KR20000065169A - Flexible Lapping Units for Flexible Products - Google Patents

Abstract

A unit (10) comprising an array (11) of at least two substantially parallelepipedal flexible packs (12), said packs (12) comprising compressed flexible articles (14) encased in a flexible bag (13), said compressed articles (14) having been compressed to between 20 percent and 70 percent of their uncompressed volume in a direction of compression C, said array (11) comprising a top face (15), a bottom face (16), a front face (17), a back face (18) and two side faces (19, 20) characterised in that said unit (10) comprises a cold stretchable plastic film (21) disposed adjacent at least a part of at least four consecutive faces (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20) of said array (11) and said cold stretchable plastic film (21) non-adhesively attaches to said top face (15), said bottom face (16), said front face (17), said back face (18) and said side faces (19, 20) of said array (11). <IMAGE>

Description

Flexible Lapping Units for Flexible Products

It is well known in the art to pack an array of flexible packs containing a compressed flexible product contained in a flexible bag into a cardboard box of fixed dimensions for ease of handling, storage and transport. This space is not fully available due to tolerances imposed by variations in pack dimensions resulting from production processes and conventional automatic mechanical packing systems. Moreover, due to deviations in pack dimensions caused by packing a compressible flexible product into a flexible bag, it may be necessary to oversize the cardboard case. As a result of oversizing, when stacking or grouping the pallets of the product so that the three pallets are high, the array of packs on the bottom of this lower pallet cannot support the applied load. Therefore, the cardboard case must be designed to support the extra load.

Also, an array of packs of compressed flexible products can be wrapped with plastic film. This plastic film may comprise relatively inexpensive materials such as polymer films or thermoplastic films. Such materials reduce the severity of disposal problems from an environmental standpoint with respect to both the amount of wrapping material required and the wasteability / degradability of the particular wrapping material. In addition, plastic films are lighter and more flexible than cardboard, which is heavy and space intensive because it is hard and will continue to occupy the same amount of space when in use, almost empty.

The development of the prior art is US Pat. No. 5,049,423, which is particularly suitable for use as an elongated wrapping member for various foodstuffs, dried carpets and liquid reservoirs, with thermoplastic films, in particular various bundling and palletizing operations. Thermoplastic films having properties that make them suitable are disclosed. The load of the pallet may be tied and pelletized by stretching and wrapping the film several times around the product. This document focuses on the properties of thermoplastic films.

EP 294 339 A2 discloses a machine for packaging a plurality of products loosely collected on a tray or inside of a container in a film web of cold-rollable or semi-extensible type. The machine includes an stretching device that prevents the central area of the film from shrinking in the longitudinal direction, a wrapping device, and a fully sealed unit that seals the film end while the film is still under tension. The present invention does not exploit the compressibility of the article but uses the elastic memory properties of the film web to tightly seal the packed article to form a rigid elongated wrapping unit.

DE 33 41 897 A1 discloses a method for developing a kidney wrapped product by the Hagemann Company only to make it. The machine wraps the product into pre-stretched film, which shrinks at a later stage. The film is withdrawn from the winding device under tension, wound continuously in a spiral around the conveyor belt, and wound up to form a tube with a stripped end. The machine can wind loosely stacked products in a continuous action and can handle a single product. This invention does not disclose stretch wrapping fixation that exhibits compressibility of an array of packs of flexible products.

This prior art thus relates to a lapping system which is independent of the fixed dimensions of the outer case, exhibits the compressibility of the array of packs of flexible products, and enables the sealing of the sides of the array of packs to form a fully closed unit. It is not starting.

Summary and purpose of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to produce a rigid, stable unit that stretches and surrounds an array of flexible packs of disposable absorbent diapers, physiological products, incontinence pads or briefs, bandages, etc., having cold rollable stretchable plastic films.

The present invention eliminates cardboard, such as packaging, by using a plastic film that stretches and wraps around four consecutive sides of an array of flexible packs. Accordingly, the following various advantages can be obtained sequentially. That is, the unit is more stable and can maintain higher load carrying capacity; Reduce the overall weight of the unit to be handled, stored and transported; Reduce the height of the garbage packing material; Pallet fit can be improved and maximized during handling, storage and transportation.

According to the object of the invention, there is provided a unit comprising an array of at least two nearly parallelepiped shaped packs. The unit includes a cold rollable stretchable plastic film having one top and one bottom and one front and one back and two sides and disposed near at least four consecutive sides of the array of packs. This cold rollable plastic film is non-adherently attached to the sides of the array. Either leave the sides of the array covered with cold-rollable stretchable plastic film exposed to the environment, or make the cold-rollable stretchable plastic film sufficient to cover the remaining two sides of the array, or seal by various means to form a closed unit. There are two choices.

According to the present invention, the above object can be achieved by a unit having the characteristics defined in the claims.

The present invention relates to an array of packs comprising a compressed flexible product surrounded by a flexible bag, the array of packs being stretch wrapped and sealed with a cold rollable stretchable plastic film to form a rigid stretch wrapping unit. do.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the following drawings.

1 shows a pack comprising a compressed flexible product housed in a flexible bag, FIG.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an array of five packs and a cold rolled stretchable plastic film disposed near four successive faces of the array.

1 shows a pack 12 comprising a compressed flexible product 14 housed in a flexible bag 13. The packs 12, in a substantially parallelepiped shape, are arranged in an up-on-base configuration. Other configurations are also possible, such as flat-on-face and up-on-side. Compression flexible products include disposable absorbent diapers, sanitary products, incontinence pads or briefs and bandages. The flexible product is compressed to 20 to 70% of the uncompressed volume in the compression direction (C). In particular, FIG. 1 shows a diaper pack 12 comprising one to fifty disposable absorbent diapers 14 and a plastic bag 13 of 20 to 120 μm thickness. Methods for compressing and packing disposable absorbent diapers in flexible bags are described in detail in US Pat. Nos. 4,934,535, 4,966,286, 5,022,216, 5,050,742, and 5,150,561.

As shown in FIG. 2, the pack 12 is arranged in the form of an array 11 prior to transportation and storage. This array 11 typically includes at least two substantially parallelepiped shaped packs 12. In particular, FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a substantially sealed array 11 comprising five substantially parallelepiped shaped packs 12 of the type shown in FIG. 1. This stretched wrapped array forms unit 10. For transportation and storage purposes, a plurality of units (for forming a case on a pellet such that a load is applied to the upper or side panels of the case in a load direction perpendicular to the compression direction (circumference of the case's outer periphery) 10) can be stacked or grouped in a plurality of configurations. This unit is less compressed in a direction perpendicular to the compression direction.

In FIG. 2, the unit 10 comprises one top surface 15, one bottom surface 16, one front surface 17, one back surface 18 and two side surfaces 19, 20, Near at least four consecutive sides of the array 11 of the pack 12 a cold rollable plastic film 21 is disposed. It is possible to change three stretch wrapping configurations. In other words, the cold rollable film 21 may be disposed in the vicinity of the upper surface 15, the rear surface 18, the lower surface 16, and the front surface 17; May be disposed in the vicinity of the side face 19, the top face 15, the remaining side face 20, and the bottom face 16; It may also be arranged in the vicinity of the rear face 18, the side face 20, the front face 17 and the remaining side face 19. The cold rollable plastic film 21 is non-adhesively attached to all sides 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 of the array 11. Depending on the stretch wrapping configuration selected, the faces 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 not covered with the cold rollable plastic film 21 remain exposed to the environment. In FIG. 2, in particular a cold rollable plastic film 21 surrounds the side face 19, the top face 15, the remaining side face 20 and the bottom face 16.

In addition, the cold rollable plastic film 21 may be disposed near the upper surface 15, the rear surface 18, the lower surface 16, the front surface 17, and the side surfaces 19 and 20 to form a completely closed unit 10. It may be.

It is preferable to use a cold rollable polyethylene film as the film 21, which is a plastic film which exhibits the characteristics of the elastic memory member after being stretched. The thickness of the cold rollable stretchable film 21 is preferably 15-60 μm, and is extensible within the stretch range of 80-150%. The cold rollable film 21 may be transparent, white or colored, and may include a graphical indicia (which may be colored). By stretching the cold rolled stretchable film 21 tightly around the array 11 of the pack 12, the stability of the array 11 can be improved without harming the nearly parallelepiped shape of the array 11. have. In addition, a rigid outer casing is made for the array 11 to ensure stability.

Claims (3)

A unit (10) comprising an array (11) of at least two substantially parallelepiped packs (12), said pack (12) comprising a compressed flexible product (14) housed in a flexible bag (13). In addition, the compressed flexible product 14 was compressed in the compression direction C to 20% to 70% of the uncompressed state volume, and the array 11 had one upper surface 15 and one lower surface 16. In a unit comprising one front face 17, one back face 18 and two side faces 19, 20, The unit 10 includes a cold rollable stretchable film 21 disposed near at least four continuous faces 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 of the array 11, wherein the cold rollable stretchable film 21. And (21) non-adherently attached to the top (15), bottom (16), front (17), back (18) and side (19, 20) of the array (11). The method of claim 1, And the surfaces (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20) of the array (11) covered with the cold rollable plastic film (21) remain exposed to the periphery. The method of claim 1, The cold rolled extensible plastic film 21 is disposed and sealed near the upper surface 15, the lower surface 16, the front surface 17, the rear surface 18, and the side surfaces 19, 20 of the array 11. To form a unit.