U.S. patent application number 15/075931 was filed with the patent office on 2016-09-29 for thermoforming packaging machine, method and packaging.
The applicant listed for this patent is MULTIVAC Sepp Haggenmuller SE & Co. KG. Invention is credited to Rudolf von Sybel.
Application Number | 20160280440 15/075931 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 56890150 |
Filed Date | 2016-09-29 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160280440 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
von Sybel; Rudolf |
September 29, 2016 |
THERMOFORMING PACKAGING MACHINE, METHOD AND PACKAGING
Abstract
The invention relates to a method, a thermoforming packaging
machine and a packaging with a hinged lid that is produced
according to the method or by means of the thermoforming packaging
machine.
Inventors: |
von Sybel; Rudolf; (Durach,
DE) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
MULTIVAC Sepp Haggenmuller SE & Co. KG |
Wolfertschwenden |
|
DE |
|
|
Family ID: |
56890150 |
Appl. No.: |
15/075931 |
Filed: |
March 21, 2016 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65B 61/02 20130101;
B65D 77/2032 20130101; B65B 7/164 20130101; B65D 17/04 20130101;
B65D 75/32 20130101; B65B 61/28 20130101; B65B 47/02 20130101; B65D
75/5805 20130101; B65D 2575/586 20130101; B65B 47/00 20130101; B65B
61/18 20130101; B65D 77/2092 20130101; B65B 31/028 20130101; B65D
17/12 20130101; B65B 61/08 20130101 |
International
Class: |
B65D 75/58 20060101
B65D075/58; B65B 61/18 20060101 B65B061/18; B65D 75/32 20060101
B65D075/32; B65B 47/02 20060101 B65B047/02 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Mar 23, 2015 |
DE |
102015205221.4 |
Claims
1. Method for operating a thermoforming packaging machine, said
method comprising the steps of: forming a trough into a first film
web in a forming station; creating a flange surface that at least
partially surrounds the trough; creating a cutting line into the
first film web within the flange surface in a cutting station that
is disposed in a processing direction downstream of the forming
station; creating an internal sealed seam between the flange
surface and a second film web in a first sealing station that is
disposed downstream of the cutting station in order to place the
second film web onto the flange surface, wherein the internal
sealed seam is created between the trough and the cutting line; and
creating an external sealed seam between the second film web and
the flange surface, wherein the external sealed seam is created
outside of the cutting line.
2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the cutting line is
U-shaped
3. Method according to claim 1, wherein the internal sealed seam
and the external sealed seam are created together in the first
sealing station.
4. Method according to claim 1, wherein the external sealed seam is
created in a second sealing station that is disposed downstream
from the first sealing station.
5. Method according to claim 1, wherein the external sealed seam is
U-shaped.
6. Method according to claim 1, wherein the external sealed seam is
a non-detachable connection and the internal sealed seam is a
detachable connection between the first film web and second film
web.
7. Thermoforming packaging machine comprising: a forming station
for thermoforming a trough into a first film web; a first sealing
station including an internal sealing tool that is configured to
create an internal sealed seam between the cutting line and the
trough in the flange surface; a cutting station disposed between
the forming station and the first sealing station, wherein the
cutting station includes a cutting tool to create a cutting line
within a flange surface that surrounds the trough; and an external
sealing tool that is configured to create an external sealed seam
outside of the cutting line in the flange surface.
8. Thermoforming packaging machine according to claim 7, wherein
the cutting tool has a cutting edge with a U-shaped course.
9. Thermoforming packaging machine according to claim 7, wherein
both the internal sealing tool and the external sealing tool are
provided in the first sealing station.
10. Thermoforming packaging machine according to claim 7, wherein
the external sealing tool is provided in a second sealing station
that is disposed downstream of the first sealing station.
11. Packaging manufactured according to the method of claim 1.
12. Packaging comprising: a trough formed in a first film web; a
flange surface that at least partially surrounds the trough; a
U-shaped cutting line for fled into the flange surface; a closed
and gas-tight internal sealed seam created between the trough and
cutting line; and an external sealed seam created outside of the
cutting line.
13. Packaging according to claim 12, wherein the external sealed
seam is a non-detachable connection and the internal sealed seam is
a detachable connection between the first film web and second film
web.
14. Packaging according to claim 12 further comprising a straight,
non-detachable sealed seam created on a side of the flange surface
having no cutting line in order to form a hinge for the hinged lid,
wherein the hinged lid is formed of a part of the flange surface
that is located outside of the cutting line and the second film
web.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This Application claims priority to German Patent
Application Number 102015205221.4 filed Mar. 23, 2015, to Rudolf
von Sybel, currently pending, the entire disclosure of which is
incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The invention relates to a method, to a thermoforming
packaging machine and to a packaging.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Packagings that are manufactured by means of a tray and a
film web on a tray sealing machine are known from WO 2012/087114
and U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,567. In each of these documents, the goal
is to produce a packaging with a resealable lid without sealing a
prefabricated lid onto the tray.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] One object of the present invention is to be able to produce
a packaging with a resealable lid on a thermoforming packaging
machine and therefore on another machine type.
[0005] The method according to one embodiment of the present
invention for the operation of a thermoforming packaging machine
comprises the following steps:
[0006] forming of a trough and creating a flange surface that
surrounds the trough in a generally peripheral way into a first
film web in a forming station,
[0007] creating a cutting line into the first film web within the
flange surface in a cutting station that is disposed in a
processing direction downstream of the forming station,
[0008] creating an internal sealed seam between the flange area and
a second film web in a first sealing station that is disposed
downstream of the cutting station in order to place the second film
web on the flange area in a gas-tight way, whereby the internal
sealed seam is created between the cutting line and the trough in a
top view of the trough, and
[0009] creating an external sealed seam between the second film web
and the flange area, whereby the external sealed seam is created
outside of the cutting line in a top view of the trough.
[0010] This method can allow for the production of a packaging with
a hinged lid using only a first and a second film web (i.e. a
bottom film and a top film) without the need to put on an
additional lid after inserting the product in the trough and prior
to sealing.
[0011] The cutting line may be formed with at least one
substantially U-shaped course in order to allow for a hinge
function on a fourth side.
[0012] In one embodiment, the internal and the external sealed seam
are created together in the first sealing station. Hence, only a
single sealing station is provided for, and the packaging machine
does not have to be prolonged unnecessarily and/or the mounting
surface is minimized.
[0013] In another embodiment, the external sealed seam is created
in a second sealing station that is disposed downstream after the
first sealing station. This embodiment allows for two sealing
stations designed in a structurally simple way, whereby the sealing
pressures and sealing temperatures in the two stations can be
adjusted differently in a known way.
[0014] For practical reasons, the external sealing seam can be
mostly formed congruently to the cutting line, in particular also
in a U-shaped way, to achieve a visually appealing packaging.
[0015] The external sealed seam may be a non-detachable connection
and the internal sealed seam may be a detachable connection between
the first and second film web in order to simplify handling during
opening of the packaging by the consumer.
[0016] A thermoforming packaging machine according to one
embodiment of the present invention that can be operated in
particular according to the method described before can comprise a
forming station for thermoforming of a trough into a first film
web, a first sealing station and a cutting station that is disposed
between the forming station and the sealing station. The cutting
station has a cutting tool in order to insert a cutting line within
a flange surface that surrounds the trough in a generally
peripheral way, whereby the first sealing station has an internal
sealing tool that is configured to create an internal sealed seam
between the cutting line and the trough in the flange surface.
Furthermore, an external sealing tool may be provided in order to
create an external sealed seam outside of the cutting line in the
flange surface. Through cutting into the first film web even ahead
of a sealing station, the area of the lid that is to be removed
from the trough during opening of the packaging can be determined,
and the lid can be created through the subsequent external sealed
seam whereby it is placed non-detachably on the trough by means of
a hinge seal.
[0017] The cutting tool can have a cutting edge with a U-shaped
course that is particularly suitable, especially in case of
rectangular but also round or oval packagings, to be drawn near to
the external contour of the packaging.
[0018] Both sealing tools can be provided in the first sealing
station.
[0019] In another embodiment, the external sealing tool is provided
in a second sealing station that is disposed downstream of the
first sealing station.
[0020] The external sealing tool may be formed in a mostly
congruent position to the course of the cutting edge of the cutting
tool in order to allow for a shapely packaging.
[0021] A packaging according to one embodiment may be manufactured
in accordance with one of the methods described before or on a
thermoforming packaging machine described before.
[0022] The flange surface thereby can have a U-shaped cutting line
in the first film web and the flange area can have a surrounding,
closed and gas-tight internal sealed seam within the cutting line
and outside of the trough. In addition, the flange surface may have
an external sealed seam outside of this cutting line.
[0023] The external sealed seam may be a non-detachable connection
and the internal sealed seam may be a detachable connection between
the first and second film web.
[0024] The packaging can have a straight and non-detachable sealed
seam on one side on which its flange surface does not have a
cutting line in order to form a hinge for a hinged lid, whereby the
hinged lid may be formed of an external part of the flange surface
and the second film web.
[0025] Other and further objects of the invention, together with
the features of novelty appurtenant thereto, will appear in the
course of the following description.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING
[0026] A preferred embodiment of the invention will be explained in
greater detail by means of a drawing in the following. The figures
show:
[0027] FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a thermoforming packaging
machine according to one embodiment of the present invention;
[0028] FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of a film web according to
one embodiment of the present invention;
[0029] FIG. 3 is a top view of a packaging according to one
embodiment of the present invention;
[0030] FIG. 4 is a side view of a closed packaging according to one
embodiment of the present invention; and
[0031] FIG. 5 is a side view of an opened packaging according to
one embodiment of the present invention.
[0032] Identical components are marked continuously with identical
reference signs in the Figures.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0033] The invention will now be described with reference to the
drawing figures, in which like reference numerals refer to like
parts throughout. For purposes of clarity in illustrating the
characteristics of the present invention, proportional
relationships of the elements have not necessarily been maintained
in the drawing figures.
[0034] The following detailed description of the invention
references specific embodiments in which the invention can be
practiced. The embodiments are intended to describe aspects of the
invention in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art
to practice the invention. Other embodiments can be utilized and
changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present
invention. The present invention is defined by the appended claims
and the description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting
sense and shall not limit the scope of equivalents to which such
claims are entitled.
[0035] FIG. 1 shows a schematic side view of a thermoforming
packaging machine 1 according to one embodiment of the invention
with a forming station 2, a cutting station 3 with a cutting tool
16 that has a cutting edge 16, a filling station 4, a first
evacuating and sealing station 5 with an internal sealing tool 30
and transversal and longitudinal cutting devices 6, 7 that are
disposed in this order in a processing direction R on a machine
frame 8. At the input side there is a feed roller 9 on the machine
frame 8 from which a first film web 8, which is also called lower
film, is unrolled. In the processing direction R following the
first sealing station 5, a second sealing station 13 with an
external sealing tool 40 may be provided in order to place a
further sealed seam or to modify and/or to seal an existing sealed
seam more firmly.
[0036] On the output side, a discharge device in the form of a
conveyor belt 14 can be provided on the thermoforming packaging
machine 1 that is used to transport finished occasional packs 15
away. Further, the thermoforming packaging machine 1 may have a
feeding device that grips the lower film 10 laterally and
transports it further in the processing direction R by cycles
(intermittently) in a main operating cycle. The feeding device can,
for example, be implemented through laterally disposed transport
chains, lateral grippers or friction rollers.
[0037] In the illustrated embodiment, troughs 17 are formed of the
lower film 10 in the forming station 2 by means of thermoforming.
The forming station 2 can thereby be formed in a way that several
troughs 17 are formed next to each other in the direction that is
perpendicular to the processing direction R.
[0038] The evacuating and sealing station 5 may be formed as a
closed chamber in which the atmosphere in the packs is evacuated
prior to sealing and, where required, substituted by a replacement
gas such as CO2 as a protective gas.
[0039] FIG. 2 shows a schematic top view of the thermoforming
packaging machine 1 in the processing direction R in an area from
the forming station 2 up to the second sealing station 13. The
lower film 10 extends in its width between two continuous lines at
the top and at the bottom of the drawing. In the illustrated
embodiment, a so-called format with a row RE and three lanes SP is
shown; consequently a format with three packs can be processed in
each station. In the forming station 2, three troughs 17 are
thermoformed and/or shaped into the lower film 10. The dotted line
L that surrounds the trough 17 defines a flange surface F outside
of the trough edge 17a of each trough 17. A distance A can be
provided between two laterally adjacent flange surfaces F on which
the longitudinal cutting device 7 shown in FIG. 1 cuts out a
central strip in the width of the distance A and thereby separates
the packs 15.
[0040] In the cutting station 3, a cutting line 18 that is
generally U-shaped in a top view can be produced into the lower
film 10 within the flange surface F by means of a cutting tool 16
that is not illustrated in greater detail here. In this context,
the term "cutting line" 18 can mean that the lower film 10 is
severed and/or cut or punched along this cutting line 18. In the
filling station 4 that is situated downstream of the cutting
station 3, one or several products 19 are inserted in the troughs
17.
[0041] In the first sealing station 5, the upper film 12 can be
supplied from a feed roller 11 and an internal sealed seam 20 can
be produced between the lower and the upper film 10, 12 by means of
an internal sealing tool 30 that is not illustrated in greater
detail here after the inside of the trough 17 is evacuated and/or
gassed. The internal sealed seam 20 may be situated within the
cutting line 18 and along or outside of the trough edge 17a as a
closed and gas-tight sealed seam whereby this sealed seam may be
formed as a detachable sealed seam, i.e., a so-called peel seal
that can be detached easily during opening of the packaging 15 by
the consumer.
[0042] In the second sealing station 13, the upper film 12 can be
sealed onto the lower film with a further sealed seam (i.e., the
external sealed seam 21) outside of the cutting line 18 and within
the flange surface F along or in congruence with the cutting line
18. The external sealed seam 21 may be designed by means of an
external sealing tool 40 that is not illustrated in greater detail
as a non-detachable sealed seam, a so-called hard or firm seal so
that a lid is created that is formed of the upper film 12 and the
U-shaped part of the flange surface F along but outside of the
cutting line 18. In the second sealing station 13, a further sealed
seam 22, which can be designed as a straight line and spatially
separated from the external sealed seam 21 and also in a
non-detachable way, may be created in order to faun a hinge. The
hinge can be provided on the side on which there is no cutting line
18, i.e., on the open side of the U-shaped course of the cutting
line 18. The invention also covers an embodiment in which the
internal 30 and external sealing tool 40 are provided both in the
first, and in this case only, sealing station 5. Furthermore, the
invention covers an embodiment in which the first sealing station 5
creates an internal sealed seam 20 and an external sealed seam 21,
whereby both sealed seams 20, 21 are at first designed as
detachable seals and whereby the external sealed seam 21 is
re-sealed in the second sealing station 13 in order to obtain a
non-detachable external sealed seam 21.
[0043] FIG. 3 shows a top view of a packaging 15 according to one
embodiment of the invention in an enlarged view with its trough 17
in which the product 19 is located. Between the trough edge 17a and
the cutting line 18, the internal sealed seam 20 is shown as a
surrounding and closed sealed seam. The external sealed seam 21 may
be positioned outside of and along the cutting line 18 and still
within the flange surface F. The external sealed seam 21 can be
designed as a continuous but open sealed seam. Likewise, it is
possible that the external sealed seam 21 is designed of a
plurality of seal sections, to seal the upper film 12 onto the area
of the flange surface F outside of the cutting line 18 in order to
form the lid.
[0044] FIG. 4 shows a lateral section view of the closed packaging
15. On the left side of the trough 17, the cutting line 18 is shown
in the area of the flange surface F. To the right of the cutting
line 1B, the internal sealed seam 20 is shown and to the left of
the cutting line 1B, the external sealed seam 21 is shown. On the
right side of the trough 17, the internal sealed seam 20 and the
further sealed seam 22 that can form a hinge are shown in the area
of the flange surface F.
[0045] FIG. 5 shows a lateral section view of the opened packaging
15. The upper film 12 together with the part of the flange surface
F that forms a hinged lid 50 through the external sealed seam 21 of
the upper film 12 is illustrated as lifted upwards on the left
side. The upper film 12 may be detached in the process along the
detachable internal sealed seam 20 in order to create an aperture
to remove the product 19 wholly or in part and to also put a part
back into the trough 17, where required, to subsequently place the
hinged lid 50 and/or the upper film 12 back onto the flanged
surface F along the previous internal sealed seam 20.
[0046] From the foregoing, it will be seen that this invention is
one well adapted to attain all the ends and objects hereinabove set
forth together with other advantages which are obvious and which
are inherent to the structure. It will be understood that certain
features and sub combinations are of utility and may be employed
without reference to other features and sub combinations. This is
contemplated by and is within the scope of the claims. Since many
possible embodiments of the invention may be made without departing
from the scope thereof, it is also to be understood that all
matters herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings are
to be interpreted as illustrative and not limiting.
[0047] The constructions and methods described above and
illustrated in the drawings are presented by way of example only
and are not intended to limit the concepts and principles of the
present invention. Thus, there has been shown and described several
embodiments of a novel invention. As is evident from the foregoing
description, certain aspects of the present invention are not
limited by the particular details of the examples illustrated
herein, and it is therefore contemplated that other modifications
and applications, or equivalents thereof, will occur to those
skilled in the art. The terms "having" and "including" and similar
terms as used in the foregoing specification are used in the sense
of "optional" or "may include" and not as "required". Many changes,
modifications, variations and other uses and applications of the
present construction will, however, become apparent to those
skilled in the art after considering the specification and the
accompanying drawings. All such changes, modifications, variations
and other uses and applications which do not depart from the spirit
and scope of the invention are deemed to be covered by the
invention which is limited only by the claims which follow.
* * * * *