DE29817142U1 - Stand-up pouch made of weldable material - Google Patents

Description

:;..;Buses & Buses ■"••"Patent Attorneys

European Patent and Trademark Attorneys

Bishop and Klein Dipl.-Ing. Dr. iur. V. Busse

GmbH & Co. Dipl.-Ing. Dietrich Busse

Rahestrasse 47 Dipl.-Ing. Egon Bünemann

· u Dipl.-Ing. Ulrich Pott

D-49525 Lengerich

Grosshandelsring 6

D-49084 Osnabruck

PO Box 1226

D-49Ö02 Osnabruck

Telephone: 0541-586081 Fax: 0541-588164

L/Ko 23.09.1998

Stand-up pouches made of weldable material

The invention relates to a stand-up pouch made of weldable material according to the preamble of claim 1.

Such stand-up pouches are widely used, e.g. as refill packaging for liquid, pasty or powdery, i.e. generally pourable, filling materials. When filled with a welded head end, these stand-up pouches generally exhibit folds that can appear both in the two bag walls and at the weld seam edges. These folds are caused by the round-oval shape of the bag starting from the bottom of the bag, caused by the bottom fold being pressed flat under the weight of the filling material, in conjunction with the welding of the head end after the bag has been filled by a straight flat weld seam connecting the two bag walls. This also means that the stand-up pouch is wider in the head area than in the bottom area when filled. This

This creates mutual overlap between bags placed next to each other on a sales shelf or, if mutual overlap is not desired, a correspondingly larger shelf area is required for the sales display of the bags.

The invention is primarily based on the object of creating a stand-up pouch of the type specified at the outset, in which, when filled, folds in the bag material and overlaps between filled bags standing close together on the sales shelf are avoided.

This object is achieved according to the invention by a design of the stand-up pouch according to claim 1. Due to the fact that in this design only the lateral weld seam edges in the area of the bottom fold run parallel to each other, while the lateral weld seam edges of the bag walls otherwise converge obliquely towards the head end, the bag, which lies flat in its empty state, is narrower in the head area than in the base area. When the bag is filled, when the round-oval base is formed by flattening the inserted bottom fold, the bag has the same width across its vertical axis by appropriately dimensioning the convergence angle of the oblique weld seam edges, which is in the range of about 5° to a vertical in extension of the adjacent lateral

This prevents partially overlapping filled bags placed next to each other on the shelf, so that the bags can be placed close together to save space. At the same time, the divider ribs made from the wall material, which converge in the opposite direction to the slanted weld edges, prevent the formation of folds in the material of the bag walls or on the weld edges.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the lower weld seam edges of the bottom fold can be slightly beveled, starting from a central area, from their underside to the side weld seam edges. This slight bevel prevents compression pressure on the outer bottom corners when the filled bags are set up, which improves the stability of the bag and also prevents the so-called tipping, which, depending on the contents and the dimensions of the bag, manifests itself in the bag rocking or swaying on the bottom contour of the known bags.

Another advantage is that the upper and lower corners of the bag are rounded, which prevents hand injuries caused by scratches when handling the bags.

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Further features and advantages of the invention emerge from the further subclaims and the following description in conjunction with the drawing, the sole figure of which shows a schematic front view of a stand-up pouch in the empty state to illustrate an embodiment of the invention.

The drawing shows a stand-up pouch made of weldable material, designated as a whole by 1, whereby suitable polyolefins, such as polyethylene or polypropylene, or composite films, in which metal foils, especially aluminum foils, can be incorporated, are particularly suitable as weldable bag materials. Such films are common materials in bag production.

The bag 1 has a closed bottom end 2 and an initially open head end 3. The bag body is formed by two bag walls 4 which lie flat against one another when the bag 1 is empty and which are welded together at their side edges 5 and 6 by a flat weld seam 7.

The bottom end 2 is formed by a bottom fold 8 which, when the bag 1 is empty, extends with its central inner folding edge 9 between the two bag walls 4 and is in turn welded at its lower edges 10 and the side edges 11 and 12 by flat welding.

seams 13 and 14 respectively with the adjacent bag wall. The welding of the bottom fold 8 with the adjacent bag walls 4 is completed by lateral diagonal weld seams 15 between the respective bottom fold half and the adjacent bag wall 4 to improve a flat bottom formation in the filled bag 1. The bottom fold 8 is spread flat under the pressure of the filling material filled in during filling operation and then forms a flat base for the filled bag 1, which defines a vertical axis 16.

The side weld seam edges 11, 12 of the bottom fold 8 run parallel to each other and to the central vertical axis 16 of the bag, with this parallel edge extending upwards only briefly beyond the inner fold edge 9 of the bottom fold 8. From this area adjacent to the inner fold edge 9, the side weld seam edges 5 and 6 of the bag walls 4 have an oblique course converging towards the head end 3. The convergence angle is approximately 7° to a vertical in extension of the lower weld seam edges 11, 12 of the bottom fold 8.

In the example shown, two divider ribs 17 made of the wall material are formed from the inside to the outside in each bag wall 4, whereby the bag wall surface is interrupted. The two divider ribs 17 extend in the two bag walls 4 from the corner areas between the head end 3 and the adjacent side

Weld seam 7 and have an oblique course converging towards the bottom fold 8. The end points of the divider ribs 17 lie in a transverse plane of the bag 1 containing the transition area between the parallel weld seam edges 11, 12 and the oblique weld seam edges 5, 6, which in the empty state shown runs parallel to the inner folding edge 9 of the bottom fold 8.

The divider ribs 17 each extend in a field of the respective bag wall 4, which is delimited on one side by the respective lateral weld seam 7 and on the other side by a vertical plane containing the vertical axis 16 of the bag 1. Depending on the dimensions of the bag, further, possibly shorter divider ribs can be provided in the respective bag wall field in a suitable arrangement.

The divider ribs 17 each enclose an acute angle o( ^ 45° with the adjacent oblique weld seam edge 5 or 6. In the example shown, the angle o( is approximately 15°. The divider ribs 17 in the two bag walls 4 have a congruent design and arrangement.

Starting from a central area 18, the lower weld seam edges 10 of the bottom fold 8 are slightly bevelled from their underside towards the lateral weld seam edges 11, 12, which is achieved by punching out the previously formed

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flat weld seam 13. The bevelled areas 19 of the lower weld seam 13 take up approximately one third of their length on both sides of the non-bevelled central area 18. The bevel angle of the seam areas 19 relative to the edge 10 of the central seam area 18 is a few degrees, e.g. approximately 3° to 5°.

Finally, the upper bag corners 20 formed by the flat weld seams 7 and the lower bag corners 21 formed by the flat weld seams 13, 14 are bevelled or rounded to avoid hand injuries.

The head end 3, which is initially left open for filling with pourable filling material in a filling plant and which can also include a pouring aid (not shown in detail), is closed after filling through the opening presented by the head end 3 when the two bag walls 4 are spread apart by applying a continuous weld seam to the head end 3 connecting the upper bag corners 20, so that the bag 1 is tightly sealed all around when filled. Thanks to the design according to the invention, folds and lateral overhang are avoided in this filled state of the bag while the bag remains stable.

Claims (8)

1. Stand-up bag made of weldable material, with two bag walls connected to one another at their side edges by a weld seam, a head end and a bottom end which is formed by a bag fold which, when the bag is empty, extends between the two bag walls and is in turn connected to the adjacent bag wall at its lower and side edges by weld seams, characterized in that the side weld seam edges ( 11 , 12 ) of the bottom fold ( 8 ) run parallel to one another and to a central vertical axis ( 16 ) of the bag ( 1 ), while the side weld seam edges ( 5 , 6 ) of the bag walls ( 4 ) have an oblique course converging from an area adjacent to the bottom fold ( 8 ) to the head end ( 3 ), and that in each bag wall ( 4 ) at least two divider ribs ( 17 ) are formed from the wall material, which extend from the two corner areas between the head end ( 3 ) and the respective adjacent lateral weld seam ( 7 ), have an oblique course converging towards the bottom fold ( 8 ) and end freely in a transverse plane of the bag ( 1 ) containing the transition region between the parallel and oblique weld seam edges ( 11 , 12 ; 5 , 6 ). 2. Stand-up pouch according to claim 1, characterized in that the plate ribs ( 17 ) each extend in a field of the respective bag wall ( 4 ) which is delimited on one side by the lateral weld seam ( 7 ) and on the other side by a vertical plane containing the vertical axis ( 16 ) of the bag ( 1 ). 3. Stand-up pouch according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the divider ribs ( 17 ) each enclose an acute angle α ≤ 45° with the adjacent oblique weld seam edge ( 5 , 6 ). 4. Stand-up pouch according to claim 3, characterized in that the angle α is approximately 15°. 5. Stand-up pouch according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the dividing ribs ( 17 ) in the two bag walls ( 4 ) have a congruent design and arrangement. 6. Stand-up pouch according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the lower weld seam edges ( 10 ) of the bottom fold ( 8 ), starting from a central region ( 18 ), are beveled from their underside towards the lateral weld seam edges ( 11 , 12 ). 7. Stand-up pouch according to claim 6, characterized in that the beveled regions ( 19 ) of the lower weld seam ( 13 ) each take up approximately 1/3 of the length, on both sides of the non-beveled central region ( 18 ), of the lower weld seam ( 13 ). 8. Stand-up pouch according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the upper and lower bag corners ( 20 , 21 ) are rounded.