Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B31/00—Packaging articles or materials under special atmospheric or gaseous conditions; Adding propellants to aerosol containers
  • B65B31/04—Evacuating, pressurising or gasifying filled containers or wrappers by means of nozzles through which air or other gas, e.g. an inert gas, is withdrawn or supplied
  • B65B31/06—Evacuating, pressurising or gasifying filled containers or wrappers by means of nozzles through which air or other gas, e.g. an inert gas, is withdrawn or supplied the nozzle being arranged for insertion into, and withdrawal from, the mouth of a filled container and operating in conjunction with means for sealing the container mouth

Definitions

• This invention relates to a method for closing a liquid packaging container to reduce the oxygen content of the gas remaining inside the container, when a container comprises a casing - which includes body, cover and bottom parts - and a fill opening on the casing, the said method including the filling of the container when the casing is ready with liquid through the fill opening, and the closing of the container by attaching a closing flap on top of the fill opening.
• the aim of the present invention is to introduce a method which when applied helps essentially reduce the oxygen content of the gas remaining inside a liquid packaging container.
• a closing flap is placed on top of the fill opening either before or after the container is filled and it is first attached only partly to the part of the casing that surrounds the fill opening; after the container is filled, a feed nozzle is lead into the container through the gap between the edge of the fill opening and the closing flap; through the feed nozzle, gas which is at least essentially oxygen-free is fed into the container; the feed nozzle is removed from the container through the gap between the edge of the fill opening and the closing flap, and the closing flap is pressed against the part of the casing that surrounds the fill opening and attached to this part to close the container.
• a method according to the invention can be further improved if an additional stage is included where at least essentially oxygen-free gas is fed into a container when the casing is ready before the container is filled with liquid.
• Such rinsing which takes place before the container is filled helps significantly reduce the oxygen content of the foam bubbles which may form when liquid is fed into the container.
• the foam inside the container contains essentially less oxygen gas than what it would if it had not been rinsed in advance.
• an essentially lower oxygen content is achieved inside the container. It is possible to reach an oxygen content as low as a few per cent which significantly improves the keeping of the liquid inside the container.
• a cylindrical liquid packaging container comprising a casing (1) which includes a cylindrical body part (2) and cover and bottom parts (3 and 4) attached to the body ends.
• a fill opening (5) is formed on the cover part (3) which later, when the container is used, can operate as a pour spout or a drink opening.
• a container according to the invention is made of paperboard based material laminated with suitable plastic layers to make it as liquid impermeable and gas tight as necessary.
• the casing could also be made of metal, such as steal or aluminium, or plastic.
• the container When the casing (1) of the liquid packaging container is ready, the container is filled through the fill opening (5) with liquid (6). At this stage it can only be filled partly because the liquid typically foams and some room must therefore be left for the foam, although during the filling foam is typically sucked from the container, e.g., through a suction hose coaxially fitted around the feed nozzle which feeds liquid into the container.
• Another reason why the container cannot be filled completely is that in the next stage the container must be closed with a closing flap (7) and it is impossible to attach the closing flap to the cover (3), typically by heat sealing, if the closing flap is not dry. Just for this reason alone the container cannot be filled too full, to avoid the risk of liquid spilling on the cover (3) before the closing flap (7) is attached.
• a closing flap (7) is placed on top of the fill opening (5) on the cover (3) either before or after the container is filled, but at this stage the closing flap is attached to the cover (3) only partly, from the area marked in the drawing as (7a). If the closing flap is attached to the cover already during the filling it has to be folded aside to some extent while the container is being filled.
• the advantage of attaching the closing flap to the cover before the filling is that it can be sterilized together with the rest of the container.
• the desired end result is in any event that the end part (7b) of the closing flap remains to some extent apart from the cover (3) so that after the container has been filled, a feed nozzle (8) can be lead through the gap between the closing flap part (7b) and the edge of the fill opening (5) on the cover (3) into the container.
• Another method that can be used is naturally that the area (7b) of the closing flap (7) is at first kept clearly apart from the cover (3) and it is not pressed closer to the cover (3) before the feed nozzle (8) has been lead into the container. What is essential is that the gap between the closing flap (7) and the cover (3) is as small as possible when the feed nozzle (8) has been placed inside the container.
• essentially oxygen-free gas is fed into the container through the feed nozzle (8), e.g., carbon dioxide, saturated water vapour or perhaps preferably nitrogen.
• the feed nozzle e.g., carbon dioxide, saturated water vapour or perhaps preferably nitrogen.
• the gas coming from the feed nozzle spreads first along the surface of the liquid, pushing the air inside the container from underneath out through the fill opening (5).
• the amount of gas fed through the feed nozzle (8) is optimized so that an oxygen content as low as possible is achieved in the gas space inside the container, yet with the minimum amount of oxygen-free gas since the gas is typically relatively expensive.
• the feed nozzle (8) is pulled out from the container and, immediately after this, the area (7b) of the closing flap (7) is pressed against the cover (3) and attached to it by, e.g., heat sealing.
• the cover (3) is attached to it by, e.g., heat sealing.
• the methods described above help reduce the oxygen content of the gas remaining inside the container to perhaps a quarter of the oxygen content in the air.
• a better end result can be achieved if the interior of the container is rinsed with oxygen-free gas before the container is filled with liquid.
• the air inside the container is first displaced to as great extent as possible and replaced with oxygen-free gas, and only after this liquid is fed into the container, the result of which is that instead of oxygen gas, the liquid foam created inside the container contains essentially oxygen-free gas used to replace air.
• This additional procedure which nevertheless increases the cost rather significantly since relatively large amounts of oxygen-free gas must be used, helps further reduce the oxygen content of the gas remaining inside the container to very little, perhaps a few per cent. This procedure improves the keeping of the liquid inside the container significantly.

Priority Applications (3)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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Cited By (2)

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Citations (6)

• 1995
  • 1995-06-13 FI FI952903A patent/FI98614C/fi active
• 1996
  • 1996-05-31 JP JP9502344A patent/JPH11510459A/ja active Pending
  • 1996-05-31 EP EP96919834A patent/EP0833774B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1996-05-31 WO PCT/FI1996/000313 patent/WO1996041743A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 1996-05-31 DE DE69622865T patent/DE69622865T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related

Patent Citations (6)

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