JP2009012772A - Flexible container - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a flexible container capable of enhancing operability when opening a plug while preventing the leakage of a content. <P>SOLUTION: A weakly sealed part 14 for blocking a mouth 12 from a storage part 13 with inner faces opposing each other and joined with each other so as to be peelable is formed between the mouth 12 and the storage part 13 in a pouch 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a flexible container such as a pouch provided with a spout, for example.

Conventionally, various containers have been proposed as flexible containers in which a fluid food or the like is housed and a cylindrical spout is fused and fixed to a flexible pouch.
Such a flexible container may be subjected to a retort sterilization process that is a heat sterilization process when, for example, food is stored therein. However, the heat treatment generates a gap between the upper end opening of the spout and the cap that seals it due to thermal expansion and increases the internal pressure of the pouch, so that the contents in the pouch may leak out. Therefore, it has been proposed to provide a sealing member that can be opened by breaking the cap by opening the cap so as to cover the upper end opening of the spout (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2005-145494 A

  However, the following problems remain in the conventional flexible container. That is, since the sealing member is separated together with the cap opening operation, there is a problem that the opening torque increases.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a flexible container with improved operability at the time of opening while preventing the contents from leaking out.

  The present invention employs the following means in order to solve the above problems. That is, the flexible container of the present invention includes a flexible bag-shaped container main body, a cylindrical spout that is joined to the mouth portion of the container main body and has a lower end opening opened in the mouth portion. A flexible container in which contents are stored in a storage part located below the mouth part in the container body, and between the mouth part and the storage part in the container body. Each opposing inner surface is joined so that peeling is possible, and the weak seal part which interrupts | blocks the said opening part and the said accommodating part is formed, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

According to this invention, by providing the weak seal portion between the storage portion and the mouth portion, it is possible to prevent the contents from leaking out from the upper end opening of the spout without increasing the cap opening torque. That is, the weak seal portion prevents the content from reaching the lower end opening of the spout when the content is thermally expanded during the heat treatment and the internal pressure of the storage portion is increased. And by compressing a storage part and making the internal pressure of a storage part sufficiently higher than the time of heat processing, each inner surface joined in the weak seal part peels, and the sealing state by a weak seal part can be cancelled | released. Thereby, the contents in the storage unit move into the mouth and circulate in the spout. In this way, the seal can be easily released simply by squeezing the storage portion, and since it is not necessary to separately provide a seal member on the spout, the operability at the time of opening is improved.
Further, since the sealing member is not provided on the spout, the structure of the spout can be simplified and downsized. Furthermore, since the cap opening torque does not increase, the operability of the opening can be maintained even when the cap has a small outer diameter and a large torque cannot be obtained at the time of opening.
In the present invention, the term “joining” includes fusing and bonding the inner surfaces facing each other.

In the flexible container of the present invention, it is preferable that a part or a plurality of portions of the outer edge portion that defines the storage portion in the weak seal portion are non-joining portions.
In this invention, when the storage part is squeezed to increase the internal pressure, the internal pressure of the storage part concentrates on the non-joined part. Easy to peel off.

  According to the flexible container of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the contents from leaking to the outside by the weak seal part that can be easily released by simply squeezing the storage part. improves. Further, the structure of the spout can be simplified and miniaturized, and the operability of opening can be maintained even if the spout is thinned.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a flexible container according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings used in the following description, the scale is appropriately changed so that each member can be recognized.
As shown in FIG. 1, the flexible container 1 in this embodiment is a bag-like pouch (container body) 2 having flexibility, a spout 3 fixed to the pouch 2, and a detachable attachment to the spout 3. And a screwed cap 4.

The pouch 2 is composed of two sheet materials 11 arranged to face each other so that the outer edges thereof coincide with each other, and the outer peripheral edges 11a of the inner surfaces facing each other of the two sheet materials 11 are heat-sealed to form a bag shape. Is formed. The sheet material 11 has a substantially rectangular shape in plan view, and is a heat-fusible resin sheet in which, for example, a synthetic resin film is covered with a metal film such as aluminum. And the inner surface of the sheet | seat material 11 has heat sealing | fusion property.
In addition, the pouch 2 includes a mouth portion 12 to which the spout 3 is heat-sealed, a housing portion 13 in which contents having fluidity are housed, and a weak seal portion 14 that blocks the mouth portion 12 and the housing portion 13. It has.

The mouth portion 12 is formed by heat-sealing a region excluding the central portion of the upper portion including the upper end sides of the two sheet materials 11 arranged to face each other. And the outer peripheral surface of the junction part 25 mentioned later of the spout 3 is joined to the mouth part 12 in the liquid-tight state.
The storage portion 13 is provided on the lower side of the mouth portion 12 and is formed by thermally fusing both side edges and lower edge sides of the two sheet materials 11 arranged to face each other.

The weak seal portion 14 is disposed between the mouth portion 12 and the storage portion 13, and is formed by heat-sealing the lower ends of the mouth portion 12 in the two sheet materials 11 arranged to face each other in a peelable manner. ing. The weak seal portion 14 forms a liquid-tight space where the mouth portion 12 and the storage portion 13 are independent of each other.
Here, the weak seal part 14 shortens the heating time when the two sheet materials 11 are heat-sealed, for example, compared with the other fusion regions excluding the weak seal part 14, and the heating temperature. It is formed by lowering. Therefore, the two sheet materials 11 in the weak seal portion 14 have a lower fusion strength than other fusion regions and can be peeled off.
Moreover, the center part of the edge which defines the accommodating part 13 in the weak seal part 14 becomes the non-fusion part (non-joining part) 14a which does not heat-seal the two sheet | seat materials 11. FIG.

The spout 3 includes a main body cylinder portion 21, a male screw portion 22, a bulging portion 23, a flange portion 24, and a joint portion 25 that are sequentially formed on the outer peripheral surface of the main body cylinder portion 21 from the upper side to the lower side. .
The main body cylinder portion 21 is formed with a flow path 26 that is a through-hole, and a lower portion 21 a protrudes downward from the lower end of the joint portion 25. And the lower end opening part of the flow path 26 formed in the lower end surface of the lower part 21a is arrange | positioned in the opening part 12. FIG.
The male screw portion 22 is formed at the upper end portion of the main body cylinder portion 21, and the cap 4 can be detachably screwed. The outer peripheral surface of the joint portion 25 is joined to the mouth portion 12.

  The cap 4 covers the upper part of the main body cylinder portion 21 and closes the upper end opening of the flow path 26, and a female screw portion 4 a that can be screwed with the male screw portion 22 is formed on the inner peripheral surface. Further, a sealing ring 27 that can be easily cut and separated from the cap 4 during the opening operation of the cap 4 is provided at the lower end of the cap 4.

  In the flexible container 1 having the above-described configuration, even when the contents are thermally expanded when subjected to the heat sterilization process in a state where the flowable contents are stored in the storage portion 13, the weak seal portion 14 Since the storage part 13 is in a liquid-tight state, the contents do not move to the mouth part 12. For this reason, the content does not leak out of the flexible container 1 from the spout 3. Note that the fusion strength of the sheet material 11 in the weak seal portion 14 is such that the fused sheet material 11 does not peel even when the internal pressure of the storage portion 13 is increased by the heat treatment.

Moreover, if the storage part 13 is squeezed and the internal pressure of the storage part 13 is raised, the two sheet | seat materials 11 fuse | melted in the weak seal part 14 will peel by internal pressure. Here, since the internal pressure is concentrated on the non-fused portion 14a when the storage portion 13 is squeezed, the two sheet materials 11 fused at the weak seal portion 14 are easily separated from the non-fused portion 14a. The At this time, the non-fused portion 14 a is preferably tapered toward the mouth portion 12. As a result, the contents stored in the storage portion 13 move from the peeled weak seal portion 14 to the mouth portion 12 and can flow through the flow path 26.
After that, with the cap 4 opened, the storage portion 13 is squeezed to push the contents outward from the upper portion of the main body cylinder portion 21, or the contents are sucked outward from the upper portion of the main body cylinder portion 21. The contents are taken out of the flexible container 1.

According to the flexible container 1 having such a configuration, since the two sheet materials 11 fused in the weak seal portion 14 can be peeled by squeezing the storage portion 13, the operability at the time of opening is improved. improves. In addition, the structure of the spout 3 can be simplified and downsized. Furthermore, even when the outer diameter of the spout 3 is small, the operability when the cap 4 is opened can be maintained.
Further, when the storage portion 13 is squeezed to increase the internal pressure, the internal pressure is concentrated on the non-fused portion 14a, so that the two sheets are fused at the weak seal portion 14 starting from the non-fused portion 14a. The sheet material 11 can be easily peeled off.

In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various change can be added in the range which does not deviate from the meaning of this invention.
For example, the pouch has a configuration in which two sheet materials are fused. However, the pouch is not limited to the fusion, and may be configured to be bonded by another method such as bonding using an adhesive.
The pouch has a structure in which two sheet materials are fused. If the inner surfaces facing each other at the weak seal portion are joined in a bag shape, for example, a box-type so-called gusset type. Other configurations such as a standing pouch type may be used.
And the weak seal part is the structure which made the melt | fusion intensity | strength small by making the fusion | melting temperature of two sheet | seat materials lower than another area | region, but squeezed the accommodating part and raised the internal pressure. If the two sheets that are sometimes fused can be peeled off, the fusion strength may be reduced by other methods such as, for example, a fusion time or a change in the material of the adhesive.
Furthermore, although the non-fused part is formed in the weak seal part, if two sheets of material in the weak seal part can be peeled when the internal pressure is increased by squeezing the storage part, the non-fused part is formed. You don't have to.

  According to this invention, industrial applicability is recognized regarding the flexible container which can prevent the content from leaking without increasing the opening torque of the cap.

It is sectional drawing which shows the flexible container in one Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Flexible container, 2 pouch (container main body), 3 spout, 12 mouth part, 13 accommodating part, 14 weak seal part, 14a Non-fusion part (non-joining part)

Claims (2)

A flexible bag-shaped container body, and a cylindrical spout joined to the mouth of the container body and having a lower end opening opened in the mouth, the mouth in the container body A flexible container in which the contents are stored in a storage portion located below,
A weak seal portion is formed between the mouth portion and the storage portion in the container main body so that inner surfaces facing each other are detachably joined to block the mouth portion and the storage portion. Flexible container.   2. The flexible container according to claim 1, wherein a part or a plurality of portions of an outer edge portion defining the storage portion in the weak seal portion are non-joining portions.

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