WO2015132770A1

WO2015132770A1 - Package with a sealed inner package provided with a passage hole controlled by a pneumatic valve

Info

Publication number: WO2015132770A1
Application number: PCT/IB2015/051662
Authority: WO
Inventors: Simone PASQUI; Roberto Polloni; Claudio PISI; Stefano Negrini
Original assignee: G.D Societa' Per Azioni
Priority date: 2014-03-06
Filing date: 2015-03-06
Publication date: 2015-09-11
Also published as: PL231421B1; DE112015001121T5; PL418680A1; DE112015001121B4

Abstract

Package (1) having: a group (4) of articles; a sealed inner package (3), which encloses the group (4) of articles and is made from a sheet (14) of heat-sealable packing material; a stiffener (10), made of rigid material and is arranged inside the sealed inner package (3) contacting the group (4) of articles; at least one passage hole (18), which is formed through a wall of the sealed inner package (3); and a pneumatic valve (19) which is superimposed over the passage hole (18) and has at least one valve element (20); the stiffener (10) is arranged at the passage hole (18) so that the passage hole (18) is superimposed on a wall (11) of the stiffener (10) itself; and the wall (11) of the stiffener (10) has a through hole (26) aligned and superimposed over the passage hole (18).

Description

"PACKAGE WITH A SEALED INNER PACKAGE PROVIDED WITH A PASSAGE HOLE CONTROLLED BY A PNEUMATIC VALVE"

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a package with a sealed inner package provided with a passage hole regulated by a pneumatic valve, to a multilayer sheet of packing material, and to a method of producing a multilayer sheet of packing material.

In the following description, reference will be made, for brevity, to a rigid packet of cigarettes with hinged lid and housing a sealed inner package without loss of generality in reference to the present invention. PRIOR ART

The Patent application WO2014013479A2 describes a packet of cigarettes comprising: a sealed inner package, which encloses a group of cigarettes, has an article extraction opening and is made from a sheet of heat-sealable packing material folded about the group of articles and stabilized by heat-sealing; and a stiffener, made of rigid material, is located inside the sealed inner package contacting the group of cigarettes, is U- shaped to embrace at least on three sides the group of cigarettes, and is independent and initially completely separated from the sheet of heat-sealable packing material.

The patent application NL6408986A describes a sealed inner package having eight passage holes coupled to a pneumatic valve .

In Figure 1 a sealed inner package A known and described in detail in the patent application US2006228057A1 is illustrated. Said sealed inner package A is provided with an extraction opening B to extract the items contained inside the sealed inner package A and with a passage hole C, which is formed through a wall of the sealed inner package A for exhausting part of the air from, and depressurizing the sealed inner package A, and is coupled to a pneumatic valve D.

As shown in Figure 2, the pneumatic valve D is initially carried by a tape E wound in a reel and is drawn from the tape E to be applied to the wall of the sealed inner package A at the passage hole C.

As shown in Figure 3, the pneumatic valve D comprises a support layer F which is permanently glued to an underlying sheet of packing material G which constitutes the wall of the sealed inner package A and an active layer H which is superimposed on and glued to the support layer F. In the active layer H a valve element is defined, which is movable between a closed position in which it seals the passage hole C and isolates the passage hole C from the outside atmosphere and an open position in which the passage hole C communicates freely with the outside atmosphere; in particular, the valve element is defined by a portion of the active layer H which is separated from the rest of the active layer H by a U-shaped through incision (better illustrated in Figure 1) and is connected to the underlying inner layer by means of an adhesive element. In use, during the exhaust of part of the air from the sealed inner package A, an exhaust device rests with a certain mechanical pressure on the inner package A sealed around the passage hole C; consequently, the application of said mechanical pressure on the sealed inner package A may determine local damage (i.e. a permanent plastic deformation) of the articles contained inside the sealed inner package A itself .

In use, to determine the opening of the pneumatic valve D an uplifting force is applied to the valve element (typically as a result of suction or by mechanical action) so as to lift the valve element from the underlying support layer F. However, it was observed that the pneumatic valve D described in patent application US2006228057A1 not always ensures a correct opening, in that, although applying a high uplifting force in some situations the valve element is not removed from the underlying support layer F. To prevent the opening failure of the pneumatic valve D, it was proposed to stiffen the support layer F by increasing the thickness of the support layer F itself; however, this solution poses several problems, in that it makes the manipulation of the pneumatic valve D more difficult (particularly when the pneumatic valve D is applied to the wall of the sealed inner package A at the passage hole C) and makes the pneumatic valve D very thick (and therefore potentially subject to mechanical interference with the elements of the packing machine during handling of the sealed inner package A) .

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a package with a sealed inner package provided with a through hole controlled by a pneumatic valve, thus said package is free from the drawbacks described above and is, at the same time, easy and inexpensive to manufacture. According to the present invention, a package is provided with a sealed inner package having a through hole controlled by a pneumatic valve, as claimed in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a non-limitative embodiment, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a known sealed inner package that is part of the state of the art and is provided with a passage hole regulated by a pneumatic valve;

- Figure 2 is a perspective view of a known tape that is part of the state of the art and supports a series of pneumatic valves of the type illustrated in Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 illustrates two sectional views of the known pneumatic valve illustrated in Figure 1 in a closed position and in an open position of the passage hole respectively;

Figure 4 is a front perspective view and in a closed configuration of a packet of cigarettes produced according to the present invention and comprising a sealed inner package provided with a passage hole regulated by a pneumatic valve; - Figure 5 is a front perspective view of the packet of cigarettes of Figure 4 in a partially open configuration;

Figure 6 is a front perspective view of the packet of cigarettes of Figure 4 in a fully open configuration;

- Figure 7 is a front perspective view of the sealed inner package of the packet of Figure 4;

Figure 8 is a front perspective view of a group of cigarettes contained inside the sealed inner package of Figure 7;

Figure 9 is a front perspective view of a stiffener contained inside the sealed inner package of Figure 7;

- Figure 10 is a plan view of a multilayer sheet of packing material used to form the sealed inner package of Figure 7;

- Figures 11 and 12 are two different sectional views of a passage hole and of a corresponding pneumatic valve formed in the multilayer sheet of packing material of Figure 10 in a closed position and an open position of the passage hole respectively;

- Figure 13 is a sectional and exploded view of the multilayer sheet of packing material of Figure 10 at the passage hole and at the corresponding pneumatic valve of Figures 11 and 12; and

- Figure 14 is a plan view of the multilayer sheet of packing material of Figure 10 highlighting two different types of adhesive interposed between two layers of the multilayer sheet of packing material itself.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION In Figures 4, 5 and 6 the number 1 indicates as a whole a rigid packet of cigarettes. The packet 1 of cigarettes comprises an outer container 2 made of cup-shaped cardboard or rigid paperboard and a sealed inner package 3 (better illustrated in Figure 7) housed inside the container 2. The sealed inner package 3 encloses a group 4 of cigarettes (shown in Figure 8) having a parallelepiped shape and a top cigarette extraction opening 5. The cigarette extraction opening 5 affects the entire top portion of the inner package 3 and the inner package 3 is provided with a tear strip 6 which allows to eliminate a top portion of the sealed inner package 3 to free the extraction opening 5; in other words, at the first opening of the packet 1 of cigarettes the user pulls the tear strip 6 to remove a top portion of the sealed inner package 3 and thus free the extraction opening 5. According to an alternative embodiment not illustrated, the extraction opening 5 is centrally arranged, is closed by an "open & close" type sealing flap and affects a portion of a front wall of the sealed inner package and a portion of a wall top of the sealed inner package.

The outer container 2 has an open top end 7 and is provided with a cup-shaped lid 8 hinged to the container 2 along a hinge 9 to rotate, with respect to the container 2, between an open position (illustrated in Figures 5 and 6) and a closed position (illustrated in Figure 4) of the open top end 7.

The lid 8, when in its closed position, gives the outer container 2 a rectangular parallelepiped shape having a top wall and a bottom wall parallel and opposite to each other, a front wall and a rear wall (in which the hinge 9 is formed) parallel and opposite to each other, and two side walls which are parallel and opposite to each other. Between the side walls and the front and rear walls four longitudinal edges are defined, while between the upper and lower walls and the of front, rear and lateral walls eight transverse edges are defined .

As shown in Figure 9, the sealed inner package 3 comprises a stiffener 10, which is made of cardboard or rigid paperboard (quite similar to the cardboard or rigid paperboard constituting the outer container 2), is U-shaped and is arranged inside the sealed inner package 3 contacting the group 4 of cigarettes. The stiffener 10 comprises a front wall 11 of substantially rectangular shape, which is arranged contacting a front wall of the group 4 of cigarettes and a pair of lateral walls 12, which are connected to the opposite sides of front wall 11 and are arranged contacting the lateral walls of the group 4 of cigarettes. The front wall 11 has a window which is arranged at the top, is delimited by an edge 13, is U-shaped, and facilitates the extraction of the cigarettes from the group 4 of cigarettes as it leaves exposed a top area of the front wall of the group 4 of cigarettes.

The function of the stiffener 10 is to give greater stiffness and greater shape to the sealed inner package 3 in order to prevent the same sealed inner package 3 from collapsing on itself after removing a part of the cigarettes contained inside the sealed inner package 3 itself, thus complicating the extraction of the remaining cigarettes. An additional function of stiffener 10 is to provide a suitable mechanical protection for the cigarettes during formation and handling of the sealed inner package 3. Finally, another function of the stiffener 10 is to keep the lid 8 in the closed position, as the lid 8 passes from the closed position to the open position (and vice versa) it must slightly deform in an elastic way the top and front of the stiffener 10.

As illustrated in Figure 10, the sealed inner package 3 is obtained by folding a sheet 14 of heat-sealable packing material, which has a rectangular shape, is folded about the group 4 of cigarettes enclosed in the stiffener 10 and once folded is stabilized by heat-sealing (i.e. overlapping portions of the sheet 14 of packing material are connected together in a stable manner by heat-sealing) . As illustrated in Figure 7, the sealed inner package 3 comprises a passage hole 18, which is formed through a front wall of the sealed inner package 3 to exhaust part of the air from, and depressurize, the sealed inner package 3. In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 7, the passage hole 18 is formed through the front wall of the sealed inner package 3, but it is clear that the passage hole 18 can be formed in any other wall (top, bottom, side, back) of the sealed inner package 3; in any case, the passage hole 18 must be formed at the stiffener 10, i.e. in an area of the sealed inner package 3 that rests on the underlying stiffener 10. In fact, during the exhaust of part of the air from the sealed inner package 3, an exhaust device rests with a certain mechanical pressure on the sealed inner package 3 about the passage hole 18 and thus the presence of the underlying stiffener 10 at the passage hole 18 prevents the mechanical pressure exerted by the exhaust device from damaging the cigarettes contained inside the sealed inner package 3 (i.e. the stiffener 10 protects the cigarettes contained inside the sealed inner package 3 from the mechanical pressure exerted by the exhaust device) .

Moreover, the sealed inner package 3 comprises a pneumatic valve 19 which is superimposed over the passage hole 18 and has the function of maintaining the passage hole 18 normally isolated from the outside atmosphere so as to not have any passage of gas between the sealed inner package 3 and the outside atmosphere. The pneumatic valve 19 is normally closed (i.e. it normally seals the passage hole 18 and isolates the passage hole 18 from the outside atmosphere) and is temporarily open (i.e. the passage hole 18 communicates freely with the outside atmosphere) just and only during the exhaust step of part of the air contained inside the sealed inner package 3 to depressurize the sealed inner package 3 itself.

As illustrated in Figures 10-13, the pneumatic valve 19 comprises a valve element 20, which is movable between a closed position (illustrated in Figures 11 and 13) in which it seals the passage hole 18 and isolates the passage hole 18 from the outside atmosphere and an open position (illustrated in Figure 12) in which the passage hole 18 communicates freely with the outside atmosphere.

As illustrated in Figures 11 and 12, the sheet 14 of packing material is a sheet of multilayer packing material and comprises an inner layer 21 of plastic material (of thermoplastic type to be heat-sealable ) and an outer layer 22 of plastic material (of thermoplastic type to be heat- sealable) superimposed and glued to each other and both extend seamlessly over the whole extension of the sheet 14 of packing material. Between the two layers 21 and 22 a permanent non- detachable adhesive 23 is interposed, as illustrated in Figure 14, extends over the whole of the sheet 14 of packing material, except for the area wherein the valve element 20 is located (i.e. with the exception of the area wherein the pneumatic valve 19 is located) ; the adhesive 23 is a permanent adhesive that dries and then once dried (or shortly after its application) does not allow any separation (if not following final breakage and thereby being no longer recomposable ) between the two layers 21 and 22. In the area where the valve element 20 is located (i.e. the area wherein the pneumatic valve 19 is located) , between the two layers 21 and 22 a pressure-sensitive re-stick adhesive 24 is interposed (i.e. which does not dry) which allows, even after a long time, to locally separate the two layers 21 and 22 and then to bring the two layers 21 and 22 together again for a great number of times. As shown more clearly in Figures 11, 12 and 13, the passage hole 18 is only formed through the inner layer 21 of the sheet 14 of packing material; i.e. the passage hole 18 passes through the inner layer 21 of the sheet 14 of packing material and does not affect in any way the outer layer 22 of the sheet 14 of packing material. Furthermore, the valve element 20 of the pneumatic valve 19 is defined by a portion of the outer layer 22 (and only by the outer layer 22) which is separated from the rest of the outer layer 22 by a U-shaped through- incision 25 and is connected to the underlying inner layer 21 by the re-stick adhesive 24. In the embodiment illustrated in the attached figures the U-shaped through incision 25 forms a sharp angle at the cusp (as illustrated in Figure 10), but according to alternative and completely equivalent embodiments the U-shaped through incision 25 may have a rounded shape at the cusp or it could be shaped as a broken line formed by the union of multiple straight segments angled one with respect to the other. Normally, the re-stick adhesive 24 which is located at the pneumatic valve 19 keeps the valve element 20 of the pneumatic valve 19 in close contact with the underlying inner layer 21 of the sheet 14 of packing material to seal the passage hole 18, i.e. isolating the passage hole 18 from the outside atmosphere (as shown in Figure 11) . When an adequate uplifting force is applied to the valve element 20 of the pneumatic valve 19 (typically as a result of suction or by mechanical action) , the valve element 20 of the pneumatic valve 19 is lifted from the underlying inner layer 21 of the sheet 14 of packing material (and therefore the re-stick adhesive 24 interrupts its binding action) allowing the passage hole 18 to communicate freely with the outside atmosphere (as shown in Figure 12) ; when the uplifting force acting on the valve 20 of the pneumatic valve 19 stops, the valve element 20 rests again onto the underlying inner layer 21 of the sheet 14 of packing material (as shown in Figure 11 and possibly with the aid of a mechanical pressing member) determining a new closure of the pneumatic valve 19 due to the binding effect of the re-stick adhesive 24. In the embodiment described above, there is only one passage hole 18 of relatively large dimensions and the pneumatic valve 19 has a single valve element 20 which is coupled directly to the passage hole 18 (i.e. superimposed over the passage hole 18 itself) . According to an alternative and perfectly equivalent embodiment, multiple passage holes 18 of smaller size are provided and the pneumatic valve 19 has several valve elements 20, each of which is coupled directly to a corresponding passage hole 18 (i.e. superimposed over the passage hole 18 itself) . According to a further and perfectly equivalent embodiment, only one passage hole 18 of relatively large dimensions is provided and the pneumatic valve 19 has several valve elements 20, each of which is arranged about the passage hole 18 (i.e. the valve elements 20 are uniformly distributed about the passage hole 18) .

In the embodiment described above, the adhesive 24 which is located at the pneumatic valve 19 is a pressure-sensitive re- stick adhesive (i.e. which does not dry); in this embodiment, the pneumatic valve 19 is multi-purpose, i.e. may be used many times as it is possible to switch several times from the closed position to the open position and vice versa. According to an alternative embodiment, the adhesive 24 which is located at the pneumatic valve 19 is an adhesive which is initially inactive and is activated by heat, i.e. an adhesive that at the first application does not cause any type of gluing between the two layers 21 and 22 of the sheet 14 of packing material and which can be activated by heating to determine a permanent gluing (i.e. no longer separable if not by permanent breakage) between the two layers 21 and 22 of the sheet 14 of packing material; in this embodiment, the pneumatic valve 19 is disposable, i.e. may be used only once because once the adhesive 24 is activated by heating it is no longer possible to re-open the pneumatic valve 19 itself.

As previously stated, the passage hole 18 is formed through the front wall of the sealed inner package 3, and then superimposed on the front wall 11 of the stiffener 10. As illustrated in Figure 9, the front wall 11 of the stiffener 10 has a through hole 26, which is arranged at the passage hole 18 (i.e. aligned and superimposed over the passage hole 18) and allows a more direct air flow from inside the sealed inner package 3 towards the passage hole 18.

According to a preferred embodiment illustrated in Figure 9 and in Figures 11, 12 and 13, around the through hole 26 of the stiffener 10 a permanent non-detachable adhesive 27 is applied which locally determines a permanent gluing between the sheet 14 of packing material and the underlying stiffener 10 (i.e. between the bottom face of the inner layer 21 of the sheet 14 of packing material and the top face of the front wall 11 of the stiffener 10) . The function of the permanent adhesive 27 is to bind the inner layer 21 of the sheet 14 of packing material to the underlying stiffener 10 at the pneumatic valve 19 (i.e. around the through hole 26 of the stiffener 10) so that when an uplifting force is applied to the valve element 20 of the pneumatic valve 19, only the valve element 20 of the pneumatic valve 19 is lifted from the underlying inner layer 21 of the sheet 14 of packing material. In other words, in the absence of the permanent adhesive 27 when an uplifting force is applied to the valve element 20 of the pneumatic valve 19 the whole sheet 14 of packing material could be lifted (i.e. both the valve element 20 of the pneumatic valve 19, and the underlying inner layer 21) without then determining the desired separation between the valve element 20 of the pneumatic valve 19 and the underlying inner layer 21 of the sheet 14 of packing material; instead, the presence of the permanent adhesive 27 mechanically binds the inner layer 21 of the sheet 14 of packing material to the underlying stiffener 10 thus preventing the inner layer 21 of the sheet 14 of packing material from lifting and allowing the pneumatic valve 19 to open properly when an uplifting force is applied to the valve element 20 of the pneumatic valve 19.

According to a preferred, but not binding, embodiment, the passage hole 18 is formed through the inner layer 21 of the sheet 14 of packing material before bringing together the two layers 21 and 22 of the sheet 14 of packing material; in the same way, the through incision 25 delimiting the valve element 20 is formed through the outer layer 22 of the sheet 14 of packing material before bringing together the two layers 21 and 22 of the sheet 14 of packing material. In this way, the performing of the passage hole 18 and of the through incision 25 is extremely simple and can be performed with trivial mechanical operations. It is important to note that when the two layers 21 and 22 of the sheet 14 of packing material are superimposed, a high precision in the relative positioning between the passage hole 18 and the through incision 25 delimiting the valve element 20 is not required, in that, small deviations do not alter in any way the functionality of the pneumatic valve 19. Alternatively, the passage hole 18 and the through incision 25 may be formed on the sheet 14 of packing material after bringing together the two layers 21 and 22; in this case, it is necessary to use a laser processing that allows to etch with extreme precision only part of the overall thickness of the sheet 14 of packing material. In the embodiments described above, the passage hole 18 and the pneumatic valve 19 can be used to depressurize the sealed inner package 3, i.e. discharge the air from the sealed inner package 3 so as to impart to the sealed inner package 3 an inner pressure lower than the atmospheric pressure; according to one alternative and equivalent embodiment, the passage hole 18 and the pneumatic valve 19 can be used to pressurize the sealed inner package 3, i.e. to pump (inject) a gas inside the sealed inner package 3 so as to impart the sealed inner package 3 an inner pressure greater than the atmospheric pressure .

The sealed inner package 3 described above has numerous advantages .

In the first place, the presence of the underlying stiffener 10 at the hole 18 prevents the passage of mechanical pressure exerted by the exhaust device (used to discharge air from the sealed inner package 3) from damaging the cigarettes contained inside the sealed inner package 3 (i.e. the stiffener 10 protects the cigarettes contained inside the sealed inner package 3 from the mechanical pressure exerted by the exhaust device) .

Moreover, the fact of locally gluing the sealed inner package

3 to the stiffener 10 by means of the permanent adhesive 27 mechanically binds the inner layer 21 of the sheet 14 of packing material to the underlying stiffener 10 preventing the inner layer 21 of the sheet 14 of packing material from uplifting and allowing the pneumatic valve 19 to open properly when an uplifting force is applied to the valve element 20 of the pneumatic valve 19. In this way, all situations of non- opening of the pneumatic valve 19 (or of failure to lift the valve element 20 of the pneumatic valve 19) are prevented.

In the non-limiting embodiment illustrated in the attached figures, the package of the present invention contains a group

4 of cigarettes; thanks to the numerous advantages of the package of the present invention, said package can also be used to contain articles other than cigarettes, such as food products (candies, chocolates or other sweets) .

Claims

1) A package (1) comprising:

a group (4) of articles;

a sealed inner package (3) which encloses the group (4) of articles, has an article extraction opening (5), and is made from a sheet (14) of heat-sealable packing material folded about the group (4) of articles and stabilized by heat- sealing;

a stiffener (10), made of rigid material, located inside the sealed inner package (3) contacting the group (4) of cigarettes, is U-shaped to embrace at least on three sides the group (4) of cigarettes, and is independent and initially completely separated from the sheet (14) of heat-sealable packing material;

at least one passage hole (18), which is formed through a wall of the sealed inner package (3) to exhaust part of the air from, and depressurize, the sealed inner package (3) or to allow the pumping of gas in, and pressurize, the sealed inner package (3); and

a pneumatic valve (19) which is superimposed over the passage hole (18), is integral with the sheet (14) of heat-sealable packing material, is completely separate and independent from the stiffener (10), and comprises at least one valve element (20), movable between a closed position, in which it seals the passage hole (18) and isolates the passage hole (18) from the outside atmosphere, and an open position, in which the passage hole (18) communicates freely with the outside atmosphere;

the package (1) being characterized in that:

the stiffener (10) is located at the passage hole (18) so that the passage hole (18) is superimposed on a wall (11) of the stiffener (10); and

the wall (11) of the stiffener (10) has a through opening in fluid communication with the passage hole (18) .

2) The package according to claim 1, wherein the wall (11) of the stiffener (10) has a through hole (26) aligned and superimposed over the passage hole (18) to be in fluid communication with the passage hole (18) itself.

3) The package according to claim 2, wherein an adhesive (27) which glues the sealed inner package (3) locally to the stiffener (10) is applied about the through hole (26) in the stiffener (10) .

4) The package according to claim 3, wherein the adhesive (27) is a permanent non-detachable adhesive.

5) The package according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the adhesive (27) extends solely around the through hole (26) in the stiffener (10) .

6) The package according to any one of Claims 1 to 5 and comprising a rigid outer container (2) housing the sealed inner package (3) .

7) The package according to Claim 6, wherein the rigid outer container (2) is cup-shaped and has an open top end (7) ; and a cup-shaped lid (8) hinged to the rigid outer container (2) along a hinge (9) to rotate, with respect to the rigid outer container (2), between an open position and a closed position opening and closing the open top end (7) respectively.