Patent Application
20180273287
The invention relates to a container containing a product to be extracted, more particularly ground coffee beans or cut tea leaves, the container being provided with a plurality of walls of which at least one wall portion comprises a foil of liquid impermeable material, the foil being provided with a multitude of local weakenings in the form of laser-caused recesses provided with a bottom.
A container of this type is known from WO 2013/053655A. This known container is formed by an aluminium cup open at an end side and which is closed by a plastic foil having areas that have local weakenings. An aluminium foil is glued to this plastic foil except for the spots of said areas where the aluminium foil is loosely arranged on the plastic foil. During use of this known container in an apparatus equipped for this container the container is pressed with an end wall against a wall provided with draining holes which have, for example, a wafer-like structure. While the coffee is being prepared, a pressurized liquid is injected into the cup and the foiled end wall is pressed against the wafer-like structure as a result of the liquid pressure built up in the cup, after which this end wall tears open at a number of places. A plurality of the partly torn portions of the end face substantially closes a plurality of draining holes in the wall, so that in the end a restricted draining hole is left, as a result of which the pressure built up in the cup is retained during the extraction and froth is formed.
The function of the aluminium foil glued to the plastic foil is that during use the weakenings in the plastic foil are prevented from tearing open over large lengths. If too many or too large openings evolve in the end face, the draining holes will not be closed or closed less, causing the liquid to leave the container too fast and insufficient pressure to be built up for realising a proper extract and froth. The aluminium foil also provides that the containers are air tight, so that oxygen cannot penetrate the container as a result of which preservability is ensured.
Further, a container according to the preamble of claim 1 is known from EP2239211A1. This known container comprises a delivery wall having two layers provided with offset orifices with seals therebetween. Breaking the seals results in outlets in the wall.
These orifices can be formed as a result of local stress (weakenings) in the layers provided by a laser and the subsequent use of the container in an apparatus such that at these local areas the foil breaks.
It is an object of the invention to provide a container of the type defined in the opening paragraph by which during use a good extract can be prepared in the known apparatus. To this end the container according to the invention is characterized in that the weakenings are formed by craters and around each weakening a thickening and/or strengthening of the foil is present having the form of a raised edge around the crater, where the material removed from the middle wholly or in part forms the raised edge around the weakened portion. The thickenings and/or strengthenings prevent the openings formed at the bottom of the weakenings from tearing open further, leading to too large openings being formed and the liquid flowing too fast through the container and too much loss of pressure occurring, so that less extraction will take place leading to suboptimum taste of the extract. The weakenings are present preferably evenly distributed over the entire surface of the wall portion, so that openings distributed over the entire surface will be formed during the preparation process and the liquid will flow more fully through all the product to be extracted. During use of the container in an apparatus suitable for it, the pressure of the liquid will tear open the foil to a minimum extent so that the pressure is hardly waning and just the right amount of liquid flows through the foil. In the known container opening-carrying areas are present at places and the liquid will not flow or flow to a lesser extent through the product to be extracted which is present near the areas without local weakenings.
The foil is preferably non-synthetic, but made of starch and sugars (polylactic acid). The softening point/melting point of this specific foil is considerably lower than that of synthetic foil. As a result, when used in an apparatus, the hot water used (about 90 degrees) causes the foil to reach its softening point fast (which foil softening point is also 90 degrees) so that the foil does not tear open but the bottoms of the recesses melt open.
Said wall portion preferably comprises various layers of which one layer is formed by said foil and a further layer is formed by a sheet of filtering material to which said foil is attached. The filtering material may be a woven as well as a nonwoven fabric. The foil may be made of plastic, paper or aluminium. Since the foil is attached (for example sealed) to filtering material, a slightly fiber-reinforced structure is obtained as a result of which the foil has such a strength that it does not completely model on the wafer-like structure of the wall, so that the liquid during the extraction process succeeds in reaching various draining openings while sufficiently high pressure is retained and a high-quality extract with froth is prepared. At the same time the filtering material thwarts the small particles (for example coffee) which would otherwise clog the tiny holes and could lead to blockage.
An embodiment of the container according to the invention is characterized in that the foil is provided with at least a single through hole. The reason for this through hole is to provide that in a simpler and faster manner during the extraction process liquid is allowed to pass through holes formed in the foil, which liquid weakens the foil via the other side as a result of which more holes are formed in the foil during the extraction process, which leads to an improvement of the extraction process.
An embodiment of the container according to the invention is characterized in that the foil comprises various layers which have different temperature sensitivities. The foil preferably comprises a PLA layer (polylactic acid) as well as a plastic cellulose layer present on it. If the foil comprises solely a PLA layer, there is a chance that during the lasering of the weakenings sometimes the foil is lasered through causing undesired through holes to arise. By applying a multilayer foil where a cellulose/cellophane layer is present against the PLA layer, it is avoided that the laser causes through holes to arise. The cellulose layer has a different temperature sensitivity from the PLA layer. Since the melting point of the cellulose layer is higher than that of the PLA layer, the cellulose layer avoids during the lasering process of the weakenings in the PLA layer that through holes are made in the multi layer foil. An additional advantage of cellulose is that it has a proper oxygen/gas barrier.
A preferred embodiment of the container according to the invention is characterized in that the craters and thickenings and/or strengthenings are formed by means of a CO2 laser. A CO2 laser has turned out to be pre-eminently suitable for forming the craters and thickenings/strengthenings. CO2 lasers emit infrared light that has a wavelength between 9600 and 10640 nanometers. By adjusting the CO2 laser in the right manner, said craters surrounded by the thickenings/strengthenings in the foil can be realised. If so desired, the foil can be heated prior to the laser process, so that the craters and thickenings/strengthenings can be formed and applied in a simpler manner.
The recesses formed by the laser have a preferably truncated cone shape. This may be effected in the form of a circle (where the conical shape is thus the cone having a truncated top), but may also have an oval or elongated shape. At the top the foil is thinnest and weakest. Caused by the burnings, the foil melts and the molten material flows to the area directly surrounding the burnt spot and forms a raised edge there around the burnt spot. Part of the heated foil material may have been evaporated during the heating process.
A further embodiment of the container according to the invention is characterized in that the distance between the weakenings is situated between 0.2 and 2 mm. During use of the container in an apparatus intended for extracting the product present in the container, the foil is stretched most at the side walls of the protrusions of the wafer-like structure on the plate provided with draining holes against which the container is pressed. By providing that the distance between the weakenings is not too large, a foil portion provided with a weakening will be present, at all these side walls or at any rate most of them. Since the foil is stretched out the most at this location, the weakenings will be opened first, which is advantageous for obtaining a good/optimum extraction process. It has been established by experiment that the optimum distance between the weakenings is situated between 0.4 and 0.8 mm. In the event of smaller distances the foil is to process too much heat during the lasering operation so that it deforms. In the event of larger distances the transit time of the water and the amount of coffee in the extract starts to show more variation and coffee will be obtained having a less constant quality and less froth formation will be found.
Again a further embodiment of the container according to the invention is characterized in that the largest dimension of the bottom of the weakenings is situated between 2 and 80 micrometers. Preferably, the largest dimension of the bottom of the weakenings is situated between 10 and 50 micrometers. These dimensions too are optimum dimensions for obtaining a good/optimum extraction process.
The container may be a pad formed by two rigid walls which are attached to each other along the circumference, where at least either of the walls forms the wall portion mentioned above. These two walls are preferably sealed to each other. At the sealing the walls are preferably not provided with weakenings so as to avoid that the weakenings open up during the sealing operation and holes are developed, so that liquid density and/or air density is no longer present there.
The container may also have the shape of a cylinder or a truncated cone having a circular side wall and two end walls, where at least either of the end walls comprises said wall portion.
In this case the remaining walls of the container may also comprise each a layer of filtering material. In that case the container is first to be inserted into an auxiliary container that is provided with a rigid side wall and a flange projecting outwards in radial direction so as to avoid liquid flowing to the draining holes via the porous side wall along the outside of the container, leading to the fact that there is insufficient build up of pressure for obtaining a good extract.
In this embodiment a plastic foil containing local weakenings is attached preferably also to the other end wall. As a result, it does not matter which end wall is projecting forward when the container is inserted into the auxiliary container and thus the container cannot be inserted in the wrong position into the auxiliary container. One of the weakened foils will then first contact hot water from the outside, so that it is weakened and subsequently at the weakenings allows water to pass through or tears open. In situations where the foil on the inflow side does not allow water to pass through, the water will pass the foil. This does not affect the extraction because on the inflow side the compression of the contents (coffee/tea) is not as strong as on the outflow side. Thereafter, pressure is built up in the container and the other foil is pressed against the wafer-like structure as has already been described above. One foil layer then works as a compression foil and will exert a uniform compression force.
The remaining walls may also be made of rigid water impermeable material and form a cup open at one end side, where the side wall edge bounding on the open end side is provided with a flange projecting outwards in radial direction, to which the sheet of filtering material is attached that carries the foil provided with local weakenings and closes the open end side. Preferably, the side wall and this end wall are self-supporting. In this embodiment too the foil is preferably sealed to the flange, where preferably in the place of the sealing the walls do not carry weakenings. All this again for the purpose of preventing the weakenings from melting open and holes developing during the sealing operation, so that no liquid density and/or air density is found any more.
Preferably the side wall and end wall of the container are made of oxygen impermeable material and the sheet of filtering material covered by the foil that carries local weakenings has an oxygen impermeable barrier layer. This barrier layer may be present on the sheet of filtering material or on the foil or between the sheet of filtering material and the foil and may be a separate sheet or be formed by a film, for example polyvinylalcohol, SiOx (silicon oxide), or ORMOCER®, the latter being an inorganic-organic hybrid polymer (brand name of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Forderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. Munich). This barrier layer may also be a metallised biologically degradable compostable foil or a wafer-thin biologically degradable compostable foil having barrier properties. This barrier layer augments the preservability and provides that this cup need not be packed in oxygen impermeable packaging. The container may be made from a biologically degradable compostable material, where the side wall and end wall are clad with an oxygen impermeable layer or film, for example polyvinyl alcohol. The container may optionally be an injection moulded product or thermoform product and the container is metallized on the inside and/or outside (for example vaporized) with a thin metal layer (for example aluminium) and finished with an oxygen impermeable layer (for example polyvinyl alcohol), or a biologically coloured varnish layer. In addition to an oxygen barrier this also has a beautiful and recognizable look, so that the user can see that he or she is taking the right capsule (container).
Preferably, the barrier layer is formed by a separate sheet that is attached to the foil and the sheet of filtering material and which may be removed before use. For this purpose the sheet of barrier material is preferably formed by a fully or partly removable or detachable (tearable) sticker sheet, which is attached to the sheet of filtering material that carries the foil with its local weakenings. The separate sheet may as desired also be sealed over the flange of the cup in an ultrasonic manner or by means of a heating operation. The sticker sheet is preferably a square one or provided with one or more lips. Also a large sticker sheet extending beyond the flange is one of the options. Owing to the lip(s) or protruding parts the user cannot insert the cup into the coffee machine and thus the user is compelled to tear the sticker sheet loose and thus it is avoided that the sticker sheet unintentionally remains on the cup during the making of the coffee. The barrier layer is again made of preferably biologically degradable compostable material and can be printed with instructions for use intended for the user. If the container is provided with openings at an end wall, in this case the bottom, it is obviously advisable to provide this side too with an oxygen barrier, for example by means of a removable sheet provided with a lip. In an even more user-friendly embodiment the removable sheets are connected to each other, so that the user removes the two removable barrier sheets in a single movement of the hand.
An embodiment of the container according to the invention is characterized in that the weakenings are situated on at least one side of the foil and this foil side provided with the weakenings is attached to the sheet of filtering material.
For accelerating the process of preparing a liquid (coffee, tea, . . . ) a further embodiment of the container according to the invention is characterized in that the foil, in addition to the weakenings, is provided with at least a single hole or slot that extends through the complete thickness of the foil. The hot water/extract weakens the foil more rapidly because it also comes into contact with the other side of the foil through the hole. The filtering material (possibly comprised of various layers) thwarts the product to be extracted and while doing so becomes partly silted up. This does not form any problem because of the presence of the hole since the preparation process has already started and the damages have opened up sufficiently for allowing a sufficient amount of liquid/extract to pass. Preferably said hole or slot is present in the middle of the foil. The opening formed by said hole is preferably larger than the openings formed by the weakenings (at any rate if they are there) in the foil. Alternatively it is possible to provide openings/holes only in the sheet of filtering material.
The foil is preferably made of biologically degradable compostable material. Furthermore, also the sheet of filtering material is preferably made of biologically degradable compostable material.
The cup is made of for example aluminium or plastic or a biologically degradable/compostable biopolyester material.
The invention also relates to a set of two containers according to the invention. With respect to this set the invention is characterized in that each container has the shape of a truncated cone having a circular side wall and two end walls, where at least one of the end walls comprises the wall portion mentioned above and the remaining walls are made of a rigid water impermeable material and form a cup open at one end side, where the side wall edge bounding on the open end side is provided with a flange that extends outwards in radial direction, to which flange the sheet of filtering material is attached that carries the foil provided with local weakenings and closes the open end side, where the side wall and end wall of the cup are made of oxygen impermeable material, and where the two cups having their flanges on each other are connected to each other in a releasable and airtight manner. The flanges may be amalgamated for example over the outer circumference. The cups attached together may easily be separated from each other, where the break mark is present along the outer circumference of the flanges and at the spot where the cups were attached to each other.
Furthermore, the invention relates to a method of manufacturing a container, comprising:
With respect to the method, the invention is characterized in that when the weakenings are being provided in the foil, the foil surrounding each recess is thickened and/or strengthened and that the recesses are made by means of a CO2 laser such that the thickenings and/or strengthenings adopt the shape of a completely or partially raised edge around a crater, where the completely or partially raised edge around the weakened area is formed with the material removed from the middle.
The invention will be further explained below while reference is made to the examples of embodiment represented in the appended drawings of the container according to the invention, in which:
A hard plastic foil 13 and 15 of biologically degradable material is sealed to both end walls. This foil is provided with a relatively large number of local weakenings. These weakenings are formed by means of a CO2 laser.
The foil sides 13 and 15 carrying the weakenings are sealed to the sheets 9 and 11 of filtering material. Before this container can be used in an apparatus equipped for cooperating with cups, the container is first to be placed in the auxiliary container 3. This auxiliary container is provided with a rigid side wall 17 for avoiding liquid easily flowing to draining holes in the apparatus via the porous side wall along the outside of the container. In the embodiment shown the side wall 17 has a tapered shape. However, the side wall may also have a cylindrical or substantially cylindrical shape. For example between 2 and 6 degrees, but preferably 4 degrees. In practice the latter turns out to be even better because the chance of liquid flowing to the draining holes in the apparatus via the porous side wall along the outside of the container is reduced compared to the case of a clearly tapered side wall. The auxiliary container is open at both ends but the bottom has an end ridge so that pushing the pouch through is not possible and at the same time this end ridge allows of pushing the pouch down better and at the end having the larger diameter the auxiliary container is equipped with an outwardly projecting flange 19.
By way of illustration
The dimension of the weakening bottom 69 is about 30 micrometers in this embodiment. This is an optimum dimension for obtaining a good extraction process. The thickness of the foil 61 is about 40 micrometers. On the other side of the foil the foil is slightly bulged at the bottom as a result of which the bottom during the stretching of the foil in the apparatus can initially be extended more before the bottom breaks away or tears open. This bulging forms an undulation on the foil.
Although the invention has been described in the foregoing based on the drawings, it should be observed that the invention is not by any manner or means restricted to the embodiment shown in the drawings. The invention also extends to all embodiments deviating from the embodiment shown in the drawings within the scope defined by the claims. For example in lieu of the round weakenings whown here and provided by means of the laser, it is also possible for weakenings to be provided in the form of elongated grooves.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014098 | Jan 2015 | NL | national |
| 15163447.4 | Apr 2015 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/NL2016/050011 | 1/8/2016 | WO | 00 |
