WO2016156048A1

WO2016156048A1 - Method for producing a water-soluble printed packaging

Info

Publication number: WO2016156048A1
Application number: PCT/EP2016/055731
Authority: WO
Inventors: Stefan Strathmann; Matthias Sunder
Original assignee: Henkel Ag & Co. Kgaa
Priority date: 2015-04-02
Filing date: 2016-03-16
Publication date: 2016-10-06
Also published as: EP3277513A1; DE102015206040A1; EP3277513B1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing a water-soluble packaging (1) which comprises a product (23), preferably a laundry detergent product or a dishwasher detergent product, and a water-soluble shell which is formed from a water-soluble base film (19) and a water-soluble cover film (27), wherein the method comprises the following steps: a) supplying a first film web (10) in order to provide the base film (19); b) moulding a cavity (21) into the base film (19); c) filling the cavity (21) with the product (23); d) supplying a second film web (25) in order to provide the cover film (27); e) sealing the cavity (21) that is filled with the product (23) with the cover film (27); and f) printing the cover film (27) and/or the base film (19). The printing is carried out in a first printing step and in at least one second printing step. The method is characterised in that a first print is generated in the first printing step by means of a roller printing unit (13) and a second print is generated in second printing step by means of a digital printer (28).

Description

Process for the preparation of a water-soluble printed packaging

The invention relates to a process for producing a water-soluble packaging which comprises a product, preferably a detergent product or a dishwashing detergent product, and a water-soluble casing.

WO 2014/016144 A1 discloses a process for producing a water-soluble packaging with a water-soluble coating and a detergent or detergent composition disposed therein

Dishwashing product (product) known. This will be a first film web for

Providing a base film and a second film web supplied to provide a cover sheet. In the base film, a cavity is formed, which is filled with the product from above. Thereafter, the filled cavity is closed or sealed with the cover sheet. The wrapper can be printed in several printing steps.

Printing of the water-soluble films allows the application of product information, in particular warnings on a packaging with a pre-dosed Wax or dishwashing product. Such warnings are partly required by law.

A print image of high quality and covering power can be realized in the flexographic printing process. For example, to print on the base film in a flexographic printing process, a roller printing unit is necessary, which is provided prior to the formation of the cavity. In particular, if the printed image to the cavity or the product therein must be accurately positioned, the exact supply of the printed film web or the base film to the downstream

A print job image of moderate quality or an inaccurate positioning of the printed image should be avoided because a user or customer could draw negative conclusions about the quality and properties of the actual product.

It is also known to have a digital printer for accurate positioning

for example, in the form of an inkjet printer. Difficulties also arise here, especially in the film guide and in a multi-color printing. Printing multiple colors is usually done with multiple printheads that print the colors in sequence. The guidance of the generally flexible film webs both within the arrangement of the printheads and in relation to the product is difficult and expensive. The invention is based on the object to provide an easy to carry out method for producing a water-soluble packaging comprising a product and a printed wrapper, which should be produced by the process packaging that meet the requirements set in terms of print image quality and print image positioning ,

The object of the invention is based with the feature combination according to

Claim 1 solved. Embodiments of the invention can be taken from the subclaims.

According to the invention, in a first printing step, a first printing is effected by a roller printing unit and in a second printing step a second printing is effected by a roller printing unit

Digital printers are generated. Preferably, the first printing is applied in the flexographic printing process.

With the first printing step, preferably colored background areas

color-covering and of high quality with sufficient contrast to the product to be applied to the water-soluble film material. Also, in the first printing step, additionally or alternatively comparatively large-area warning symbols can be printed. The initial print will be lower in terms of accurate positioning relative to the product

Requirements as for the second printing provided. In the case of secondary printing, on the other hand, an attempt is made to achieve the most accurate possible positioning to the product. The digital printer used here, which is preferably designed in the form of an inkjet printer, basically allows a very good positioning of the secondary printing. The invention has recognized that only certain parts, areas or segments of the printed image on the envelope with respect to the product or with respect to certain reference points, such as a middle position above the cavity, require precise positioning. The exact positioning of the selected

Print image elements then contribute to a positive appearance that the packaging leaves behind for the customer or user. A more inaccurate positioning of the other printed image elements relative to the product is of minor importance or has no or only a very small influence on the subjective impression of the customer or user. The printed image elements, the positioning of which is important, are applied by the secondary printing, while all other printed image elements can be applied over the first print.

In one embodiment, the secondary pressure is applied relative to the first pressure. Thus, the first pressure is supplemented by a precisely positioned second pressure. The print result, a combination of first print and second print, has a high quality. By the

Applying the second pressure based on the initial pressure can any

Positioning inaccuracies of the first pressure can be compensated or corrected. The product may comprise a powder, a granule or a tablet. The product may alternatively or additionally comprise a liquid or a gel. The cavity may have one or more chambers for receiving different partial products.

Part of the first printing can be applied offline. This means that this part of the first print has already been applied to the corresponding film before the first film web has been fed and / or before the second film web has been fed. These are thus pre-printed film webs, which can be provided for example as rolls or reels for the method described here. The printing in the offline process is temporally decoupled from the other process steps according to the invention. Also, the

Print this first part of the first printing and be spatially decoupled.

At least one (other) part of the first print can be applied inline. If, for example, the first film web is provided with this part of the first print in the in-line process, then the pass through the web printing unit is combined with other processing steps of the first print run

Procedure coupled temporally and spatially. For example, after applying the first film web, the application of the first pressure. The first film web thus runs through the

Roller printing unit and is then fed to the further processing steps. Alternatively or additionally, the second film web can also run through a roller printing unit, which is temporally and spatially coupled to the other processing stations of the method.

It should be noted at this point that the first film web and the base film are used synonymously in terms of printing. This applies mutatis mutandis to the second

Film web and the cover sheet.

The first printing can be done on a film side of the base film or the cover sheet, which is turned to the product in the finished packaging. This has the advantage that the film material for the first printing acts as a protective layer for influences acting on the packaging from the outside, such as abrasion, etc. It is also possible that the first pressure is provided on a side of the film, which faces away from the product, that is, points outward. Reference should also be made to the possibility that part of the initial pressure on the side of the film facing the product and another part of the first pressure on the side of the film facing away from the product are arranged.

In one embodiment of the invention, the secondary printing takes place on a film side of the base film or the cover film, which faces away from the product in the finished packaging.

For example, the first print on the film side of the cover film facing the product and the second print on the film side of the cover film facing away from the product can be applied. This applies mutatis mutandis to the base film. It is also possible for the first print to be applied to the film side of the base film facing the product, while the second print is applied to the film Covering film is applied, whether on the film side facing the product or the film side of the base film used by the product.

The second printing is preferably a monochrome printing. If the print image is to be multicolored, different colors are preferably applied in the first printing step. The color used in the second printing preferably differs from the colors used in the first print. The printed image on the envelope is composed of the first print and the second print. Initial pressure and secondary pressure may (partially) overlap or supplement each other. They can also be designed independently of each other.

The cover sheet can be provided with the secondary printing immediately before placing it on the cavity. In one embodiment, the time between applying the second print and hanging up is less than 20 seconds. Preferably, the time interval between application of the secondary printing and placing the cover sheet on the cavity is 1 to 5 or 2 to 4 seconds. Based on a certain constant running speed of the cover sheet, the time between application of the secondary pressure and the placing in a spatial distance between the place of application of the secondary pressure and the place of laying can be converted. Due to the short time then the distance is comparatively small. For example, a running speed of 10 m / min results in a spatial distance of 50 cm at a time interval of 3 seconds. Disturbances or tolerances that can affect the printed cover sheet within these 50 cm are comparatively small and can be handled well.

Alternatively, the secondary print may be applied to the coversheet after the overlay on the cavity and before the cavity is sealed. Again, preferably passes between applying the second pressure and the next processing step (here the sealing) a time of 1 to 5 seconds. This time should be sufficient that the secondary pressure has dried so far that the further processing steps lead to no loss of quality of the secondary pressure.

Another possibility is to apply the secondary pressure immediately after sealing the cavity. Preferably, the phase is used in the process, in which the deformed base film for forming the cavity by appropriate means, preferably by a mold vacuum, is still kept in a position under tension. Only after this phase, due to the omission of the forming vacuum and the concomitant relaxation of the base film, can a deformation of the cover film (in particular a bulging of the cover film) and / or base film occur.

Optionally, after the first printing and / or after the second printing a special

Drying be downstream, which speeds up the drying. It can both a Air blower with air temperatures from room temperature to 130 ° C, more preferably 50 - 120 ° C, an infrared radiator or a combination thereof are used.

A positioning of the film web provided with the first print relative to the product or corresponding reference points preferably takes place only in the longitudinal direction of the film web. On a correction of positioning across this can generally be due to the lower

Requirements are dispensed with, since the existing positioning, which is necessary for the production of the product is sufficient. In addition, in particular strains in the length direction have to be taken into account in particular by the film transport and the stresses generated thereby in the usually flexible film material. The tolerance range here can be +/- 2 mm or preferably +/- 1 mm. An orientation of the secondary pressure, however, is appropriate in the longitudinal direction and transverse direction of the film web. However, such an alignment can be realized via the digital printer in a simple manner by digital or software-supported shifting of the second printing.

The second printing preferably comprises characters, so that individual letters, words, phrases or sentences can be printed on the envelope. In one

Embodiment, the minimum font size of these characters is 4 point (according to DIN 16507-1). Preferably, the minimum font size is 6 points.

In one embodiment, fonts can be used in the second printing step

Apply different languages. Thus, it is possible to provide water-soluble packaging for different countries with different languages in a simple manner. While certain proportions of the printed image are the same for all countries (such as a background color or warning symbols), country-specific information etc. are applied to the envelope in the form of second printing. With minimal changeover times, it can be converted from the production of a packaging for a first country to the production of a packaging for a second country, in which the only responsible for printing the fonts digital printer is controlled accordingly. The provision of differently pre-printed,

country-specific film webs is not necessary. Since the different fonts are applied only with the help of the digital printer and not by the eventual roller printing, it requires no laborious replacement of rollers or cylinders of the

Roller printing unit, if the packaging for country A is to be converted to the packaging for country B during the production of the packaging. Ideally, the manufacturing process without interruption and without missing parts can be continued.

A ratio of ink applied in the first printing step and ink applied in the second printing step may be greater than 2: 1, preferably greater than 3: 1 or even greater than 10: 1. Simplified here also the respective printed surfaces into Ratio so that the ratio of printed area of the first print to printed area of the second print can be greater than 2: 1, 3: 1 or 10: 1.

The feeding of the first film web and the feeding of the second film web preferably take place in a continuous process without intermediate breaks. The running speed of the first film web and / or second film web can be up to 30 m / min. In one embodiment, the running speed is between 5 to 25 m / min.

In a continuous feed, a printhead of the digital printer in the direction of the film web or the film which is printed by him, stand firm. The printer then brings only per unit of time a pressure line across the direction of travel, with other parallel printing lines taking into account the speed of the film to a flat

Complement second print.

The resolution of the digital printer can be over 200 dpi (dots per inch). Preferably, the digital printer has a resolution of 300 dpi, 400 dpi or more. The resolution in

The longitudinal direction of the film web and the resolution across it can be the same (400 x 400 dpi) or different sizes. The printing speed of the digital printer should at least correspond to the running speed of the film web to be printed. At a running speed of 10 m / min and a resolution of 400 dpi in the longitudinal direction of the film web results in a minimum printing frequency of about 2.6 kHz. The preferred pressure frequency is greater than or equal to 3 kHz.

Reference to an embodiment shown in the drawing, the invention is explained in detail.

The sole FIGURE 1 shows schematically various processing stations, the

according to the invention. With the method, a package 1 is produced, which can be seen in isolated form in Figure 1 far right. How this package 1 is constructed will become clear from the description of its manufacture which follows.

A first film web 10 is unwound from a roll or reel 1 1 and runs in the direction of an arrow 12 in a roller printing unit 13. In the roller printing unit 13, the first film web 10 is provided in the flexographic printing process with a first print.

After leaving the roller printing unit 13, the first film web 10 is deflected by a deflection roller 14, so that it is now in the horizontal direction, in the illustration of Figure 1, from left to right according to the arrow 15 is moved continuously. For the sake of simplicity, the representation of drive means and means for equalizing the tension in the first film web 10 is dispensed with. In the embodiment shown here is a non-preprinted Used film webs 12, which is wound on the winding 1 1. Alternatively, it could also be a pre-printed foil webs 12. In this case, the roller printing unit 13 could be dispensed with.

Parallel to the film web 10 after deflection by the deflection roller 14, a treadmill 16 whose direction is shown by the arrow 17 moves. The treadmill 16 has a plurality of successively arranged depressions or thermoforming molds 18, which are approximately trapezoidal in section.

The first film web serves to provide a base film 19, the first

Processing station or forming station 20 is supplied. In the processing station 20, the base film 19 is deep-drawn, so that individual cavities 21 arise. In a filling station 22, a product 23 is filled into the respective cavity 21. It may be, for example, a liquid product or a solid. The solid may also be present in compressed form as a tablet. A product feed direction 33 extends vertically down from above.

The filled cavities 21 then pass through a deflection roller 24, by means of which a second film web 25 supplied from above is deflected in a direction parallel to the running direction 17 of the conveyor belt 16. The second film strip 25 is unwound from a winding 26. Again, the presentation of drive means etc. for the second film web 25 is omitted.

The second film web 25 serves to provide a cover film 27, which is placed on the filled cavity 21 by the deflection roller 24. After the covering film 27 has been applied to the base film 16 or the cavity in 21, a digital printer 28 in the form of an inkjet printer applies a secondary print to the cover film 27. It is also possible for the first print to be applied to the cover film 27, comparable to the structure 13, wherein the digital printer 28 may be in the position shown in FIG. 1 or in the position according to the arrow labeled 34. Immediately after the digital printer 28 is a sealing station 29, through which the cavities 21 filled with the product 23 are sealed. In this case, the cover film 27 is welded to the base film 19. A cutting device 30 separates the composite of cover film and base film 19 with the product 23 arranged therebetween to form individual packages 1. These are then released from the thermoforming molds 18 and can now be packed in cartons or cartons.

The film web 10 and the second film web 25 are continuously unwound from the respective rollers 1 1, 26. The treadmill 16 runs continuously at the same speed as the film webs 10, 25. The double arrows 32 are intended to indicate that the respective

Processing stations or devices 20, 42, 29, 30 or parts thereof temporarily over a certain period of time at the same speed can be carried parallel, then to to be reset again. For example, the cutting device 30 is carried along according to the running speed of the belt 16 until the required separation of the packages is completed. Thereafter, the cutting device or a cutting blade of the cutting device is returned to the subsequent

To separate packaging.

The digital printer 28 or its print head is fixed in the running direction 17 of the moving belt 16. The digital printer 28 and the running speed of the treadmill 16 and the cover film 27 are coordinated so that a two-dimensional second printing is produced, wherein the printer only transversely to the direction 17 of the treadmill 16 prints a printing line.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1, the second printing is applied by the digital printer 28 to the cavity 21 after the covering film has been applied. Alternatively, it is possible that the cover sheet 27 is printed before its edition. This alternative printing should be indicated by the arrow 34 in FIG. In this case, the secondary pressure in the direction of travel 35 of the second film web 25 would still be applied before the deflection roller 24.

By having the digital printer 28 located immediately in front of the sealing station 29, it is possible to accurately align the digital printer 28 or its printhead with respect to the already almost completely manufactured package. For example, it is possible to position the secondary pressure exactly in the middle of the product 1 identified by the reference numeral 31. By the roller printing unit 13 rather large pressure components are applied, in which it does not depend on a precise positioning of the cavity or the product therein.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1. Packaging

10. first film web

1 1st roll / wrap

12. arrow

13. Roll printing unit

14. pulley

15. arrow

16th treadmill

17. Running direction / arrow

18th depression / thermoforming mold

19. Basic film

20. Processing station / forming station

21st cavity

22nd filling station

23. Product

24. pulley

25th second film web

26. roll / wrap

27. Cover foil

28. Digital printer

29th sealing station

30. Cutting device

31. middle

32. double arrow

33. Product feeding direction

34. arrow

35. direction / arrow

Claims

claims

A process for producing a water-soluble package (1) comprising a product (23), preferably a detergent product or a dishwashing detergent product, and a water-soluble coating formed from a water-soluble base film (19) and a water-soluble cover film (27), the method comprising the steps of:

a) feeding a first film web (10) for providing the base film (19); b) molding a cavity (21) into the base film (19);

c) filling the cavity (21) with the product (23);

d) feeding a second film web (25) to provide the cover sheet (27); e) sealing the cavity (21) filled with the product (23) with the cover sheet (27); and

f) printing the cover film (27) and / or the base film (19),

the printing takes place in a first printing step and in at least one second printing step,

characterized in that in the first Bedruckungsschntt a first print by a roller printing unit (13) and in the second Bedruckungsschntt a second print by a digital printer (28) are generated.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that in the first

Bedruckungsschntt a flexographic printing process is used.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at least a part of the initial pressure is applied in the off-line method.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that at least a part of the first pressure is applied in the in-line method.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the

First printing on a film side of the base film (19) or the cover film (27) takes place, which is turned in the wrapping of the finished packaging (1) to the product (23).

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the

Second printing on a film side of the base film (19) or the cover film (27) takes place, which faces away from the product (23) in the wrapping of the finished packaging (1).

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the

Cover film (27) is printed immediately before placing on the cavity (21).

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the second pressure after the overlay on the cavity (21) and before the sealing of the cavity (21) is applied.

9 Method according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the

Secondary pressure is applied immediately after sealing the cavity (21).

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that in the second printing step fonts of different languages are applied.

1 1. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that a ratio of applied in the first printing step ink and applied in the second printing step ink greater than 2: 1, preferably greater than 3: 1.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 1 1, characterized in that the running speed of the second film web (25) is less than 30 m / min.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the supply of the first film web (10) and the supply of the second film web is carried out continuously.