Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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PACKAGE, PARTICULARLY FOR ASEPTICALLY PACKAGEABLE
PRODUCTS
DESCRIPTION
The object of the present invention is a package, particularly suitable for
the aseptic
packaging of products, such as for example chopped tomatoes and tomato puree,
fruit
juices and the like.
Packages of the aforesaid type are made up of bags with walls having several
layers or
films, with at least one metallized layer or in any case with barrier effect.
Each wall of the bag typkally has a metallized external layer with the
following layering,
proceeding from the exterior towards the interior: polyethylene-metallized
polyester -
polyethylene, and at least one layer of polyethylene, preferably three layers
of
polyethylene.
Such a bag, as described for example in EP 1512635 in the name of the same
Applicant,
is obtained by coupling separately the layers of each wall and then performing
the
peripheral heat sealings and, subsequently, transverse cuts to separate one
bag from the
next, after having inserted beforehand in a wall of the bag a mouthpiece for
filling the
same.
Figure 1 shows a partially sectioned view of a bag 1 obtained in this way.
More
particularly, Figure 1 shows the peripheral heat sealing S between facing
multi-layer
walls 2, each one comprising a metallized external layer 3 and at least one
internal layer
4 in heat-sealable plastic material, such as polyethylene.
Figure 1 also illustrates an edge portion B, at which portion the heat-sealed
multi-layer
walls 2 are separated, following the transverse cut of separation made during
the phase of
production of the bag 1.
It is clear that the composition of the walls of the bag can be different from
that first
illustrated by way of an example, as the process of production of the bag can
also be
different, i.e. the phases of coupling of the films.
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The bags obtained in this way, wherein the filling mouthpiece is closed by an
external
cap, are normally transferred to sterilisation with gamma rays, before being
sent to the
users, which are in particular cannery firms or food firms in general, which
use them for
the packaging of chopped tomatoes and tomato purée, fruit juices and the like.
Filling of the bag takes place by means of appropriate systems for aseptic
packaging,
wherein the product, after having undergone a heat treatment by means of tube
bundles,
is sent to a loading head, which comprises a sterilised chamber, which is
positioned in
such a way as to embrace the filling mouthpiece, produces a jet of steam or of
suitable
tia sterilised solution so as to sterilise the area of the mouthpiece,
removes the closing cap
from the same and finally positions a tube for dispensing of the product
inside the
mouthpiece, so as to provide for filling of the bag. The aforesaid operations,
or the
majority of them, are performed with the bag inserted in a special drum for
subsequent
storage and transport.
The known bags described above and illustrated in Figure I have, however, the
following
disadvantage.
In the phase of sterilisation with jet of steam in the area of the filling
mouthpiece
condensation is generated, which goes to deposit on the base of the drum. This
condensation remains in contact with the transverse cut provided on the base
of the bag,
and therefore with the edge of the various component layers of the bag walls,
penetrating
through thc layers of polyethylene, which are not combined one with the other,
as far as
the area of heat sealing S.
More particularly, the prolonged contact of the condensation with the edge of
the
metallized layers 3 often causes the delamination between the combined films
of
polyethylene and metallized polyester of these layers 3 (arrows in Figure I).
As a result, during the phase of extraction of the bag from the storage drum,
which takes
place by lifting, the weight of its content causes at times its bursting, with
consequent
release of the product.
Another point of attack by external substances is represented by the heat
sealing formed
in at least one wall of the bag for the attachment of the filling mouthpiece.
3
The object of the invention is therefore that of eliminating, or at least
reducing, the
problem as mentioned above by making available a package, particularly for
fluid
products which are aseptically packageable, provided with heat sealing
performed in
such a way as to prevent possible infiltrations of condensation between the
films of the
metallized layers and the consequent separation of the same.
Another object of the present invention is that of providing a package which
can be
produced at competitive manufacturing costs.
These and other objects will be made clearer herein below.
According to the present invention a package is therefore provided,
particularly for
aseptic packaging, madc up of two opposite facing walls heat sealed one to the
other
along a peripheral line. The walls comprise at least one layer in metallized
heat-sealable
plastic material or with barrier effect and at least one layer in heat-
sealable plastic
material. The package is characterised in that the peripheral heat sealing
line is provided
at the cutting edge of the walls, so as to form an encapsulation of the
coupled layers at
the cutting edge, due to overflow of the plastic material.
The features of the invention will bc made clearer by the following detailed
description
referred to one of its embodiments purely by way of a non-limiting example,
illustrated
in the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a sectioned partial view on an enlarged scale of a package of the
prior art;
Figure 2 is a perspective view of a package according to an embodiment of the
present
invention, and
Figure 3 is a sectioned view on an enlarged scale taken along the trace of
Figure 2.
In the drawings listed above identical or similar elements will be denoted by
the same
reference numerals.
Referring to Figures 2 and 3, a package is illustrated in them, particularly
for aseptically
packageable fluid products, according to an embodiment of the present
invention,
denoted in general by reference numeral 10.
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The package 10 comprises opposite facing walls 12 obtained from the coupling
of at least
two layers of plastic material and joined one to the other by means of a
peripheral heat
sealing line S. At one of the two opposite facing walls 12 a filling
mouthpiece 20,
provided with a closing cap 22, is preferably applied.
As shown in detail in Figure 3, each wall 12 comprises, preferably, a
metallized external
layer 13, or with barrier effect, including a pair of films 14 of heat-
sealable material, such
as polyethylene, between which a film of metallized polyester 15 is placed,
and at least
another internal layer of polyethylene 16, in the example illustrated a single
layer of
polyethylene 16, but in practice more than one. The internal layers of
polyethylene 16 are
not combined or glued one to the other and to the metallized external layer
13.
The peripheral heat sealing S is formed at the edge of the facing walls 12. As
a result, in
the heat sealing phase, there is an overflow of the polyethylene plastic
material whereof
the walls 12 are made, which, once cooled, forms an encapsulation I of the
layers 14, 15
and 16, at the cutting line.
This encapsulation I prevents, advantageously, the delamination of the
metallized
external layers 133 i.e. the separation between the films of polyethylene 14
and the film
of metallized polyester 15, caused by the deposit of condensation on the base
of the drum
of storage of the package 10 following a treatment of sterilisation with jet
of steam of the
same package.
As shown in Figure 2, preferably, a heat sealing 81 is provided, with
encapsulation I of
the films 14, 15 and 16 of the metallized external layer 13, also at the
cutting edge
formed in one of the two walls 12 of the bag 10 for the insertion and the
attachment of
the filling mouthpiece 20.
This prevents, advantageously, the delamination of the metallized external
layer 13, in an
area which constitutes, as mentioned previously, a typical point of attack by
external
substances, such as condensation and the like.
Depending on the methods used for manufacturing the bag, by forwarding the
films
forming the walls 12 thereof in the longitudinal or transversal direction of
the bag, and by
subsequently making transversal or longitudinal cuts respectively on the
formed bags, at
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least two further heat sealings can be provided along two opposite sides of
the bag, which
are parallel to the heat sealing made on the edges of the bag.
For example, if the bags are made by means of a continuous forwarding in the
longitudinal direction, heat sealings are made on the edges of the
longitudinal cut
5 including encapsulation of the layers at their edges as stated before,
and double
transversal spaced heat sealings are made between the tail and the head of two
adjacent
bags, which are separated by means of a transversal cut between them. In this
case, heat
sealings are made on the transversal edges of the cut with overflow of plastic
material,
which remain spaced apart from the preceding ones and form, together with the
previously made longitudinal heat sealings, the said peripheral sealing S.
From what is disclosed above, it is easily understood how, thanks to the
presence of the
heat sealing S at the peripheral edge of the package, with consequent
encapsulation of the
layers of the walls due to overflow of plastic material, a package is
obtained, particularly
for aseptically packageable products, able to remain intact especially during
lifting from
the storage drum.
Numerous detail variations and changes can be made to the embodiments of the
invention described above, within the reach of a person skilled in the art and
in any case
coming within the scope of the invention expressed by the annexed claims.
For example, although in the example described and illustrated reference has
been made
to a bag whose walls comprise a metallized external layer including a pair of
polyethylene films, between which a metallized polyester film is placed, the
invention is
applicable to all laminates containing films of nylon or of ethylene-vinyl-
alcohol
(EVOH), notoriously sensitive to humidity and to all cases wherein there is a
risk of
delamination by external agents.
