WO2010136890A1

WO2010136890A1 - A stand-up pouch

Info

Publication number: WO2010136890A1
Application number: PCT/IB2010/001288
Authority: WO
Inventors: Carlos Norberto Vitullo
Original assignee: Ppg Industrial Do Brasil Tintas E Vernizes Ltda.
Priority date: 2009-05-29
Filing date: 2010-05-28
Publication date: 2010-12-02
Also published as: BRPI1002392A2; AR071971A1; UY32053A

Abstract

A stand-up pouch (1) which when filled with a liquid or paste-like liquid product can remain in that position, said pouch consists of two wall-forming sheets (3, 4) joined to each other by means of weldings on the lateral (5) and bottom edges (6). In the top of said pouch is a handle (17) which defines an upper mouth and where each of said folded parts of the gusset-forming sheet is also welded to said wall-forming sheets (3, 4) by means of at least one diagonal strip (19) which runs from said bottom edge (6) of the wall-forming sheets (3, 4) to inside an area of a circle of radius less than 7 millimeters centered on a point of intersection between each of said weldings of the lateral edges of said wall-forming sheets and said welding between the gusset-forming sheet, on its baseline, and the said lateral edge corresponding to said wall-forming sheets.

Description

A STAND-UP POUCH

STATE OF THE ART OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to the field of containers used to contain flowing media, for example liquids, paste-like liquids, granular solids, etc. such as paints, fertilizers, and food among other media; more particularly the invention relates to containers such as bags or sachets in vertically supported position known in the art as "stand-up pouches." This is a term whose use is so widespread that any technician in the field would identify the container in question with this terminology.

Description of the previous art

To better understand the purpose and scope of this invention it is useful to describe the current state of the art in relation to containers such as pouches which stand in vertical position on their own base and are used to contain liquid or flowing media such as mayonnaise.

There are pouches used to contain liquids in vertical position or perpendicular to the support surface, but said pouches can only hold small volumes of content while maintaining said vertical position, that is to say the existing stand-up pouches are not equipped to receive, for example, greater volumes (more than a couple of liters or kilos) because they become deformed by the weight and lose stability, causing in many cases problems for the user. In addition, if they fall from a certain height said pouches break open and spill the contained product.

Other problems encountered by a stand-up pouch if it has a larger size is lack of malleability, because if the user needs to pour the contained product into a pan or receptacle he must hold the pouch, pressing on at least a part of it, but when pressed, said pouches deform causing the product to spill, whatever its liquid or paste-like state. Thus the product inside said pouches is wasted and causes inconvenience to users in terms of cost and time. For this reason, it would be useful to have a stand-up pouch which can contain a larger capacity volume, for example four or more liters or kilos of a flowing product which can remain stable in a vertical position and not be deformed, as well as having the means whereby the user can hold and pour the contained product, avoiding unnecessary spills.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an objective of this invention to provide a stand-up pouch consisting of two wall-forming sheets and a gusset-forming sheet folded in two parts at the bottom of the pouch, where the sheet which forms the gusset is welded to said sheets which form the wall in accordance with well-defined parameters which permit the pouch to withstand large loads and remain stable.

Another objective of this invention is that said wall-forming sheets are joined to each other by welding on the lateral edges and bottom edge and also that said gusset-forming sheet is folded along a baseline at whose ends it is welded to said lateral edges, where said gusset-forming sheet and wall-forming sheets have at least one diagonal strip of welding which helps the vertical stability of the pouch when filled by a liquid or paste-like liquid product.

Another objective of this invention is to provide a pouch which has a welded joint at the top between the wall-forming sheets in order to define an upper mouth and that said joint forms a handle with through-holes so that the user can discharge the contents of the pouch without holding or pressing the pouch on the sides, as is done at present, in order to avoid spill or loss of the product and avoid losses of time and cost.

Another objective of this invention therefore is to provide a stand-up pouch which when filled with a liquid or paste-like liquid product can be stood on a preferably horizontal surface and stay upright with stability; said pouch being of the type which consists of two wall-forming sheets which are joined together by welding at the lateral and bottom edges, also featuring a gusset-forming sheet folded in two parts in the bottom of the pouch which forms the base of the pouch; this gusset-forming sheet is folded along a baseline at whose ends it is welded to said lateral edges, while the periphery of the gusset-forming sheet is welded to said lateral and bottom edges of said wall-forming sheets, thus forming a pouch with an open upper mouth capable of being closed also by means of welding in order to hold its content, where each of said folded parts of the gusset-forming sheet are also welded to said wall-forming sheets by means of a diagonal strip which runs from said bottom edge of said wall-forming sheets inside an area of a circle of radius less than 7 millimeters and with center on a point of intersection between each of said welds of the lateral edges of said wall-forming sheets and said welding between the gusset-forming sheet, in said baseline, and said lateral edges corresponding to said wall-forming sheets.

Other additional objectives of the embodiments by way of example of this invention will be described in the section corresponding to the detailed description of the invention and in the annexed claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For more clarity and understanding of the purpose of this invention, it has been illustrated in several diagrams, which represent the invention in a preferred embodiment, by way of example, where:

Figure 1 is a perspective view taken from one side and in front, according to an embodiment of this invention, viewing a pouch filled with content and which is standing upright on a horizontal surface;

Figure 2 is a front view of this invention, which shows a wall-forming sheet with its lateral edges and a bottom edge, where both edges are determined by the joining of a rear wall-forming sheet, and also a welding strip which defines an area of triangular welding;

Figure 3 is an enlarged front view taken from behind Figure 1, showing in detail two lateral edges and a bottom edge formed by the joining, by welding, of two wall-forming sheets, which also shows a folded gusset-forming sheet which forms the base of said pouch and said gusset- form ing sheet is folded along a baseline at whose ends it is welded to said lateral edges and a diagonal strip which runs from said bottom edge to inside a circle of radius of a certain millimetric measurement at the intersection of said weldings of said lateral edges and said baseline, and

Figure 4 is a cross-section taken from above on one of the sides of the pouch of this invention, which shows the wall-forming sheets and gusset-forming sheet, where the gusset-forming sheet shows a series of spot welds for the joining of said wall- forming sheets through respective through cuts in said gusset- form ing sheet. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

To illustrate and show the particular distinctive characteristics of this invention, it will be described in a preferred embodiment based on the accompanying figures.

In relation to this invention Figures 1 to 4 show a stand-up pouch 1, when filled with a liquid or paste-like liquid product such as paint or similar can be stood on a preferably horizontal support surface 2 and remain upright in a stable way.

The stand-up pouch has two wall-forming sheets 3 and 4, which are of resistant material, preferably material selected from high and low density polyethylene or propylene, among other plastic materials, and said sheets are joined together by any appropriate means, such as welding, on lateral edges 5 and bottom edge 6. In turn said pouch 1 has a folded gusset- form ing sheet 7, of resistant material preferably a polyethylene terephthalate "PET" or any material selected from polyethylene terephthalate, high and low density polyethylene, among other polymeric materials. In addition, said gusset-forming sheet 7 is folded in two parts 8 and 9 in the, bottom or lower part 10 of the pouch 1 thus forming the base of said pouch, that is, the base or contact surface with the product, either liquid or paste-like liquid. It should be emphasized that said fold of the gusset- form ing sheet 7 is along a baseline 1 1, illustrated in figures 2 and 3 by a dashed line, at whose ends 12 and 13 the sheet is welded to the lateral edges 5 of said wall-forming sheets 3 and 4. Consequently the periphery of said gusset-forming sheet 7 is preferably welded to said lateral 5 and bottom 6 edges of said wall-forming sheets 3 and 4.

The pouch has in the upper part 14 a joint for welding preferably in a "J" shape, between said wall-forming sheets 3 and 4, in order to define an upper mouth 15 which can be closed after the pouch has been filled with a product. This closure can be made by welding or die cutting so as to hold the content and thus avoid contact with agents external to said product or spills of the product. Said "J"-shaped joint has a space or surface 16 which forms a handle 17 with a series of through-holes 18 preferably punched so that the user can hold the pouch and pour the contents more easily without losing or spilling content which, unlike what is mentioned in the previous art, where users must hold said pouches where they can cause spills and losses of time and cost. In relation to this invention and to provide more stability to the vertical position of said pouch 1 each of the folded parts 8 and 9 of the gusset-forming sheet 7 are also welded to said wall-forming sheets 3 and 4 by means of at least one diagonal strip, schematized by a line 19, which runs from bottom edge 6 of said wall-forming sheets 3 and 4 to inside an area of a circle 20 illustrated by dashed line with radius preferably less than seven millimeters centered on a point of intersection 21 defined by the intersection between said welding of the lateral edge 5 of said wall-forming sheets, either 3 or 4 depending which side of the pouch is analyzed, and said baseline 1 1 of the gusset-forming sheet. Although the diagonal strip gives the pouch more stability, it does not necessarily have to exactly intercept said meeting point 21 of said welds, but it can intercept any point inside the circle with radius preferably less than 7 mm.

In turn the diagonal welding strip 19 forms an angle "a" preferably 45° to 52° with lateral edge 5 corresponding to said wall-forming sheets 3 and 4. Even though the welding strip 19 can take the form of one or more strips, always defining a diagonal line 19, it preferably defines an entire triangular welding area 22 between said folded part and the corresponding wall-forming sheet. It should be noted that the welding area does not necessarily have to be triangular but could take another geometric shape always with a line 19 forming the mentioned angle. With respect to this point, it is also important to clarify that the line 19 will preferably be straight in the proximity of the point of intersection 21, preserving the angular range mentioned, but said diagonal welding strip 19 can end straight or curved against the bottom of the container according to the requirement of each product.

For pouch 1 to increase its stability, the gusset-forming sheet 7 is preferably welded to the respective lateral edges 5 of the wall-forming sheets 3 and 4 by means of a series of spot welds 23 formed by through-cuts in said gusset- form ing sheet 7 so that in these cuts the opposite wall-forming walls can be welded together. It should be noted that said cuts are preferably in the shape of semicircles and also that they are made because it may not be easy to weld the material of the gusset-forming sheet to itself; for this reason the sealing or welding in said cuts must be done as illustrated in Figure 4.

An additional feature to help increase the stability of said pouch is the height H of the gusset- form ing sheet 7. If the height H is less than that necessary with respect to the support surface, the bottom area of the pouch will not be sufficient when full, making the bottom unable to provide the necessary stability. Therefore said folded gusset- forming sheet 7, which defines the base or bottom of said pouch 1, has, also in relation to the invention, a height "H" determined by the following formula:

H= (L - 2.P) x K π

where:

"L" is the width of the empty pouch 1,

"P" is the width of each edge of lateral welding 5 of said wall-forming sheets 3 and 4, and

"K" can take any value between 0.6 and 1.

Consequently, this stand-up pouch gives the user the possibility of having a container with a capacity of over 4 liters and even over 10 liters, which is stable when standing perpendicular to the horizontal support surface 2, making it possible to have a container with great capacity which when empty, during transport to the packaging plant, takes up minimum space, which markedly lowers the cost of transport per unit of packaging.

Its design also means that it can be transported manually, when filled, much more easily and comfortably than would be required to carry a can or box of the same capacity.

Claims

1. A stand-up pouch which when filled by a paste-like liquid or liquid product can stand on a horizontal surface and stay in vertical position with stability; said pouch is of the type that consists of two wall-forming sheets joined together by weldings on the lateral and bottom edges, also with a gusset-forming sheet folded in two parts on the bottom of the pouch which forms the base of said pouch, said gusset- forming sheet is folded along a baseline at whose extremes it is welded to said lateral edges, while the periphery of said gusset- form ing sheet is welded to said lateral and bottom edges of said wall-forming sheets thus forming a pouch with an open upper mouth also capable of being closed by welding to hold its contents, with said pouch characterized by the fact that each of the folded parts of the gusset-forming sheet are also welded to said wall-forming sheets by at least one diagonal strip running from the edge of said wall-forming sheets to inside an area of a circle of radius less than 7 millimeters and centered on a point of intersection between each of said welds of the lateral edges of the wall-forming sheets and said welding between the gusset-forming sheet, on its baseline, and the corresponding lateral edge of said wall-forming sheets.

2. The pouch according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that said diagonal welding strip forms an angle of 45° to 52° with the corresponding lateral edge.

3. The pouch according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that said diagonal welding strip defines an area of triangular welding between said folded part and the corresponding wall-forming sheet.

4. The pouch in accordance with any of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that in the top of the pouch is a welded "J"-shaped joint between said sheets so as to define said upper mouth.

5. The pouch in accordance with any of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that said "J"-shaped joint forms a handle with through-holes.

6. The pouch in accordance with any of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that said folded gusset-forming sheet which defines the bottom base of the pouch has a height "H" determined by the following formula:

H= CL - 2.P) x K π

where:

L is the width of the empty pouch

P is the width of each lateral edge welding, and

K can take any value between 0.6 and 1.

7. The pouch in accordance with any of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that said folded gusset-forming sheet is welded to the respective lateral edges of the wall-forming sheets by a series of spot welds by through cuts in the gusset-forming sheet.

8. The pouch in accordance with any of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that said wall-forming sheets consist of a material selected from high and low density polyethylene, propylene among other plastic materials.

9. The pouch in accordance with any of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that said gusset-forming sheet consists of a material selected from polyethylene terephthalate, high and low density polyethylene, among other polymeric materials.