Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B31/00—Packaging articles or materials under special atmospheric or gaseous conditions; Adding propellants to aerosol containers
  • B65B31/003—Adding propellants in fluid form to aerosol containers
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B3/00—Packaging plastic material, semiliquids, liquids or mixed solids and liquids, in individual containers or receptacles, e.g. bags, sacks, boxes, cartons, cans, or jars
  • B65B3/04—Methods of, or means for, filling the material into the containers or receptacles
  • B65B3/16—Methods of, or means for, filling the material into the containers or receptacles for filling collapsible tubes
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B31/00—Packaging articles or materials under special atmospheric or gaseous conditions; Adding propellants to aerosol containers
  • B65B31/02—Filling, closing, or filling and closing, containers or wrappers in chambers maintained under vacuum or superatmospheric pressure or containing a special atmosphere, e.g. of inert gas
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
  • B65D83/00—Containers or packages with special means for dispensing contents
  • B65D83/771—Containers or packages with special means for dispensing contents for dispensing fluent contents by means of a flexible bag or a deformable membrane or diaphragm
  • B65D83/7711—Containers or packages with special means for dispensing contents for dispensing fluent contents by means of a flexible bag or a deformable membrane or diaphragm the contents of a flexible bag being expelled by the contracting forces inherent in the bag or a sleeve fitting snugly around the bag
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65B—MACHINES, APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR, OR METHODS OF, PACKAGING ARTICLES OR MATERIALS; UNPACKING
  • B65B7/00—Closing containers or receptacles after filling
  • B65B7/16—Closing semi-rigid or rigid containers or receptacles not deformed by, or not taking-up shape of, contents, e.g. boxes or cartons
  • B65B7/28—Closing semi-rigid or rigid containers or receptacles not deformed by, or not taking-up shape of, contents, e.g. boxes or cartons by applying separate preformed closures, e.g. lids, covers
  • B65B7/2842—Securing closures on containers
  • B65B7/2878—Securing closures on containers by heat-sealing

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a filling method and a device for filling a reservoir of variable working volume with a fluid product.
• fluid product is meant as well liquid products more or less viscous, powdery products and gases.
• the present invention applies very generally to the field of fluid product packaging, and more particularly to the field of perfumery, cosmetics or pharmacy.
• the packaging is a vacuum packaging, or at least with a very small volume of air remaining inside the tank.
• a conventional flexible pouch filling technique is to inflate the compressed air pocket so that it offers a maximum capacity, or even greater than the volume to be introduced.
• a certain quantity of desired fluid product is then injected, the pump is prepositioned on the reservoir, then the entire packaging is placed with the pump in a vacuum chamber to evacuate the air. present in and on the surface of the fluid product already contained in the reservoir.
• a final step is to seal the pump on the tank. We can then break the vacuum.
• a filling variant consists in carrying out all the filling operations in a vacuum chamber. In all cases, to obtain a good quality of packaging, that is to say a packaging without or almost without air, it is necessary until now to use a vacuum chamber, which requires the implementation of complicated and expensive equipment.
• the present invention aims to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art by defining a particularly simple filling method to implement, with a relatively simple tooling.
• the present invention provides a method of filling a reservoir of variable working volume with a fluid product, characterized in that the reservoir is first emptied of any content, so that its useful volume is substantially zero , and preferably perfectly zero, and the fluid is then injected into the tank, which has the effect of increasing the useful volume of the tank.
• the fluid product is injected into the reservoir, while the reservoir is maintained with its useful volume substantially or perfectly zero.
• the emptying step and the subsequent injection step are performed while a seal is maintained at an opening of the reservoir.
• the fluid product filling step is followed by a sealed mounting step of a dispensing member, such as a pump or a valve, on the reservoir.
• a dispensing member such as a pump or a valve
• the present invention also defines a device for filling a reservoir of variable useful volume with a fluid product, characterized in that it comprises sealing means for isolating the inside of the tank from the outside, and means of evacuation the contents of the tank.
• the filling device further comprises means for injecting fluid into the reservoir.
• the device comprises a dump / filling head adapted to be sealed in relation to the reservoir, the head being connectable to a source of vacuum and a source of fluid injection.
• the head comprises a sleeve provided with sealing means on an opening of the reservoir and a vacuum outlet for connection to the vacuum source, and a fluid injection cannula that is slidably displaceable in the sleeve.
• the cannula is movable between two sealing stop positions in which the vacuum outlet does not communicate with the sealing means, the socket communicating with the sealing means when the cannula is between the stop positions.
• an evacuation path is defined between the sleeve and the cannula, the path connecting the vacuum connection to the sealing means, the cannula being elastically biased by return means in the high stop position and being displaceable at against the return means to the low stop position, the cannula being in position high before evacuation and in the low position after evacuation and during the injection of fluid product.
• the filling device makes it possible to succeed without interruption the injection step in the evacuation step.
• the displacement of the injection cannula inside the sleeve allows to activate and deactivate the evacuation of the reservoir.
• the evacuation step is stopped. Between these two stops, evacuation is possible.
• the return means urges the injection cannula in the high abutment position, which corresponds to a rest position, in which evacuation is not possible.
• the evacuation is also not possible, since this corresponds to the step of injecting the fluid into the reservoir.
• the emptying / filling head is a relatively simple mechanical system, implementing only two moving parts relative to each other, under the action of a spring.
• This emptying / filling head can be mounted instead of a conventional filling head which operates only a conventional fluid injection step.
• the cannula comprises an outlet orifice provided with a shutter preventing the suction of fluid contained in the cannula, when the evacuation means are operative. It must indeed prevent the fluid is sucked through the sleeve to the vacuum pump, which could damage it.
• Figures 1 to 6 show a filling device according to the invention during a complete operating cycle of emptying and filling a fluid reservoir of variable capacity.
• the filling device according to the nonlimiting embodiment of the invention is shown associated with a packaging or container of variable useful volume of a particular type but well known.
• This packaging or container comprises a reservoir of variable useful volume 1 which is here in the form of a flexible bag which can for example be made from a complex film made of plastic and aluminum.
• This flexible pouch 11 defines an opening 12 which is sealed, advantageously by heat-sealing, on a pocket support 3.
• This pocket support comprises a fixing sleeve 31 engaged inside the opening 12 and a bushing.
• anchor 32 which terminates in a flange 33 which protrudes radially outwards.
• the package or container comprises an outer rigid shell 2 which can be made of any rigid or substantially rigid material. However, it is conceivable in some cases to make the outer shell 2 of a flexible material so as to confer some resilience.
• the outer shell 2 comprises a bottom provided with a vent hole 23. At its opposite end, the shell 2 comprises a neck 22 which defines an opening 21.
• the pocket 11 is disposed inside the shell 2 with the support pocket 3 engaged with the neck 22. More specifically, the sleeve 32 is housed inside the neck 22 with the projecting flange 33 which bears on the upper end edge of the neck 22. This is where of a quite conventional design for a packaging incorporating a reservoir of variable useful volume in the form of a flexible bag freely deformable.
• the vent hole 23 has the effect of communicating the space 12 between the shell 2 and the flexible bag 11 with the outside, so that the space 12 is always at atmospheric pressure.
• a deformable container instead of the flexible bag fixed on a support, it is also possible to use a deformable container, an elastic bag, a follower piston system, or more generally any tank with variable useful volume.
• the filling device according to the invention is only partially represented in FIGS. 1 to 6: in fact, the filling device of the invention also comprises other elements or members that are not shown, but whose characteristics are not critical for the present invention.
• the only part of the filling device shown in the figures is constituted by a dump / filling head which comes into direct contact with the packaging or container which has been described above.
• the emptying / filling head must in fact still be provided with means for supporting and moving the head
• the head must also be connected to a vacuum source (not shown) and a source of fluid (not shown).
• the emptying / filling head shown in FIGS. 1 to 6 comprises an outer sleeve 4 and an internal injection cannula 5.
• the sleeve 4 has a very generally cylindrical shape, thus defining a hollow interior, which can be divided into three parts generally, namely an upper duct 42, an intermediate chamber 43 and a sealing and injection mouth 47.
• the conduit 42 is provided near its upper end with a seal 41 which extends over the entire periphery of the conduit 42, and which is intended to come into sealing contact with the cannula 5, as it is will see below.
• the duct 42 is extended at its lower end by an upper stop seat 44, which also defines the inlet of the chamber 43.
• This chamber 43 here has a diameter greater than that of the duct 42, so that the seat of The upper stop 44 flares outwardly from the lower end of the duct 42.
• the chamber 43 narrows at a low abutment seat 45.
• This seat 45 like the seat 44, has a frustoconical shape that flares this time inwards, unlike the seat 44.
• the sleeve 4 is provided with annular sealing means 46 which is here in the form of an advantageously flat O-ring.
• the diameter of this O-ring is adapted to be able to come into sealing contact with the protruding flange 43 formed by the pocket support 3.
• the sealing and injection mouth 47 extends below this flat O-ring 46 and advantageously has a peripheral wall chamfered to facilitate the introduction of the reservoir, and more particularly of the collar 33, inside the mouth 47, until it comes into sealing engagement with the O-ring 46.
• the sleeve 4 is provided with a lateral vacuum outlet 48, which passes through the wall thickness of the sleeve 4, so as to directly communicate the conduit 42 laterally with the outside.
• This vacuum plug 48 is intended to be connected by means of a hose to a vacuum source (not shown), which may be a vacuum pump.
• the injection cannula 5 is in the form of a rod 51 having a hollow interior 50 defining a passage for the fluid product.
• the upper end of the cannula 5 is intended to be connected, via a suitable hose, to a source of fluid.
• the cannula 5 comprises a peripheral flange 52 which protrudes radially outwards.
• This flange 52 serves as a bearing surface for the return spring 6 which is engaged around the cannula 5 and bears on the other hand on the top of the sleeve 4.
• the cannula 5 thus also serves as guiding means for the coil spring 6 which extends around the cannula. It is thus understood that the cannula 5 is urged upwards by the return spring 6 relative to the sleeve 4.
• the cannula 5 extends through the sleeve 4, and more precisely through the conduit 42, and the chamber 43 to the level of the seal and injection port 47.
• the cannula 5 thus extends through the conduit 42 so as to slide inside the conduit 42 without sealing, except at the O-ring 41 which is sealingly sliding with the cannula 5. Except at this O-ring 41, the cannula 5 is not in sealing contact with the conduit 42.
• the cannula 5 preferably forms a substantially cylindrical section at the duct 42, which is itself substantially cylindrical.
• the cannula 5 forms a substantially annular peripheral bead 53 which protrudes radially outwards with respect to the cylindrical section engaged inside the conduit 42.
• another annular ring substantially frustoconical namely an upper ring 54 and a lower ring 55.
• the upper ring 54 flares downward while the lower ring 55 flares upwards.
• the projecting bead 53 is housed inside the chamber 43 formed by the sleeve 4.
• the upper ring 54 is intended to come into sealing contact with the high stop seat 44 formed by the sleeve 4.
• the crown lower 55 is intended to come into sealed contact with the low abutment seat 45 formed by the sleeve 4.
• the cord 53 is trapped in the sleeve 4 inside its chamber 43. It is therefore not possible to disengage the cannula inside the sleeve 4 because the cord 53 is prisoner of the chamber
• the diameter of this lower section may be substantially equal to that of the cylindrical section engaged inside the conduit 42.
• the cannula 5 forms an outlet of product it fluid which is advantageously provided with a sealed shutter 56 which is closed in the rest position, and also prevents any entry inside the cannula 5 through the shutter 56.
• the upper ring 54 In this waiting position, which ideally corresponds to the rest position of the head, the upper ring 54 is in sealing contact with the high stop seat 44.
• the vacuum outlet 48 can not communicate with the outside. through the conduit 42, since it is sealed near its upper end by the O-ring 41 and at its lower end by the contact of the ring 54 with the seat 44.
• the invention it is no longer necessary to operate the vacuum pump during the step of injecting the fluid into the tank. Indeed, in the present invention, when the fluid is injected into the tank, the evacuation is already stopped. However, the completely empty state of the tank is maintained.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Dispersion Chemistry (AREA)
• Basic Packing Technique (AREA)
• Vacuum Packaging (AREA)
• Containers And Packaging Bodies Having A Special Means To Remove Contents (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (8)

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• 2005
  • 2005-04-12 FR FR0550926A patent/FR2884225B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2006
  • 2006-04-10 BR BRPI0610548-3A patent/BRPI0610548A2/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2006-04-10 ES ES06726324T patent/ES2360077T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2006-04-10 US US11/910,829 patent/US8061393B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2006-04-10 EP EP06726324A patent/EP1877314B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2006-04-10 CN CN200680015461.XA patent/CN100586802C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2006-04-10 WO PCT/FR2006/050318 patent/WO2006108984A1/fr not_active Ceased
  • 2006-04-10 DE DE602006020429T patent/DE602006020429D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 2011
  • 2011-10-06 US US13/267,188 patent/US8479779B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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