HK1078553A - Reclosable pouring element - Google Patents

Description

Reclosable pouring element

The invention relates to a reclosable pouring element for opening and reclosing packages, in particular cuboid multi-layer composite packages, comprising a base body with a circumferential flange and a lid which is connected to the base body in an articulated manner, to a method for producing the same, and to a package provided with such a pouring element.

Beverage packages configured as multi-layer composite packages are known in many embodiments, for example as flat-top composite packages. They are mainly used in the field of liquid packaging combined with filling materials for cold, cold sterility, hot and sterilization.

In order to improve the handling and in particular the reclosability of such composite packages, it is increasingly common to provide the composite packages with reclosable pouring elements. Such pouring elements can be constructed in one piece or in several pieces and generally have an opening element and a lid. Today, only such pouring elements with reclosable pouring elements are commercially acceptable.

EP 0580593B 1 discloses, for example, a multi-layer composite package provided with a pouring element for the first opening of the package and provided with a corresponding closing element for its reclosability. Wherein a recess for weakening the top material of the package is provided in the region of the cardboard layer of the composite material and the outer Polyethylene (PE) layer of the package, wherein an opening element connected in one piece with the pouring element is pressed into the package material for opening the package. Furthermore, packages are known which are provided with a pouring element with a screw closure.

Some pouring elements have a tear-off tab in the base body, which is located above the pouring spout and fixes the closure there, and which must be torn off from the base body in order to open the package for the first time (EP 0750564 BI). However, in this case the inner PE layer is often only insufficiently torn off, and the torn-off tear tab constitutes a separate waste product to be discarded.

A problem in the above-mentioned pouring element is that the multilayer composite must be sufficiently weakened in order to reliably open all the pouring openings. The pouring element, which is glued to the packet, is arranged above the weakened area formed by the punching of the outer layer of the multilayer composite; this, although leading to a continuous barrier property of the composite material before the actual opening, provides that the pouring element has a certain minimum dimension (structural height) since an opening element of the pouring element must break the remaining layers during the opening process. In contrast, if the pouring element is arranged in the multilayer composite on top of a pouring opening which is closed with a thin PE layer, the opening process is facilitated even at small construction heights, however, such a package does not have sufficient barrier properties against loss of aroma or the adverse effect of light or oxygen.

The object of the present invention is therefore to develop and further develop the pouring element described at the outset and described in detail above in such a way that the package provided with it retains good barrier properties up to the first opening of the package, even with a small overall height of the pouring element. Furthermore, it is desirable that such a pouring element should have no separate disposal part.

This object is achieved in that the base body has a plate in the region of its pouring opening, the outer shape of which corresponds substantially to the outer shape of the pouring opening, which is arranged spaced apart from the flange by at least one cutout and extends flush with the underside of the flange, the lid is fixedly connected to the plate, so that the lid simultaneously serves as an opening element and the base body and the plate each have a barrier layer which extends parallel to the plane of the flange and covers the cutout.

According to the invention, during the partial injection molding of the pouring element as a base body, the plate is separated from it by a thin cut. The plate and cover are then assembled into a fixed connection, for example by plane gluing or ultrasonic welding at a plurality of points. By providing not only the flange of the base body but also the plate with a barrier layer, the package provided with such a pouring element of the invention retains its good barrier properties. The impaired properties of the package in the region of the pouring opening are "repaired" to some extent by the pouring element used there and provided with a barrier layer.

In order to use such a pouring element on a beverage packaging container, the latter has an opening, the shape of which corresponds substantially to the shape of the pouring element. The pouring element is then inserted through the opening of the package and secured with its surrounding flange to the interior of the multilayer composite.

In order to open the pouring element of the invention for the first time, the lid is lifted off the base body and the film, which is now connected to the plate and is located underneath the pouring opening of the sealed packaging container until the first opening, is removed from the contour precisely due to the planar connection. In this way not only is a defined pouring opening provided, but the opening operation is also reliable without forming a separate discard portion to be discarded. It is furthermore ensured that the lid can be reliably reclosed with the tear-out connection.

A reliable connection between the plate and the cover is formed by welding, preferably by ultrasonic welding, the two parts.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the base body has a circumferential web extending substantially perpendicularly to the flange, which tightly receives the cover in the closed state, wherein it is particularly expedient for the cover to be lockable with the base body. The locking can be effected acoustically in order to indicate to the user that the package thus reclosed is tightly closed, so that it can be shaken, for example.

In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, it is provided that a hinge is provided for the articulated connection of the base body and the cover, which hinge can be provided either on the base body or optionally on the cover. A particularly small overall height is achieved by using a film fold.

According to another configuration of the invention, the barrier layer of the film used comprises, for example, ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH), Polyethylene (PE), polyamide or a mixture comprising aluminum foil or the cited materials.

According to another aspect of the invention, the base and/or lid may be provided with a tamper evident indicia which indicates to the consumer whether a package has been unauthorizedly opened before it is used/sold as intended under certain circumstances. For this purpose, the base body and the cover can be formed, for example, as webs which form the predetermined breaking points.

Finally, according to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the base body and the cover can also be produced in one piece. In this case the two parts are produced in one injection molding process only and the burrs of their connection are removed before the plate and the cover are connected.

According to a first production method of the invention, the base body of the pouring element is activated by means of a heat source and is connected to the film by means of an extrusion punch. In this case, it is possible to supply thermal energy between the pouring element and the film, or it is also alternatively conceivable to supply thermal energy below the film. The film is now transparent to the heat energy emitted by the heat source.

The film and the F-face of the substrate are attached to each other without any dimples after the cover surface is heat plasticized. Preferably, a roll is used as the film. The pouring element can be separated by punching directly after the connection with the foil, but it can also be done only before the actual application of the pouring element in the filling machine. The last-mentioned possibility has the fundamental advantage that, if the individual pouring elements are arranged in a fixed position by the film web, a partially complex sorting process of the pouring elements can be dispensed with completely before the supply to the user.

According to another production method, the film is a film strip prepared from a roll and the film strip is drawn through the injection-molding tool for the pouring element, so that the pouring element is injection-molded onto the film without any recesses. In this case, the flange of the base body and the plate located therein are connected to the barrier film. In this production method, the injection-molded part can also be punched out around the injection-molding tool for further processing as a separate part, but can also remain on the film strip until the application.

The invention is explained in more detail below with the aid of the drawings showing only one preferred embodiment,

wherein:

fig. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of the pouring element according to the invention in the closed state;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the pouring element of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an underside view of the pouring element of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal section through the pouring element of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the pouring element of FIG. 4, but in an open state;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of the pouring element of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic top view of another embodiment of the pouring element of the present invention comprising a substrate mounted on a film;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of another pouring element of the invention mounted on a membrane; and

fig. 9 is a perspective view of another inventive pouring element injection-molded onto a film.

Fig. 1 to 3 show a pouring element according to the invention, the barrier layer not being shown for the sake of better illustration. The pouring element now has a base body 1 with a circumferential collar 2 and a cover 3 which is articulated to the base body 1. As can be seen in particular from the lower view of fig. 3, a plate 4 is provided inside the base body 1, which is dimensioned to correspond to the subsequent spout and, in the exemplary embodiment shown and in this preferred embodiment, is connected to the circumferential flange 2 of the base body by four webs S. To facilitate the opening process, the plate 4, as is evident from fig. 2, has a wedge-shaped elevation 5 for fixing a gripping tab 6, which is provided with insections, not shown in greater detail, below its free end, to the lid 3 at a small angle.

As can be seen from fig. 3, the plate 4 is surrounded by a cutout 7 which is interrupted only in the region of the strip S. Since the plate 4 is fixedly connected to the cover 3, opening of the cover by means of the hand-grip tab 6 results in the strip S breaking and the plate 4 separating from the base body 1.

In order that the cover is not completely detached from the base body 1 during the opening process, the right-hand part of the cover is fixedly connected to the base body 1 by means of a connecting element 9 in the drawing. Between the connecting element 9 and the actual lid 3, a hinge 8 is provided, which is preferably designed as a film hinge.

Fig. 4 and 5 show longitudinal sections of the pouring element according to the invention described in detail above, which has been connected to a barrier film 10 arranged over the entire underside of the base body 1. As is evident from fig. 5, when the lid 3 of the pouring element according to the invention is first opened by actuating the gripping tab 6, the film part contour of the barrier film 10, which is fixedly connected thereto below the lid 4, tears off precisely from the film bond.

Fig. 6 shows a further embodiment, in which, before the ultrasonic welding of the cover 3 ' to the base body 1 ', an energy guide, not shown in more detail, between the cover 3 ' and the plate 4 and between the connecting element 9 ' and the base body 1 ' provides a reliable connection during the welding.

It can also be seen from fig. 1 and 4 to 6 that a peripheral energy director is provided above the peripheral flange 2 in order to achieve a compact arrangement when the pouring element is used, wherein the pouring element is inserted from below through the opening of a multilayer composite package, not shown.

Fig. 7 shows in principle once again a pouring element made in one piece, in which the cover 3 and the base body 1 are connected to one another via a strip, not shown in greater detail, which has to be removed before the cover 3 and the plate 4 are combined, and a film strip 10 is shown, in which the connection of the base body 1, the cover 3 and the film 10 can be realized in only one operation. This is illustrated in fig. 8, in which a film 10 in the form of a strip is formed as a web and the joining of the parts activated by a heat source 12 is effected by means of an extrusion punch 13.

Finally, it is also possible, as shown in fig. 9, to pass the barrier film strip 10 through an open injection mold 14, which is only schematically shown. A corresponding slide 15 is provided inside the injection mould 14 for releasing the undercut of the pouring element before opening the mould, it being possible here for the opening and closing movement of the injection mould 14 to be used simultaneously for punching out the pouring element injected onto the barrier film 10, as is indicated by the punched-out surface 16.

Claims (21)

1. Reclosable pouring element for opening and reclosing packages, in particular cuboid-shaped multi-layer composite packages, comprising a base body (1) with a surrounding flange (2) and a lid (3) articulated thereto, characterized in that the base body (1) has, in the region of its pouring opening, a panel (4) whose outer shape substantially corresponds to the outer shape of the pouring opening, which panel is arranged spaced apart from the flange (2) by at least one cutout (7) and extends below flush with the underside of the flange (2), and in that the lid (3) is fixedly connected to the panel (4) so that the lid (3) simultaneously serves as an opening element and the base body (1) and the panel (4) each have a film (10) which extends parallel to the plane of the flange, covers the cutout (7) and comprises a barrier layer.

2. Pouring element according to claim 1, characterized in that the plate (4) is welded, preferably ultrasonically welded, to the cover (3).

3. A pouring element according to claim 2, characterized in that the base body (1) has a strip (1A) extending substantially perpendicularly to the flange (2) around the pouring opening, which strip receives the lid (3) tightly in the closed state.

4. Pouring element according to claim 3, characterized in that the lid (3) can be locked with the base body (1).

5. Pouring element according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that for the articulated connection of the base body (1) and the lid (3) a hinge (8) is provided and the hinge (8) is arranged on the lid (3).

6. Pouring element according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that for the articulated connection of the base body (1 ') and the lid (3 '), a flap (8 ') is provided and the flap (8 ') is arranged on the base body (1 ').

7. A pouring element according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the flaps (8, 8') are formed as film flaps.

8. Pouring element according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the barrier layer (10) of the film comprises ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH).

9. Pouring element according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the barrier layer (10) is an aluminium foil.

10. Pouring element according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the barrier layer (10) is a Polyethylene (PE) film.

11. Pouring element according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the barrier layer (10) of the film comprises Polyamide (PA).

12. Pouring element according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the barrier layer (10) of the film comprises a mixture of materials as claimed in claims 8 to 11.

13. A pouring element according to one of the claims 8 to 12, characterized in that a web is used for the barrier-provided film (10).

14. A pouring element according to any of claims 1 to 13, wherein the base body and/or the lid have an original imprint.

15. Pouring element according to one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that the base body (1) and the cover (3) are made in one piece.

16. Method for producing a pouring element according to one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that the base body (1) of the pouring element is activated by means of a heat source (12) and connected to the film (10) by means of an extrusion punch (13).

17. A method according to claim 16, wherein heat energy is supplied between the pouring element and the film.

18. A method according to claim 16, characterized in that thermal energy is supplied below the film (10).

19. A method for manufacturing a pouring element according to any of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that the film (10) is a film strip (11) prepared from a roll and the film strip (11) is drawn through an injection-moulding mould (14) for the pouring element, so that the surrounding flange (2) of the pouring element and the plate (4) are injection-moulded onto the film (11) without any recesses.

20. Method according to one of claims 16 to 19, characterized in that the pouring element remains on the film strip (11) of barrier material and is only separated before its application in the filling machine.

21. Package, in particular a cuboid-shaped multi-layer composite package, for use with a pouring element according to one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that the package has an opening which substantially corresponds to the shape of the lid, and the pouring element is fastened with its circumferential flange on the inside of the multi-layer composite packaging material.