Patent Application
20250121970
The present disclosure relates generally to systems, apparatus and methods for forming, filling, closing, and sealing gable-top cartons for use with liquid soap compositions (e.g., all-purpose cleaners, dish soaps, hand soaps). In one embodiment, a machine may include a plurality of forming, filling, and sealing positions, each arranged in particular order and with particular settings so that liquid detergents (soap compositions) do not leak or leach out of the gable-top cartons.
Liquid detergents (used interchangeably with the word “soap”) are a part of every household, with mostly an everyday use. Many of these detergents are either based off surfactants or mixture of surfactants, with certain cleaning properties, diluted in either an oil-based (animal or vegetable) or water-based composition. It is desirable to provide such liquid soap compositions in biodegradable containers without incurring leaking and/or degradation of the liquid soap composition during its shelf life. There exists a need for systems, apparatus and methods for forming, filling, closing, and sealing gable-top cartons particularly with liquid soap compositions because of their innate reactions to environmental factors, as well as shell life, and leakages.
In one embodiment, a method is provided, wherein the method may yield a simplification, an increase in throughput, as well as reduced scrap rates, in the for forming, bottom-sealing, filling, closing, and top-sealing gable-top cartons particularly with liquid soap compositions.
In one embodiment,, a method comprises operating a machine (e.g., through a computer-controlled mechanism, such as a PLC) having a plurality of station units oriented around a circular rotary turret, that gets operated by air, water, and heat in order to form, fill, close, and seal gable top cartons with certain liquid soap compositions. The computer controller may position the gable top carton throughout the different station units of the locations of the machine and determine whether the operations or steps of removing, pre-forming, lifting, heating, folding, sealing, printing, extracting, disengaging, welding, detecting, indexing, moving, filling, crimping, and discharging were properly performed. The machine may determine whether the required temperatures, pressures, and speeds for liquid soap compositions to sustain the environmental factors, have an adequate shell life, and avoid leakages or leaching from the gable-top carton were realized.
In one embodiment, a controller uses vertical servomotors to position the gable top carton at the different station units and/or provides for a cap-welding station unit that welds a plant-based cap to the gable top carton (e.g., at a controlled air pressure) using welding energy. Upon completing the forming, and the bottom sealing processes, the computer controller may place the gable top carton on a conveyor or carton guide rail for filling and sealing of the top of the gable-top carton. The carton guide rail may use a horizontal servomotor connected through a gear reducer to extend the fineness of positioning and the range of speeds required for the adequate processing of the gable-top carton. As may be appreciated, miniscule shifts in the horizontal placement of the carton throughout the carton guide rail would cause spillage of the liquid soap compositions during the filling process, inadequate welding of the plant-based cap, or even damages to the gable-top carton.
In one embodiment, a computer controller fills the gable-top carton with a liquid detergent (soap) composition. The liquid soap composition may be any suitable liquid soap composition for use by an end user. In one embodiment, the liquid soap composition does not use any linear alcohol derived from a natural, renewable oil reduction (fatty alcohol or detergent alcohol); or any synthetic alcohol. The liquid detergent composition may use a concentrated coconut-derived natural surfactant (e.g., potassium cocoate) with deionized water, as its main ingredient by percent, in order to provide the properties typically observed with non-natural surfactants, which involve removing and loosing dirt and grease from the surface of objects and skin. To add to the strength of the liquid soap composition, other additives may be used and may form part of the base composition of the liquid detergent. In one embodiment, the additives are used in order to reduce the surface tension of liquids and/or to restrict/prevent the compounds in the rest of the liquid detergent composition from separating into separate chemicals. In one embodiment, the additives include one or more of potassium oleate, potassium olivate, and glycerin.
In another embodiment, a liquid soap composition may be a conventional (off-the-shelf) liquid soap composition. In one embodiment, a liquid soap composition includes one or more linear alcohols, such as those derived from a natural, renewable oil reduction (fatty alcohol or detergent alcohol) and/or includes one or more synthetic alcohols.
In one embodiment, a gable-top carton used by the machine is configured to contain liquid detergent compositions based on natural oils, such as coconut oil, in order to meet the needs of consumers who desire sustainable products with good performance at an affordable cost. The gable-top carton used by the present disclosure may achieve this with a unique construction of various layers, provided by a unique combination of one or more of rigidity, grammage and printability with a long shelf life (e.g., when kept at ambient temperatures, and in dry, clean places).
In one embodiment, one or more settings of the present disclosure may be important to achieving the steps of removing, pre-forming, lifting, heating, folding, sealing, printing, extracting, disengaging, welding, detecting, indexing, moving, filling, crimping, discharging, and combinations thereof. In one embodiment, one or more settings may be important because a gable-top carton travels throughout a supply chain that sees various environmental factors (e.g., warehouse with a controlled environment, a shipping vehicle, a retail store, and lastly a consumer house located anywhere in the world) that affects the liquid soap composition that it contains, wherein the liquid soap composition may be susceptible to leaking out or leaching out of its contained packaging.
As such, the various embodiments and implementations of the embodiments described herein provide a profusion of technical advantages and benefits in the areas of longevity, cleaning, cleansing, simplicity in manufacturing, adequate packaging and transportation without leaching, as well as minimizing the effects of the non-based compounds of the composition. Other technical advantages are readily apparent to one skilled in the art after review of the following description and claims associated herewith. Nevertheless, further details, examples, and aspects of the disclosure will still be described below in more detail.
The teachings of the present disclosure can be readily understood by considering the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Reference will now be made in detail, to several embodiments of the present disclosures, examples of which, are illustrated in the accompanying figures. It is noted that wherever practicable similar or like reference symbols may be used in the figures and may indicate similar or like functionality. The figures depict embodiments of the present disclosure, for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures, systems, and methods illustrated therein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.
As noted above, any liquid soap compositions may be used in accordance with the present disclosure. Such liquid soap compositions include conventional liquid soap compositions and/or liquid soaps derived from linear alcohols and/or synthesized alcohols.
In one embodiment, the liquid detergent formula uses potassium cocoate as a base ingredient, which may be obtained after the process of coconut oil saponification. In one embodiment, the potassium cocoate does not contain any other by-product typically found being added during saponification, like glycerin. That is, in one embodiment, the potassium cocoate is essentially free of glycerin. In one embodiment, the potassium cocoate ingredient used in a liquid soap composition uses potassium as its lye-base against coconut-oil, which yields an alkaline compound that is later adjusted as part of the finished composition (not the saponification). In one embodiment, the adjustment comprises using no less than 0.4% wt. citric acid. In one embodiment, the total weight percent of potassium cocoate used in the present disclosure is greater than 6.8%, with a typical range of 7.4% to about 14.5%.
In one embodiment, additives such as potassium oleate and/or potassium olivate are used with a liquid soap composition, e.g., in order to further promote the break down and removal of tar, soil, dirt, and oils, which respectively act on proteins, starches, pectins, and fats. These compounds may also break down and remove bacteria. As detailed further below, the inclusion of these compounds in the present disclosure may improve the cleaning performance even during cold water washes, thereby allowing a reduction in energy consumed and realizing a cost savings in the process.
Accordingly, in one embodiment, a coconut-based liquid detergent composition comprises potassium oleate with a finished good weight percent greater than 6.0%, which may range from 6.2% to about 13.5%, and/or potassium olivate with a finished good weight percent greater than 1.2%, which may range from 1.9% to about 3.5%. Other non-soap detergent actives may also be added to the composition of this disclosure after the saponification process. In particular, glycerin (e.g., USP 99.7% vegetable) may be added, and in a finished good weight percent greater than 0.8% to about 3.5%. In one embodiment, glycerin serves as an emollient to soften and moisturize the skin therefore decrease itching and flaking of human skin. In other embodiments, glycerin may act as a solvent to loosen sticky tar, soil, or dirt. Further plant-based humectants may be used, typically in the range of 0.1% to 2.0% wt., in order to supplement glycerin's softening and moisturizing effects. In one embodiment, the coconut-based liquid detergent composition realizes a pH of less than 7.0 but not lower than 4.0. To achieve the proper pH, a weak organic acid (e.g., citric acid), as a pH adjuster/buffer may be used. Sodium gluconate and/or sodium chloride may also be used (e.g., in combination with the weak acid). A mixture of sodium salts may also be used and in an amount of from 0.3 to 2.0 percent by weight. The sodium salts may be one or more of trisodium citrate, sodium gluconate, sodium chloride, and combinations thereof. In one embodiment, the use of sodium chloride is used as a thickening agent (e.g., to achieve the proper consistency/viscosity), therefore avoiding leaching from the gable-top corrugated carton as well as dripping or leaking during the filling step of the machine.
As it pertains to
There is illustrated in
Referring now to
There are a number of different reasons a gable-top carton may leak. The first and perhaps largest factor is the product itself. While viscosity of the product has some impact, it has been recognized that low viscosity products may be sealed without leaking and/or realizing a low leak rate. Low leak rate may be defined as less than one leak per 1000 units manufactured assuming all other variables are constant.
Products that have a very low viscosity (similar to water), certain chemical compositions (liquid detergents with low surface tension), and a high pH (similar to hand, laundry and dish soap) may be highly susceptible to leaking in most configurations of gable-top carton designs. It has been observed that these low viscosity/high pH products leak at a rate of 90% and the best that can be achieved by varying the chemical composition of the product is approximately a 15% leak rate. As such, the chemical makeup of the liquid soap composition may be driving the leaking, because the composition is, by its very nature, designed to flow out and penetrate into cracks and crevices, thereby lifting and removing dirt. It does this very effectively on surfaces but does it equally effectively in gable-top cartons, thus the leaking issues occur.
Gable-top cartons can leak from several different spots on the carton bottom. Each of these spots has a different root cause and a different solution to solve. There are 4 primary leak points on the carton bottom as observed in
As can be observed, multiple factors came into play when trying to solve the above depicted problems. Since many product features cannot be changed without significantly impacting a consumer's experience with the liquid detergent product, modifications have been made to the folding, filling, and sealing process by means of the present disclosure.
From the lines that are connected to the machine and either feed into or discharge out to, the machine 701 would typically have a water supply intake which is used for transporting water (e.g., at a maximum temperature of 10 degrees Celsius, at a flow rate of 2 gallons per minute) and cools the machine down, including components like the mandrel rod tool, the heating tables, the crimping tools, the pre-forming and forming tools, as well as the sealing tools. The water drain outtake on the other hand is used for recirculating and draining the transported water (e.g., at a flow rate of 2 GPM). The compressed air supply intake is used to operate the machine cams and shafts (e.g., at a minimum pressure of 87 PSI at 23 SCFM and a maximum pressure of 120 PSI at 23 SCFM). The electrical terminal (e.g., three-phased, 60 Hz) connected to the outside of the machine may be configured to receive a control voltage for providing electricity to all the required components (e.g., the control voltage may be 480 VAC). In one embodiment, the electrical interface component panel for operating a machine for forming, filling, closing, and sealing cartons with the liquid soap composition may be connected to an electrical terminal for providing electricity to power the human-machine-interface (HMI) screen which also controls one or more of the PLC of the machine, a cycle counter, a plurality of heater controllers, a safety circuit reset button, a plurality of emergency stop buttons, the cap applicator speed control, and a main disconnect switch.
Referring now to
Tension (e.g., constant tension) may then be applied to the carton blanks 802 by the spring-loaded tensioner 804, which advances the carton blanks 802 forward (i.e., towards the inside of the machine). The plurality of vacuum suction cups 901 (illustrated by
In particular, a first step 605 may include rotating, using the rotary apparatus 1101 placed inside the machine, the mandrel rod 1004 with the formed carton 904 to a second 45-degree position 1102. Upon reaching 1102, the machine will initiate the pre-forming step 605, with a bottom pre-forming tool 1201 located inside the machine at the second 45-degree position 1102. At the second 45-degree position 1102, the lower section of the formed carton 904 is pre-formed, at step 606, along the carton score lines, using the bottom pre-forming tool 1201 through a series of cam and linkage driven crimp arms. As illustrated by
Next, the mandrel rod 1004 holding the formed carton 904 having the pre-formed, heated, and folded bottom panel rotates at step 611 to a fifth 180-degree position 1105, using the rotary apparatus placed inside the machine 1101. Through this rotation 611, the mandrel will be positioned over a bottom sealing tool 1501 wherein the sealing step 612 can begin. Particularly, the machine's 701 main cam will actuate the bottom sealing tool 1501 by pressing it against the bottom 2602 of the mandrel rod tool 1004 at a suitable maximum pressure (e.g., a maximum pressure of 0.188 PSI), which, in combination with the cooling liquid running through the rods 2601 of the mandrel rod tool 1004 and some bottom sealing tool 1501 pins together will seal at 612, the bottom of the carton. As illustrated, the bottom 2602 of the mandrel rod tool 1004 is configured to provide an improved seal, e.g., through increased pressure, at critical areas where liquid soap compositions have been shown to leak or leach (see
Next, the bottom sealing tool 1501 may be lowered by the machine's main cam, shafts and air system. Next, the rotary apparatus placed inside the machine 1101 rotates, at step 613 the mandrel rod 1004 with the formed carton 904 now having the pre-formed, heated, folded, and seal bottom panel, to a sixth 225-degree position 1106. At this sixth 225-degree position 1106, a printing system (e.g., a continuous ink jet printing system such as model Jet2 NEO produced by Leibinger), prints at step 614 characters (e.g., DataMatrix characters) onto the pre-formed, heated, folded, and seal bottom panel of the carton. These characters are generally preloaded into the printing system and may include, for instance, a two-letter manufacturer's code followed by dates formed by the last digit of the manufacturing year, and the Julian period (e.g., CC2131, wherein CC would stand for Cleancult, the 2 for the year 2022, and the 131 representing May 11th).
The rotary apparatus placed inside the machine then rotates at step 615 the mandrel rod with the formed carton having the pre-formed, heated, folded, seal, and now a printed bottom panel to a seventh 270-degree position, illustrated by 1107 of
Next, the carton 904 is then moved at step 619, onto a second position of the carton guide rail 1701 wherein a welding step 620 of the cap 302 may occur (for embodiments that include a cap—no cap is required, however). Embodiments of the present disclosure illustrate a cap 302 holder 1901 located outside the machine, that feeds a cap escalator 1902, also located outside the machine, which is used to transport the caps up from the cap holder 1901 using steps, and onto the cap hopper 1903. Due to the center of gravity of the cap 302, it will only be able to settle on the cap escalator 1902 steps with the hole facing outwards and any cap 302, that is not loaded in such way will fall back onto the cap holder 1901, until it gets acquired again by one of the cap escalator 1902 steps. Once cap 302 reaches the top of escalator 1902, the cap falls into a cap hopper bowl 1903, that in turns feeds a cap chute 1904 which accumulates a plurality of caps 302 for the rotary spout welding cap applicator 1905 will use to weld the caps to the carton. The welding step 620 may be achieved by welding, using welding cap applicator 1906 which applies energy to the circular 318 hole on one of the top flaps 315 of the formed carton 904 having the pre-formed, heated, folded, seal, and printed bottom panel. The welding cap applicator 1906 may apply, for instance, a maximum of 230 joules of energy. The welding step 620 forms a liquid tight bond between the cap 302 and one of the top flap 315. In one embodiment, while welding step 620 is happening, an empty mandrel rod 1004 (i.e., without a carton 904 attached to it) is rotated at step 621 using the rotary apparatus placed inside the machine 1101 to an eighth 315-degree position 1108. In one embodiment, a photoelectric sensor 2001 placed inside the machine and having a potentiometer adjustment, will detect at step 622, that the formed carton having the pre-formed, heated, folded, seal, and printed bottom panel was extracted from the mandrel rod at the seventh 270-degree position 1107.
At step 623, the carton 904 having the pre-formed, heated, folded, seal, and printed bottom panel is moved onto a third position 2101 on the carton guide 1701 rail placed inside the machine using the carton guide rail 1701 placed at the seventh 270-degree position inside the machine occurs. In one embodiment, a three-step operation occurs that basically involves setting the carton 904 into position, forming the top flaps 315 over a mandrel, and then crimping the top flaps 315. This three-step approach may be used, for instance, in order to achieve the top score lines of the carton prior to filling it with a liquid soap composition. In particular, the first step of this three-step method begins at step 624 by indexing the carton 904 having the pre-formed, heated, folded, seal, and printed bottom panel to the carton guide rail 1701, such as by pushing down on the carton 904 using an indexing tool 1702 attached to the inside of the machine and placed at the third position of the carton guide rail 1701. In one embodiment, the indexing tool is a rectangular indexing tool. The carton 904 having the pre-formed, heated, folded, seal, and printed bottom panel is then moved at step 625 onto a fourth position 2103 on the carton guide rail 1701 placed inside the machine. Forming the carton 904 having the pre-formed, heated, folded, seal, and printed bottom panel at step 626 occurs by inserting a top mandrel 2104 attached to the inside of the machine, and holding the gable top structure of the carton using an L-shaped fixture 2105 (or other suitably shaped fixture). The carton 904 having the pre-formed, heated, folded, seal, and printed bottom panel, is then moved at step 627 onto a fifth position 2106 on the carton guide rail placed inside the machine. Crimping occurs at step 628 by applying a top crimping tool 2107 (e.g., for a maximum time of 2 seconds) to the gable top structure of the carton having the pre-formed, heated, folded, seal, and printed bottom panel. The carton 904 now having the crimped gable top structure and the bottom panel pre-formed, heated, folded, seal, and printed is then moved at step 629 onto a sixth position 2201 on the carton guide rail placed inside the machine. At this sixth position on the carton guide rail 2201, the machine 701 performs the step of filling 630 the carton having the gable top structure crimped and the bottom panel pre-formed, heated, folded, seal, and printed with a liquid soap composition. In one embodiment, the filing is completed using a filling system nozzle 2202 placed at the sixth position on the carton guide rail, connected to a liquid soap container tank 2203, which tank may be located outside of the machine and which contains the liquid soap composition.
In one embodiment, the container tank 2203 is filled to a particular level based on properties of the liquid soap composition. In one embodiment, when a liquid soap composition has a viscosity of 200 centipoise (cp) the container tank 2203 may only be filled up to 90% of its volumetric capacity. In one embodiment, when a liquid soap composition has a viscosity of less than 200 centipoise (cp) the container tank 2203 may only be filled up to 40% of its volumetric capacity.
Feeding of the liquid soap compositions to the machine occurs via a fill line and/or a fill valve. To avoid spillage during the filling step 630, the filling system nozzle 2202 may use a plug spout and/or a plurality of filter net screen meshes each stacked-on top each of other and surrounded by a rubber compound to form the seal with the inside of the filling system nozzle 2202. Such plug spouts and/or filters may be useful with liquid soap compositions having a viscosity of 200 centipoise (cp) or higher.
The carton 904 now having the gable top structure crimped and the bottom panel pre-formed, heated, folded, seal, and printed moving, is moved at step 631, using the carton guide rail 1710 placed at the seventh 270-degree position inside the machine to a seventh position 2204 on the carton guide rail placed inside the machine. At this seventh position 2204, re-crimping (illustrated by step 632 of
The entire gable-top structure of the carton 904 is heated at step 634, such as by applying heat from a heating oven. In one embodiment, the heating oven is a top heating oven having an outside 2302 and an inside 2303 heating structure, which will heat the gable top structure of the carton at step 635 by moving the top heat oven downwards 2304. The heating 634 may be conducted at any suitable temperature and for any suitable time. In one embodiment, the heating of the pre-formed bottom panel of the carton 1301 is to a temperature of from between 110 and 150 degrees Celsius. In one embodiment, the heating time is for a maximum time of 2 seconds. At the end of the heating step, the heating oven having an outside 2302 and an inside 2303 heating structure may return to its upper position to allow the carton 904 move to the next position.
The carton filled with the liquid soap composition, having the gable top structure crimped and heated, and the bottom panel pre-formed, heated, folded, seal, and printed is then moved at step 635, using the carton guide rail placed 1701 at the seventh 270-degree position inside the machine, onto a ninth position 2401 on the carton guide rail placed inside the machine. Sealing 636, is then performed, such as by using a top seal movable jaw 2402 against a top seal fixed jaw 2403. The seal shafts of the machine move (illustrated by 2404) the seal jaws 2402 and 2403, causing them to compress the top flap 316 of the gable-top which, when combined with the pressure applied and the cooling liquid running through the seal jaws 2402 and 2403, seals (636) the carton 904. To assist with the hard to seal areas of the top flap 316, heat sink horizontal lines protrude from the seal jaws 2402 and 2403 to from the rear heat sink horizontal lines 201 of
The carton filled with the liquid soap composition, having the gable top structure crimped, heated, and sealed, and the bottom panel pre-formed, heated, folded, seal, and printed is then discharged at step 637, using the carton guide rail placed at the seventh 270-degree position 1701 inside the machine, onto a conveyor belt positioned outside the machine. The rotary apparatus placed inside the machine rotates at 638 the square mandrel rod to a starting 0-degree position 1109 and one or more of the steps 602 through 637 or (i)-(xxxvii) are repeated 639, for a subsequent carton 804 on the infeed conveyor belt attached to the machine, until no more cartons are available in the infeed conveyor belt.
The carton that started having four general sides (311, 312, 313, 314), a gable top structure with the top flaps (315) meeting to form a top fin (316), a bottom panel (317), and a circular hole (318) on one of the top flaps (315) has now been formed, filled, capped (302) and sealed so the machine (701) now discharges this formed, filled, capped, and sealed carton to an end conveyor belt for further processing and shipping.
As may be appreciated, while several methods steps are illustrated and explained herein, it is to be appreciated that the novel and inventive aspects of the present disclosure may be encompassed in a single step or in combinations of two or more of the steps described herein.
As may be appreciated, while several apparatus are described in relation to the machine and systems described herein, it is to be appreciated that the novel and inventive aspects of the present disclosure may be encompassed in a single apparatus or component, or in combinations of two or more of the apparatus or components described herein.
Although the foregoing is a description of exemplary methods of operating a machine for forming, filling, closing, and sealing cartons with a liquid soap composition; it is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the particular descriptions disclosed. The present disclosure also comprises any modifications or equivalents within the scope of the claims.
As used herein, “and/or” placed between a first entity and a second entity means one of (1) the first entity, (2) the second entity, and (3) the first entity and the second entity. Multiple elements listed with “and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” of the elements so conjoined. Furthermore, the terms “comprising,” “consisting,” “including,” and “having,” as used in the claims and specification herein, shall be considered as indicating an open group that may include other elements not specified. The terms “a,” “an,” and the singular forms of words shall be taken to include the plural form of the same words, such that the terms mean that one or more of something is provided. The term “one” or “single” may be used to indicate that one and only one of something is intended. Similarly, other specific integer values, such as “two,” may be used when a specific number of things is intended.
Unless otherwise noted, all component or composition levels are in reference to the active portion of that component or composition, and are exclusive of impurities, for example, residual solvents or by-products, which may be present in commercially available sources of such components or compositions.
All percentages and ratios are calculated by weight unless otherwise indicated. All percentages and ratios are calculated based on the total composition unless otherwise indicated.
This application is a continuation of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2023/026502, filed Jun. 28, 2023, entitled “SYSTEMS, APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FORMING, FILLING, CLOSING AND SEALING GABLE TOP CARTONS FOR USE WITH LIQUID SOAP COMPOSITIONS”, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/809,318, entitled “METHOD OF OPERATING A MACHINE FOR FORMING, FILLING, CLOSING, AND SEALING GABLE TOP CARTONS WITH LIQUID SOAP COMPOSITIONS”, filed Jun. 28, 2022. Each of the above-identified patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/US2023/026502 | Jun 2023 | WO |
| Child | 19001979 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17809318 | Jun 2022 | US |
| Child | PCT/US2023/026502 | US |
