MXPA97005661A - Inflatable cushion and method to manufacture my - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an inflatable cushion including a pair of flexible walls (10) welded together by its edges (12), an inflation valve (20) including a pair of flexible sheets (21, 22) welded together end to form a conduit (23) that opens at both ends to be inserted into an inflation tube (30), and for inflation through a network of directed air that opens at its two ends. According to the invention, the inflation valve is fixed to an inner face of one of the flexible walls at a distance from the welded edges of the cushion, and opens out of the cushion through an opening (11) that is provided. in one of the flexible walls to which the inflation valve is attached

Description

"INFLATABLE CUSHION AND METHOD TO MANUFACTURE THE SAME" The present invention relates generally to inflatable cushions for packages, and in particular, to an inflatable cushion comprising two flexible walls welded together by their edges, and an inflation valve comprising two flexible sheets welded together, in order to form an open duct at both ends for the insertion of an inflation tube or for inflation by a directed air jet. This inflatable cushion can be used advantageously to pack items of different dimensions and shapes by wedging them in a rigid box. An inflatable cushion of the aforementioned kind is already known from the state of the art, in particular from Patent FR 2 686 322, where the inflation valve placed between two flexible walls forming the cushion is welded in: one of its ends to the two flexible walls by their edges, leaving an opening of the conduit open to the outside for the insertion of an inflation tube. This known inflatable cushion comprises two flexible guide tabs which are needed for the insertion of an inflation tube into the conduit. these flexible guide tabs project from one edge of the cushion and are welded on the inflation valve to the edges of the flexible walls, forming the cushion. However, this known cushion has several disadvantages. To begin with, it is required that an inflation tube be inserted into the inflation valve duct of this known cushion. To insert this inflation tube, it is necessary first to separate the flexible guide tabs. Therefore, it becomes difficult to obtain the automatic insertion of the tube into the valve and it is not possible to inflate the cushion without inserting the inflation tube. In addition, the insertion of the inflation tube in the cushion through the inflation valve duct, to inflate or deflate it, produces at the level of the opening to the outside of the valve duct, a tension acting on the edges soldered on the walls of the flexible cushion, this tension being able to cause the edges to break at this level. Finally, the inflation valve of this cushion can be placed only on one edge of the latter, which is sometimes difficult to effect, when the cushion has a complex configuration and which can become a disadvantage in the design of a package with a cushion inflatable To remedy the inconveniences of the current prior art, the present invention proposes a new inflatable cushion in which the inflation valve is placed in such a way that the inflation tube could be inserted automatically inside the inflatable cushion, without produce tension in the welded edges of the flexible walls of the cushion. More particularly, according to the invention the inflatable cushion includes a pair of flexible walls welded together by their edges, an inflation valve that includes a pair of flexible sheets welded together in order to form an open conduit at both ends, the valve being of inflation fixed to an inner face of one of the flexible walls, at a distance from the welded edges of the cushion, which is opened to this outside of the cushion through an opening provided in a flexible wall to which the cushion is fixed. Inflation valve to allow inflation of the cushion by inserting an inflation tube or by a directed air jet. Also, advantageously, in accordance with the complexity of the shape of the cushion and its use, the opening provided in the flexible wall to which the inflation valve is attached is placed in an appropriate region of the flexible wall.

In particular, according to one embodiment of the present cushion of the invention, the opening in a flexible wall to which the inflation wall is fixed is placed in an angle region of the cushion. It is interesting to note that the insertion of the tube into the valve of the cushion according to the invention, to inflate or deflate it, acts in compression on the welded edges of the flexible wall, which helps to keep it retained. The particularities, objects and additional advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, which are taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which: - Figure 1 is a partial plan view of A cushion according to the invention in a deflated state, Figure 2 is a plan view of a first embodiment of the inflation valve of the inflatable cushion, according to the invention, wherein an inflation tube is inserted, the Figure 3 is a plan view of a second embodiment of the inflation valve of the inflatable cushion, according to the invention, wherein an inflation tube is inserted.

Shown in Figure 1, there is an inflatable cushion comprising two walls 10 of a flexible plastic heat-weldable or high-frequency, which are welded together along their edges along a welding line 12 defining the peripheral edge of the cushion. This inflatable cushion comprises an inflation valve 20 consisting of two sheets 21, 22 of a flexible plastic heat-weldable or high frequency (see Figures 2, 3) which are welded together along two essentially parallel welding lines 24 , so as to form a conduit 23 for an inflation tube 30 that is open at both ends. The inflation valve 20 is welded to an inner face of one of the walls 10 of the flexible cushion, at a distance from the welding line 12 of the cushion, and opens outwardly from the latter through an opening 11 that is provided. in the flexible wall 10, to which the valve 20 is welded. The welding seam 13 of the inflation valve 20 in the wall 10 of the flexible cushion, describes a circle that gnaws an opening 11 that is provided in the flexible wall 10 leaving open the flexible sheets 21, 22 of the inflation valve 20 at the level of the duct 23, in order to allow the insertion of an inflation tube 30 into the interior of the cushion through the opening 11 and the duct 23.

A first embodiment of an inflation valve 20 is shown in Figure 2. According to this embodiment, the flexible sheets 21, 22 forming the inflation valve 20 are of different lengths. These sheets 21, 22 are placed side by side and are welded together along the welding lines 24, so that at one end of the conduit 23 of the inflation valve 20, the transverse edges 21a, 22a of the sheets 21 , 22 flexible ones are offset from one another in the axial direction of the valve. At the other end the edges 21b, 22b of the sheets 21, 22 are above one another. This inflation valve is placed inside the inflatable cushion (see Figure 1), so that the flexible sheet 22 of the inflation valve 20 with its edge 22a removed from the edge 21a of the other flexible sheet 21 is placed adjacent to the inner face of the wall 10 of the flexible cushion, to which the inflation valve is fixed, the edge 22 being offset off adjacent to the edge of the opening 11 that is provided in the flexible wall 10. The welding seam 13 of the inflation valve 20 in the wall 10 is such that a portion of the circle 13a, the wall 10 and the sheet 21 including the front edge 21a are welded together, so that in the two portions of the circle 13b placed on both sides of the conduit 23, the flexible wall 10 and the thin sheets 21a, 22b that are welded together, and that above the width 13c of the conduit 23, only the wall 10 and the adjacent sheet 22 are welded together , while leaving the other leaf 21 that forms the valve separate, to leave the conduit open. To manufacture an inflatable cushion in accordance with the invention, as shown in Figure 1, comprising an inflation valve as shown in Figure 2, and wherein the two flexible walls 10 are peripherally welded together, they are carried out the following steps: a) - A protective layer 26 is provided in the conduit 23 of the inflation valve 20 at its end corresponding to the transverse edges 21a, 22a of the decentralized flexible sheets 21, 22; b) - The inflation valve 20 is placed against the inner face of the wall 10 of the flexible cushion so that the flexible sheet 22, with its withdrawn edge 22a is placed adjacent to the inner face of the flexible wall 10, and that the end of the conduit 23 that is provided with the protective layer 26 is placed in the opening 11 provided in the flexible wall 10; c) - The inflation valve 20 is welded in the flexible wall 10 along the welding line 13, which surrounds the opening 11 of the flexible wall 10, and covering the protective layer 26. The protective layer 26 can be manufactured in the form of a single silicon or even paper tab. In this case, the protective layer 26 is pulled out of the conduit 23 through the opening 11 in the flexible wall 10, after the welding step (c) of the aforementioned process. According to a variant of this method, the protective layer 26 is formed by printing an insulating material, such as for example a fast-drying varnish on one of the opposite inner faces of the sheets 21, 22 forming the inflation valve. This impression occurs in step (a) of the method described above. When the valve 20 is welded to the flexible wall 10, this protective layer 26 allows, in a venting manner, to leave the two leaves 21, 22 of the valve in the conduit 23 separated from each other, so as to allow this way the insertion of a flexible inflation tube inside the interior of this valve. A main feature of this invention is that the construction of the valve 20 is such that an air jet directed from an air nozzle (not shown) can be focused on the outer end of the conduit 23, and this jet of air will open the duct 23 and inflate the cushion without the need to insert an inflation tube inside the valve 23. This feature allows automatic inflation or a very rapid manual inflation.It shows in Figure 3 another embodiment of an inflation valve of the inflatable cushion, According to the invention, in this embodiment, the flexible sheets 21, 22 forming this valve have the same dimensions, these sheets 21, 22 overlap and are welded together along the welding lines 24, in order to form the conduit 23. One of these flexible sheets 22 includes here a circular opening 25 which is placed at one end of the conduit 23 between the two welding lines 24. It is placed inside the flexible cushion, according to the invention, so that the flexible sheet 22 with the opening 25 is adjacent to the inner face of the flexible wall 10, to which the inflation valve is fixed, with the opening 25 being opposite the opening 11 that is provided in the flexible wall 10. In this case, the thin sheets 21, 22 and the flexible wall are welded along a circular portion surrounding the two overlapping openings 11, 25, and covering the two welding lines 24 that form the conduit 23. It should be noted that in the conduit 23, only the flexible wall 10 and the thin wall 22 adjacent to the inflation valve are welded together, while the other thin sheet 21 remains separated so that the inflation tube 30 can be inserted or for a jet of directed air can pass through it. As will be seen, a common feature of the inflation valves shown in Figures 2 and 3 is that the welding lines 24 of the flexible sheets 21, 22 are locally spaced apart from one another, so that the duct 23 flexible inflation tube 30 that is created by welding lines 24, has a bagging that is placed at a distance from the free end of the conduit by placing it inside the cushion. This has the advantage that when inflation of the cushion stops and the tube 30 is still partially coupled in the conduit 23, the two flexible sheets 21, 22 rest against each other due to a distortion that is caused in the vicinity of the end free of the duct during the bagging, in order to immediately block the duct and thus prevent partial deflation of the cushion. Once inflated, the inflatable cushion of this invention advantageously has a double seal in the opening 11 in the flexible wall 10. A first seal is formed by the valve itself, which is of the self-sealing type, by means of the two flexible sheets 21, 22 which remain one above the other.

A second seal is secured by sealingly applying the flexible sheet 21 of the inflation valve, which is outside of the flexible wall 10, to the opening 11 in order to obstruct it. It should be understood that the present invention is in no way limited to the embodiments described and illustrated herein, and that a person skilled in the art will be able to conceive of any variant within its scope.

Claims (9)

R E I V I N D I C A C I O N E S:

1. An inflatable cushion that includes a pair of flexible walls (10) welded together by their edges (12), an inflation valve (20) that includes a pair of flexible sheets (21, 22) welded together in order to form a conduit ( 23) open at both ends, characterized in that the inflation valve (20) is fixed to an internal face of one of the flexible walls, at a distance from the welded edges (12) of the cushion, and opens towards this exterior of the cushion through an opening (11) that is provided in the flexible wall (10) to which is fixed to the inflation valve to allow inflation of the cushion by inserting an inflation tube or by a directed air jet. An inflatable cushion according to claim 1, characterized in that the inflation valve (20) is welded in the flexible wall (10) along a welding line (13) surrounding the opening (11) that is provides on the flexible wall (10), and that leaves the pair of flexible leaves (21, 22) of the valve (20) in the conduit (23) of the valve (20). An inflatable cushion according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at one end of the conduit (23) of the inflation valve (20), the transverse edges (21a, 22a) of the flexible sheets (21, 22) which form the valve are displaced from one another, the flexible sheet (22) includes the inner edge (22a) which is adjacent to the inner face of a flexible wall to which the inflation valve (20) is fixed, the inner edge placed in the vicinity of the edge of the opening (11), provided in a flexible wall (10). An inflatable cushion according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the inflation valve (20) includes an opening (25) formed in one of the flexible sheets (22) that is placed adjacent to the inner face of a wall flexible (10) to which the inflation valve is fixed, the opening (25) being placed at one end of the duct (23), between the welding lines (24) forming the duct, and facing the opening ( 11) provided in a flexible wall (10) to which the inflation valve (20) is fixed. An inflatable cushion according to any of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the opening in a flexible wall to which the inflation wall is fixed is placed in an angle region. 6. An inflatable cushion according to any of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that in the inflated condition, provides in the opening (11) provided in a flexible wall (10) a first seal established by mutual coupling of the pair of flexible sheets (21, 22) of the inflation valve, and a second seal established by coupling one of the flexible blades of the inflation valve with the opening (11), in order to obstruct it. A method for manufacturing an inflatable cushion according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the flexible walls, positioned against each other, are peripherally welded together, characterized in that it includes the steps consisting of: a) providing a interference member (26) in the conduit (23) of the inflation valve (20) at the end of the conduit (23) corresponding to the offset transverse edges (21a, 22a) of the flexible sheets (21, 22), b) placing the inflation valve (20) against the inner face of one of the flexible walls (10) provided with an opening (11) in such a way that the flexible sheet (22) of the valve including the inner edge (22a) ) is placed adjacent to the inner face of the flexible wall (10), and that the interference member (26) is positioned in the opening (11), c) welding the inflation valve (20) to the flexible wall (10). ) along a welding line (13) which surrounds the opening (11) of the flexible wall (10) extends through the interference member (26). 8. A method according to claim 7, characterized in that the interference member (26) is made of an individual tongue in an insulating material and further includes a final step of extracting the interference member (26) from the conduit (23) through an opening (11) of the fñexible wall (10). 9. A method according to claim 7, characterized in that step a) further includes printing an insulating material on one of the opposite internal faces of the flexible sheets (21, 22) forming the inflation valve (20) , at the end of the conduit (23) corresponding to the transverse transverse edges (21a, 22a) in order to form the interference member (26).