened together by a process such as welding. The bladder is preferably an elongate cylindrical tube. The bladder is adapted to be formed of a single class of plastics material. An example of a suitable plastics material is silicone rubber.

ton] The elastically deformable region of the bottle is preferably provided by annular hinge regions arranged alternately to encourage the bottle to deform like a bellows. The hinge regions are engineered to deform elastically with a spring force sufficient to recover to the original shape when a deforming load is relieved, and sufficient to induct air through the pressure relief valve. The pressure relief valve may be provided by an integrally moulded dome valve or duck bill valve. The pressure relief valve may be integrally formed from the material of the bottle. The bottle may advantageously be formed to have a flat base in order to be free standing on the base. This allows the bottle to be deformed by a user pressing down on the cap to effect discharge of the flowable material.

[012] The package may have the elastically deformable region disposed adjacent a base of the bottle to provide an inner bottle wall of uniform radius above the elastically deformable region. The base of the bladder envelope may support a sealing projection extending to seal against the uniform cross section inner wall when installed. Deforming the elastically deformable region will then urge the base away from the elastically deformable region. A vent may be formed in the bottle wall to vent the space between the bladder and the bottle above the sealing projection.

[013] The package may have a bladder which is generally cylindrical with a cylindrical base and a protrusion may be formed in the base to protrude into the envelope and fill a residual space left when the bladder is fully compressed. This will help to fully discharge residual flowable material.

[014] The package may be provided with a sleeve closely surrounding the bottle part to constrain the deformation of the elastic region in an axial direction.

[015] The cap and bottle allow a good range of designability and are capable of carrying textual or graphic material. The bottle and/or cap may be wrapped with readily removable materials such as paper products or card to further enhance the designability function of the package.

[016] Preferably the whole of the bottle part is made of a single material. Similarly it is preferable that the whole of the bladder part is made from a single material. Preferably each of the bladder and the bottle is made from similar plastics materials. Preferably the plastics materials are selected to be readily recyclable. If the materials cannot readily be recycled they may be selected to be biodegradable.

[017] The method of reuse and recycling involves, exhausting the flowable material from the bladder. Removing the exhausted bladder from the bottle. Returning the exhausted bladder to a cleaning station. Said cleaning station introducing a hollow cleaning needle to the charging port and flowing a cleaning fluid through the bladder to discharge from the discharge nozzle. The bladder may be expanded before, during or by the cleaning step to expose all the interior surfaces to the cleaning fluid. Expelling the cleaning fluid from the bladder. Loading the bladder into a charging station. Said charging station introducing a hollow charging needle to the charging port and injecting a consumable flowable material to refill the bladder ready for resale or reuse.

[018] The step of expelling the cleaning fluid may include a step of compressing the bladder. The step of cleaning may include a step of flowing a dry gas through the bladder to remove traces of cleaning fluid.

[019] In some cases the hollow cleaning needle and hollow charging needle may be the same needle. In some cases the cleaning fluid may be the consumable material. In the case of some consumable materials a cleaning step may not be required. The recycling process may include a test step to test the function and appearance of the bladder before the bladder is recharged with consumable flowable material. If the bladder fails the test step it is sent for recycling instead of reuse.

[020] It is envisaged that the user or purchaser will return the bladder to a manufacturer or supplier to be recycled. Return may be achieved by a number of channels including postal services or recovery at retail outlets.

Brief Description of Figures [021] Embodiments of reusable, recyclable dispensing packages for liquids and a method of reusing and recycling the package will now be described, byway of example only, with reference to the accompanying illustrative figures, in which:

figure 1 is a SE isometric view of the assembled package of the first embodiment; figure 1.1 is a NE isometric view of a charged bladder part being inserted into SE isometric view of a bottle part of the package in figure 1:

figure 2 is a right hand side elevation of the assembled package of figure 1;

figure 2.1 is a right hand side sectional elevation of the assembled package of figure 1; figure 2.1.1 is an enlarged detail of the section of 2.1 showing a pressure relief valve; figure 3 is a right hand side elevation of a bladder from figure 2;

figure 3.1 is a right hand side sectional elevation of figure 3;

figure 3.1.1 is an enlarged detail of a discharge nozzle of figure 3;

figure 3.1.2 is an enlarged detail of a charging port of figure 3;

figure 4 is a right hand side elevation of a second embodiment of the package; figure 4.1 is a right hand sectional elevation of the second embodiment; and figure 4.2 is a right hand sectional elevation of a variant of the second embodiment.

Detailed Description of Figures [022] A reusable, recyclable dispensing package for flowable materials comprises a reusable self-supporting external bottle 1 having an open top formed by a cylindrical collar 2.

[023] A bladder 3 is receivable in sealing relation into the opening to form a pressure sealed bottle chamber 22 surrounding the bladder 3. The bladder 3 is formed with a cap part

4. The cap part 4 has a large diameter part 5 and a small diameter part 6 separated at a shoulder 7. The shoulder 7 limits the insertion of the cap part 4 into the collar 2. The small diameter part 6 is formed with a seal enhancing projecting annular rib 8 space down from the shoulder 7. The small diameter part corresponds to the inside diameter of the collar 2 so that when the bladder is received into the bottle it forms an air tight seal. A discharge nozzle comprises a discharge passage 9 formed in the cap to extend from a bottom interior surface 10 of the cap 4 to a circumferential surface 11. An integrally formed one way discharge valve 12 permits the discharge of a flowable material from the discharge passage 9. The discharge valve 12 comprises a hollow dome 13 of material overlying the discharge passage 9, formed with a split 14 which is normally urged closed by the elasticity of the dome but can be forced open when the pressure in the discharge passage 9 is sufficiently high.

[024] The bladder includes a hollow generally cylindrical envelope 15 depending from the bottom interior surface 10. The envelope 15 is closed by a circular base 16 with a cylindrical side wall 17 forming a store for a flowable material. The side wall 17 is formed with a plurality of vertically spaced hinge regions 18 which facilitate the expansion and collapse of the envelope 15 in the manner of a bellows.

[025] The bladder includes a charging port whereby cleaning fluid and/or flowable material can be injected into the bladder to prepare the bladder for use or reuse. The charging port is provided by a conical port 19 which tapers from an opening 20 formed in the top of the cap part. The apex of the conical port 19 coincides with the bottom interior surface 10. The resilience of the cap part ensures that the conical port 19 is normally closed. However the conical passage can be forced open by insertion of a hollow charging needle which allows flowable material to be delivered into the bladder to clean or fill the bladder.

[026] The bottle 1 has an elastically deformable region provided by annular corrugations 21 located adjacentthe collar 2 and spaced from a base of the bottle 1. The annular corrugations 21 are configured to deform elastically when a user presses down on the top of the cap 4. This reduces the volume of the sealed bottle chamber 22 formed between an interior wall of the bottle and the exterior wall of the bladder 3 and compresses air trapped therein. This in turn compresses the bladder until the flowable contents are expelled through the discharge nozzle reducing the volume contained in the bladder. The corrugations apply sufficient spring force to open a one way pressure relief valve 23 formed integrally in a base 24 of the bottle. The base 24 of the bottle is designed to support the bottle in an upright condition on a flat surface. In the example the base has a flat exterior surface. However the base may include channels (not shown) to allow ambient air to reach the relief valve 23.

[027] The one way relief valve structure comprises a hollow dome moulded to protrude up into the bottle chamber 22. The wall thickness of the dome changes progressively from a maximum at the junction with the base of the bottle tapering to a minimum at the apex of the dome. The dome is split vertically and diametrically which allows the two parts of the dome valve to open when there is sufficient pressure differential between the bottle chamber and the surrounding atmosphere. Selection of the wall thickness, taper and radius of curvature allows the opening pressure differential to be predetermined. The opening pressure differential is determined so that the spring force applied by the elastically deformable region is sufficient to induce a vacuum in the bottle chamber to open the pressure relief valve 23.

[028] Thus the present invention comprises only two component parts, the bottle and bladder. Each of the bottle and bladder can thus be formed from a single material.

[029] In use the bladder is supplied charged with a flowable material such as a cosmetic cream. As the cream is discharged the bladder is progressively compressed until it reaches a minimum volume where it is exhausted. The bladder is then removed from the bottle and returned to a charging station, possibly by post. In return for a fee the user is supplied with a recharged bladder which is installed in the bottle for use. The original bladder is processed to refill the bladder with flowable material ready for reuse and supply to a customer. The process step of recharging the bladder comprises applying a hollow charging needle to the valve 20 and injecting flowable material into the bladder causing it to expand until it is full and ready for reuse.

[030] The process of recharging may include a step of inspection and testing to confirm that the bladder is fit for reuse. This may comprise manual or robotic visual inspection. The recharging process may include a cleaning step where a cleaning fluid is injected into the bladder via the port 19 and flowed out through the discharge nozzle 9. Monitoring of the pressure changes of the cleaning fluid may usefully indicate if the bladder, particularly the discharge nozzle, continues to perform well enough for reuse. For example the change in pressure as the bladder transitions from filled and begins to discharge through the discharge nozzle may digress from predetermined standard to indicate a performance failure.

[031] If the bladder is subject to a cleaning step it may subsequently be subject to the charging step.

[032] The height of the elastically deformable region of the bottle may be set to predetermine a volume of the flowable material discharged by a single depression of the package.

[033] The second embodiment illustrated in figures 4 and 4.1 differs from the first embodiment in that the elastically deformable region of the bottle is located adjacent the bottle base 24. This allows the interior wall 25 of the bottle part above the elastic region up to the collar 2 to be cylindrical and of uniform radius. The envelope 15 depends to a position at or above the bottom of the uniform radius wall 25 when the envelope is filled. A ring 26 extends radially out from the base 16 of the bladder to pneumatically seal against the uniform radius wall 25 of the bottle 1. The pressure sealed chamber 22 is therefore formed below the wall 25. The base 16 and ring 26 act as a piston. This ensures that the pressure generated by pressing down on the cap 4 results in a uniformly upwardly directed force to compress the envelope from the bottom up. To keep the air in the region between the envelope and the bottle above the piston at ambient pressure a vent 27 is formed in the bottle near the collar 2 and above the highest point which can be reached by the ring 26. The operation and reuse of the package is otherwise similar to the first embodiment.

[034] To maximise the discharge of flowable material from the envelope the envelope base is formed with a cylindrical protrusion 28 extending up into the envelope chamber.

Although shown solid the protrusion 28 may be formed concave to reduce the use of materials. When the envelope is fully compressed the projection fills a residual volume of the envelope chamber to maximise the discharge of the flowable material. This projection may also be implemented in the envelope of the first embodiment.

[035] A sleeve 29 of a material such as card may closely wrap the bottle with a sliding fit to ensure that the elastic region deforms along the long, vertical axis of the package and to provide a cosmetic wrapper.

[036] Figure 4.2 shows a variant of the second embodiment having removable annular rings

30, 31,32 resting above the top edge of the sleeve 29. Sleeve 30 is provided to protect the assembled package when initially delivered for sale or during transit and prevents the cap being inadvertently depressed. Either one or both of sleeves 31 and 32 may be removed to set the package to dispense one of a range of predetermined doses from the package.

Claims

1. A reusable, recyclable dispensing package for liquids comprising:

a reusable bottle (1) and a bladder (3);

the reusable self-supporting external bottle (1) having:

an opening (2) to receive a bladder (3) in sealing relation to form a pressure sealed bottle chamber (22) surrounding the bladder (3);

a one way pressure relief valve (23) to allow ambient air to be inducted into the bottle chamber (22); and an elastically deformable region (21) so that when the package is pressed to apply an external force, the bottle (1) deforms elastically from its original condition so that the pressure of the air in the chamber (22) is increased to compress the bladder (3), and on relief of the external force the bottle recovers to its original condition inducing a vacuum in the chamber (22) and inducting air through the pressure relief valve (23) to compensate for the change in volume of the bladder (3);

said bladder (3) capable of containing a flowable material and having a discharge nozzle (9) including a one way valve (13) to allow a flowable material contained in the bladder (3) to discharge from the bladder (3) when the package is pressed, characterised in that the bladder (3) includes a charging port (19) whereby cleaning fluid and/or flowable material can be injected into the bladder (3) to prepare the bladder (3) for reuse.

2. A package according to claim 1 wherein the bladder (3) comprises a cap part (4) and an envelope part (15).

3. A package according to claim 2 wherein the cap part (4) is fabricated to be rigid relative to the envelope part (15) and provides a coupling part to sealingly couple the bladder (3) into a collar (2) formed on the bottle (1).

4. A package according to claim 3 wherein the discharge nozzle (9) is formed integrally with the cap part (4).

5. A package according to claim 4 wherein the discharge nozzle (9) comprises a one way valve provided by one of a duckbill valve or dome valve (12).

6. A package according to claim 4 wherein the charging port (19) is formed integrally with the cap part (4).

7. A package according to claim 6 wherein the charging port (19) may be provided by a conical port valve normally closed by the resilience of the cap part (4).

8. A package according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the envelope (15) of the bladder (3) is formed with regions (18) weakened to form hinging annuli so that the bladder is encouraged to compress like a bellows.

9. A package according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the bladder (3) is formed of a single class of plastics material.

10. A package according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the elastically deformable region of the bottle is provided by annular hinge regions (21) arranged alternately to encourage the bottle to deform like a bellows.

11. A package according to claim 10 wherein the hinge regions (21) are engineered to deform elastically with a spring force sufficient to recover to the original shape when a deforming load is relieved, and sufficient to induct air through the pressure relief valve (23).

12. A package according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the bottle has a flat base (24) in order to be free standing on the base so that the bottle can be deformed by a user pressing down on the cap.

13. A package according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the pressure relief valve (23) is a dome valve formed integrally with the base of the bottle (1).

14. A package according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the whole of the bottle (1) is made of a single plastics material.

15. A package according to claim 14 wherein the bladder and bottle are made of the same material.

16. A package according to any one of the preceding claims wherein:

the elastically deformable region (21) is disposed adjacent a base of the bottle (1) to provide an inner bottle wall (25) of uniform radius above the elastically deformable region (21), a base (16) of the bladder envelope (15) supports a sealing projection (26) extending to seal against the uniform cross section inner wall (25) when installed whereby deforming the elastically deformable region (21) urges the base (16) away from the elastically deformable region (21).

17. A package according to claim 16 wherein a vent (27) is formed in the bottle wall (25) to vent the space between the bladder (3) and the bottle (1) above the sealing projection (26).

18. A package according to claim 8 wherein the bladder (3) has a generally cylindrical base (16) and a protrusion (28) is formed in the base (16) to protrude into the envelope (15) to fill a residual space left when the bladder is fully compressed and fully discharge residual flowable material.

19. A package according to any one of claims 16 to 18 having a sleeve (29) closely surrounding the bottle part to constrain the deformation of the elastic region in an axial direction.

20. A method of reusing the bladder in a package according to any one of claim 1 to 19 comprising the steps of:

removing the bladder from the bottle, transporting the bladder to a charging station, inserting a hollow charging needle into the charging port, injecting a flowable material into the bladder through the charging needle until the bladder is refilled ready for reuse.

21. A method according to claim 20 including the step of cleaning the bladder by injecting a cleaning fluid through the charging port using the charging needle, and causing the cleaning fluid to discharge from the discharge nozzle.

22. A method according to claim 20 or 21 including a testing step to test the integrity of the bladder prior to and during charging and/or cleaning, wherein the bladder is sent for recycling when the testing step is failed.

23. A method according to any one of claims 20 to 22 wherein a recharged bladder is returned to a user for reinstallation in a bottle part.