Patent Application
20120199512
The present invention relates to flexible liners for use in bulk containers such as those used in flexible intermediate bulk container (“FIBC”) systems or bag-in-box container systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for reducing flex crack failure and the need for dunnage in a FIBC or bag-in-box container system.
In recent years a number of industries have adopted the FISC or bag-in-box concept for storing and transporting liquid and particulate commodities in relatively large quantities. For example, the FIBC or bag-in-box concept has been employed for transporting in bulk such diverse products as vegetable oils, salad dressings, syrups, soy sauce, peanut butter, pharmaceuticals, talc, motor oil, industrial chemicals, detergents in liquid or powder form, and toiletry products or ingredients.
The FIBC concept is a bulk container system comprising a flexible liner in a flexible or semi-flexible bag. In one embodiment, a FIBC bag is made of a woven material (e.g., woven polymer, TYVEX ®, canvas, wire mesh or net). The flexible liner is typically chemically resistant and impermeable to water and air and serves as the container for a selected commodity. The FIBC bag serves as a protective container for the liner and its contents. A FIBC bag is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,040 to LaFleur et al., which issued Jun. 17, 1986, and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The bag-in-box concept comprises a flexible liner and a rigid or semi-rigid box. The flexible liner is typically chemically resistant and impermeable to water and air and serves as the container for a selected commodity. The box may be made of plywood or other wood materials, cardboard, fiberboard, metal, or plastic. The box serves as a protective container for the liner and its contents. A box for a bag-in-box system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,533,122 to Plunkett, which issued Mar. 18, 2003, and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. A bag for use in a bag-in-box system is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/818,882, which was filed Apr. 6, 2004, is entitled “Bag With Flap For Bag-In-Box Container Systems” and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
By way of example, a liner used for shipping commodities in bulk, via a FIBC or bag-in-box system, typically may have a volume on the order of 300 gallons. In one embodiment, the liner will include at least a drain fitting near the bottom of the liner whereby the liner's contents may be removed. In other embodiments, the liner will include at least a filler fitting near the top of the liner whereby the liner may be filled with its contents. In other embodiments, the liner will include both a filler fitting near the top of the liner and a drain fitting near the bottom of the liner. In one embodiment, the drain fitting is on the gusseted side as described with respect to U.S. Patent Application No. 60/720855, which was filed Sep. 26, 2005, entitled “Flexible Liner With Fitting On Gusseted Side.”
The liner may be of any suitable configuration. For example, the liner may be generally shaped like a cube, or a pillow, a parallelepiped, or any other suitable configuration. It also can be configured so that a cross-section that is generally parallel to the top and bottom of the liner is square, rectangular, circular, or any other suitable geometry.
In embodiments of the liner with at least a drain fitting, the outer container (i.e., the bag of a FIBC system or the box of a bag-in-box system) is provided with a discharge opening at or towards the bottom end of the outer container through which the liquid or particulate contents can be discharged from the liner via its drain fitting. The discharge opening of the outer container may be fitted with a drain fitting that mates with or accommodates the drain fitting of the liner. This mating arrangement between drain fittings of the liner and outer container assures that material discharged from the liner will be directed to the intended receiving facility and prevents the material from accumulating in the bottom of the outer container.
In embodiments of the liner with at least a filler fitting, the outer container usually comprises a cover or top panel that is removable to permit access to the liner and the filler fitting.
One consideration of the FIBC or bag-in-box mode of shipment of materials in bulk is that the outer container can be a non-returnable or one-way container. For example, where the outer container is a box for a bag-in-box system and is generally made of a corrugated fiberboard or the like, the box can be discarded after use. Alternatively, the box may consist of interlocking panels of metal, wood, or a stiff or rigid plastic material, in which case the box may be disassembled and returned to the shipper after the associated liner has been emptied of its contents.
Where the outer container is a bag for a FIBC system and is made of a low cost woven material, the bag can be discarded after use. Alternatively, where the material of the bag is more expensive, the bag may be collapsed and returned to the shipper after the associated liner has been emptied of its contents.
With respect to the FIBC and bag-in-box concepts as applied to bulk shipment of commodities, the plastic flexible liners have taken various forms. One common form is the so-called “pillow” type, which consists of at least two sheets of plastic film sealed together at their edges. Another common form is the six-sided flexible liners (e.g., liners that take the shape of a cube or rectangular parallelepiped when filled) made from a plurality of sheets of plastic film. An example of this is described with respect to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/900,068, which was filed Jul. 27, 2004, entitled “Flexible Liner For FIBC Or Bag-In-Box Container Systems,” hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Regardless of the form the liner takes, the top half of the liner is generally more susceptible to flex crack failure than the bottom half from the film moving back and forth, typically resulting from greater product movement toward the top of the product than toward the bottom. This can lead to a breakdown of the liner's structural and/or barrier properties, possibly resulting in product degradation, loss of shelf life, contamination, damage to the contents, and/or loss of materials. In the past, particularly with pillow-shaped liners, this flex cracking has been reduced by packing the top part of the bag or box, above the liner, with a dunnage material to immobilize the upper portion of the liner. Having to add dunnage materials increases the cost and time required to ship goods and materials and does not always work, as some materials tend to settle over time, and liners are not necessarily always filled to the same height or extent.
There is a need in the art for a system and method of reducing flex crack failure in the liner of a FIBC or bag-in-box system, thereby preventing breakdown of the liner's structural and/or barrier properties and the harms associated with such breakdowns.
In one embodiment, a liner for use in a bulk container is provided. The liner comprises a first flexible portion, a second flexible portion, a first seal joining the first and second portions, a second seal joining the first and second portions, a third seal joining the first and second portions, and a fourth seal joining the first and second portions. At least one of the first portion and second portion comprises at least one strip.
In one embodiment, a liner for use in a bulk container is provided. The liner comprises a first flexible portion, a second flexible portion, a first seal joining the first and second portions, a second seal joining the first and second portions, a third seal joining the first and second portions, and a fourth seal joining the first and second portions. The first portion is a better barrier than the second portion.
In one embodiment, a liner for use in a bulk container is provided. The liner comprises a first flexible portion, a second flexible portion, a first seal joining the first and second portions, a second seal joining the first and second portions, a third seal joining the first and second portions, and a fourth seal joining the first and second portions. The first portion and second portion comprises at least one ply and wherein the first portion comprises at least one more ply than the second portion.
In one embodiment, a method of flex crack protection in a flexible liner is provided. The liner comprises a first flexible portion and a second flexible portion, wherein the first portion and second portion each comprise at least one ply of flexible material. The method comprises manufacturing the first and second portion so that the first portion comprises at least one more ply than the second portion. The method also comprises sealing the plies of the first portion to the plies of the second portion.
While multiple embodiments are disclosed, still other embodiments of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which shows and describes illustrative embodiments of the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of modifications in various aspects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive.
The present invention is directed to a flexible liner 1 for use in bulk containers such as those used in flexible intermediate bulk container (“FIBC”) systems or bag-in-box container systems. While certain liner embodiments are discussed herein, the particular liner configuration is generally not important to the present invention, and instead, any suitable liner configuration may be used. As will be discussed more fully below, the liner comprises a top portion and a bottom portion. The top portion and bottom portion are sealed together to form a pillow shaped liner. More specifically, longitudinal edges and lateral edges of the top portion and the bottom portion are sealed together.
In one embodiment, the top portion is composed of additional plies as compared to the bottom portion. This helps to reduce the susceptibility of the top portion to flex crack failure. This is because each ply has its own flex crack failure rate, and as the number of plies is increased, the odds of all the plies failing together decreases, and the odds of all plies failing in the same location decreases substantially. For illustrative purposes only, assume in a liner where each ply has a four percent chance of failing, and where a total of four plies are used. In this example, using probability (and assuming that each ply is statistically independent of the other plies), the odds of all four failing would be (0.04)×(0.04)×(0.04)×(0.04), or a total of 0.00000256, or 0.000256 percent. Increasing the thickness of the plies, however, typical increases the likelihood that there will be flex cracking as thicker materials are generally damaged more when bent. Therefore two plies of material are less likely to flex crack than one ply that is twice as thick.
Otherwise stated, a liner that has 3 layers, each of 4 mils, is 12 mils thick, and, likewise, a liner that has 6 layers, each 2 mils, also is 12 mils thick. Because each liner is 12 mils thick, they may have generally the same oxygen barrier properties. However, the liner that has 6 layers of 2 mils each would be more resistant to flex cracks that the liner that has 3 layers, each of 4 mils.
In one embodiment, at least one ply is comprised of double wound film. In another embodiment at least one ply is coextruded. One example of a coextruded ply is nylon coextruded with polyethylene. In another embodiment, at least one ply is laminated. In another embodiment, at least one ply is a single ply, for example a single ply of polyethylene. In another embodiment, at least one ply is comprised of a metallized polyester lamination. Any suitable material may be used.
In another embodiment, a strip is incorporated in the top portion to reduce the susceptibility to flex crack. In another embodiment, a strip is incorporated in the bottom portion. In another embodiment, a strip is incorporated in the top and bottom portions. In yet another embodiment, either the top portion, bottom portion, or both incorporate multiple strips. For simplicity, the following detailed description will refer to the strip as a single strip, though multiple strips can be used as well. The strip functions as another ply in its ability to increase flex crack resistance. However, since the strip is smaller in area compared to the plies that make up the top and bottom portions it can be made of more expensive materials without adding significant extra cost to the manufacturing process. For example, the strip can be composed of polyethylene, nylon, polyurethane, Valeron® or Valeron®-type materials, or any other suitable material, including but not limited to a monolayer, coextruded, or laminate material, that allows for the reduction of flex cracking or is used as a protective barrier. The strip functions especially well when placed in areas that are more susceptible to flex cracking, as it can increase the flex cracking resistance in those areas.
Both the plies on the top and bottom portion as well as the strip provide a barrier that protects the contents of the liner. Types of things the barrier attempts to block from entering the liner or exiting the liner are oxygen, odor, moisture, light, rodents, and other materials and substances that are desirably prevented from crossing the liner barrier. If a particular liner is susceptible to oxygen entering into the liner in a specific location, a strip can be added to that specific location, wherein the strip is made of a material that is suited to enhance the barrier characteristics of the liner for oxygen or any other specific material or substance.
The materials used to make the liners of the present invention may be of any suitable material. In one embodiment, the material may consist of polyethylene or polypropylene or some other thermoplastic material or be a laminate of two or more packaging materials bonded to one another. In another embodiment, the packaging sheet material may consist of double wound film. In another embodiment, the packaging sheet material may consist of nylon coextruded or laminated to at least one other packaging material.
Liner 1 comprises a top portion 4 and bottom portion 22. Each of the portions 4 and 22 may comprise a single sheet of packaging material (“single ply”) or two or more sheets of packaging material (“multi-ply”). In the case of multi-ply portions, the individual sheets (“plies”) may be of like or different material and are secured to one another only in selected areas (e.g., at seals 14, 16, 18, 20).
For convenience and simplicity of illustration, a construction involving seven plies on the top portion 4 and three plies on the bottom portion 22 is shown in
For a discussion of the liner 1 in its flat as-formed condition, reference is now made to
The liners of the present invention may be of any suitable configuration, including generally square, generally rectangular, generally triangular, generally circular, or any other desired configuration. As shown in
The materials used to make the present invention may be provided in any suitable form, including as one or more single continuous sheet, as a multi-ply or laminate, as a tubular film, which may be equivalent to two or more sheets that are brought together to form a multiply portion of a liner, or in any other suitable form.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the liner may be made with more layers than prior art liners. This may be done in any suitable manner. In one embodiment, the liner may be made with one or more layers of material being replaced by twice as many layers of material, with each of the two replacement layers being one-half the thickness of the single layer they replace. Doing so results in a liner that weighs and costs the same as the prior art liner, but has improved flex crack resistance. From a manufacturing standpoint, this result may be achieved in any suitable manner, including by replacing one or more layers with a double-wound material that is generally half the thickness of the layer being replaced.
Furthermore, as described below, the allocation of layers to the top portion 4 of the liner 1 and the bottom portion 22 of the liner 1 may be done in any manner desired. For example, where the liner of the present invention has ten layers, five of those ten layers may be used as the top portion 4 of the liner 1, and the other five layers as the bottom portion 22 of the liner 1. This can be done by the use of seals, and by grouping the layers as desired when placing the fitments on the liner 1. In alternative embodiments of a liner 1 with ten layers, the top portion 4 of the liner 1 may have from one to nine layers, and the bottom portion 22 of the liner 1 may have from nine to one layers. In one embodiment, as discussed below, the top portion 4 of the liner 1 may have seven layers, and the other three layers of the liner 1 form the bottom portion 22 of the liner 1. Not only can the allocation of layers to the top portion 4 of the liner 1 and the bottom portion 22 of the liner 1 vary as desired, but the total number of layers used to make the liner 1 also can be any suitable number.
As shown in
As shown in
In this embodiment, strip 50 is substantially centrally located between seals 18 and 14. In one embodiment longitudinal edges 52, 54 of strip 50 are sealed by seals 20 and 16 respectively. In another embodiment, lateral edges 53, 55 of strip 50 are sealed by a lateral seal 72 and a lateral seal 74. Strip 50 can be sealed either by seals 20 and 16 or by seals 72 and 74, both, or any suitable combination of these. In another embodiment, strip 50 could be rotated 90 degrees so that it is substantially centrally located between seals 20 and 16 and edges 52, 54 are sealed by seals 18 and 14 and edges 53, 55 are sealed by seals 16 and 20. In this embodiment, strip 50 is not the full length of other plies that make up top portion 4 and bottom portion 22, though in other embodiments it is substantially the same length and width as other plies. In one embodiment, the width of strip 50 is approximately 50.0″ and the width of other plies is approximately 85.0″ (both the strip and the other plies having a length of approximately 81.0″). The plies can be of any width and length. In other embodiments, the strip 50 has a width that is generally between 45.0 and 60.0 inches. The strip 50, however, can be any width and length, and is generally used as a protective barrier for liner 1.
All plies in liner 1 contain some barrier characteristics, and as additional plies are added the barrier is generally increased so that undesirable elements, such as oxygen, odor, rodents, moisture, punctures, and others, are substantially prevented from passing through the barrier, and desired elements are kept within the liner. The more effective a barrier is at preventing materials and substances from moving from one side to the other, the better that barrier is said to be. Thus, where a first barrier is more effective at preventing materials and substances from passing through it than is a second barrier, the first barrier is said to be better than the second barrier.
In this embodiment, strip 50 is located between the first and third plies of top portion 4, though strip 50 can be located throughout top portion 4 and bottom portion 22, in order to reduce flex cracking. Where one strip 50 is used, the strip 50 may be placed at any suitable location, including as the outermost layer, the innermost layer, or anywhere in between. Where more than one strip 50 is used, the strips 50 may be placed at any combination of the above locations. Additional strips 50 can be included throughout top portion 4 and bottom portion 22. The layers of the liner can be of any suitable material, as known to those skilled in the art. Each layer also can be of any suitable or desired thickness. For example, Metallized Polyester Laminate layers, hereinafter referred to as MPET layers, generally can range from 1 to 8 mils thick, or from 4 to 4.5 mils thick. Likewise, polyethylene layers generally can range from 1 to 8 mils thick, or from 2.75 to 4 mils thick. In one liner embodiment, the top portion 4 comprises a top ply comprised of MPET, and six internal plies of 2.0 mil polyethylene. The bottom portion 22 comprises one internal ply of 2.0 mil polyethylene and external (bottom) ply of MPET. In one embodiment, the polyethylene described above and below in the top and bottom portions 4, 22 is a metalocene linear low-density polyethylene.
In another embodiment, the top portion 4 has a top ply comprised of MPET and four interior plies, each 2.0 mil polyethylene. The bottom portion 22 comprises four interior plies each 2.0 mil polyethylene, and a external ply of MPET.
In yet another embodiment, the top portion 4 has a top ply comprised of MPET, a strip 50 comprised of 4.0 mil Coex Nylon/ethylene vinyl alcohol, and four plies comprised of 2.0 mil polyethylene each. The bottom portion 22 is comprised of four interior plies made of 2.0 mil polyethylene each and a external ply comprised of MPET.
In another embodiment, the top portion 4 has a top ply comprised of MPET, and two interior plies, each 4.0 mil polyethylene. The bottom portion is comprised of two interior plies each 4.0 mil polyethylene and an external ply comprised of MPET.
For a discussion of the location of the fill and drain orifices of the liner 1, reference is now made to
For a discussion of one method of securing the fill fitment 40 to the top portion 4, reference is now made to
In one embodiment, the fitments 40, 42 may have different structures or shapes. In one embodiment, the filler fitment 40 may be omitted, in which case the drain fitment 42 may also serve as a filler means for the liner by attaching a pump discharge line to insert the contents into the liner 1. Conversely, the drain fitment 42 may be omitted, in which case the filler fitment 40 may also serve as a drain means for the liner by running a pump suction line down into the liner to remove the contents of the liner 1.
Although the seals whereby the two portions 4 and 22 are connected together are illustrated by single lines, it is to be understood that the seals that connect the top and bottom portions 4, 22 may vary in width and, for example, may extend out to the edges of the two portions 4, 22.
Although the invention has been described with reference to embodiments, persons skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. All directional references (e.g., top, bottom, sides, internal, external) are only used for identification purposes to aid the reader's understanding of the embodiments of the present invention, and do not create limitations, particularly as to the position, orientation, or use of the invention unless specifically set forth in the claims. Joinder references (e.g., attached, coupled, connected, and the like) are to be construed broadly and may include intermediate members between a connection of elements and relative movement between elements. As such, joinder references do not necessarily infer that two elements are directly connected and in fixed relation to each other.
In some instances, components are described with reference to “ends” having a particular characteristic and/or being connected to another part. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention is not limited to components which terminate immediately beyond their points of connection with other parts. Thus, the term “end” should be interpreted broadly, in a manner that includes areas adjacent, rearward, forward of, or otherwise near the terminus of a particular element, link, component, member or the like. It is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not limiting. Changes in detail or structure may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11361691 | Feb 2006 | US |
| Child | 13324611 | US |
