Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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"ASEPTIC PACKS"
The present invention relates to aseptic packs. The present invention relates
more
specifically, but not solely, to apparatus and methodologies useful in the
packing of a pourable
product and to related packs, sub-assemblies and the like.
We provide apparatus and bags provided with a gland able to be filled with a
pourable
product.
Our current commercialised apparatus, and current cornmercialised bags
suitable therefor
are as disclosed in our website http://vww.rapak.com/sequence.asp in respect
of our
commercialised INTASEPTTM process. The full content of such a website is here
included by way
of reference. I
We also refer to the discussion of techniques and methodologies in our New
Zealand
patent specification numbers 219449 and 509001, the full content of which is
included here by
reference.
For the sake of completeness the process in at least one of its variants can
be described
thus
1. Bag is delivered to filler;
2. Gland is captured by filler and engaged by filling head;
3. Top ("bottom" of what we, for the puipose of this application now designate
as the
"fiU.er" gland) membrane (eg, as a cover for the gland's passageway) is steam
sterilised and punctured
in a closed chamber;
4. Product is delivered through filler gland into bag in aseptic transfer;
5. Heat seal head is activated froi.n underneath the bag;
6. Bottoin inembrane is sealed under heat and pressure to the underside of the
filler
gland;
7. Heat seal head is removed from underside of bag;
8. A steam flush operation is performed to clear any remaining product from
within the
bore/passageway of the filler gland; and
9. Filler is released from filler.
Such a gland as used in such a process is generally a large diameter gland in
order to ensure
machine speed for the fill process. Such a gland, when used as the dispensing
gland, is far from
ideal.
We have determined that there will be a considerable advantage to users of
filled bags or
other container variants (whether hybrids of bags or not) where a gland is
available more conducive
both to the dispensing operation after some piercing of the bags membrane and
to the piercing
operation itself.
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It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide the
aforementioned outcomes
or to at least provide the public with a useful choice.
In an aspect the invention is a product containing container having a
(preferably a post
fill fitted) dispensing gland, piercer guide and/or collar eitlier
(i) at least in part in the container's filling gland or
(ii) in addition to the container's filling gland.
Preferably said product containing container has a membrane (preferably
adjacent the
product) heat sealed to the filling gland.
Preferably said container is in the form of a bag defmed by a web or webs.
Preferably said filling gland is a moulded gland affixed to a web of the bag.
Preferably said filling gland is affixed to a web of the bag on top of part
(eg, flange) of the
filling gland.
Preferably said dispensing gland, pierce guide and/or collar is a inoulded
product having a
passageway and that is fitted at least in part within said filling gland.
Preferably said dispensing
gland, piercer guide and/or collar is fitted with a mechanical interaction
and/or heat sealing with
said filling gland or such other welding or attachment inethodology as might
be appropriate.
Preferably said filling gland, post fill, has been sealed from adjacent to
product reliant upon
a membrane heat sealed to a surround of the ingress opening of the filling
gland and/or preferably
said dispensing gland, piercer guide and/or collar is heat sealed to such a
membrane or the saine
membrane.
Said post fill fitted dispensing gland, piercer guide and/or collar is of a
kind substantially as
hereinafter described by reference to any assembly hereinafter defined or
described, any pack
hereinafter defined or described and any related methodology.
In another aspect the invention consists in an assembly forming part of a
product
containing container, the assembly including a bottom membrane closed (or
otherwise sealed ingress
opening or pathway) filling gland also having a dispensing gland, piercer
guide and/or collar
annularly sealed (or otherwise sealed on a surround of its egress opening or
pathway) to said
membrane.
In an aspect the invention consists in a (preferably aseptic) pack of a
product
wherein a membrane, interposed between the product and the or a surround of
the
opening into said filling gland, has been post fill sealed to said surround of
the filling gland,
and wherein, post fill, an insert definin.g a dispensing gland, piercing
adaptor and/or
collar, has been both (i) engaged to said filling gland and (ii) had a
surround of its opening sealed to
said membrane,
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the arrangement being such that a suitable piercer to be guided by said
dispensing gland,
piercer adaptor and/or collar can pierce said membrane within the bounds of
the seal of the insert
with said membrane thereby to allow egress of said product from the container
via said insert alone
or, in conjunction Nvith the piercer, as a dispensing pathway.
Preferably said pack is a product containing container or results from a
combinate or a
method as herein described.
In another aspect the invention consists in, in combination or assembly,
a filling gland adapted to connect to a or the web of a bag (or associated
with a web of a
bag), the filling gland having attached thereto a bottom meinbrane sealable to
the filling gland to
close the filli.ng gland, and I
a dispensing gland, piercing adaptor and/or collar associable with the filling
gland and also
sealable or sealed to said membrane.
In another aspect the invention consists in a rnethod of providing an aseptic
pack
which includes a product dispensable upon use of a piercer through a
dispensing gland said
method comprising or induding the steps of
taking an aseptic container of a kind having a filling gland and a web of the
container
sealing to said gland and having an inner membrane not, or only partially,
sealing the gland from the
inside,
inserting or engaging, (preferably in aseptic conditions), a filling head or
nozzle ("head")
through said web into or.to said gland and (preferably aseptically) filliiig
the container with product,
sealing said inner membrane to said filling gland so as to close the
container, and
(preferably in aseptic conditions), engaging an insert to said itlling gland
and sealing that
insert to said inner membrane, the insert defining a dispensing gland piercer
adaptor and/or collar to
allow product egress (whether via a piercer or not) when the inner membrane is
pierced.
Preferably the insert is to be a collar as a guide for a piercer that while
still piercing the
inner membrane will allow product egress.
Preferably the method results in an aspect of the invention as herein
described.
Preferably said membrane is a laminate of material able to be heat sealed to
said gland or
glands and a material at tlie heat seal temperature of said first mentioned
material with a said gland
which does not heat seal to a web of the bag.
In other forms the web of the bag is such that it requires a heat seal
temperature above that
of the membrane to achieve a seal whether with the membrane or not.
In still another aspect the invention consists in a moulded item adapted to be
or suitable
to be a dispensing gland, piercing adaptor and/or collar of any of the kinds
herein described, such
item having means to mechanically engage, or adapted to engage, a distal
region of a complementary
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filling gland forming part of a product filled bag, and having a passageway as
an egress opening or
pathway with a surround at its proximal end adapted for heat sealing with a
membrane as a surround
seal for the opening or passageway of said filling gland.
In still a further aspect the invention consists in a piercing adaptor and/or
dispensing
gland substantially as herein described with reference to any one or more of
the accompanying
drawings.
In a fiuther aspect the invention consists in an assembly of a product
containing
container with a filling gland and dispensing gland, piercer adaptor and/or
collar
substantially as herein described with reference to any one or more of the
accompanying drawings.
In another aspect the invention is a pack of a product
wherein a post fill meinbrane, interposed between the product and the, or a,
surround of
the opening into a filling gland and the surround of a dispensing gland,
piercer guide and/or collar,
all defined by a moulding, has been at least post fill sealed to said surround
of the filling gland, or
has been post fill sealed to both said surrounds;
the arrangement being such that a suitable piercer to be guided by or received
or
received said dispensing gland, piercer adaptor and/or collar can pierce said
membrane within the
bounds of its surround seal with said inembrane thereby to allow egress of
said product from the
container via said dispensing gland alone or, in conjunction with the piercer,
as a dispensing
pathway.
In still anotdzer aspect the invention is a combined filling gland and
dispensing gland
adapted to connect to a, or the web, of a bag, or associated with a web of a
bag at least, the filling
gland having attached thereto a bottom inembrane sealable to the filling gland
to close the fffi-ig
gland and sealable to the dispensing gland to close the dispensing gland.
Preferably both glands are annular and the dispensing gland is spoke
supported.
In another aspect the invention is a method of providing an aseptic pack which
includes a product dispensable upon use of a piercer through a dispensing
gland, said
i.nethod comprising or including the steps of
taking an aseptic container of a kind having a coinbined filling gland and
dispensing gland
and a web of the container sealing to said filling gland and having an inner
membrane not, or only
partially, sealing the filling and dispensing gland from the inside,
inserting or engaging, (preferably in aseptic conditions), a filling head or
nozzle ("head")
into, or to, said gland and (preferably aseptically) filling the container
with product, and
sealing said inner membrane to said filling and dispensing gland so as to
close the
container.
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Preferably the invention is, or the method used, a combined filling and
dispensing gland
substantially as herein described with reference to any one or more of the
accompanying drawings.
The present invention also consists in, in combination, a fillable bag having
a membrane
provided filling gland and a dispensing gland, piercing adaptor and/or collar
associable therewith so
as to provide an assembly or sub assembly or outcomes substantially as herein
described.
In still a further aspect the present invention consists in a fill line for a
product which
involves as an adjunct to product sealing on the fill line the provision of a
dispensing gland, piercing
adaptor and/or collar so as to provide an outcome substantially as herein
described with or without
reference to any of the accompanying drawings and/or to provide an assembly
product or container
substantially as herein described.
As used herein the terin "and/or" means "and" or "or", or both.
As used herein the term "(s)" following a noun includes, as might be
appropriate, the
singular or plural forms of that noun.
As used herein the terms "ingress", "egress", "pathway", "passageway",
"opening" etc are
to be construed purposively to allow product inflow or product outflow as the
case might be at a
desired time in the use cycle of such apparatus.
In this specification where reference has been made to patent specifications,
other external
docuinents, or other sources of information, this is generally for the purpose
of providing a context
for discussing the features of the invention. Unless specifically stated
otlierwise, reference to such
external documents is not to be construed as an admission that such documents,
or such sources of
inforination, in any jurisdiction, are prior art, or form part of the coirunon
general knowledge in the
art.
Preferred forms of the present invention will now be described with reference
to the
accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 shows part of a bag having a filling gland top sealed to the top web
of the bag and
having attached to the preferably flanged bottom of the filling gland a bottom
membrane able to be
annularly or otherwise surround sealed about the bottom of the filling
passageway of the filing
gland, Figure 1 also showing, exploded therefrom, a piercing adaptor, piercer
collar and/or
dispensing gland able to inechanically or otherwise attached to the filling
gland and also capable of
being surround sealed (with respect to the egress opening or passageway) to
the membrane,
Figure 2 shows the apparatus of Figure 1 with the piercing adaptor and/or
dispensing
gland engaged by retention shoulders to the filling gland and having the
bottom annular end of its
passageway defining member contacting the bottoi.n membrane, Figure 2 also
showing a heated
sealing head able to press througli the product whilst lifting the bottom web
of the bag to effect a
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seal between the piercing adaptor and/or dispensing gland and said membrane,
such seal to be in
addition to that that already exists wholly around the passageway in the
filling gland,
Figure 3 shows the instance of preferred sealing of that dispensing gland
passageway to
the inembrane, there being selectivity of what seals to what at the heat
sealing temperatures i.e. not
the bottom web of the bag to the membrane,
Figure 4 shows the outcome of the sealing process, the seal with the bottom
membrane
now being complete,
Figure 5 shows a piercer able to allow dispensing of the product being aligned
to be
guided by the passageway of the piercing adaptor or piercer collar which is
also the dispensing gland,
Figure 6 shows the piercer about to pierce the membrane, I
Figure 7 shows dispensing via the egress opening, passageway, pathway or the
like of the
piercer wltilst it is resident in the dispensing gland, piercing adaptor
and/or collar,
Figure 8 is a simplified print of the flow process diagram of our
aforementioned website in
respect of our commercialised INTASEPTTM process,
Figure 9 is a centrally sectioned isometric view of an embodiment which is a
unitary
moulding of the fillitig and dispensing glands where a spoke supported inner
ring can concentric
with the outer passageway is provided,
Figure 10 is a view of the component of Figure 9 from the other side,
Figure 11 is a top isometric view of the whole item of Figures 9 and 10,
Figure 12 is a view of the reverse side of the embodiment of Figure 11,
Figure 13 is a plan view of the embodiment of Figure 11, and
Figure 14 is a side elevational view of the apparatus of Figures 9 through 13.
A preferred overall process of the present invention can be summarised as
follows:
1. Bag is delivered to filler (eg, INTASEPTTM filler).
2. Gland is captured by filler and engaged by filling head.
3. Top membrane is steam sterilised and punctured in a closed chamber.
4. Product is delivered through filler gland into bag in- aseptic transfer.
5. Heat seal head is activated from underneath the bag.
6. Bottom membrane is sealed under heat and pressure to the underside of the
filler
gland.
7. Heat seal head is removed from underside of bag.
8. A steam flush operation is performed to clear any rei.naining product from
within the
bore/passageway of the filler gland.
9. Filler is released from filler.
10. Filler gland is recaptured downstream of fillii.Zg process (bag is
filled).
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11. Dispensing gland, piercing adaptor and/or collar (or other such insert) is
inserted
into the bore of the filling gland.
12. Heat seal head is driven up from behind the bag.
13. Bottom membrane is sealed under heat and pressure to the underside of the
dispensing gland, piercing adaptor and/or collar.
14. Heat seal head is removed from underside of bag with insert as botli a
dispensing
gland and piercing adaptor now surround sealed to bottoin membrane.
15. Bag is released and supplied to market as a full aseptic pack.
16. Piercing adaptor provides a means for dispensing in market through a
coinpatible
piercer.
Figure shown in the cli:awings is the filling gland 1 having top sealed
thereto the opening
surround of the top web 2 of the bag. This top seal is quite distinct from
that of the top membrane
that is penetrated at the filler and shown in the Figure 8 at step 2.
Attached loosely to the base of the filling gland 1, so as not to prevent
product insertion,
has been the bottom membran,e 3 but which membrane, by the time as shown in
Figure 1 where the
product 4 is present, has been fully surround heat sealed (preferably
annularly) about the annulus or
opening or passage surround 5. This is as a consequence of an intrusion with
the bottom web (not
shown) of a suitable heat sealing head all as disclosed in the aforementioned
prior art processes.
It has generally been found that a filling gland of sufficient passageway size
does not lend
itself best to the dispensing process. Nor does it lend itself primarily to
the aseptic conditions at
dispensing.
The present invention envisages the positioning of the dispensing gland,
piercing adaptor
and/or collar 7 into a condition as shown in Figures 2 through 7.
There is the mechanical or other retention between the top flange of the
fill~u-ig gland and
retention shoulders, seals and the like of the piercing adaptor and/or
dispensing gland 7 as well as
contact by the bottom region 8 thereof, as a surround of the dispensing
pathway, with the
membrane 3. In this condition, with the membrane 3, being contacted by the
annulus 8 of the
piercing adaptor and/or dispensing gland, and its engagement as shown
generally at 9, the heat
sealing head 10 can be bought up through the product by lifting up bottom bag
web 11 to a
condition as shown in Figure 3 where the heat sealing head seals the bottoin
membrane 3 to the
bottom extremity 8 as shown in Figure 4.
In that condition there are venting openings 12 to allow evaporation of any
residue from
the flashing froin the space between the glands or to allow, if desired,
flashing at that stage.
Subsequently, but whilst still in aseptic conditions, an overcap (not shown)
or a closing patch,
membrane or the like can be fitted to close those openings once open.
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At the customer end a piercer 13 is brought into the piercing adaptor and
dispensing gland
as shown in Figure 6. Its cutting end 14 is used whilst guided by the piercing
adaptor to cut the
membrane 3 wholly within the bounds of the dispensing gland and its annular
seal to the membrane
3 thereby to allow product egress via the dispensing gland, but preferably
wholly through the
passageway of the piercer.
Materials preferably used in the assembly of the present invention preferably
the membrane
3 is a laminate of, for example, of both a material heat sealable and a
material non heat sealable at
the teinperatures of the sealing head, whether for the purpose of the heat
sealing of the heat sealable
layer of the laminate to the filling gland or to the dispensing. gland,
piercing adaptor and/or collar.
Where there is not such a laminate structure, preferably the web from which
=the bag (which is the
preferred container form of the present invention) is non heat sealable at the
temperatures of the
sealing head required for sealing the membrane to each of the filling gland
and the dispensing gland.
Suitable materials for various components may be selected from, but not
litnited to the
following:
1. The bag web materials comprising a lamination of a heat sealable
polyethylene film,
foil, and orientated nylon film or other such combination that affords the
contained product
protection from the ingress of Oxygen, moisture and the ]ike.
2. The filling gland made of a sealable grade of polyethylene (eg, LLDPE)
3. The bottom membrane of the filling gland being a lamination of heat
sealable
polyethylene film (eg, LLDPE film) and a non-heat sealable orientated
polyester film. ,
4. The insert (eg, as the dispensing gland, piercing adaptor and/or collar)
being made
from a heat sealable polyethylene (eg, HDPE).
Typical temperatures that might be employed for the sealing head for the
purpose of each
of the seals is preferably in the range of 160 C to 200 C.
Examples of product that can encounter such sealing head temperatures include
sauces,
soups, beverage concentrates, dips, fruit pulps, cream.
Figures 9 onwards show another embodiment of the present invention where a
moulded
gland can be provided to define both an inner and outer bore for the
dispensing gland/piercer guide
and filliug gland respectively. In such an arrangement, still able to be used
with a piercer as
previously described, there is a moulded component that as a gland provides
two bores.
Shown is an injection moulded flange 15 integral with the wall 16 defining the
filling gland
and having a bore surrounding bead 17 downwardly projecting to facilitate
association of a sealable
membrane therewith. The remainder of the wall 16 supports concentric
structures or alternative 18
as are conventionallyused with such glands.
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Located internally is an annular wall 19 concentric Nvith the wall 16 to
define the dispensing
gland and again having a lower region 18 adapted for sealing to a membrane.
This inner bore is supported by spokes 19.
An advantage of such a gland as depicted in Figures 9 onwards, arising from
its being
moulded to incorporate both an inner and outer bore includes provision
= Such that when filing liquid passes through both channels
= After filling the bottoin membrane is sealed across both bores (forming two
concentric sealed rings)
= On dispense only one channel is used
= Allowing better seal between tlie inner bore and dispense fitment
= A series of spokes separate the inner and outer bores
= Allows large diameter fill and small diameter dispense
= Gap between inner and outer bore provides gap for membrane shards.
Its inethod of use varies from that earlier described only to the extent there
is no
subsequent insertion of the dispensing gland.
A person skilled in the art will appreciate how it is possible with such an
arrangement post
fill to adapt for a better dispensing metliodology which leaves the filling
region in better aseptic
conditions.
