U.S. patent application number 15/738354 was filed with the patent office on 2018-07-05 for arrangement and method for packaging a liquid consumable product in a package.
The applicant listed for this patent is TELTRA LAVAL HOLDINGS & FINANCE S.A.. Invention is credited to Gustavo Barros, Lars Henriksson, Camilla Joscelyne, Jon Mikaelsson, Lars- ke Naslund, Lars Palm, Joakim Tuvesson.
Application Number | 20180186488 15/738354 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 56131549 |
Filed Date | 2018-07-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20180186488 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Barros; Gustavo ; et
al. |
July 5, 2018 |
ARRANGEMENT AND METHOD FOR PACKAGING A LIQUID CONSUMABLE PRODUCT IN
A PACKAGE
Abstract
The invention relates to an arrangement adapted to package a
liquid consumable product in a package. The arrangement comprises
an infeed to provide prepared packaging material having a first
side (6) and a second side (7), said second side (7) being adapted
to be in contact with the consumable product, a digital printing
system (4) coupled to said infeed and adapted to print at least one
color onto at least a portion of the first side (6) of the prepared
packaging material, a sterilization system (8) having a low voltage
electron beam device (12) adapted to emit an electron beam on said
first and second side (6, 7) of said packaging material, and a
packaging machine (9) coupled to an outfeed of the digital printing
system (4) and adapted to provide a package from said prepared
packaging material, said package being filled with the consumable
product. The invention also relates to a method for packaging a
liquid consumable product in a package.
Inventors: |
Barros; Gustavo; (Modena,
IT) ; Palm; Lars; ( KARP, SE) ; Tuvesson;
Joakim; (Hollviken, SE) ; Henriksson; Lars; (
karp, SE) ; Mikaelsson; Jon; (R, SE) ;
Joscelyne; Camilla; (Sodra Sandby, SE) ; Naslund;
Lars- ke; (FURULUND, SE) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
TELTRA LAVAL HOLDINGS & FINANCE S.A. |
Pully |
|
CH |
|
|
Family ID: |
56131549 |
Appl. No.: |
15/738354 |
Filed: |
June 16, 2016 |
PCT Filed: |
June 16, 2016 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP2016/063905 |
371 Date: |
December 20, 2017 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65B 9/12 20130101; B65B
3/16 20130101; B65B 61/025 20130101; B65B 55/027 20130101; B65B
9/13 20130101; B65B 55/08 20130101; B65B 41/12 20130101 |
International
Class: |
B65B 55/08 20060101
B65B055/08; B65B 41/12 20060101 B65B041/12; B65B 55/02 20060101
B65B055/02; B65B 61/02 20060101 B65B061/02; B65B 9/13 20060101
B65B009/13; B65B 3/16 20060101 B65B003/16 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jun 22, 2015 |
SE |
1550860-9 |
Claims
1. An arrangement adapted to package a liquid consumable product in
a package, the arrangement comprising an infeed configured to
provide prepared packaging material having a first side and a
second side, said second side being adapted to be in contact with
the consumable product; a digital printing system coupled to said
infeed and adapted to print at least one color onto at least a
portion of the first side of the prepared packaging material, a
sterilization system comprising a low voltage electron beam device
adapted to emit an electron beam on said first side and/or said
second side of said prepared packaging material, and a packaging
machine coupled to an outfeed of the digital printing system and
adapted to provide a package from said prepared packaging material,
said package being filled with the consumable product.
2. The arrangement according to claim 1, further comprising a
sterilization chamber configured to encapsulate said sterilization
system to prevent radiation from leaking into the environment
outside of said sterilization system.
3. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the infeed
comprises at least two reels and a splicing unit configured to
splice an end portion of prepared packaging material of one reel to
a start portion of prepared packaging material of the second
reel.
4. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the prepared
packaging material comprises at least one of the following: a
printed area on the first side at least partially surrounding an
area to be printed upon by the digital printing system, one or more
crease lines, at least one optical marker for positioning the
prepared packaging material in the digital printing system and/or
packaging machine, at least one magnetic marker for positioning the
prepared packaging material in the digital printing system and/or
packaging machine, a carton layer and one or more lamination layers
on each side of the carton layer, an aluminium layer facing the
second side of the prepared packaging material, or a dedicated
opening area, which comprises at least one layer of the prepared
packaging material less than the surrounding material.
5. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the digital
printing system comprises a mechanical and/or an optical and/or
magnetic positioning system adapted to evaluate the relative
position of the prepared packaging material in view of one or more
markers arranged on the prepared packaging material and/or
geometric elements of the same prepared packaging material.
6. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the digital
printing system is adapted to print a marking on the first side of
the packaging material, said marking configured to be read by the
packaging machine during operation.
7. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the digital
printing system is arranged on a movable platform and its outfeed
comprises a separable interface for coupling the digital printing
system to another packaging machine.
8. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the digital
printing system comprises one or more encapsulated areas, said
areas being adapted to operate in a food handling environment.
9. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the packaging
machine comprises one of: a first filling machine for web based
packaging material; a second filling machine for sheet based
packaging material; a web based tube filling machine; or a tube
based filling machine.
10. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the packaging
machine comprises: a splicing unit configured to splice together
prepared packaging material from two reels, and a bypass configured
to feed in prepared packaging material from the digital printing
system, wherein the splicing unit is further configured to splice
prepared packaging material from the digital printing system to
other prepared packaging material.
11. The arrangement according to claim 1, further comprising a
package material buffer between the digital printing system and the
packaging machine, the package material buffer configured to
compensate speed fluctuations in the packaging machine and/or
synchronize the printed packaging material with the packaging
machine.
12. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the arrangement
is placed in a food handling environment, particularly in a
diary.
13. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said digital
printing system is adapted to print a unique print onto said first
side of the prepared packaging material.
14. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the packaging
machine comprises a curing device configured to finalize
polymerization of ink used in the digital printing system.
15. The arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the curing
device comprises an electron beam device.
16. The arrangement according to claim 14, wherein said prepared
packaging material comprises a pre-printed portion on said first
side of the prepared packaging material.
17. A method for packaging a liquid consumable product in a
package, comprising providing a packaging material to an infeed of
a packaging arrangement, said packaging material having a first
side and a second side being adapted to be in contact with the
liquid consumable product, printing at least one color onto at
least a portion of the first side of the prepared packaging
material using a printing system of said packaging arrangement,
sterilizing said packaging material by emitting an electron beam on
said first side and/or said second side of said packaging material
using a low voltage electron beam device of said packaging
arrangement, providing a package from said prepared packaging
material using a packaging machine of said packaging arrangement,
and filling said package with said liquid consumable product.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The invention relates to an arrangement adapted to package a
liquid consumable product in a package, and a method for packaging
a liquid consumable product in a package.
BACKGROUND ART
[0002] In the packing industry for packing food content, packages
are often made by multi-layer material, e.g. carton based
multi-layer materials, that is folded and sealed into packages into
which food content is placed. In the packaging process it is
important to keep the material that comes into contact with the
food clean so as to not compromise the food quality. The inner side
of the packaging material that is in direct food contact has to be
hygienic and the migration performance of the total assembly,
including the packaging material, needs to live up to food safety
standards. For some food packing machines of carton based packages,
the packaging material, e.g. complex multi-layer packaging
material, are provided in large rolls with packaging material where
each roll or reel contains packaging material for a large number of
packages, often thousands of packages.
[0003] The large reels with packaging material are pre-printed
according to the food product that is filled into the package. In
relation to the reels it must be ensured, that potential transfer
from printing ink components onto the food contact layer meets food
safety requirements.
[0004] Using pre-printed reels does, however, make it expensive to
produce small volumes of a package for a product, makes it
difficult to make individual designs to packages, since the complex
multi-layer material has to be pre-fabricated, and makes it
practically impossible to make last minute design
adaptions/changes. During the fabrication process, among other
steps, the material is printed and provided with a final polymer
layer on top of the print. The only print added to the pre-printed
material is usually the expiry date that is added before or after
the package is filled with food by the filling machine.
[0005] Food safety compliance of packaging material requires a full
control over the risk of chemical agents migration. Migration
occurs when a chemical agent present on the packaging is
transferred and therefore detected in the product contained into
the package.
[0006] Among other, migration can be managed by the removal or
reduction of substances known by their nature or characteristics to
present a risk, and by active managing and controlling the
conditions in which migration can occur. Migration might occur, for
example, due to the particular characteristics of the sterilization
system.
[0007] In current aseptic filling machines the sterilization system
is based on the usage of hydrogen peroxide at suitable
concentration and temperature, both in liquid or gaseous form, in
some instances combined with ultra violet electromagnetic
radiation. One of the most common sterilization system
implementations is trough a hydrogen peroxide bath, where the
complete packaging material (both its inner and outer surfaces) is
exposed to, and in contact with, the hydrogen peroxide. The
aggressive nature of hydrogen peroxide combined with the exposure
conditions (concentration, temperature and duration) present a
clear risk for migration.
[0008] Substances, i.e. chemical agents, present on the packaging
material and more specific on any of its exposed surfaces might
transfer to the hydrogen peroxide bath and from there to the inner
surface of the said material (i.e. surface that shall become in
contact with the packaged product). There is also the risk that new
substances are formed by chemical reaction or subsequent decay into
the said bath. Another risk is that the concentration of substances
present on the outer surface of a packaging material and
transferred to the hydrogen peroxide bath, or created trough
reaction with the said bath, increase with time. This concentration
change might increase to a level where a threshold deemed critical
for food safety compliance is attained.
[0009] There is thus a need for an improved packing arrangement
which allows customized printing of packages or packages with
unique printing on each package without the need of ordering large
quantities of pre-printed packaging material.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] It is an object of the present invention to improve the
current state of the art, to solve the above problems, and to
provide an arrangement to package a liquid consumable product in a
package with a customized print without contaminating said liquid
consumable product.
[0011] These and other objects are achieved, according to a first
aspect of the invention, by an arrangement adapted to package a
liquid consumable product in a package. The arrangement comprises
an infeed to provide prepared packaging material having a first
side and a second side, said second side being adapted to be in
contact with the consumable product, a digital printing system
coupled to said infeed and adapted to print at least one color onto
at least a portion of the first side of the prepared packaging
material, a sterilization system having a low voltage electron beam
device adapted to emit an electron beam on said first side and/or
said second side of said packaging material, and a packaging
machine coupled to an outfeed of the digital printing system and
adapted to provide a package from said prepared packaging material,
said package being filled with the consumable product. One of the
currently most common sterilization systems is the usage of a
hydrogen peroxide bath, in which the entire prepared packaging
material is exposed to peroxide. Substances, such as chemical
agents, present on the first side of the prepared packaging
material could potentially be transferred to the hydrogen peroxide
bath and from there to the second side of the prepared packaging
material (i.e. the surface that will come in contact with the
liquid consumable product). There is also the risk that new
substances are formed by chemical reaction or subsequent decay into
the peroxide bath. By using the arrangement according to the
present invention the hydrogen peroxide bath may be eliminated from
the sterilization process. Instead, the low voltage electron beam
device is used to emit an electron beam on said first and second
side of said prepared packaging material, thereby sterilizing said
packaging material. Thus, in practice, there is no contact (direct
or indirect) between the first and second side which will reduce
any risk of contamination. Also, the electron beam might be used to
cure the printed ink on the first side of the prepared packaging
material, thereby ensuring a better attachment of said print to
said prepared packaging material and contribute totally or
partially to finalize the polymerization of the said ink making the
print more resistant to wear.
[0012] The arrangement may further comprise a sterilization chamber
which encapsulates said sterilization system to prevent radiation
from leaking into the environment outside of the housing. Thus, the
sterilization chamber will ensure the safety of any service
personnel present in the proximity of the arrangement.
[0013] The infeed may comprise at least two reels and a splicing
unit for splicing an end portion of prepared packaging material of
one reel to a start portion of prepared packaging material of the
second reel. Thus, the arrangement can be up and running
continuously and requires no stop when the prepared packaging
material of one reel is finished and the reel is to be replaced
with a new one.
[0014] The prepared packaging material may comprise at least one of
the following: a printed area on the first side at least partially
surrounding an area to be printed upon by the digital printing
system, one or more crease lines, at least one optical marker for
positioning the prepared packaging material in the digital printing
system and/or packaging machine, at least one magnetic marker for
positioning the prepared packaging material in the digital printing
system and/or packaging machine, a carton layer and one or more
lamination layers on each side of the carton layer, an aluminium
layer facing the second side of the prepared packaging material, a
dedicated opening area, which comprises at least one layer of the
prepared packaging material less than the surrounding material. The
features stated above will increase the possibility to customize
the packages and make it easier to control and monitor the printing
process of the digital printing system.
[0015] The printing speed of the digital printing system may be
adapted to correspond to the speed of the packaging machine via
respective control signals. This is important in order for the
print to be placed at the right position on the packaging
material.
[0016] The digital printing system may comprise a mechanical and/or
an optical and/or magnetic positioning system adapted to evaluate
the relative position of the prepared packaging material in view of
one or more markers for positioning arranged on the prepared
packaging material, thereby improving the accuracy of the digital
printing system. Further, the digital printing system may be
adapted to print a marking on the first side of the packaging
material, said marking to be read by the packaging machine during
operation.
[0017] The digital printing system may be arranged on a movable
platform or a movable module and its outfeed may comprise a
separable interface for coupling the digital printing system to
another packaging machine. The movable platform or removable module
increases the flexibility of these types of arrangements. One
single digital printing system may accordingly be used in
connection with several different arrangements, thereby saving
manufacturing costs.
[0018] The digital printing system may comprise one or more
encapsulated areas, said areas being adapted to operate in a food
handling environment. The encapsulation will ensure that no
printing material, such as ink or the like, will come into contact
with the food.
[0019] The packaging machine may comprise one selected from the
group consisting of a filling machine for web based filling
material, a filling machine for sheet based packaging material, web
based tube filling machine, and a tube based filling machine. The
packaging machine may further comprises a splicing unit for
splicing together prepared packaging material from two reels, and a
bypass for feeding in prepared packaging material from the digital
printing system, wherein the splicing unit is adapted to splice
prepared packaging material from the digital printing system to
other prepared packaging material.
[0020] The arrangement may further comprise a package material
buffer between digital printing system and the packaging machine
for compensating speed fluctuations in the packaging machine in
order to further secure the correct positioning of the print on the
package.
[0021] The arrangement may preferably be placed in a food handling
environment, particularly in a diary.
[0022] The packaging machine of the arrangement may further
comprise a curing device for finalizing polymerization of ink used
in the digital printing system. The curing device may comprise an
electron beam device for ensuring a better attachment of said print
to said prepared packaging material and contribute totally or
partially to finalize the polymerization of the said ink making the
print more resistant to wear.
[0023] The digital printing system may be adapted to print a unique
print onto said first side of the prepared packaging material. This
way, each and every package formed by a prepared packaging material
will be traceable. The prepared packaging material may also
comprise a pre-printed portion on said first side of the prepared
packaging material.
[0024] According to a second aspect of the invention, these and
other objects are achieved, in full or at least in part, by a
method for packaging a liquid consumable product in a package. The
method comprises providing a packaging material to an infeed of a
packaging arrangement, said packaging material having a first side
and a second side being adapted to be in contact with the
consumable product, printing at least one color onto at least a
portion of the first side of the prepared packaging material using
a printing system of said packaging arrangement, sterilizing said
packaging material by emitting an electron beam on said first side
and/or said second side of said packaging material using a low
voltage electron beam device of said packaging arrangement,
providing a package from said prepared packaging material using a
packaging machine of said packaging arrangement, and filling said
package with said liquid consumable product. The same advantages as
stated above also apply for the second aspect of the invention.
[0025] Generally, all terms used in the claims are to be
interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the technical
field, unless explicitly defined otherwise herein. All references
to "a/an/the [element, device, component, means, step, etc.]" are
to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of
said element, device, component, means, step, etc., unless
explicitly stated otherwise.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0026] The above objects, as well as additional objects, features
and advantages of the present invention, will be more fully
appreciated by reference to the following illustrative and
non-limiting detailed description of preferred embodiments of the
present invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings, wherein:
[0027] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the arrangement adapted to
package a liquid consumable product according to one exemplary
embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
[0028] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an arrangement adapted to
package a liquid consumable product according to a first embodiment
of the invention. A first reel 1 of packaging material and a second
reel 2 of packaging material are connected to a splicing unit 3.
Packaging material is used from one reel at a time. When one of the
reels 1, 2 are out of packaging material, the splicing unit 3 will
splice the end of the packaging material from the reel 1, 2 that is
empty to the beginning of the packaging material of the full reel
1, 2. After the splicing, the empty reel 1, 2 may be replaced with
a full reel 1, 2. In that way the machine does not have to be
stopped when a new reel 1, 2 is attached.
[0029] The feed of packaging material after the splicing unit 3 is
fed to the digital printing system 4. The digital printing system 4
prints on a portion of a first side 6 of the packaging material
corresponding to each individual package enabling the possibility
of a unique printing design on each package to at least some part.
The second side 7 of the packaging material is intended to be in
contact with the food. The printing system 4 preferably contains
one or more encapsulated areas 5 adapted to enhance the fulfilment
of food handling requirements. The encapsulated areas 5 may be
provided with a gas flow to provide an elevated sub-pressure in the
encapsulated area 5 so that an inward directed flow of gas to the
encapsulated area 5 is induced, ensureing that unwanted substances
cannot exit the encapsulated area 5 and endanger the second side 7
of the packaging material. The encapsulated area 5 of the digital
printing system 4 may be provided to the first side 6 of the
packaging material. Encapsulation may further be provided by other
means than gas flow, for example a suitable mechanical arrangement
and or the usage of appropriately designed seals.
[0030] The arrangement further comprises a sterilization system 8.
The sterilization system 8 has a low voltage electron beam device
12 adapted to emit an electron beam on said first and second side
6, 7 of said prepared packaging material. By using such a low
voltage electron beam device 12, the hydrogen peroxide bath may be
eliminated from the sterilization process. Instead, the low voltage
electron beam device will sterilize the prepared packaging material
by emitting an electron beam on the first and second side 6, 7 of
said prepared packaging material. Thus, in practice, there is no
contact (direct or indirect) between the first and second side 6, 7
which will reduce any risk of contamination. Also, the electron
beam will cure the printed ink on the first side 6 of the prepared
packaging material, thereby ensuring a better attachment of said
print to said prepared packaging material and contribute totally or
partially to finalize the polymerization of the said ink making the
print more resistant to wear. The sterilization system 8 is
encapsulated by a sterilization chamber 13 in order to prevent
radiation from leaking into the environment outside of said
sterilization system 8.
[0031] Additionally, the arrangement has a packaging machine 9
coupled to an outfeed of the digital printing system 4. The
packaging machine 9 is adapted to provide a package from said
prepared packaging material, which package is to be filled with the
consumable product.
[0032] A package material buffer 11 may also be placed in the feed
of packaging material between the digital printing system 4 and the
packaging machine 9. The buffer 11 may be made of a number of
movable rolls that may alter the infeed of packaging material to
the packaging machine 9 to synchronize the packaging machine 9 so
that the printed packaging material is positioned exactly right in
the machine 9 and thus on the produced packages. The same buffer 11
may compensate eventual speed fluctuations between the packaging
machine 9 and the printing system 4.
[0033] According to a further embodiment of the present invention a
bypass is provided from two packaging material reels for connecting
the digital printing system 4. An operator may in the splicing
process, when changing reel 1, 2, choose if the next reel 1, 2 with
pre-printed packaging material should be used or if packaging fed
from the digital printing system 4 should be splice onto the feed
so that the packaging machine 9 may change its production to
produce instantly customizable printed packages in a seamless
fashion. Naturally a third reel with packaging material then has to
be provided for feeding packaging material to the digital printing
system 4.
[0034] It is understood that other variations in the present
invention are contemplated and in some instances, some features of
the invention can be employed without a corresponding use of other
features. It is e.g. understood that a person skilled in the art
understands that all different possibilities are contemplated of
having the printing system 4 and respective encapsulation 5 and
curing device 8 to be all part of a standalone unit, a
semi-autonomous unit, or autonomous movable platform, as well as
being a full integral part of the packaging system in a modular or
fully integrated manner. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the
appended claims be construed broadly in a manner consistent with
the scope of the invention.
* * * * *