Systems and methods are disclosed that include an operation chamber, a plasma generator having at least one plasma head disposed within the operation chamber and in proximity to a profile formed by cutting a piece of tubing, and a mechanical motion module. The plasma generator generates a plasma treatment and applies the plasma treatment via the at least one plasma head to the profile to activate material on an end surface of the profile, within a lumen of the profile, or a combination thereof. Once the material of the profile is activated by the plasma treatment, the mechanical motion module manipulates the profile to close the lumen of the profile to aseptically seal the profile.

In the present invention, one surface of a belt-shaped sheet laminate (10), in which a plurality of sheets are laminated, is pressed against a support member (21) having a light passage section (27) through which a laser beam (30) can pass, and the belt-shaped sheet laminate (10) is irradiated, from the support member (21) side via the light passage section (27), with a laser beam (30) to cut and fusion-bond the belt-shaped sheet laminate (10), thereby sealed edge sections (4) are formed by fusion-bonding the edge sections of the plurality of sheets.

A method of fusing without contact the ends of thermoplastic filaments grouped together to form at least two tufts. The method steps include providing at least two tufts of thermoplastic filaments arranged at a distance to each other, providing a heating plate at least partly made from a conductive material and structured to have at least two heating sectors separated from one another by at least one separation sector arranged for emitting at least less thermal radiation then the heating sectors, each of the heating sectors having conductive material and a heating surface corresponding in shape and position to the shape and position of the ends of the tufts, exposing the ends of the tufts to the heating plate such that the tuft ends and the heating sectors are aligned with each other, and generating an electric-current flow through the heating sectors so that the heating surfaces of the heating sectors emit thermal radiation that is absorbed by the ends of the filaments, whereby the ends of the filaments melt and the filaments of each tuft are fused together.

The present invention is directed to a method forming a bottom-gusseted package, wherein each package includes an inwardly-extending, pleat-like gusset at the bottom of the package. To permit heat-sealing formation of each package, the sleeve from which each gusset is formed comprises a lamination of two differing polymeric materials, so that only an exterior surface of each sleeve exhibits the desired heat-sealing characteristics. To facilitate package formation, the sleeves from which the bottom gussets are formed are maintained in a temporarily closed or sealed configuration during package formation by providing a preferably frangible bond or seal at the edge of each sleeve. This result is preferably achieved by folding the laminate material, and temporarily sealing or joining an outer layer of the laminate material from which gusset is formed, while an inner layer is maintained in an unsealed condition.

A film edge sealing device is disclosed herein which has a groove defining a base. The base of the groove of the edge sealing device is oriented at a skewed angle with respect to a longitudinal direction of the conveyor of the heat sealing machine. Edges of a thermoplastic sheet or two stacked layers of thermoplastic sheets are introduced into the groove of the edge sealing device and placed in contact therewith to both heat and melt the edges of the thermoplastic sheet(s) to form a bead and join the edges thereof to form an edge bead seal.