Patent Grant
8365932
This application is a §371 National Stage application of International Application No. PCT/FR04/03307 filed Dec. 20, 2004 which claims priority to French Application No. 0314987 filed Dec. 19, 2003.
1.Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for the leak-tight sealing of openings in containers and for the purification treatment of ambient air located therein as a result of opening and closing cycles, these containers being intended for packaging of products that are sensitive to gaseous pollutants present in this ambient air.
2.Description of Related Art
The invention is related particularly to a device for leak-tight sealing of the access opening in containers and for purification treatment of ambient air located in these containers as a result of opening and closing cycles, these containers being intended for packaging of products sensitive to gaseous pollutants. This leak-tight sealing and purification treatment device is composed of the following, according to a new combination of known or unknown means:
The leak-tight sealing and purification treatment device is a single part made of thermoplastic materials using plastics technologies.
In the following and throughout the description of the object according to the invention:
Thus, and according to this definition:
For obvious reasons, particularly hygiene reasons but also to prevent any degradation and thus improve the conservation life of products sensitive to pollutants present in ambient air, these products are placed in containers protected from physicochemical attacks caused by the concentration of gaseous pollutants, but also protected from light, particularly UV rays, or from degradation due to mechanical causes such as shocks.
Establishment of the state of the art demonstrates the existence of stoppers for closing containers, the essential function of which is that they have drying properties: these particular containers are designed to receive and contain products sensitive to ambient humidity, that must be protected by creating the driest possible internal ambient atmosphere to prevent a regain of humidity, since such regain of humidity by absorption could in particular react with the said products and reduce their reactivity causing mechanical weakness under shock, spalling or disintegration in the container.
Many products are particularly sensitive to ambient humidity, and for example and more precisely may include medicament test materials in powdery form or in more sophisticated forms such as granules, tablets, pellets, oblong shaped objects such as bands for tests or other purposes, more specifically including products that are particularly sensitive to humidity.
These drying and leak-tight containers according to the state of the art for the storage of products sensitive to ambient humidity are tubular shaped or may be in any other shape and, provided with an opening, are closed off by a stopper that may or may not be fixed to the tubular part through a solidarisation means such as a narrow flexible strip made from a polymer material identical to the material from which the container and the stopper are made.
These drying and leak-tight containers are provided with internal drying means that are either a coating or insert made using a drying thermoplastic polymer composition placed inside the containers on the inner surface of the bottom of the tube and/or on the inner surface of the sidewall of the tube, or a drying granular material placed in a particular housing on the inner surface of the stopper.
All these drying means are put into place separately or simultaneously to increase their dehydrating efficiency due to a mass effect.
These closed containers are formed from:
All these containers and their removable or connected closing means are made from thermoplastic polymer compositions according to techniques well known in plastics techniques.
Means of sealing containers and the drying containers closed by these means for packaging materials and/or objects sensitive to ambient humidity, are described in the state of the art and are distinguished from each other essentially by their architecture, particularly by drying means used in the said containers and by the architecture of the container closing means.
According to a first type of drying container sealing means used in the state of the art, this first closing means is a male type stopper-cap connected to the tubular part of the casing of the drying container through a mechanical means composed of a force fitting ring surrounding the said tubular casing and a flexible and narrow connecting strip between the stopper-cap and the ring, the drying container being formed from a tubular casing open at one of its ends to provide access to the receptacle area.
A document (U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,556) describes such a sealing means and a drying container closed by this means, the closed assembly forming the container being composed of:
The male type stopper-cap is formed from a bottom and a descending peripheral skirt called the outer skirt that delimit a cylindrical cavity inside which there is a housing containing a powdery drying agent in direct contact with the internal gaseous medium to be dehydrated.
The sealing means comprising the stopper-cap, the force fitting assembly ring, the tamper resistance telltale, and a single, flexible, narrow connecting strip connecting the stopper-cap to the ring forms an assembly made of a thermoplastic polymer material independent from the tubular casing forming the receptacle of the drying container.
This type of drying stopper-cap designed to close a tubular casing used for packaging of products sensitive to humidity raises uncertainties about its capability to guarantee fast and complete desiccation of the said products when opening/closing the said packaging container. This fact appears to be:
This type of stopper-cap also requires a manipulation of the closed container with two hands, both to open it and to close it.
Another type of drying container sealing means known in the state of the art is a female type stopper-cap fixed to the drying container casing through a means consisting of a narrow flexible connecting strip, the tubular casing, the stopper-cap and the connecting means being made by injection with the same thermoplastic polymer material.
A document (EP 1 352 844) describes such a type of drying container closing means, the closed assembly forming the container being composed of:
Another document (GB 2 224 309) describes a hinged sealing device, in other words a stopper for a thermoplastic container and more particularly for containers comprising a very narrow, coaxial distribution opening and intended for distribution of liquid. The stopper comprises a tubular peripheral wall on the inner surface of its upper end with a section adapted to the section of the narrow distribution opening to be sealed, and making the stopper leak-tight when the stopper is in the closed position.
The said device is composed of two parts, the first part being a click fitting cap pivoting on two hinges composed of two flexible strips defining a first rotation axis, the second part being a base to be fixed on the opening of a container to be sealed, and a flexible and elastic link making the connection between these two members and being such that the stopper can occupy two rest positions, one closed and the other open, on each side of an intermediate position occupied during the movement.
The said flexible link with a return function is “S” shaped and is connected semi-rigidly and elastically firstly to the stopper at a precise point, and secondly to the outer surface of the base at another precise point. The connection between the ends of the flexible link firstly to the stopper and secondly to the outer surface of the base is characterised by the lack of hinges due to the continuity of the thickness of the wall.
However, this device has several disadvantages that can be the result of a form of embrittlement of the material forming the flexible link. The “S” shape of the flexible link when the device changes from a closed position to an open position contributes to creating two opposing forces about an inflection point located approximately at the middle of the flexible link, this inflection point delimiting a convex area of the strip on the downstream side and an area of the strip on the upstream side that remains concave.
Thus, the slope inversion due to the “S” deformation at the time of closure causes an acceleration of the movement acting on the convex part of the strip, in other words between the cap and the inflection point, to restore the initial stable concave state of the entire strip.
Therefore this type of flexible link performing the return function is deformed by the slope inversion over its entire length, this total and constant mechanical mobilisation of the material from which the flexible link is made tending to weaken it.
Thus, apparently none of the drying stoppers-caps according to the state of the art is adequate for packaging products sensitive to relative humidity and/or other gaseous pollutants in appropriate containers under optimum conditions, and to enable these containers to develop remarkable characteristics such as:
Many objectives are assigned to the leak-tight sealing device according to the invention for packaging containers and for purification treatment of the ambient air located in the container by elimination of the gaseous pollutants present, such that it minimises the above mentioned disadvantages and provides appropriate solutions better than the solutions provided with the various means used in sealing devices described in the state of the art.
Some of the most important objectives of the sealing device according to the invention for packaging containers for products sensitive to gaseous pollutants are means that in combination assure:
Objectives mentioned above can be achieved by the device for leak-tight sealing of containers and purification treatment of ambient air in the containers used to package the fabricated or other products sensitive to gaseous pollutants.
According to the invention, the device for leak-tight sealing and purification treatment of ambient air in the packaging containers for products sensitive to ambient pollutants, with controlled amplitude of the opening angle and with mechanically assisted opening and closing, made from thermoplastic polymer materials, to be installed on the tubular casing of the access opening to the said containers, comprises:
and is characterised in that it comprises:
a) a male type stopper-cap as the sealing means of the opening in the tubular casing of the container, composed of an upper end wall on which a first coaxial peripheral wall is mounted setting up a leak-tight contact with the inner surface of the tubular casing of the container access opening, and a second wall internal to the first wall, forming the packaging means for the ambient air treatment agents,
b) as the assembly means of the sealing means, an assembly ring mounted on the tubular casing of the access opening, the inner face of which is provided with a means of attachment of the outer face of the casing,
c) as connection means between the assembly means and the sealing means, two distinct hinges at a spacing from each other,
d) as first opening tamper resistance means, a peripheral series of connecting micro-dots or a peripheral strip to be torn off, or a combination of these two means placed between the sealing means and the assembly means,
e) a mechanical assistance means for opening and closing and controlling the amplitude of the opening angle of the sealing means, placed in the space located between the two hinges and simultaneously connected to the stopper-cap through a film hinge, and to the attachment ring fastening the device onto the casing by another film hinge, the section through the said mechanical assistance means being in the form of a bracket.
The various objectives assigned to the object of the invention are the result of insufficiencies demonstrated during use of drying containers according to the state of the art for packaging of products sensitive to ambient humidity and sealed by stoppers-caps fitted with film hinges.
Among these insufficiencies that occur in containers and their sealing device according to the state of the art, the following latent problems are observed:
All these latent problems are solved in the sealing and treatment device according to the invention through a new combination of known or unknown means.
According to the invention, the sealing and purification treatment means created for the container is of the male type, as recommended in the state of the art, but is quite different from the state of the art due to the fact that its new architecture assures a peripheral area of intimate contact with the inner surface of the tubular casing forming the opening of the container to be closed, this area of intimate surface-to-surface type peripheral contact forming an efficient barrier to obtain and to maintain internal leak-tightness of the container.
To achieve this, the chosen sealing means is of the stopper-cap type comprising an upper end wall forming the ceiling of the stopper-cap with a section adapted to the section of the tubular casing that it is to close. This upper end wall is provided with two walls, one called the outer wall and the other called the inner wall, that are peripheral and tubular, concentric and coaxial with the tubular casing.
The first peripheral and tubular wall called the outer wall, creates an intimate peripheral contact area to obtain a surface-to-surface type leak-tightness by setting up a leak-tightness barrier between the inner face of the tubular casing of the access opening and the outer face of the said first wall called the outer wall, of the stopper-cap.
The shape of the cross-section of this first wall called the outer wall comprises a peripheral swelling facing outwards that will come into contact with the inner wall of the tubular casing of the container opening.
When the sealing means or stopper-cap is in the closed position, the peripheral swelling in the first wall called the outer wall is forced into contact with the inner surface of the tubular casing of the opening, preferably being deformed or compressed to a certain extent which increases the contact surface area of the peripheral swelling with the inner surface of the tubular casing of the opening of the container such that the surface-to-surface contact that is firstly tangential may become intimate and immediate during closing by an increase of the contact surface area resulting from sliding and compression of one wall on the other wall, reinforcing the leak-tightness between the sealing device and the container.
An efficient leak-tightness is then set up between the inside and the outside of the container closed by the sealing means according to the invention.
The second wall called the inner peripheral and preferably tubular wall forms an appropriate housing that will contain one or more purification treatment agents, the particular position of this housing being of overriding importance to increase the treatment rate of gaseous pollutants and particularly water vapour.
This appropriate housing, preferably of the tubular type, is located on the inner face of the sealing means or the stopper-cap and is closed by a closing means that is not leak-tight to gaseous pollutants, to assure fast elimination of these pollutants from the container in which the sensitive products to be protected are packaged.
The choice of a drying agent is also of overriding importance so that the container closed by the leak-tight sealing and treatment means according to the invention is very effectively drying in the special case of the treatment of water vapour.
According to the invention, the drying agent used in the container closed by the leak-tight sealing and treatment means is chosen from the group composed of silica gels, molecular sieves in powdery form or deposited on a powdery support.
Known treatment agents appropriate to each pollutant are used in the appropriate housing created on the bottom inner part of the leak-tight sealing and treatment means so that the container closed by the leak-tight sealing and treatment means according to the invention is equally efficient with regard to gaseous pollutants other than water vapour:
To facilitate the stopper-cap opening and closing manoeuvre, the plane lower edge of the outer peripheral wall may be extended by a gripping visor.
A child safety opening system can be installed adjacent to the visor, to make it difficult or impossible for children to open the stopper-cap. This device, which may for example be a flexible strip forming an integral part of the assembly means is located underneath the visor such that the projection from the visor used to apply a vertical thrust to open it is surrounded by this flexible strip.
In this case, the visor cannot be accessed until pressure is applied on this strip in order to deform it and provide access to the said visor. With this type of means, the child is protected by the fact that two complementary actions have to be performed simultaneously, the first being a horizontal pressure on the flexible strip, and the second being a vertical upwards thrust on the released visor by maintaining pressure on the flexible strip.
The inner face of the outer wall of the stopper-cap approximately facing the gripping visor and the outer face of the outer wall of the tubular casing of the access opening of the container are provided with a click fit means, requiring a mechanical force both to close the stopper-cap with reinforced leak-tightness and to open it, to keep the stopper-cap in the closed position after it has been opened at least once.
According to the invention, the assembly means of the sealing means or the stopper-cap is formed from an attachment ring mounted on the tubular casing of the access opening to the container to be sealed, this ring:
According to one variant of the invention, the outer peripheral surface of the tubular casing of the access opening to the container to be sealed comprises two projecting peripheral collars separated from each other, creating a groove with an approximately rectangular shaped section such that:
According to another variant of the invention, a peripheral groove that may have an approximately rectangular, hemispherical or semi-elliptical shaped section, is made recessed within the thickness of the wall of the tubular casing of the container such that:
According to another variant of the invention, the inner surface of the attachment ring is provided with click fit means which, when the said attachment ring is force fitted into the groove of the tubular casing of the container, itself equipped with complementary click fit means, fit into the corresponding click fit means so as to block any rotation or translation of the stopper with respect to the container.
The said click fit means present on the inner surface of the attachment ring and on the inner surface of the groove of the container may be of various types such as splines, slots, or others.
According to the invention, a relatively rigid hinge type connecting means is present between the sealing means (or stopper-cap) and the assembly means (an attachment ring) on the tubular casing of the access opening to the container.
The hinge type connecting means according to the invention is formed from two film hinges at a distance from each other, making the connection between the stopper-cap and the attachment ring rigid due to their spacing.
Each film hinge is formed from two parts connected together by a polymer film acting as an axis of rotation to enable opening-closing cycles of the sealing means, one of the parts being integrated into the sealing means and the other part being integrated into the assembly means.
The two parts of each of the two hinges integrated into the sealing means and into the assembly means form attachment brackets for the two film hinges on the sealing means and the assembly means.
These two types of film hinges assure optimum operation during closing (and during opening) and during placement of the stopper-cap on the casing of the opening to be sealed using a single finger of the hand holding the container, due to perfect mechanical guidance of the said stopper-cap not requiring any pressure for closing other than a downwards vertical pressure, which causes click fitting of the stopper-cap. Note that according to the state of the art, two hands are necessary to close or open removable stoppers or stoppers-caps connected to the tubular casing by a single film hinge.
These two film hinges at a spacing from each other form a precision hinge for closing the drying stopper-cap since, due to the rigidity that they create due to their spacing, they guide the drying stopper-cap along a perfect path until it is completely closed, leading to click fitting of the stopper-cap by applying a simple vertical pressure.
According to the invention, the tamper resistance means or the tamper resistance telltale consists of:
According to the invention, a mechanical spring-loaded means for assistance in opening or closing the leak-tight sealing and treatment means is placed in the space between the two previously mentioned film hinges. The section through this mechanical means is bracket shaped with an angle of the order of 90°.
This spring-loaded mechanical means for assisted opening and closing of the leak-tight sealing and treatment means also controls the amplitude of the opening angle of the sealing means, such that when it at its maximum open position, the sealing means is easily moved in the closing direction using one finger of the hand holding the container fitted with the device according to the invention.
The spring-loaded mechanical means is simultaneously connected to the stopper-cap by a film hinge and to the attachment ring of the device according to the invention by another film hinge.
The preferred amplitude of the opening angle controlled by the spring-loaded mechanical means is not more than 160° and is usually between 90° and 160°, unlike the opening angle of a stopper-cap according to the state of the art which is about 180° and often more than this.
The section through the spring-loaded mechanical means is like a tensioned bracket. When the container is opened and closed, the mechanical means shaped like a bracket is slightly deformed at the attachment points of the said mechanical means, in other words at the stopper-cap and at the device attachment ring: the angular deformation of the bracket shaped mechanical means is the same on each side of the bracket and is of the order of not more than 15° on each side and preferably of the order of not more than 9° on each side.
The observed deformation of the angle formed by the bracket between its closed position and its open position is then between 0° and not more than 30° and preferably between 0° and not more than 18°.
Thus, this mechanically assisted opening or closing of the specially shaped sealing means is characterised by its excellent flexibility in operation and enables the said sealing means to be closed smoothly with no sudden jerks, and precise and controlled guidance of the stopper-cap during closing.
The leak-tight and treatment device according to the invention for leak-tight sealing of containers to be used for packaging of products sensitive to ambient humidity is composed of a leak-tight sealing and treatment means, a means of assembly of the sealing means on the opening to be closed, a means of connecting the sealing means and the assembly means, at least one tamper resistance means and a means for mechanical assistance with opening and closing the sealing means and for controlling the opening angle of the sealing means, is made in a single part by plastics manufacturing methods adapted to manufacturing using materials consisting of thermoplastic polymers and/or copolymers, for example such as polyethylenes (PE), polypropylenes (PP), ethylene/propylene copolymers and blends of them, polyamides (PA), polystyrenes (PS), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) copolymers, styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN) copolymers, polyvinyl chlorides (PVC), polycarbonates (PC), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polyethylene terephthalates (PET) used alone or blended depending on their compatibility.
At least one natural or synthetic thermoplastic elastomer may be associated with these polymers and/or copolymers to make the device, depending on the required mechanical characteristics. The elastomer(s) used may preferably be chosen from a group composed of natural rubber or synthetic rubber type elastomers, and particularly rubbers based on olefins for example such as polymers of isobutene/isoprene, ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), ethylene-propylene (EPR), ethylene-propylene-diene (EPDM), ethylene-acrylic esters (EMA-EEA), fluorinated polymers, diolefin rubbers such as for example polybutadienes, styrene-butadiene (SBR) copolymers, rubbers based on condensation products such as for example polyester or polyurethane thermoplastic rubbers, silicones, styrenic rubbers, styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) and styrene-isoprene-styrene (SIS) and others.
According to the invention, the leak-tight sealing and treatment device and the packaging container to be sealed may be made using polymer materials with the same composition or with polymer materials with different compositions.
The invention will be better understood after reading the detailed description of the Figures given below, these Figures being provided to illustrate a particular device according to the invention and are non-limitative.
According to
The stopper-cap type of sealing means (1) comprises an upper end wall (10) forming its ceiling, provided with two concentric and coaxial peripheral and tubular walls, one of which is called the tubular outer wall (11) and the other the tubular inner wall (12).
The peripheral and tubular outer wall (11) creates an intimate leak-tight peripheral surface-to-surface type contact zone by setting up a leak-tight barrier between the inner face (13) of the tubular casing of the access opening and the outer face of the said outer wall (11).
The sectional shape of this outer wall (11) comprises a peripheral swelling (14) oriented outwards and that will come into contact with the inner face (13) of the tubular casing of the opening of the container.
When the stopper-cap (1) is in the closed position, the peripheral swelling (14) of the outer wall (11) comes into forced contact with the inner face (13) of the tubular casing of the opening, and is deformed and compressed to a certain extent which increases the contact surface area of the peripheral swelling (14) with the inner face (13) of the tubular casing, the surface-to-surface contact becoming total, intimate and immediate on closing, by the outer wall (11) sliding and being compressed on the face (13), creating complete leak-tightness.
The second wall, called the tubular inner wall (12), peripheral and preferably tubular, forms a housing (15) that can hold an agent for the treatment of gaseous pollutants and particularly a drying agent, the particular position of this housing being of overriding importance to increase the rate at which the said gaseous pollutants are eliminated.
This appropriate housing (15) is located on the inner face of the stopper-cap and is closed by a closing means that is not leak-tight to gases to assure fast treatment of the ambient gaseous atmosphere and elimination of pollutants affecting sensitive products packaged in the container.
The lower plane edge of the outer peripheral surface of the assembly ring (31) may be extended by a gripping visor (17), to facilitate the opening and closing manoeuvre of the stopper-cap (1).
A child safety opening system may be installed adjacent to the visor (17) to make it difficult or even impossible for children to open the stopper-cap. This device is a flexible strip (23) forming an integral part of the assembly means and in the form of a projection creating a gap between the flexible strip and the assembly means. This flexible strip is located underneath the visor following the profile such that the projection of the visor used to apply a vertical thrust to open it is surrounded by this flexible strip if there is no applied force. In this case, the visor can only be accessed after applying pressure on this strip so as to deform it and enable access to the said visor. With this means, the child is protected by the necessity to perform two complementary gestures simultaneously, the first gesture being a horizontal pressure on the flexible strip, and the second being a vertical upwards thrust on the released visor by maintaining pressure on the flexible strip.
The assembly means (2) of the stopper-cap (1) is formed from an attachment ring (2) mounted on the tubular casing of the access opening to the container to be sealed, this ring:
As shown in
According to one variant of the invention shown in
According to another variant of the invention shown in
The relatively rigid hinge type connecting means (3) is present between the sealing means (1) and the assembly means (2) on the tubular casing of the access opening to the container (4).
This hinge type connecting means (3) according to the invention is formed from two film hinges (6) and (7) at a spacing from each other, making the connection between the stopper-cap (1) and the attachment ring (2) rigid.
Each film hinge (6) and (7) is formed from two parts connected to each other by a polymer film acting as a rotation axis (19) and (20) enabling opening/closing cycles of the sealing means, one of the parts being integrated into the sealing means (1) and the other part being integrated into the assembly means (2).
The two parts of each of the two hinges (6) and (7) integrated into the sealing means (1) and the assembly means (2) form attachment brackets of the two film hinges on the sealing means and the assembly means.
These two types of film hinges (6) and (7) assure optimum operation when closing (and during opening) for the placement of the stopper-cap (1) on the opening (4) of the casing to be sealed by the use of a single finger of the hand holding the container, due to perfect mechanical guidance of the said stopper-cap, only requiring a downwards vertical pressure to close it, which causes click fitting of the stopper-cap.
The tamper resistance means (8) or the tamper resistance telltale is formed from micro-links connecting the lower peripheral surface (30) of the stopper-cap (1) to the outer peripheral surface (31) of the attachment ring (2), these micro-links being micro-connection dots independent of each other forming a toothed peripheral connecting ring between the drying sealing means and the assembly means on the tubular casing of the container opening, the ring being broken during the first opening by lifting the stopper-cap using the visor (17).
When the outer peripheral surface (31) of the assembly ring (2) is connected to the lower peripheral surface (30) of the stopper-cap (1), they form an outer peripheral ring (32). See
The spring-loaded mechanical means (9) for assisted opening and closing of the drying sealing means (1) is placed in the space located between the two film hinges (6) and (7), and its cross-section is in the shape of a bracket.
This spring-loaded mechanical means (9) also controls the amplitude of the opening angle of the sealing means (1) that in this case is at 120°, such that starting from its entirely open travel position of 120°, the sealing means is easily moved in the closing direction by a finger of the hand holding the container fitted with the sealing device. When the spring-loaded mechanical means (9) or bracket is in a closed position with the stopper-cap closed on the tubular casing, the angle of the bracket is in the order of 90°. See
The spring-loaded mechanical means (9) is simultaneously connected to the stopper-cap (1) by a film hinge (21) and to the attachment ring (2) of the device according to the invention by another film hinge (22).
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 03 14987 | Dec 2003 | FR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/FR2004/003307 | 12/20/2004 | WO | 00 | 4/27/2007 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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| WO2005/061343 | 7/7/2005 | WO | A |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20070272646 A1 | Nov 2007 | US |
