DEEP DRAWING SHEET

Abstract

A deep drawing sheet packaging has a packaging body comprising a shell and a cover film. The cover film closes the shell, and the shell is formed from a deep drawing sheet. A printed material portion is arranged on the packaging body and is attached to the packaging body merely at a portion of a surrounding edge by an attachment seam.

Claims

1. A deep drawing sheet packaging with a packaging body comprising a shell and a cover film, wherein the cover film closes the shell and the shell is formed from a deep drawing sheet, wherein a printed material portion is arranged on the packaging body and attached to the packaging body only at a portion of a surrounding edge of the printed material portion by an attachment seam.

2. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 1, wherein the attachment seam extends over between 5 percent and 80 percent of the surrounding edge.

3. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 1, wherein the printed material portion is arranged on the cover film and wherein the printed material portion only covers between 30 percent and 80 percent of the cover film.

4. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 1, wherein the printed material portion is arranged on the cover film and covers the entire surface thereof, wherein the printed material portion has print which covers only between 30 percent and 80 percent of the printed material portion.

5. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 1, wherein the cover film and/or the deep drawing sheet are transparent.

6. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 1, wherein the attachment seam is formed as heat-seal seam.

7. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 1, wherein the shell and the cover film are connected to one another via a closure seam running along a surrounding side edge of the packaging body, wherein the closure seam is formed as heat-seal seam.

8. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 1, wherein the attachment seam is formed as adhesive seam.

9. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 7, wherein the attachment seam is formed so as to be completely detachable, and the closure seam is formed to be at least partially detachable.

10. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 7, wherein the closure seam has a safety portion in which the closure seam is formed permanent, and wherein the closure seam is formed detachable outside of the safety portion.

11. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 7, wherein the surrounding edge extends at least partially along a circumferential side edge of the packaging body, and the attachment seam is at least partially congruent with the closure seam.

12. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 11, wherein the packaging body has a rectangular shape, and the circumferential side edge is formed from two opposing first edge portions and two opposing second edge portions, and wherein the attachment seam is arranged only at the first edge portions.

13. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 1, wherein the deep drawing sheet and the cover film are formed to be single-stream.

14. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 1, wherein the packaging body is substantially unprinted.

15. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 1, wherein the shell has an imprint, particularly an information imprint.

16. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 1, wherein the printed material portion, the deep drawing sheet and the cover film are formed to be single-stream, wherein the printed material portion is unprinted at least in a region of the attachment seam.

17. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 1, wherein the deep drawing sheet has a thickness of between 50 μm and 500 μm.

18. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 1, wherein the cover film and/or the printed material portion have a thickness of between 20 μm and 150 μm.

19. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 1, wherein the printed material portion comprises a material selected from the group consisting of film, nonwoven and coated paper.

20. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 1, wherein the cover film and/or the printed material portion and/or the deep drawing sheet are formed to be multi-layered.

21. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 20, wherein the cover film and/or the printed material portion and/or the deep drawing sheet have at least one outer layer of polyolefin.

22. The deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 20, wherein the cover film and/or the printed material portion and/or the deep drawing sheet have at least one barrier layer.

23. A process for producing a deep drawing sheet packaging, comprising the following steps: supplying shells from a deep drawing sheet, covering the shells with a cover film and a printed material portion, heat sealing the cover film with the shell via a closure seam to close the shell and heat sealing the printed material portion with the cover film via an attachment seam in a sealing station, and severing the cover film and the printed material portion between two consecutive shells in transverse direction (CD), wherein the printed material portion is attached to the packaging body only at a portion of a surrounding edge by the attachment seam.

24. The process for producing a deep drawing sheet packaging according to claim 23, wherein the step of supplying comprises supplying a composite formed of the cover film and the printed material portion attached to the cover film via an attachment seam, wherein the step of covering comprises covering the shells with the composite, wherein the step of heat-sealing comprises heat-sealing the composite with the shell in a sealing station via a closure seam, and wherein step of severing comprises severing the cover film and the printed material portion between two consecutive shells in a transverse direction (CD).

25. The process according to claim 24, wherein the attachment seam is formed via an adhesive layer.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0042] The invention will be described in more detail in the following referring to an exemplary embodiment. The drawings show:

[0043] FIG. 1 a deep drawing packaging according to the invention with a strip-shaped printed material portion;

[0044] FIG. 2 the packaging according to FIG. 1 in cross section;

[0045] FIG. 3 an alternative embodiment of the deep drawing sheet packaging with printed material portion covering the entire surface;

[0046] FIG. 4 the packaging according to FIG. 3 in cross section;

[0047] FIG. 5 the deep drawing sheet packaging according to FIG. 1 seen from the underside;

[0048] FIG. 6 a process for producing the deep drawing sheet packaging according to FIG. 1;

[0049] FIG. 7 a process for producing a deep drawing sheet packaging according to FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0050] FIG. 1 shows a deep drawing sheet packaging according to the invention with a packaging body 1 comprising a shell 2 and a cover film 3 which closes the shell 2. The shell 2 has been transformed from a deep drawing sheet into a three-dimensional structure allowing the shell 2 to receive a product 4.

[0051] The shell 2 and the cover film 3 are joined together via a closure seam 5. The closure seam 5 is formed as a heat-seal seam and ensures a gas-tight and liquid-tight closure of the packaging body 1.

[0052] In the depicted example, neither the shell 2 nor the cover film 3 and, therefore, neither the entire packaging body 1 has print. However, it lies within the scope of the invention in principle that minimal print, e.g., batch numbers, storability data or registration marks, are printed on the packaging body 1. In principle, however, all of the essential printed information is arranged on an additional printed material portion 6 which lies flat on the cover film 3 and is connected to the latter via an attachment seam 7. It will be seen that the attachment seam 7 extends merely along a portion of the surrounding edge of the printed material portion 6 and is divided into two attachment seam portions 7a, 7b. These attachment seam portions 7a, 7b extend along portions of a circumferential side edge of the packaging body 1 and are congruent with the closure seam 5 at least in some areas.

[0053] The packaging body 1 has a rectangular shape, and the circumferential side edge is formed from two opposing first edge portions 8 and two opposing second edge portions 9. The attachment seam portions 7a, 7b are arranged only at the first edge portions 8. The first edge portions 8 form the short side, and the second edge portions 9 form the long side of the deep drawing sheet packaging or packaging body 1. With respect to the length of the first edge portions 8, the attachment seam portions 7a, 7b extend over 30 percent to 60 percent so that a relatively large surface region of the cover film 3 is accordingly not covered by the printed material portion 6 and is therefore visible from the outside. An embodiment of this kind is particularly advisable because the cover film 3 is formed transparent and the product 4 is therefore visible through the cover film 3. Accordingly, the final consumer can identify the product 4 without looking at the print on the printed material portion 6.

[0054] The exact construction of the deep drawing sheet packaging will be apparent from FIG. 2 which shows the deep-drawing packaging according to FIG. 1 in cross section. It will be seen that the closure seam 5 and the attachment seam 7 are congruent one above the other, and both are formed as heat-seal seams. Accordingly, both the closure seam 5 and the attachment seam 7 can be formed in only one sealing step so that the quantity of individual process steps is reduced.

[0055] The exact construction of the deep-drawing packaging will be apparent from Table 1. Accordingly, the printed material portion 6 and the cover film 3 are both made from the same material which comprises a layer of a biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) and a sealing layer which are laminated together via a two-component polyurethane adhesive (2K-PUR). The sealing layer is a co-extruded layer (PP-EVOH), a comparatively thin layer of ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) being arranged between two layers of polypropylene (PP). The layer of ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) forms a gas barrier layer which at least makes it more difficult for oxygen to penetrate, so that, e.g., the storability of foodstuffs can be prolonged. An adhesion promotor (HV) is arranged between the individual layers of co-extruded film in order to improve the adhesion effect.

[0056] The deep drawing sheet of the shell 2 is formed as co-extruded film (PP-EVOH) which was produced in particular by blown film extrusion. In blown film extrusion, a tube-shaped preform is formed. This preform is formed from a layer of ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) and two layers of polypropylene (PP), and the layers of polypropylene enclose the layer of ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer. The tubular preform is subsequently laid flat, and the layers of polypropylene lying one top of the other are interlocked together resulting in a doubled layer thickness, and the barrier layer can be divided between two layers. The thickness tolerances of the individual layers can be improved in this way. In view of the foregoing, the layer construction of the deep drawing sheet indicated in Table 1 relates to the preform. On the other hand, the indicated thickness of the deep drawing sheet corresponds to the actual film thickness or thickness of the flattened preform with doubled layer construction. Alternatively, the deep drawing sheet can also be produced by cast film extrusion.

[0057] The attachment seam 6 is formed at a layer of biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) and at a co-extruded layer (PP-EVOH). The closure seam 5 is correspondingly formed at two layers of polypropylene (PP). The sealing layers can be combined in a known manner so as to reduce the sealing seam strength and allow it to be easily detached.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Material portion 6 BOPP 20 μm 2K-PUR PP-EVOH 60 μm (PP/HV/EVOH/HV/PP) (25/4/2/4/25) Cover film 3 BOPP 20 μm 2K-PUR PP-EVOH 60 μm (PP/HV/EVOH/HV/PP) (25/4/2/4/25) Deep drawing sheet PP-EVOH 250 μm (PP/HV/EVOH/HV/PP) (45/5/5/5/65)

[0058] Viewed in conjunction with FIG. 5, it will be seen that the shell 2 has an information imprint 10 imprinted on its underside, by means of which information can be incorporated in the packaging body 1 without additional print. This information can be the brand name or a logo, for example. Additionally or alternatively, the imprint can also be a symbol of the main plastics class of the material or materials used to form the deep drawing sheet packaging.

[0059] An alternative embodiment form is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, in which the printed material portion 6 now extends over the entire surface of the cover film 3 and is attached to the cover film 3 along the first edge portions 8 via an attachment seam 7. In contrast to FIG. 1, the first edge portions 8 now refer to a long side of the packaging body 1. In addition, the individual attachment seam portions 7a, 7b are not formed as a heat-seal seam but as an adhesive seam so that an adhesive layer is correspondingly arranged between the cover film 3 and the printed material portion 6. Further, the material portion 6 has print which, however, does not extend over the entire surface of the printed material portion 6 so that it is still possible to see into the packaging body 1, and therefore to see the packaged product 4, when the cover film 3 and printed material portion 6 are formed transparent.

[0060] The exact construction will be apparent in particular from FIG. 4 and Table 2. The construction differs from the embodiment according to FIG. 2 only with respect to the printed material portion 6. Since the material portion 6 is connected to the cover film 3 via an attachment seam 7 formed as adhesive seam, the material portion 6 may be formed exclusively from a biaxially oriented polypropylene film (BOPP) without additional sealing layer.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Material portion 6 BOPP 20 μm Cover film 3 BOPP 20 μm 2K-PUR PP-EVOH 60 μm (PP/HV/EVOH/HV/PP) (25/4/2/4/25) Deep drawing sheet PP-EVOH 250 μm (PP/HV/EVOH/HV/PP) (45/5/5/5/65)

[0061] Regardless of the specific embodiment, the attachment seam 7 extends only along a portion of the surrounding edge of the printed material portion 6, and the attachment seam 7 is formed in such a way that the printed material portion 6 can be removed relatively easily by grasping it from behind so that it can be recycled separately from the packaging body 1. Accordingly, the attachment seams 7 are formed detachable. Alternatively, it is also possible to form them non-detachable, but at least one perforation should then be provided so that the printed material portion 6 outside of the attachment seams 7 can be removed. In such a case, however, at least the regions of the printed material portion 6 at which the attachment seam portions 7a, 7b extend should be unprinted so that they can be recycled together with the shell 2 and the cover film 3 in a single stream.

[0062] The closure seam 5 is also formed detachable in the depicted examples, and at least one portion of this closure seam 5 is formed as safety portion and cannot be detached in this region. This ensures that the cover film 3 remains on the shell 2 even after the packaging body 1 is opened and can accordingly be disposed of and recycled collectively.

[0063] FIG. 6 shows an exemplary process for producing a deep drawing sheet packaging according to FIG. 1, wherein a plurality of packaging bodies 1 run in machine direction MD. In a first step, the shells 2 are merely supplied from a deep drawing sheet and, in a second step, are covered by the cover film 3 and the printed material portion 6. Both the cover film 3 and the printed material portion 6 are provided in the form of continuous webs and are removed from rolls 11.

[0064] In a sealing step, the cover film 3 is sealed with the shell 2 and the printed material portion 6 is sealed with the cover film 3 in a sealing station 12, wherein the closure seam 5 and the attachment seam 7 with the attachment seam portions 7a, 7b are formed. As a result of the joint sealing, the attachment seam portions 7a, 7b extend congruent with the closure seam 5 in the region of the first edge portions 8 which extend in a transverse direction CD in a process of this kind. The second edge portions 9 correspondingly run in machine direction MD.

[0065] In a final step, the packaging bodies 1 are separated from one another by cutting through the cover film 3 and the printed material portion 6. The corners of the deep drawing sheet packaging can also be trimmed at the same time. In a trimming process of this kind, between 10 μm and 20 μm can be removed from the edge portions 8, 9 in order to compensate for possible misalignments between the cover film 3 and shell 2. Trimming is preferably carried out only on the second edge portions 9 in order to avoid excessive loss of material. Further, the corners between the first edge portions 8 and second edge portions 9 can also be punched out in a rounded manner.

[0066] FIG. 7 shows an alternative process for producing a deep drawing sheet packaging according to FIG. 3. In this case also, the shells 2 are fed in a machine direction MD and subsequently covered with a composite formed of a cover film 3 and the printed material portion 6. The cover film 3 has already been connected to the printed material portion 6 beforehand via an adhesive layer 13 so that the composite comprising cover film 3 and material portion 6 can be fed from a roll 11 in the form of a joint continuous web.

[0067] The adhesive layer 13 has been applied only to the first edge portions 8. The first edge portions 8 now extend in machine direction MD in the form of two strips. Further, the cover film is dimensioned such that the latter covers the cover film 3 over the entire surface thereof. An attachment seam 7 then forms between the cover film 3 and the printed material portion 6 via the adhesive layer 13, and the attachment seam portions 7a, 7b extend in machine direction MD.

[0068] The cover film 3 is subsequently sealed with the shell 2 in a sealing station 12 so that a closure seam 5 is formed along the circumferential side edge.

[0069] Finally, the individual deep drawing sheet packagings are also separated and the circumferential side edges are trimmed.