Patent Grant
12129092
The present invention generally relates to a pouch-container packaging material, and also to a pouch-container packaging body.
Pouch-type containers are widely used as a container for e.g. food and toiletry products as well as enteral or intravenous nutrients and infusions because of their excellent sealing performance and ease in handling. Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (hereinafter referred to as “PEG”) is a known technique for providing nutrients to patients. By using PEG, nutrients can be provided to a patient through pressurization of a pouch package containing the nutrients. An example of such a pouch package for pressurization is disclosed in Patent Document 1. The pouch package disclosed in the document includes a pair of main-body sheets defining a storage space, a zip for closing the storage space, nutrients as the packaged substance contained in the storage space, and a spout for discharging the nutrients from the storage space. The patent document proposes using the pouch package with the main-body sheets folded back during pressurization.
During pressurization of a pouch package, a pressure strong enough to discharge the nutrients through the spout is applied. If the pouch package is not in a proper condition, the nutrients can leak through the zip due to the pressure applied. In recent years, providing nutrients using PEG is often performed to a large number of patients in e.g. a large hospital. In such a case, leakage may more likely to occur due to insufficient folding or insufficient sealing with a zip, for example.
The present invention has been proposed under the above circumstances, and aims to provide a pouch-type container and a pouch package that allow the packaged substance to be discharged reliably through pressurization.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pouch-type container including: a pair of main-body sheets defining a storage space for containing a packaged substance; an opening at a first end of the main-body sheets in a first direction; a spout at a second end, opposite the opening, of the main-body sheets in the first direction; and an opening/closing part offset from the opening toward the second end in the first direction and configured to open and close the storage space. The pouch-type container further includes: a locking band fixed to the main-body sheets at a pair of fixed portions spaced apart from each other in a width direction to define an insertion space with an outer surface of the main-body sheets, the width direction being perpendicular to a direction in which the main-body sheets face each other and the first direction; and a lock part comprising at least one of the main-body sheets and configured to be locked with the locking band by being inserted into the insertion space with the main-body sheets folded back.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the lock part includes a constricted portion whose minimum dimension in the width direction is smaller than a dimension between the fixed portions in the width direction, and a wider portion offset from the constricted portion toward the first end in the first direction and having a dimension in the width direction larger than the dimension between the fixed portions in the width direction.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the opening/closing part and the constricted portion overlap with each other in the first direction.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the constricted portion has a base edge positioned inward in the width direction, a first edge offset from the base edge toward the first end in the first direction, and a second edge offset from the base edge toward the second end in the first direction. The first edge has an inclination angle with respect to the first direction that is larger than an inclination angle of the second edge with respect to the first direction.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the fixed portions are provided on opposite sides of the storage space in the width direction.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the opening/closing part is made of a first zip sheet and a second zip sheet that are joined to inner surfaces of the paired main-body sheets, respectively. Each of the first zip sheet and the second zip sheet has a zip part to perform an open/close function. The first zip sheet and the inner surface of one of the main-body sheets are joined only at a region offset from the zip part of the first zip sheet toward the first end in the first direction. The second zip sheet is joined to the inner surface of another one of the main-body sheets at least at opposite sides of the zip part of the second zip sheet in the first direction.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pouch package including the pouch-type container provided according to the first aspect of the present invention, and a packaged substance contained in the storage space.
According to the present invention, discharging the packaged substance through pressurization can be performed more reliably.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to the drawings.
The terms “first”, “second”, “third”, etc. are used herein merely as labels and are not intended to impose ordinal requirements on the items to which these terms refer.
The z direction in these figures corresponds to the “first direction” in the present invention. The y direction is the direction in which the main-body sheets 1A and 1B face each other. The x direction is perpendicular to the y direction and the z direction and corresponds to the “width direction” in the present invention. The z direction can correspond to the vertical direction (up-down direction) depending on the use of the pouch-type container A1 and the pouch package B1, but is not limited to this. In the present embodiment, the z direction corresponds to the vertical direction of the pouch package B1.
As shown in
The main-body sheets 1A and 1B are overlapped in the y-direction, or the front-back direction, to constitute most of the outer surface of the pouch-type container A1. As shown in
As shown in
The main-body sheets 1A and 1B, the bottom sealed part 41 and the side sealed parts 42 define a storage space 19. The storage space 19 is used to contain the packaged substance 6. An opening 18 is provided at a first end of the main-body sheets 1A and 1B in the z direction. The opening 18 is defined between the end edges of the main-body sheets 1A and 1B at the first end in the z direction.
As shown in
The first zip sheet 21, which is fixed to the inner surface of the main-body sheet 1A, has a support part 211 and a zip part 212. The support part 211 is in the form of a flat strip. The zip part 212 is supported on the support part 211 and formed as a male projection in the illustrated example. In the illustrated example, two zip parts 212 each elongated in the x direction are provided in parallel, spaced apart from each other in the z direction. The number of the zip parts 212 is not limited, and may be one or three or more.
The second zip sheet 22, which is fixed to the inner surface of the main-body sheet 1B, has a support part 221 and a zip part 222. The support part 221 is in the form of a flat strip. The zip part 222 is supported on the support part 221 and formed as a female groove in the illustrated example. In the illustrated example, two zip parts 222 each elongated in the x direction are provided in parallel, spaced apart from each other in the z direction. The number of the zip parts 222 is not limited, and may be one or three or more. The zip part 212 and the zip part 222 can be engaged with and disengaged from each other to achieve the closed state and the open state of the opening/closing part 2.
The technique to fix the first zip sheet 21 and the second zip sheet 22 is not limited. In the present embodiment, an example in which the zip sheets are fixed by heat sealing is explained. In this example, the first zip sheet 21 and the second zip sheet 22 are made of a resin material capable of fixing by heat sealing.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown
The cap 52 is used to close the through-hole of the body 51 and removed from the body 51 in discharging the packaged substance 6. In the illustrated example, the cap 52 is formed with a fin-shaped part. The cap 52 can be removed from the body 51 by twisting the cap 52 with fingers placed on the fin-shaped part, for example.
As shown in
In the present embodiment, the fixed portions 31 are provided on the opposite sides of the storage space 19 in the x direction. The technique to form the fixed portions 31 is not limited in any way, and heat sealing or an adhesive may be used as appropriate. In the present embodiment, an example in which the fixed portions 31 are formed by heat sealing along with the side sealed parts 42 is explained. Note that one or both of the fixed portions 31 may be provided on the inner side of the side sealed parts 42 in the x direction. In the illustrated example, as shown in
The lock part 11 is made of at least one of the main-body sheets 1A and 1B. The lock part 11 is the portion to be locked with the locking band 3 by being inserted into the insertion space 39, with the main-body sheets 1A and 1B folded back. The specific configuration of the lock part 11 is not limited in any way. In the present embodiment, the lock part 11 includes a constricted portion 12 and a wider portion 13, as shown in
The constricted portion 12, which is a part of at least one of the main-body sheets 1A and 1B, has a minimum width W1 in the x direction that is smaller than the distance W0 between the fixed portions 31 in the x direction. In the present embodiment, the constricted portion 12 is made of a portion of each of the main-body sheets 1A and 1B, and has a base edge 120, a first edge 121 and a second edge 122. The base edge 120 is the edge located inward in the x direction. The first edge 121 is offset from the base edge 120 toward the first end (toward the opening 18) in the z direction. The second edge 122 is offset from the base edge 120 toward the second end in the z direction. Each of the base edge 120, the first edge 121 and the second edge 122 may be a straight line, a curved line, a bent line, or in other shapes as appropriate. For example, the base edge 120, the first edge 121 and the second edge 122 may form a continuous curved line. In the illustrated example, the inclination angle of the first edge 121 with respect to the z direction is larger than the inclination angle of the second edge 122 with respect to the z direction. For example, while the inclination angle of the first edge 121 with respect to the z direction is about 90°, the inclination angle of the second edge 122 with respect to the z direction is about 45°. In the illustrated example, the constricted portion 12 has the base edge 120, the first edge 121 and the second edge 122 on each of the opposite sides in the x direction, but the configuration of the constricted portion 12 is not limited to this. For example, the base edge 120, the first edge 121 and the second edge 122 may be provided on only one side in the x direction.
The wider portion 13 is made of at least one of the main-body sheets 1A and 1B, and made of a portion of each of the main-body sheets 1A and 1B in the present embodiment. The wider portion 13 is offset from the constricted portion 12 toward the first end (toward the opening 18) in the z direction, and has a width W2 in the x direction that is larger than the distance W0 between the fixed portions 31 in the x direction. In the illustrated example, the wider portion 13 has a shape projecting toward the opposite sides in the x direction relative to the constricted portion 12. The wider portion 13 may project toward only one side in the x direction relative to the constricted portion 12.
As shown in
In the present embodiment, the pouch-type container A1 has a pair of oblique edges 15. The oblique edges 15 are offset from the wider portion 13 toward the first end in the z direction. The paired oblique edges 15 are inclined in such a manner as to decrease the distance therebetween in the x direction as proceeding toward the first end in the z direction (toward the opening 18). Note that the oblique edges 15 may not be provided, or only a single oblique edge 15 may be provided.
Each of the sheets making the pouch-type container A1 is typically a rein film. The resin film forming the sheets needs to have basic properties required of a packaging material, such as impact resistance, abrasion resistance and heat resistance. Moreover, since the sealed parts and joined parts described above are typically formed by heat sealing, the sheets are required to have heat sealability. Thus, as the sheet, a multilayer sheet including a base-film layer and a sealant layer that imparts heat sealability may be suitable. When high gas barrier performance and high light-shielding performance are needed, a barrier layer may be provided between the base-film layer and the sealant layer. Such barrier characteristics may be imparted on the base-film layer itself. In such a case, the barrier layer serves as the base-film layer, so that the multilayer sheet is made up of the barrier layer and the sealant layer. To impart heat sealability to both sides of a sheet, a monolayer film, described below, that can be used as the sealant layer may be used, or a multilayer sheet made up of two same or different types of sealant layers (one of which is used as the base-film layer) may be used. Alternatively, a multilayer sheet having sealant layers on both sides of a base-film layer may be used. In the present embodiment, a multilayer sheet made up of a base-film layer forming the outer surface and a sealant layer forming inner side is used for the main-body sheets 1A, 1B and the locking band 3.
Examples of the materials for the base-film layer, the sealant layer and the gas barrier layer are described below. Note that these layers can be laminated by a conventional lamination technique, such as dry lamination with adhesives, lamination with solvent-free adhesives, thermal lamination in which the layers are thermally bonded together with a thermal adhesive layer sandwiched therebetween, or extrusion lamination in which a resin layer, which will be the sealant layer, is extruded onto the base-film layer.
Examples of the filmmaking the base-film layer include oriented or non-oriented, single-layer or multi-layer films made from polyester (such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT)), polyolefin (such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP)), polyamide (such as Nylon-6 and Nylon-66), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), and in particular, biaxially oriented PET films and biaxially oriented polyamide films with a thickness of 9 to 30 μm are preferable.
Examples of the resin layer making the sealant layer include single-layer or multi-layer films or extruded resin films made from low-density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), ethylene-propylene copolymer (EP), cast polypropylene (CPP), ethylene-olefin copolymer, ethylene acrylic acid (EAA) copolymer, ethylene-methyl methacrylate (EMMA) copolymer, and ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer. Preferably, the sealant layer is 20 to 150 μm, and preferably, 40 to 120 μm in thickness.
Examples of the gas barrier layer include a film provided by depositing (or sputtering) aluminum or inorganic oxide such as aluminum oxide or silica on a thin film of metal such as aluminum or a film of resin such as polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) copolymer or other synthetic resin (which may be the base-film layer).
The main-body sheets 1A and 1B may be provided with scales (not shown) for measuring the amount of nutrients as the packaged substance. In addition to the scales, the main-body sheets may be provided with a print layer for indicating the product name, ingredients, or precautions for use, for example. The print layer may be provided on the base-film layer by gravure printing or flexographic printing.
First, as shown in
Next, as shown in
Next, with the upper ends of the main-body sheets 1A and 1B in the z direction held with fingers, the main-body sheets 1A and 1B are folded back along the fold line 17, as shown in
As shown in
The pressure applied by the pressurizers 75 is adjusted such that the packaged substance 6 is discharged at a desired rate. By the pressurization with the pressurizers 75, the packaged substance 6 is discharged from the storage space 19 of the pouch-type container A1 through the body 51 of the spout 5. The packaged substance 6 is guided through the discharging pipe 72 to the patient and supplied into the patient's body in the PEG.
Advantages of the pouch-type container A1 and the pouch package B1 are described below.
According to the present embodiment, in the pouch package B1 prepared using the pouch-type container A1, the lock part 11 is locked with the locking band 3, with the main-body sheets 1A and 1B folded at the folding portion 170, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
Making the lock part 11 (the constricted portion 12 and the wider portion 13) from portions of both the main-body sheets 1A and 1B can improve the rigidity of the lock part 11. This is advantageous in firmly locking the lock part 11 and the locking band 3.
The fixed portions 31 are formed by heat-sealing the opposite ends of the locking band 3 in the x direction and the main-body sheet 1B at the side sealed parts 42. That is, the fixed portions 31 form portions of the side sealed parts 42, which improves the joining strength of the locking band 3 to the main-body sheets 1A, 1B.
As shown in
In the present embodiment, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The present variation provides the same advantages as those of the pouch-type container A1 and the pouch package B1. In addition, when the folding along the fold line 17 is not performed during the preparation of the pouch package B11, the first indication 81 or the second indication 82 will be seen by itself, which can provide the user with a sense of strangeness or unfulfillment, thereby prompting the user to perform the folding along the fold line 17. This is advantageous in preventing the misuse of the pouch package without the folding along the fold line 17 or without the locking engagement between the lock part 11 and the locking band 3.
The constricted portion 12 of this variation has a base edge 120 bent to project outward in the x direction at the center in the z direction. The fixed portion 31 of the present variation is dented at the center in the z direction so that the inner edge in the x direction is bent outward in the x direction.
The present variation provides the same advantages as those of the pouch-type container A1 and the pouch package B1. Moreover, in locking the lock part 11 to the fixed portion 31 of the locking band 3, the bent base edge 120 fits to the dented part of the fixed portion 31. This realizes more reliable locking engagement between the lock part 11 and the fixed portion 31.
In the pouch package B2, the main-body sheets 1A and 1B are folded back at the folding portion 170, and the lock part 11 made of the main-body sheet 1B is locked with the locking band 3.
In the present embodiment again, the packaged substance 6 is reliably discharged by pressurization. As will be understood from the present embodiment, the lock part 11 may be made of the main-body sheet 1B alone. This is achieved by selecting, for example, the material and thickness of the main-body sheet 1B and the shapes of the lock part 11 and the locking band 3 (fixed portions 31) such that the lock part 11 and the locking band 3 are properly engageable. In use as shown in
In the pouch package B21, the main-body sheets 1A and 1B are folded back at the folding portion 170, and the lock part 11 made of the main-body sheet 1A is locked with the locking band 3.
In the present embodiment again, the packaged substance 6 is reliably discharged by pressurization. As will be understood from the present embodiment, the lock part 11 may be made of the main-body sheet 1A alone. This is achieved by selecting, for example, the material and thickness of the main-body sheet 1A and the shapes of the lock part 11 and the locking band 3 (fixed portions 31) such that the lock part 11 and the locking band 3 are properly engageable. In use as shown in
The pouch-type container and the pouch package according to the present invention are not limited to the foregoing embodiments. The specific configuration of each part of the pouch-type container and the pouch package can be varied in design in many ways.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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| 2019-229270 | Dec 2019 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2020/045980 | 12/10/2020 | WO |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2021/125026 | 6/24/2021 | WO | A |
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