JP4894421B2 - Fluid content storage container - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a storage container for storing fluid contents such as a liquid fuel storage container used in a fuel cell, and more particularly to a container using a gusset type pouch.

As a conventional container for this kind of fluid content, for example, a fuel container for a fuel cell as described in Patent Document 1 is known.
This Patent Document 1 includes a container main body and an inner container made of a flexible bag for containing fuel as fluid content installed in the container main body. The fuel is stored in a sealed state, and the volume of the flexible bag is reduced by air as much as the fuel is poured out of the flexible bag.
However, Patent Document 1 merely discloses the use of a flexible bag, and does not disclose any specific configuration of the bag.

Therefore, as described in Patent Document 2, as a flexible bag that can be reduced in volume, it is possible to use a gusset-type pouch having a large internal volume, in which a side surface portion of the front and back film portions is provided with two side folds. Conceivable.
However, the conventional gusset-type pouch has a structure in which the spout is thermally welded to the end seal portion at the top of the pouch. The problem that cannot be done.

On the other hand, Patent Document 3 discloses a volume-reducible bag body used for a bag-in-box filled with drinking water or the like.
However, this bag body has a spout portion provided on the flat surface portion, so there is no restriction on the capacity of the spout portion. There is a problem of becoming. In addition, the folding member is attached to a planar film, and the number of parts is large, the manufacturing method is complicated, and the cost is high.
JP 2005-30803 A Japanese Utility Model Sho 63-34070 Japanese Patent No. 3292527

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, and the object of the present invention is a gusset-type structure that is easy to mold, and by devising the position of the spout, the amount of folding of the gusset portion It is an object of the present invention to provide a fluid content storage container having a pouch that can be made as large as possible and can be reduced in volume smoothly.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 includes a flexible pouch body for storing fluid content, and a spout attached to the pouch body and serving as a spout for fluid content. Prepared,
The main body of the pouch is formed by bending a flat film to form a pair of front and rear flat portions and a pair of gusset portions folded between both side edges of the pair of flat portions, and side seals at both ends of the film in the folding direction. It is a gusset bag sealed with a pair of end seal portions in a state where the gusset portions are folded in both ends of the cylindrical body.
The side seal portion is provided at one corner position of the flat portion and the gusset portion, and a spout is thermally welded to the side seal portion,
When the fluid content is filled, the gusset portion is opened by the pressure at the time of filling and becomes a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and as the fluid content is poured out from the spout, at least the gusset portion is bent inward to reduce the volume. It is the structure.

In the invention according to claim 2, the pouch body forms upper and lower end seal portions at predetermined intervals across the flow direction of the film fed out from the roll film, and side seals along the film flow direction. A portion is formed.
The invention according to claim 3 is a rectangular parallelepiped in the plane portion of the film, with the spout facing up so that the end surface portions on both side seal portions become substantially flat when the pouch body is opened in a rectangular parallelepiped shape. Mountain fold lines are provided at the corners between the front and rear side surfaces and the left and right end surface portions, and the gusset portion includes the left and right end surface portions, the top surface portion, and the bottom surface portion of the rectangular parallelepiped. Mountain fold lines that serve as creases for mountain folds are provided at the corners, and the gusset part is along a diagonal line connecting the intersection of the center line of the gusset part and the end seal part from both ends of the mountain fold line. A valley fold line serving as a fold of the valley fold is provided.

The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that a vertical rib is provided in a mountain fold forming a rectangular parallelepiped.
In the invention according to claim 5, a valley fold line that becomes a crease of a valley fold is provided on both side edges of the end seal portion, and when the volume is reduced, the end face is also used as the end seal portion together with the gusset portion. It is the structure which is folded inward along.

In the invention according to claim 6, the gusset portion has a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped left and right end surface portion and a fold line between the upper surface portion and the lower surface portion, and extends toward the upper surface side and the lower surface portion with the apex at the gusset portion. A triangular valley fold line located on the center line of the triangle is formed, and at the time of folding, the triangular area surrounded by the mountain fold line and the valley fold line is configured to be folded over the valley fold part of the end face part. And
The invention according to claim 7 is characterized in that the central portion of the mountain fold line provided in the gusset portion is shifted so as to protrude by a predetermined dimension toward the triangular region side from both ends.

The invention according to claim 8 is characterized in that the spout is provided with a plate-like portion extending into the pouch body.
The invention according to claim 9 is characterized in that the plate-like portion is provided with irregularities.
In the invention according to claim 10, the fluid content is methanol, and the film constituting the pouch body is composed of at least one plastic film having alcohol barrier properties and an inner resin layer having heat sealability. It is characterized by that.
Moreover, the film which comprises a pouch main body can also be made into the single resin layer which has alcohol barrier property and can be heat-sealed.
The invention according to claim 11 is characterized in that the pouch body is housed in a rigid case.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the pouch main body is constituted by a gusset bag formed from a single film, the molding is easy, and the side seal portion is positioned at one corner of the flat portion and the gusset portion. Since the spout is thermally welded to the side seal portion, the amount of folding of the gusset portion can be increased as much as possible, and the capacity can be increased. In addition, since the side seal portion is provided at the corner portion between the flat portion and the gusset portion, when the volume is reduced, the rigid seal portion does not become an obstacle and the volume is reduced smoothly.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 2, since it has the structure by which a side seal part is formed along the flow direction of a film, manufacture of a pouch main body can be performed easily and attachment of a spout can also be performed easily.

According to the invention according to claim 3, since the mountain fold line serving as the mountain fold crease is provided at the corner of the rectangular parallelepiped of the plane portion and the gusset portion so as to have a rectangular parallelepiped shape, the fluidity content Smoothly expands into a rectangular parallelepiped shape when filling objects.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 4, a rectangular shape is improved by providing a vertical rib in the mountain fold part which forms a rectangular parallelepiped.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 5, the valley fold line used as the crease of a valley fold is provided in the both-sides edge of the edge part seal part, and when reducing volume, it is an edge part seal also about an end surface with a gusset part. Since it becomes the structure folded inward along a part, it can fold to the magnitude | size of the side surface before and behind a rectangular parallelepiped.

According to the invention of claim 6, since the triangular valley fold line is provided on the upper surface side and the lower surface side with respect to the mountain fold line of the gusset portion, it is surrounded by the mountain fold line and the valley fold line when folded. The triangular region is folded over the bent portion of the end face, and can be folded smoothly. Therefore, when the fluid content is sucked, it can be sucked smoothly even if the suction pressure is low.
According to the invention according to claim 7, since the central part of the mountain fold line provided in the gusset part is shifted to the triangular region side from both ends, the central part of the mountain fold line becomes the base point of folding, and the pouch is formed from this base point. Since it is folded inward, the folding operation is ensured.

According to the invention which concerns on Claim 8, since the plate-shaped part extended in a pouch main body is provided in the spout, it can prevent that a film adheres and obstruct | occludes the mouth of a spout at the time of fluid content suction | attraction. it can.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 9, since the unevenness | corrugation is provided in the plate-shaped part, the flow of a fluid content is not interrupted | blocked by the contact part with a plate-shaped part.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 10, the film which comprises a pouch main body is formed from the plastic film which has at least 1 layer of alcohol barrier property, and the inner-layer resin layer which has heat sealability, or has alcohol barrier property. It is formed from a single resin layer that can be heat-sealed, and can reduce weight loss during storage with respect to volatile methanol.
According to the invention of claim 11, since the pouch body is accommodated in the rigid case, when an excessive internal pressure is applied to the pouch body, the pressure is supported by the case, and an excessive stress acts on the pouch body. Can be prevented. In this case, the size of the pouch is preferably equal to or slightly larger than the volume without the case in order to use the pressure resistance of the case itself without applying excessive pressure to the pouch itself.

The present invention will be described below based on the illustrated embodiments.
FIG. 4 shows an overall configuration of a fuel storage container used in a fuel cell as a fluid content storage container according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The fuel storage container 1 stores liquid fuel such as methanol as a fluid content, and includes a pouch 2 for storing fuel and a rigid case 3 for storing the pouch 2. Thus, the volume of the pouch 2 is reduced while being housed in the case 3.
The pouch 2 includes a flexible pouch body 10 and a spout 20 that is attached to the pouch body 10 and serves as a fuel injection port.

Next, the pouch will be described with reference to FIGS.
The pouch body 10 is formed by bending a flat film F as shown in FIG. 3 (A), and as shown in FIG. 3 (B), a pair of front and rear plane portions 11, 11 and a pair of plane portions 11, 11 are used. A pair of gusset portions 12 and 12 folded between both side edges of the film F are formed, and both end portions in the folding direction of the film F are sealed with side seal portions 13 to form a cylindrical body 14. Is formed by a gusset bag sealed with a pair of end seal portions 15 and 15 while the gusset portions 12 and 12 are folded. A fold line is appropriately provided at the boundary between the flat surface portions 11 and 11 and the gusset portions 12 and 12 as in the prior art. The side seal portion 13 is provided along one corner ridge line of the flat portions 11 and 11 and the gusset portions 12 and 12, and the spout 20 is thermally welded to the side seal portion 13.

The pouch body 10 forms upper and lower end seal portions 15 across the flow direction Y of the film F fed out from a roll-shaped film (not shown), and side seal portions 13 are formed along the flow direction of the film F. The
For the film F, a plastic material having heat sealability is used. Examples of such plastic materials include single-layer films and sheets made of a thermoplastic resin having heat sealability, and multilayer films obtained by laminating a thermoplastic resin having heat sealability with another thermoplastic resin. It is done.
Examples of such a heat-sealable plastic material include known low-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene, medium-density polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, polypropylene, propylene-ethylene copolymer, and ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer. Olefin resins such as olefin resins graft-modified with ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acids or their anhydrides, polyamides or copolyamide resins having a relatively low melting point or low softening point, polyesters or copolyester resins, polycarbonate resins, etc. Is done.
Moreover, as another plastic material laminated | stacked with the plastic material which has heat-sealing property, the film which consists of a thermoplastic resin with or without heat-sealing property, various barrier films, etc. can be used. For example, when volatile methanol is used as a fuel, a laminated film having a plastic film having at least one alcohol barrier property and an inner resin layer having a heat seal property is used. It has a single resin layer film that can be heat sealed.
Examples of the thermoplastic resin include crystalline polypropylene, crystalline propylene-ethylene copolymer, crystalline polybutene-1, crystalline poly4-methylpentene-1, low-medium to high density polyethylene, and ethylene-vinyl acetate. Polyolefins such as copolymers (EVA), EVA saponified products, ethylene-ethyl acrylate copolymers (EEA); aromatic vinyl copolymers such as polystyrene and styrene-butadiene copolymers; polyacrylic resins; acrylonitrile -Styrene copolymers, nitrile polymers such as acrylonitrile-styrene-butadiene copolymers; polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate and polytetramethylene terephthalate; various polycarbonates; fluororesins; thermoplastics such as polyacetals such as polyoxymethylene Resin It can gel. These thermoplastic resins can be used alone or in combination of two or more, and various additives may be used in combination.
Various barrier films include silica-deposited polyester film, alumina-deposited polyester film, silica-deposited nylon film, alumina-deposited nylon film, alumina-deposited polypropylene film, carbon film-deposited polyester film, carbon film-deposited nylon film, and alumina and silica. Dual vapor-deposited film co-deposited on base film such as polyester film and nylon film, nylon 6 / metaxylylenediamine nylon 6 co-extruded film, polypropylene / ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer co-extruded film, and polyacrylic acid Organic resin coated film such as resin coated polyester film, polyacrylic acid resin coated nylon film, polyacrylic acid resin coated polypropylene film, etc. Lum, mention may be made more organic resin material and a polyester film or a nylon film hybrid coating agent made of an inorganic material, or the like which is coated on the base film of the polypropylene film and the like. These barrier films can be used alone or in combination of two or more. Among these, as the film having alcohol barrier properties, a silica-deposited polyester film or an alumina-deposited polyester film is preferably used.

When the fuel is filled, the gusset portions 12 and 12 are opened by the pressure at the time of filling and become a rectangular parallelepiped shape as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and at least as the fuel is poured out from the spout 20, at least the gusset portions 12 and 12. Is configured to bend inward to reduce the volume.
The shape when opened in a rectangular parallelepiped is a hexahedron of a pair of front and rear side surfaces A, A, a pair of left and right end surfaces B, B, a top surface C, and a bottom surface D with the spout 20 facing upward. The side surface portions A and A and the end surface portions B and B are configured by bending the flat surface portions 11 and 11 constituting the pouch body 10, and the upper surface portion C and the bottom surface portion D are configured by the gusset portions 12 and 12. Is done.
The end seal portion 15 extends vertically in the center of the end surface portions B and B, the side seal portion 13 extends to the left and right ends along the upper edge of one side surface portion A, and the upper edges of the end surface portions B and B. And extends to the end seal portion 15 located at the center of the upper edge of the end surface portions B and B.

As shown in FIG. 3, the flat surface portions 11 and 11 of the film F are provided with side surfaces A and A on the front and rear sides of the rectangular parallelepiped so that the end surface portions B and B where the end seal portions 15 and 15 are located are substantially flat. A mountain fold line M1 serving as a mountain fold crease is provided at a position that becomes a corner portion between the end surface portions B and B, and the gusset portions 12 and 12 include an upper surface portion C and a lower surface portion D of the rectangular parallelepiped, and left and right end surfaces. Mountain fold lines M2 and M2 serving as folds of mountain folds are provided at the corners of the parts B and B, and the center of the gusset part 12 from both ends of the mountain fold lines M2 and M2 of the gusset parts 12 and 12 Valley fold lines V2 and V2 that are valley folds are provided along diagonal lines connecting the intersections of the line N with the end seal portions 15 and 15.
You may provide the vertical rib in the mountain fold part M1. By providing the vertical ribs, a rectangular parallelepiped shape can be maintained.

When the volume is reduced, the end face portion B together with the gusset portions 12 and 12 is also folded inward along the end seal portions 15 and 15, and valley folds are formed on both side edges of the end seal portions 15 and 15. A valley fold line V3 is provided as a crease.
On the other hand, the gusset portions 12 and 12 have corners with the rectangular parallelepiped left and right end surface portions B and B, with the mountain fold line M2 as the base and extending to the upper surface portion C side and the lower surface portion D side, and the apexes are the gusset portions 12. A triangular valley fold line V located on the center line N is formed, and as shown in FIG. 5B, the triangular area U surrounded by the mountain fold line M2 and the valley fold line V is an end surface portion when folded. It is the structure which folds and overlaps with the B valley fold bending part B1.
Further, between the vertices Va of the valley fold line V on the left and right sides on the center line N of the gusset portion 12, the valley fold line V4, the center ma and the vertex Va of the mountain fold M2 of the triangular region U are the mountain fold line M3, A valley fold line V5 is formed between the center portion ma of the mountain fold portion M2 and the end seal portion 12.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3A, the central portion ma of the mountain fold line M2 constituting the bottom of the triangular region U is shifted by a predetermined dimension S toward the corner adjacent region U from both ends.
When there is no shift S of the central portion ma of the mountain fold line M2, the folded portion FU of the triangular region U is in close contact with the end surface portion B as shown in FIG. By providing the deviation S of the central portion ma of the mountain fold line M2, a predetermined angle is formed between the ridge lines of the folded portion FU of the triangular region U and the valley fold portion B1 of the end surface portion B as shown in FIG. There is a gap and it can be folded smoothly.
Since the angle of the corner when folded is changed by an amount corresponding to the deviation S of the mountain fold line M2, the position of the vertex Va of the valley fold line V is relative to the vertex of the reference right isosceles triangle. It is preferable to shift the fold line M2 to the opposite side by a certain dimension.

The spout 20 includes a boat-shaped welded portion 21 having a boat-like or spindle-shaped cross section, a flange portion 22 provided at the upper end of the welded portion 21, and a cylindrical mouth portion 23 protruding from the flange portion 22. And a plate-like portion 24 extending downward from the lower end of the welded portion 21.
The plate-like part 24 prevents the film from coming into close contact and closing the spout. The plate-like portion 24 is provided with irregularities 25 to ensure a fuel flow path.

  The case 3 has a box shape whose upper part is opened following the rectangular parallelepiped shape of the pouch body 10. When an excessive internal pressure is applied to the pouch body 10, the pressure is supported by the case 3, and an excessive stress can be prevented from acting on the pouch body 10.

Next, the operation of the fuel storage container for a fuel cell according to this embodiment will be described.
That is, the pouch body 10 is filled with a fuel such as alcohol through the spout 20 and is held in a form swelled in a rectangular parallelepiped shape in the case 3.
When the internal fuel is sucked out of the pouch main body 10, the pouch main body 10 is contracted and reduced in volume by the sucked-out amount. When the volume is reduced, the central portions of the upper surface portion C and the bottom surface portion D formed by the gusset portion 12 are recessed, and the end surface portions B and B are along the valley fold line V3 of the end seal portion 15. Bend inward.

  Since the center part ma of the mountain fold line M2 at the corners of the end face parts B, B and the upper face part C and the bottom face part D is slightly shifted to the triangular region U side, as shown in FIG. At this point, the triangular area U has already been bitten into the triangular area U, and at the start of volume reduction, the triangular area U is bent outward with respect to the upper surface portions C and D that are bent inward. That is, as shown in FIG. 5B, it is bent along the mountain fold line M2 (FS in the figure), the valley fold guiding pattern V is bent into a valley fold shape (FV in the figure), and this valley fold portion FV The upper surface portion C and the lower surface portion D are folded into an inwardly folded shape following the shape of the above, and finally folded into a flat plate shape between the front and rear side surface portions A and A, thereby greatly reducing the remaining amount of fuel. be able to.

In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3A, the end seal portion 15 is linearly provided with a predetermined width along the lateral side of the rectangular film F, but the gusset portion When the four corners 12a of the triangular corner portion 12a and the flat portion 11 are formed into a pouch, a triangular bag-like ear portion 16 is formed as shown in FIG. Since the ear portion 16 is a dead space as a pouch, the entire ear portion 16 may be welded or the ear portion 16 may be removed. When the ear portion 16 is present, the rigid end seal 15 pushes the central portion of the mountain fold line M2 between the end surface portion B, the top surface portion C, and the bottom surface portion D, which is the folding start point, and smoothly folds. There are advantages that can be made.
Further, the case 3 is not necessarily required and can be used as a general-purpose container with a pouch alone. In this case, since the restriction by the case 3 is eliminated, at least one of the end surface portions B and B can be configured to be folded outward, or at least one of the top surface portion C and the bottom surface portion D can be configured to be folded outward. Is possible. In the case of an external folding configuration, adjacent surfaces have an internal folding configuration. However, if the end face parts B and B are configured to be inwardly folded, the pouches will not collide with each other when they are displayed at the storefront. It can also be stably loaded and can be displayed neatly.
Furthermore, although the case where the fuel for fuel cells is stored in the above embodiment has been described as an example, the storage container of the present invention is not limited to the storage of fuel, and various beverages such as fruit juice beverages and alcoholic beverages, It can be widely used for storing fluid contents such as semi-liquid contents such as jelly and paste.

1A and 1B show a pouch used in a fuel storage container according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 1A is a schematic perspective view, and FIG. 1B is a schematic perspective view in a state of volume reduction. It is. 2 shows a pouch of the fuel storage container in the state of FIG. 1 (A), where FIG. 2 (A) is a front view, FIG. 2 (B) is a plan view, and FIG. 2 (C) is a side view. 3A is a development view of the pouch of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3B is a front view of a cylindrical body formed from the film of FIG. 4 shows a state in which the pouch of FIG. 1 is housed in a case. FIG. 4A is a front view showing the case in cross section, FIG. 4B is a plan view, and FIG. FIG. 5A and 5B illustrate the folded state of the top and end corners of the pouch shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 5A is a partial perspective view at the start of folding, and FIG. 5B is a folded state portion. The perspective view and FIGS. 3C and 3D are diagrams showing a comparison of the folded state in the case where the central portion of the mountain fold line is shifted and the case where the central portion is not shifted.

Explanation of symbols

1 Fuel storage container (Flowable contents storage container)
2 Pouch 3 Case 10 Pouch body 11 Plane portion, 12 Gazette portion, 13 Side seal portion 14 Tubular body, 15 End seal portion 20 Spout 21 Welded portion, 22 Flange portion, 23 mouth portion, 24 Plate-like portion 25 Concavity and convexity F Film Y Film flow direction A Side face B End face C Top face D Bottom face M1 Mountain fold line (corner between side face A and end face B)
M2 mountain fold line (corner between upper surface C and end surface B, corner between lower surface D and end surface B)
ma Mountain fold line center V2, V3 Valley fold line V Valley fold line U Triangle area S Deviation of mountain fold line center ma

Claims (11)

A flexible pouch main body for storing the fluid content, and a spout attached to the pouch body and serving as a spout for the fluid content,
The main body of the pouch is formed by bending a flat film to form a pair of front and rear flat portions and a pair of gusset portions folded between both side edges of the pair of flat portions, and side seals at both ends of the film in the folding direction. It is a gusset bag sealed with a pair of end seal portions in a state where the gusset portions are folded in both ends of the cylindrical body.
The side seal portion is provided at one corner position of the flat portion and the gusset portion, and a spout is thermally welded to the side seal portion,
When the fluid content is filled, the gusset portion is opened by the pressure at the time of filling and becomes a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and as the fluid content is poured out from the spout, at least the gusset portion is bent inward to reduce the volume. A fluid content storage container characterized by comprising.   The pouch body has upper and lower end seal portions at predetermined intervals across the flow direction of the film fed from the roll film, and side seal portions are formed along the film flow direction. The fluid content storage container according to claim 1.   When the pouch body is opened in a rectangular parallelepiped shape, the end faces on both sides of the seal part are almost flat, with the spout up, the flat part of the film is A mountain fold line that is a crease of a mountain fold is provided at a position that becomes a corner portion with the end surface portion, and the gusset portion has a mountain fold at a position that becomes a corner portion between the left and right end surface portions, the top surface portion, and the bottom surface portion of the rectangular parallelepiped A fold fold line is provided, and the gusset portion is a valley fold along the diagonal line connecting the intersection of the center line of the gusset portion and the end seal portion from both ends of the fold line. The fluid content storage container according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a folding line is provided.   The fluid content storage container according to claim 3, wherein a vertical rib is provided in a mountain fold portion forming a rectangular parallelepiped.   At both side edges of the end seal portion, a valley fold line that becomes a crease of a valley fold is provided, and when reducing the volume, the end face together with the gusset portion is folded inward along the end seal portion. The fluid content storage container according to any one of claims 1 to 4.   The gusset part has a triangular shape in which the mountain fold line between the left and right end face parts of the rectangular parallelepiped shape and the upper surface part and the lower surface part is the base and extends to the upper surface part side and the lower surface part side and the apex is located on the center line of the gusset part 6. The fluid content storage according to claim 5, wherein a valley fold line is formed and a triangular region surrounded by the mountain fold line and the valley fold line is folded over the valley fold portion of the end surface portion when folded. container.   The fluid content storage container according to claim 6, wherein a central portion of the mountain fold line provided in the gusset portion is displaced so as to protrude by a predetermined dimension toward the triangular region side from both ends.   The fluid content storage container according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the spout is provided with a plate-like portion extending into the pouch body.   The fluid content storage container according to claim 8, wherein the plate-like portion is provided with irregularities.   2. The fluid content is methanol, and the film constituting the pouch body is composed of at least one plastic film having alcohol barrier properties and an inner resin layer having heat sealability. The fluid content storage container according to any one of Items 9 to 9. The fluid content storage container according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the pouch body is stored in a rigid case.

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