EP1312556B1 - Closing and opening device for hermetically sealed package - Google Patents

Abstract

The machine for opening and closing an agrochemical package has a piercing head (2) and a closure (4) on the package to be pierced by the piercing head. The closure reseals after passage and removal of the piercing point to prevent contacts between the package interior and the environment. The closure can have a disc (5) on the package wall. <??>Claims include a package for agrochemicals.

Description

The present invention relates to a device for opening / closing a hermetic packaging, in particular for preserving agri-food products.

However, although more particularly intended for hermetic packaging intended for the preservation of agri-food products, it may also be used for the packaging of any other type of product.

Applications are known in which the opening and closing of a package require special precautions aimed in particular to prevent contact between the contents or the inner environment of the packaging and the surrounding environment. ,

These applications include the opening and closing of hermetic packaging for the preservation of food products after their heat treatment. In this first application, it is known that after a heat treatment, certain food products reject a cooking juice or exudate that must be removed from the packaging before marketing the product. It is also known that it may be useful or even essential to check during or after the heat treatment certain data such as the temperature of the product contained in the package.

For these two reasons, and also for other reasons such as the possible injection of additional products into the package, it is necessary to be able to access the products contained in the package.

However, given the nature of the products, it is not possible for sanitary reasons to put in contact the inner environment of the packaging and the surrounding environment during the opening and then make the packaging hermetic again. when closing.

Currently, the solution to overcome this problem is to first open the sealed package and unpack the products and then repackage in a second sealed package. With regard to the monitoring of data such as the temperature on the product contained in the package, the technique used is the use of a sample a sample which is perforated and the contents of which are probed, this sample, serving as a reference for the other packagings, can not, however, in view of the perforation and the contact between the internal environment and the environment, be reused, therefore, the product content will be lost.

This problem, which to this day, according to our knowledge, has not been solved, has major economic, ecological and bacteriological consequences.

Among the applications requiring particular precautions in terms of the opening and closing of a package, let us also mention in the medical field the aspiration of a predefined dose of liquid contained in a bottle by means of a syringe allowing in particular avoid contact between the aspirated liquid and the surrounding environment. In this application, the package is perforated by the needle of a syringe and said liquid dose is sucked in its entirety by said syringe thus avoiding contact between the aspirated liquid and the environment and the empty bottle is then thrown.

This solution therefore has various disadvantages and in particular the packaging can not be reused, which leads to generally costly product losses.

The object of the invention is to provide a device for opening / closing a hermetic packaging, especially for the preservation of food products that overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks and allows to open and then close the hermetic packaging without that there is no contact between the internal environment and the environment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device for opening / closing a hermetic packaging, in particular for preserving agri-food products, in which it is possible to inject or suck liquids or semi-liquids. off or in the package.

Another object of the present invention is to propose a device for opening / closing a hermetic package, in particular for the preservation of agri-food products, in which it is possible to obtain data on the internal environment of the packaging by preventing any contact between the internal environment and the ambient environment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a reliable opening / closing device whose implementation is easy.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description which is given for information only and which is not intended to limit it.

• des moyens de percement (2),
• des moyens d'obturation (4) au-travers desquels on réalise le percement de l'emballage (3),
• lesdits moyens d'obturation (4) étant aptes à se refermer après percement lorsque les moyens de percement (2) sont retirés de manière à empêcher tout contact entre le milieu intérieur de l'emballage (3) et le milieu ambiant, (connu du document US 4 919 955 ),

caractérisé par le fait que lesdits moyens d'obturation (4) sont constitués d'un matériau thermoplastique présentant une dureté shore comprise entre 55 et 90 et un coefficient d'élasticité compris de préférence entre 550 et 650 %, en forme de rondelle (5), assujettie sur la paroi dudit emballage (3), et constituée d'un anneau (15) circonscrivant un disque (14), ledit anneau (15) présentant un coefficient d'allongement inférieur et une rigidité supérieure à celle du disque (14), de telle façon que ledit anneau (15) constitue un cerclage, voire un sertissage du disque (14), et dont le rapport entre le diamètre et l'épaisseur est voisin de trois.According to the invention, the device for opening / closing (1) a hermetic package (3), in particular for preserving agri-food products comprising:

• piercing means (2),
• shut-off means (4) through which the packaging (3) is pierced,
• said closure means (4) being adapted to close after piercing when the piercing means (2) are removed so as to prevent any contact between the inner environment of the package (3) and the ambient environment (known from document US 4,919,955 )

characterized by the fact that said sealing means (4) consist of a thermoplastic material having a Shore hardness of between 55 and 90 and a coefficient of elasticity preferably of between 550 and 650%, in the form of a washer (5). ), secured on the wall of said package (3), and consisting of a ring (15) circumscribing a disc (14), said ring (15) having a lower coefficient of elongation and rigidity greater than that of the disc (14). ), such that said ring (15) constitutes a strapping or crimping of the disc (14), and whose ratio between the diameter and the thickness is close to three.

The invention also relates to a package equipped with the aforementioned sealing means.

• la figure 1 montre, selon une vue schématique, un exemple de réalisation du dispositif d'ouverture/fermeture d'un emballage hermétique conforme à l'invention,
• les figures 2 à 4 illustrent, selon une vue schématique les différentes étapes d'ouverture/fermeture de l'emballage hermétique,
• la figure 5 montre, selon une vue schématique, une étape supplémentaire à celles des figures 2 à 4 mettant en oeuvre le dispositif d'ouverture/fermeture conforme à l'invention,
• la figure 6 représente, selon une vue schématique un exemple de réalisation des moyens d'obturation conforme à l'invention.

The invention will be better understood on reading the following description, accompanied by the appended drawings which form an integral part thereof and among which:

• FIG. 1 shows, in a schematic view, an exemplary embodiment of the device for opening / closing a hermetic package according to the invention,
• Figures 2 to 4 illustrate, in a schematic view the different steps of opening / closing the sealed package,
• FIG. 5 shows, in a schematic view, a step supplementary to those of FIGS. 2 to 4 implementing the opening / closing device according to the invention,
• FIG. 6 represents, in a schematic view, an embodiment of the sealing means according to the invention.

The present invention relates to a device for opening / closing a sealed package, in particular for preserving agri-food products.

However, this device also applies to hermetic packaging for any other product and for example the storage of pharmaceutical or chemical products.

As shown more particularly in Figure 1, the opening / closing device 1 according to the invention of a sealed package 3 comprises piercing means 2 of the wall of said package 3. The opening / closing device 1 comprises also closure means 4 through which is made the piercing of the package 3.

According to the invention, said closure means 4 are able to close after piercing when said piercing means 2 are removed so as to prevent any contact between the inner environment of the package 3 and the surrounding environment.

In the embodiment of Figures 1 to 5, said closure means 4 are constituted by at least one element 5 secured to the wall of said package 3. Advantageously, said element 5 is arranged on the outer side so as to facilitate its location.

However, especially in the case of a package 3 consisting of a transparent wall, said element 5 can be placed on the inner face of said wall.

The securing between said element 5 and the wall is preferably made by gluing. However, any other means known to those skilled in the field of fastening may be envisaged and in particular for example a thermo-welding of said element 5 on said wall of said package 3.

That being so, in another embodiment of the invention, said closure means 4 are integrated at the level of the wall of said package 3. For this purpose, said hermetic package 3 can be advantageously produced by bi-injection.

In the embodiment of Figures 1 to 5, said closure means 4 consist of at least one thermoplastic material advantageously elastomeric type. This thermoplastic material must have specific characteristics allowing when said shutter means 4 are drilled, to close the hole created. For this, said at least one material used must have a high coefficient of elasticity and also an average hardness so that said closure means 4 have a good hold and that the hole closes instantly that is to say say that at no time does the environment come into contact with the inner environment of the package 3.

After various tests and tests, it has been found that a material having elasticity coefficients of between 600 and 700%, or even between 550 and 650%, and a hardness of between 35 and 55 shores, or even between 55 and 90 shores, is particularly well suited to form said closure means 4.

In the case of an application of a hermetic packaging 3 for the preservation of food products, it will be advantageous to choose closure means 4 made of a material marketed under the trademark "VITAPRENE", said material having a neighboring hardness shore of 40 and an elongation coefficient of about 650%, the wall of the sealed package 4 being made of a polyethylene or polyamide film

However, this example is of course not limiting, for example, it is possible to use materials marketed under the trademarks "SANTOPRENE" and "SANDOZ" with characteristics of similar hardness and elongation coefficient.

In the aforementioned embodiment, the sealing means 4 are constituted by at least one element 5 secured to the wall of the package, subjection is preferably carried out by a single-component cyanoacrylate type adhesive low viscosity and rapid polymerization, this type of glue is sold in particular under the trademark "LOCTITE".

In the embodiment of Figure 1, said closure means 4 are in the form of washers. The dimensions of the sealing washer are determined firstly to be sufficient to allow easy positioning of the piercing means 2 and secondly relatively small so as to require a minimum of material whose cost is high.

As shown in Figures 1 to 5, said sealing washer 5 is made from a single material.

However, it is possible to consider, depending on the application, the use of a sealing washer 5 made from two materials. Indeed, it has been found that when the drilling is carried out on a flexible packaging and / or whose content is not rigid, it is preferable, to avoid the absorption of the constituent constituent adite material 5 and to increase the hermeticity of the packaging at the piercing, to make said washer 5 from two materials.

Referring to FIG. 6, it can be seen that the washer consists of a ring 15 circumscribing a disk 14 in such a way that the ring 15 constitutes a strapping or even crimping of the disk 14.

Said ring 15 has a lower coefficient of elongation and rigidity greater than that of the disc 14.

By way of example in the final state, the ring 15 has substantially an internal diameter of 20 mm and an outside diameter of 24 mm, whereas the diameter of the disc 14 is substantially 20 mm, the washer then has a diameter of 24 mm noticeably.

The materials used for said ring 15 and said disk 14 are preferably, respectively, a thermoplastic elastomer-type material with a hardness close to 70 shores and a coefficient of elasticity close to 600, for the ring and a thermoplastic material such as elastomer. hardness close to 40 shores and coefficient of elasticity close to 650, for the disk.

According to an advantageous embodiment, said washer 5 is obtained by introducing a cylinder of the material constituting the disk 14 into a tube of the material constituting the ring 15 and by cutting thickness slices, preferably comprised of between 4 and 10 mm.

In order to facilitate the insertion of said cylinder, the tube is placed under pressure so as to increase its internal diameter.

To take again the case of the preceding example of the washer of a diameter 24 mm, one chooses a cylinder of diameter 20 mm and a tube of outside diameter 20 mm. Thus, after its forced fitting, the cylinder is under stress and radially compressed.

However, it has been found that the use of a washer whose diameter is advantageously between 12 and 20 mm, or even 12 and 24 mm, was a good compromise.

It has been found that to obtain a good closure of the package ensuring its hermeticity, the thickness of the washer should be proportional to its diameter and advantageously, the coefficient of proportionality is close to 3, and in the case of a washer whose diameter is between 12 and 24 mm, the thickness of said washer will be included, preferably between 4 and 8 mm.

According to the applications, said opening / closing device 1 allows access to the contents of said sealed package 3 to allow injection and / or suction of liquid or semi-liquid in and / or out of the package or possibly to obtain data on the inner environment of the packaging 3. For this purpose, it provides at the level of said piercing means 2, injection and / or suction means 6. To obtain the data at the level of said piercing means 2 at least one sensor 7 is also provided.

Said injection and / or suction means 6 consist of a pump 8 connected to, on the one hand, one or more tanks intended either for contain liquids or semi-liquids to be injected into said package 3, intended to collect liquids or semi-liquids sucked out of said package 3 and, on the other hand, a conduit 9 disposed at said piercing means 2 so as to allow the injection and / or suction of liquids or semi-liquids in and / or out of the package by preventing any contact between the inner environment of the package 3 and the environment.

Similarly, said sensor 7 for obtaining data on the inner environment of the package is disposed at said piercing means 2 so as to prevent any contact between the inner environment of the package and the ambient environment, especially when of obtaining the data. Said sensor 7 is preferably connected to a control and data display unit 10.

In the embodiment of Figures 1 to 5, said piercing means 2 consist of a hollow needle 11 having an orifice 12 at the portion piercing the wall of said package 3. The shape of said hollow needle 11 allows in particular the insertion of said injection and / or suction means 6, the injection and / or aspiration of liquids or semi-liquids being through said orifice 12. In fact, said orifice 12 allows a contact between the inner medium of the package 3 and the interior of said needle 12.

In order not to bring the inner medium of the package 3 into contact with the ambient medium, said hollow needle 11 has only one opening constituted by said orifice 12. This orifice 12 prevents any contact between the inner environment of the packaging. 3 and the ambient environment has dimensions determined so that, during perforation, the orifice can not bring into contact the inner environment of the package 3 and the ambient environment.

Thus, for example, in the case of a perforation perpendicular to the plane defined by said wall, the dimension of said orifice 12 along the axis of perforation is less than the total width of said piercing means 4 and the wall of said package 3.

In a variant of the invention, it is also possible to envisage an orifice 12 having opening / closing means, the orifice 12 being then plugged when the orifice is outside the package, and open when the orifice is inside the package.

Referring to Figures 2 to 5, the operation of the opening / closing device 1 is as follows. In a first step, represented in FIG. 2, said piercing means 2 constituted in the example by the hollow needle 11 are preferably positioned vertically above said closure means 4.

In a second step, the said sealing means 4 and the wall of the package 3 are pierced. At this stage, it is found that the wall 3 is broken, and it can also be seen that the said closure means 4 consist of said element 5 are pierced.

Given the physical characteristics of the material used for said element 5, the flange 5a of the element 5 bears against the edges of said needle 11 thus preventing any contact between the inner environment of the package 3 and the ambient environment. At this stage, illustrated in FIG. 3, the orifice 12 of said needle 11 is in contact with the inner medium of the package 3, it is therefore possible to suck or inject liquid or semi-liquid from injection and / or suction means 6. It is also possible at this stage by means of the sensor 7 to obtain data on the internal environment of the package 3 and in particular temperature measurements.

At this level, it is important to emphasize that to ensure the hermeticity of the package, it is advantageous to choose for the needle a diameter representing approximately one quarter to one-quarter of the diameter of the washer.

By way of example, according to a first embodiment, the needle 11 has a diameter of 5 mm and defines an internal conduit 3 mm in diameter, and the washer has a diameter of 24 mm and a thickness of 8 mm. The injection and / or suction means 6 allow the suction of a liter of liquid in 45 seconds.

According to a second embodiment, the needle 11 has a diameter of 4 mm, and defines an internal conduit 2 mm in diameter, and the washer has a diameter of 24 mm and a thickness of 8 mm. The injection and / or suction means 6 allow the suction of a liter of liquid in 1 minute.

The choice of the dimensions of the needle and the washer will be determined generally, on the one hand, by the time available for the injection and / or suction operations and, on the other hand, by the quantities of liquids and or semi liquids to be injected or aspirated.

In a third step, and referring to Figure 4, said needle 11 was removed from said package 3. It is found at this level that said package 3 remains pierced. During removal of the needle 11, the flank 5a created by the piercing of said element 5 matches the shape of the needle 11, when it is removed, the flanks 5a touch and the piercing is closed instantly, the flanks are closed. gluing, taking into account the material or materials used for the puck. Thus, at no time, the inner environment of the package 3 has been in contact with the ambient environment.

At this level, it is important to note that, when the hermetic package 3 is a vacuum package, said flank 5a is, during removal of said needle 11, sucked inward of said package 3, this suction allows to ensure an even greater hermeticity.

Thanks to the depression and the material of the washer 5, there is somehow a self-sealing. It will be noted that this effect is further reinforced, in the case of the variant illustrated in FIG. 6, in which the ring 15 radially compresses the material of the disc 14.

It is also possible to envisage in a variant to further improve the hermeticity of the heat-seal packaging during the removal of the needle 11, said element 5. For this purpose, according to a preferred embodiment, the thermo-welding is made from a soldering iron whose end is of conical shape to achieve as shown in Figure 5 a cone of material 13 placed in line with the bore made in the wall of the packaging 3.

This device therefore allows, especially in the case where it is intended for the conservation of agri-food products, not having to unpack the products and then repackage them and therefore to use only one package, which provides this device a significant ecological and economic advantage over known devices.

The present invention also relates to a package 3 equipped with closure means 4 as mentioned above.

Naturally, other embodiments of the device could have been envisaged by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention defined by the claims below.

Claims (9)

1. A device for opening/closing (1) a sealed packaging (3), in particular intended for the preservation of agrofood products including:

   - piercing means (2),

   - sealing means (4) through which the packaging (3) is pierced,

   - said sealing means (4) being capable of closing after piercing when the piercing means (2) are withdrawn so as to prevent any contact between the inner medium of the packaging (3) and the surrounding medium,

   characterised in that said sealing means (4) consist of a thermoplastic material exhibiting a Shore hardness ranging between 55 and 90 and an elasticity coefficient ranging preferably between 550 and 650 %, in the form of a washer (5), slaved on the wall of said packaging (3), and formed of a ring (15) circumscribing a disc (14), said ring (15) exhibiting an elongation coefficient lower than and a stiffness greater than that of the disc (14), so that said ring (15) forms a hoop, possibly a crimp of the disc (14), and whereof the ratio between the diameter and the thickness is close to three.
2. A device for opening/closing according to claim 1, wherein said washer (5) is bonded and/or welded to the wall of said packaging (3).
3. A device for opening/closing according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said washer (5) exhibits a diameter ranging between 12 and 24 mm, and a thickness ranging between 4 and 8 mm.
4. A device for opening/closing according to claim 1, wherein said ring (15) exhibits a hardness greater than and an elongation coefficient lower than that of said disc (14).
5. A device for opening/closing according to any of the previous claims, wherein are provided, at said piercing means (2), injection and/or suction means (6) enabling the injection and/or the suction of liquids or semi-liquids in and/or outside the packaging while preventing any contact between the inner medium of the packaging (3) and the surrounding medium.
6. A device for opening/closing according to any of the previous claims, wherein is provided, at said piercing means (2), at least a sensor (7) enabling to obtain data on the inner medium of the packaging (3) while preventing any contact between the inner medium of the packaging (3) and the surrounding medium.
7. A device for opening/closing according to any of the previous claims, wherein said piercing means (2) consist of a hollow needle (11) including an orifice (12) at the portion piercing the wall of said packaging (3).
8. A packaging fitted with the sealing means (4) according to any of the previous claims 1 to 7.
9. A sealing washer (5) intended for fitting an opening/closing device according to any of the previous claims 1 to 7.

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