RU2560056C1 - Tray for packaging moisture-containing product and device for making perforation in this tray - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: packaging industry.

SUBSTANCE: tray for packaging moisture-containing product, formed from expanded polystyrene with dense surface layers with closed pores and the inner layer with open pores located between them, is made with perforation of the surface layer at the side of the product placement. The essence of the solution consists in that the perforation is made in the form of intersecting slits of the surface layer, formed with simultaneous indentation of the edges of the dissected material in the direction of the inner layer. To perform the perforation the needles are used, having the form of rods with the working end in the form of a pyramid with concave faces and cutting edges at the intersection of these faces. The device for performing the perforation comprises a fixed plate and a perforation unit comprising a pressure plate and a plate with needles, located with the possibility of reciprocating movement in the through holes of the pressure plate. The pressure plate is mounted with a gap and with the possibility of reciprocating movement relative to the plate with needles and is connected to it by the return spring mechanism.

EFFECT: improvement of absorbent characteristics of the tray and acceleration of fluid absorption.

8 cl, 11 dwg

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the production of containers for transportation and storage of products prone to release liquid.

State of the art

Isolation during storage of liquid (bloody exudate) from packaged products, such as meat or fish, contributes to the development of bacterial flora and reduces the shelf life of the product, creating problems for subsequent transportation. Therefore, the developers of packaging containers for the mentioned products are faced with the acute problem of fluid removal and its reliable isolation from the product. The mentioned problem is solved in several ways.

A known tray is made of polymeric material, the bottom of which in the product placement zone is convex and equipped with a system of point protrusions (see patent EP 2669204 5655708, IPC: B65D 1/34, B65D 81/26, publ. 01.06.2012). The liquid released from the product flows into the recesses between the protrusions on which the product rests, and then to a lower area on the periphery of the tray. However, the fluid moves freely along the tray, which does not exclude its contact with the product during the movement of the tray. As a result, significant transportation problems occur, and the decomposition of exudate, which is in the same volume with the product, negatively affects the quality of the product, reducing its shelf life.

Known trays formed from two parts installed one into the other with the formation of a cavity between them, the so-called "Double bottom", where the liquid flowing out from the product placed in the inner part flows through the holes in the bottom of the latter (see patent JP 2013-220821, 10.28.2013, or patent US 8474610, IPC: B65D 81/26, publ. 02.07 .2013). Between themselves, the inner and outer parts of the tray are connected by means of lock joints. In the cavity of the "double bottom" can be placed an adsorbing layer to absorb liquid.

Known tray for packaging moisture-containing products, containing a top layer with holes, a lower dense layer and an adsorbent layer placed between them, welded together on the periphery of the tray with the formation of a single design (see patent US 5655708, IPC: B65D 1/34, publ. 12.08 .1997). The holes of the upper layer are made with the expansion in the direction of the middle adsorbing layer, which allows you to reliably relate the liquid that has leaked through the holes and prevents its return to the product.

The disadvantage of both of the aforementioned analogues is the technological complexity and the complexity of manufacturing trays, the stringent requirements for the dimensions of individual parts of the tray, assembled into a single multilayer structure.

The closest analogue to the claimed technical solution is a tray for packaging food products (see patent EP 1707498, IPC: B65D 81/26, publ. 10/04/2006), made in the form of a monoblock structure of a foam polystyrene sheet with a heterogeneous structure, in which surface, externally located material layers have closed pores, and the inner layer located between them has open pores. The bottom and side walls of the tray are made with perforation of the surface layer on the product placement side, which ensures that the liquid released from the product flows through the perforation holes into the inner layer, where it is distributed in the pores of the material that holds the liquid from the reverse flow.

Such trays are simple and technological to manufacture. The presence of holes eliminates the accumulation of exudate in the tray, but does not provide quick absorption of liquid and complete isolation of the product from moisture, as part of the liquid remains on a flat and smooth surface of the tray between the holes due to the action of surface tension forces. The flat edge of the holes contributes to the formation of air jams, which also slows the fluid flow.

Perforation holes can be made directly in the sheet of extruded polystyrene foam, before the process of forming products. However, in this case, when forming the tray under the influence of high temperature and pressure, the edges of the holes melt, which impairs the absorption capacity of the tray. Therefore, it is more advisable to perform perforation after forming the tray.

As the closest analogue for the proposed perforation device, the design of the device for perforating smooth closed surfaces of products from open-porous foam sheets, disclosed in patent RU 2106958, IPC: B26F 1/24, B29C 37/00, publ. 03/20/1998

Said device comprises a fixed plate (matrix) and a perforation unit arranged with a reciprocating movement to it, including a pressure plate and a plate with needles arranged for reciprocating movement in the through holes of the pressure plate.

Between a fixed plate and a perforation unit, a sheet with products formed in it, for example trays, moves. In the process of perforation, a fixed plate holds the product from the outside, providing back pressure to the pressure plate, pressing the product from the inside.

The design of the needles used in the device makes it possible to form round smooth holes on the surface of the tray, but the latter do not allow for quick absorption of liquid and complete isolation of the product placed in the tray from moisture.

Disclosure of invention

The present invention is directed to improving the operational characteristics of the tray.

The technical result achieved is to improve the absorbent characteristics of the tray by eliminating stagnation of the liquid on the surface of the tray, accelerating the absorption of the liquid and preventing its backflow.

This became possible due to the fact that in the proposed tray for packaging a moisture-containing product formed of expanded polystyrene with dense closed-cell surface layers and an open-cell inner layer located between them and made with perforation of the surface layer from the product placement side, according to the claimed invention, perforation is made in the form of intersecting cuts of the surface layer formed with simultaneous indentation of the edges of the dissected material in the direction of morning layer.

First of all, we are talking about perforation of the bottom of the tray. On the side walls of the tray, there may not be any perforation, or it may be done differently.

The cuts form a notch - slotted holes in a dense surface layer of the material of the tray. When making incisions and simultaneously pressing the edges of the dissected material in the direction of the inner layer on the surface of the bottom of the tray, grooves are formed on the side of the product placement with slotted holes on the side surface, directed from top to bottom, expanding and converging in the center of the bottom of the recess.

The recesses form the relief of the bottom of the tray. The liquid released from the product, as is known, tends to occupy the lowest position and flows down, filling in the recesses, where it goes into the inner layer through slotted holes and is distributed in its pores. As a result, when the tray is completely stationary, stagnation of liquid on the surface of the tray, and therefore its contact with the product, is excluded, directional movement of the liquid to the holes located in the recesses is provided.

Due to the indentation of the edges of the dissected surface layer of the material in the direction of the inner layer, which has a looser structure, recessed channels are formed along the slit openings (slots), each of which represents a channel for the flowing liquid, at the bottom of which there is a passage slit hole. As a result, not only is the directionality of the liquid runoff ensured, but also the combination of the process of liquid runoff into the recess with its output into the inner layer is ensured, which allows a significant increase in the rate of liquid absorption.

In the proposed tray, in contrast to the analogues with round holes, the total area of the liquid passageways is significantly increased, which significantly accelerates the absorption process, while the design of the perforation holes in the proposed tray eliminates the possibility of fluid backflow. In known analogs with round holes, an increase in the diameter of the hole in order to increase its bore, would certainly lead to the return flow of the liquid.

The implementation of the bottom of the tray with corrugation contributes to an additional acceleration of the process of draining the liquid along the corrugations of the corrugations to the recesses with perforation, providing a significant increase in the aforementioned technical result.

To achieve the above-mentioned positive results, the proposed technical solution of the device for performing perforation is also directed.

The proposed device for performing perforation in a tray made of expanded polystyrene with dense surface layers with closed pores and an open pore inner layer located between them comprises a fixed plate and a perforation unit arranged with a reciprocating movement including a pressure plate and a plate with needles, placed with the possibility of reciprocating movement in the through holes of the pressure plate.

The main difference between the proposed device and the known solutions is that the needles are made in the form of rods pressed into the material by the size of the working end, made in the form of a pyramid with concave faces and cutting edges at the intersection of the faces.

The device can be used not only for punching trays, but also for perforating other containers made of extruded foam polystyrene or other materials with closed porous outer layers.

The top of the pyramid provides a piercing of the dense upper layer, the pyramids extending from the top of the pyramid edge serve as cutting edges, slotted holes cut through the surface layer, and concave faces provide indentation of the edges of the dissected material and the formation of recesses.

Thus, the proposed design of the needles provides the possibility of forming recesses with slotted holes that can eliminate stagnation of the liquid on the surface of the tray, improve its absorbent characteristics, increase the rate of absorption of the liquid and at the same time exclude the possibility of its reverse leakage.

The pressure plate is installed with a gap and with the possibility of reciprocating movement relative to the plate with needles and connected to it by means of a return spring mechanism.

The diameter of the rods is preferably 4-6 mm. The height of the end part of the rod (pyramid) approximately corresponds to the diameter of the rod.

In a specific example of the implementation of the utility model, the perforation block is placed on one movable plate with the block of cutting products from a sheet of material.

As a drive of the reciprocating movement of the perforation unit or the movable plate with the cutting and perforation blocks placed on it, a crank mechanism can be used (see the example below).

Brief Description of the Drawings

The feasibility of industrial feasibility of the proposed technical solution is confirmed by the following example, illustrated by drawings, which depict:

in FIG. 1 - the proposed tray, plan view;

in FIG. 2 - also, section AA from FIG. one;

in FIG. 3 shows fragment I of FIG. 2, increased

in FIG. 4 - fragment II of FIG. 1, increased.

in FIG. 5 - a device for performing perforation, General view, schematically;

in FIG. 6 - fragment III of FIG. 5 shows a perforation unit;

in FIG. 7 is a view B of FIG. 6;

in FIG. 8 - needle for perforation;

in FIG. 9 is also a view C from FIG. 8;

in FIG. 10 is a section C-C of FIG. 8, enlarged;

FIG. 11 illustrates the operation of a perforation unit.

The implementation of the invention

The tray 1, designed for packaging a moisture-containing product, contains a perforated bottom 2, from which side walls 3 extend with a flange 4 around the perimeter (see Fig. 1, 2).

Tray 1 is a monolithic product formed from a sheet (strip) of foamed extruded polystyrene having a heterogeneous structure, characterized by dense outer layers with closed pores, upper 5 and lower 6, between which there is an open layer 7 with open pores, some of which are communicated through openings perforations of the bottom with the cavity of the tray in the product placement area (see Fig. 3).

Perforation of the upper layer 5 — the surface layer from the product placement side — is made in the form of intersecting cuts of this layer formed with simultaneous indentation of the edges of the dissected material in the direction of the inner layer 7, as a result of which grooves 8 are formed on the bottom 2 of the tray 1 with slotted openings 9 intersecting at the bottom of the recess with the formation of a single hole in the shape of an asterisk (see Fig. 4).

Perforation is performed in an already formed tray (after the molding operation).

A device for performing perforation (see Fig. 5) contains a fixed plate 10 and a perforation block 11 located opposite it, mounted with the possibility of reciprocating movement from the crank mechanism 12.

The perforation unit 11 includes (see FIG. 6-7) a pressure plate 13 and a plate 14 with needles 15 placed in the through holes 16 of the pressure plate 13.

The pressure plate 13 is installed with the possibility of translational movement relative to the plate 14 along the guide fingers 17 and is equipped with a return spring mechanism 18 (hereinafter springs).

Needles 15 (see Fig. 8-10) are made in the form of rods with a working end in the form of a pyramid with concave faces 19 and cutting edges 20 at the intersection of these faces.

In a specific example of the implementation of the device, the diameter of the needle shaft is 4-6 mm, and the height of the pyramid is almost equal to the diameter of the rod. In this case, the opening angle of the recess 8 corresponds to 90 °.

As seen in FIG. 6, in the initial position, the tip of the needles 15 is located flush with the working surface of the pressure plate 13, or is somewhat deepened relative to it in the hole 16.

The device operates as follows.

Sheet 21 of foamed extruded polystyrene with molded products in it - trays 22 is moved from the molding stage to the stage of perforation. At the molding stage, corrugation 23 can be applied to the bottom 2 of tray 1 (see FIG. 1).

The movement of the sheet 21 is stopped as soon as one of the trays 22 is installed at position A between the fixed plate 10 and the perforation unit 11. The crank mechanism 12 is rotated and the perforation unit 11 is moved to the fixed plate 10. In this case, the tray 22 is sandwiched between the pressure plate plate 13, pressing it from the inside, and a fixed back pressure plate 10, supporting the tray 22 from the outside. Needles 15 are still inside the holes 16.

With a further rotation of the crank, the plate 13 remains in place, and the plate 14 with the needles 15 moves further, the gap 24 between the plates 14 and 13 is selected, the springs 18 are compressed, and the needles 15 are pulled out of the guide holes 16 of the pressure plate 13 and pressed into the material tray (see Fig. 11).

The pointed ends of the needles 15 (tops of the pyramids) pierce the dense closed pore top layer 5, each cutting edge 20 of the pyramid cuts the surface layer 5, and the edges 19 of the pyramid press the edges of the dissected material inward in the direction of the open pore layer 7. Indentation is carried out by the magnitude of the sharpening of the working end, i.e. to the height of the pyramid. Thus, the formation of holes 9 and recesses 8 is performed in one stroke of the working tool.

When the pressure is removed from the side of the crank mechanism, compression springs 18 are first activated, returning the needle plate 14 with needles 15 to their original position, then the entire perforation block 11 is returned to its original position.

On the one supporting plate 25 with the perforation block 11, a product cutting unit 26 can be placed, which will allow performing two operations at once with one turn of the crank of the crank mechanism: punching holes in one tray (position A, Fig. 5) and cutting the second tray out strips of material (position B).

The released sheet of material 21 is moved one step, while the next tray 22 is set to the position A of the perforation, and the tray 22 'with the holes already formed therein is set to position B. The cycle is repeated.

In the finished tray 1 (Fig. 1) place the product (meat, fish, etc.). On top of the product tray, as a rule, is closed with a packaging film to isolate the product from the oxygen-containing atmosphere. During storage, a food product, such as meat, placed in tray 1, releases moisture in the form of a liquid that drains to the bottom of 2 trays.

Falling to the bottom of 2 trays, droplets of liquid (exudate) slide into the corrugations of the corrugation 23 and flow through them further into the recesses 8, where, passing through the recessed channels formed along the slotted openings 9, the liquid quickly leaves through these openings into the inner layer 7, where it is distributed in the open pores of the material.

Liquid stagnation is excluded in the tray, its directional movement to passage openings located in the recesses is ensured, the total area of passage openings is significantly increased and liquid backflow is excluded even in case of moving and overturning the tray.

Claims (8)

1. A tray for packaging a moisture-containing product formed of expanded polystyrene foam with dense closed-cell surface layers and an open-cell inner layer located between them and made with perforation of the surface layer on the product placement side, characterized in that the perforation is made in the form of intersecting cuts of the surface layers formed with simultaneous indentation of the edges of the dissected material in the direction of the inner layer. 2. The tray according to claim 1, characterized in that the perforation is made by means of rods pressed into the material by the size of the working end, made in the form of a pyramid with concave faces and cutting edges at the intersection of the faces. 3. The tray according to claim 1, characterized in that the bottom of the tray on the product placement side is grooved. 4. A device for performing perforation in a tray made of expanded polystyrene with dense surface layers with closed pores and an open pore inner layer located between them, comprising a fixed plate and a perforation unit including a pressure plate and a plate with needles placed with the possibility of reciprocating movement in the through holes of the pressure plate, characterized in that the needles are made in the form of rods pressed into the material and the quantity of the working end, made in the form of a pyramid with concave faces and cutting edges at the intersection of faces. 5. The device according to p. 4, characterized in that the pressure plate is installed with a gap and the possibility of reciprocating movement relative to the plate with needles and connected to it by means of a return spring mechanism. 6. The device according to p. 4, characterized in that the diameter of the rod is 4-6 mm 7. The device according to claim 4, characterized in that the perforation unit is placed together with the cutting unit on one carrier plate connected to the reciprocating drive. 8. The device according to p. 4, characterized in that the drive reciprocating movement is made in the form of a crank mechanism.

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