Process for individually marking a medical product present under film or in a bag and marked product

Abstract

A process for the marking of a film or a bag, which consists of a film at least in sections, wherein the film or the bag comprises a medical product or is provisioned or prepared for the uptake of such, wherein the process comprises connecting a film strip with, in, to and/or on the film, wherein the film strip carries information for marking the medical product.

Claims

1. A process for marking a film or a bag which possesses the film at least in sections, wherein the film or the bag possesses or surrounds a medical product or is configured to possess or surround a medical product, the process comprising: producing a passage opening through one section of the film, the passage opening comprising a continuous slot and having a first side and a second side; arranging a film strip relative to the film such that a first portion of the film strip is on the first side of the passage opening and a second portion of the film strip is on the second side of the passage opening, wherein the film strip carries information for marking the medical product; and securing the film strip to the film by creating a weld between the first and second portions of the film strip such that the weld is within the continuous slot, wherein the continuous slot has a length that is at least as large as a width of the film strip.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein the film is part of the bag.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein the bag contains the medical product.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein the information comprises at least one of a code, plain text, or a symbol.

5. The process of claim 1, wherein the film comprises a first material and the film strip comprises a second material different from the first material.

6. The process of claim 5, wherein the second material comprises surface properties configured to allow color adhesion of the information.

7. The process of claim 1, wherein securing the film strip, via the weld, to the film comprises forming an irreversible connection such that removing the film strip from the film comprises destruction of at least one of the film strip or the film.

8. A medical product present inside or under a film, wherein a film strip is secured to the film, wherein the film strip carries information for marking of the medical product, wherein a first portion of the film strip is connected to a second portion of the film strip via a weld connection, wherein at least one section of the film is formed in at least two layers, wherein the at least one section of the film defines a passage opening comprising a continuous slot through one or more of the at least two layers, wherein the film strip is present on both sides of the passage opening, and wherein the weld connection of the film strip to itself is in the continuous slot, and wherein the continuous slot has a length that is at least as large as a width of the film strip.

9. The medical product according to claim 1, wherein the film strip is connected to at least one outer layer or outer face of the film.

10. The medical product of claim 8, wherein the film is part of a bag.

11. The medical product of claim 10, wherein the bag contains the medical product.

12. The medical product of claim 8, wherein the information comprises at least one of a code, plain text, or a symbol.

13. The medical product of claim 8, wherein the film comprises a first material and the film strip comprises a second material different from the first material.

14. The medical product of claim 13, wherein the second material comprises surface properties configured to allow color adhesion of the information.

15. The medical product of claim 8, wherein the film strip is secured to the film such that removing the film strip from the film comprises destruction of at least one of the film strip or the film.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(1) In the following, embodiments are described with reference to the enclosed figures in a purely exemplary fashion.

(2) FIG. 1 is a simplified sectional view a medical product in a (film) bag with a film, which bag possesses a film strip with information for the marking of the medical product, in a first embodiment;

(3) FIG. 2 shows the bag from FIG. 1 with a film strip with information for the marking of the medical product, in a second embodiment;

(4) FIG. 3 shows the bag from FIG. 1 with a film strip with information for the marking of the medical product, in a third embodiment; and

(5) FIGS. 4 to 6 each show steps for the application of the marking on the film strip as well as the subsequent connection of the film strip with the bag.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(6) The following figures describe an example, in which a film strip is welded to a film. This example is just that, purely exemplary. Other connecting processes or joining processes, which contain no welding or do not exclusively contain welding, are also contemplated, however, are not illustrated with figures in order to avoid repetition.

(7) FIG. 1 shows a section of a bag 1 in a simplified sectional view, wherein the bag encloses a medicinal product 3 (here, a medical consumable material such as a dialysis fluid or dialysis solution) as well as a film strip 5 with information for the marking 7 of the medical product 3. The bag 1 is produced from a film 9, is equivalent to such or at least possesses a film 9.

(8) Exemplarily, the bag 1 is surrounded, packaged or protected by an outer film 11, which can, accordingly, be described as a surrounding film, protective film or packaging. The outer film 11 is only shown schematically in the figures. It is optional and, if present, preferably arranged to surround the bag 1 entirely.

(9) The marking 7 can be applied to the film strip 5 in different ways. For example, the film strip 5 can be printed on with an ink. Additionally or alternatively, the film strip 5 can be marked using a laser process or gluing.

(10) In the purely exemplary first embodiment of FIG. 1, the film strip 5 is connected with an outer surface 13 (or an outer layer or a first film layer 9a if the film 9 is arranged in multiple layers as in the example of FIG. 1) of the film 9 via at least one welded connection or welding point 15. To this end, the material of the film strip 5 and the material of the film 9 are chosen to be weldable to each other. In other exemplary embodiments according to the invention, in which the film strip 5 is not connected with the film 9 via a welded connection, but instead, for example via a glue connection, the welded connection or welding point 15 is thus a glue connection or a gluing point, etc.

(11) For this purpose, thermoplastics are a particularly suitable film material and film strip material, as these typically soften, become plastically malleably free-flowing and are weldable under the influence of heat. Thermoplastics such as polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE), which are connectable, for example weldable, using the usual joining processes, in particular the joining processes mentioned herein, as well as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) could be used.

(12) The area of the welded connection 15 can, for example, be strip shaped, seam shaped or flap shaped (the longitudinal arrangement of the strip/the seam or the flap runs perpendicular to the plane of the drawing in FIG. 1).

(13) In the end of the bag 1 shown in FIG. 1 on the right, the film 9 in a first film layer 9a abuts upon a second film layer 9b and in this position is welded to the former at least in sections. This welding is not shown in FIG. 1 and is independent of the welding point 15, in which the film strip 5 is connected to the film 9 by welding.

(14) The welding 15 is carried out in the example of FIG. 1 particularly at the outer edge of the bag 1 or in the area, in which the first film layer 9a overlaps with the second film layer 9b and where they are welded together. The area, in which the first film layer 9a and the second film layer 9b are welded together, can be arranged further inward in relation to the welding 15 (directed toward the bag contents or the medical product 3), can overlap in the area of the welding 15 of the film strip 5 with the film 9 or can be arranged further outward (in FIG. 1 to the right).

(15) FIG. 2 shows the bag 1 of FIG. 1, the film strip 5, which carries information for the marking 7 of the medical product 3, however, is attached to the film 9 in a different way from the one in FIG. 1.

(16) As opposed to the first embodiment of FIG. 1, in the second embodiment in FIG. 2, the film strip 5 is arranged in at least a section 5a between a section of the first film layer 9a and a section of the second film layer 9b.

(17) In the example of FIG. 2, the film strip 5 is welded to two interior surfaces of the film 9 or with each of the internal face 17a of the first film layer 9a and the internal face 17b of the second film layer 9b. In particular, the film strip 9 is welded in the welding area 15 bilaterally, that is with both its outer surfaces (in FIG. 2 thus with the upper and lower surface), with the two internal faces 17a of the first film layer 9a facing each other in the example of FIG. 2 or the internal face 17b of the second film layer 9b of the film 9, respectively. In other embodiments according to the invention, the film strip is welded to only one of the internal faces 17a, 17b with its section 5a.

(18) FIG. 3 shows the bag from FIG. 1 with a medical product 3 as well as a further arrangement and mounting of the film strip 5 on the film 9 or the bag, respectively.

(19) As opposed to FIG. 1 as well as FIG. 2, in FIG. 3, the film strip 5 is not welded to the film 9 of the bag 1, but with itself in at least one welding 19. Specifically, in the welding 19, a section of the film strip 5 is welded with a further section of the film strip 5, preferably exclusively with itself. To this end, ideally, the material of the film strip 5 is weldable to itself. Alternatively, the film strip 5 could be suitably coated or show a different or modified material, at least in the area of the welding 19 of the film strip with itself, in order to ensure the weldability of the film strip or its coating, respectably, with itself.

(20) The welding of the film strip 5 with itself is possible in the example of FIG. 3 as the bag 1 possesses a passage opening in its (in FIG. 3) right side end portion, in which the first film layer 9a and the second film layer 9b are connected to each other, wherein the passage opening passes through top surface as well as bottom surface of the bag 1. The passage opening can be a continuous slot 27 as shown in FIG. 6 as it is explained in the section concerning FIG. 6. Other shapes than a slot shape, for example round, rectangular or the like, are possible for the passage opening as well.

(21) On account of the passage opening, the welding of the film strip with itself can be carried out through the film 9. The welding of the film strip 5 through the passage opening connects the film strip 5 positively in relation to the film 9 or the bag 1, not requiring a non-positive or materially bonded connection therewith. Advantageously, this allows choosing materials for the film 9 on the one hand and for the film strip 5 on the other hand, which are not weldable to each other or, possibly, are only weldable to each other when a special effort is made.

(22) FIG. 4 shows possible steps, and in certain embodiments even all steps, which are required for applying the marking 7 on the film strip 5 as well as for the subsequent connecting of the film strip 5 with the film 9 of the bag 1 according to the embodiment of FIG. 1.

(23) The area of a welding or welding seam 21 of the overlapping first and second film layers 9a, 9b of the film 9 (the welding of the film layers 9a, 9b for sealing the bag 1) is shown in dashes as stripes.

(24) The area of the welding 15 of the film strip 5 with the film 9 or of the first film layer 9a lies particularly in the outer area (in FIG. 4 in the right side end portion of the film 9).

(25) Initially, in a first step 23, the marking 7 is applied to the film strip 5. This can be carried out by printing on the film strip 5 with ink or with the aid of a laser labelling process. Subsequently, in a second step 25, the film strip 5, which was printed upon or which was marked in a different way, is welded to the film 9. Preferably, the film strip 5 does not cover the entire width of the film 9.

(26) It is noted that, according to the invention, the steps 23 and 25 could be carried out in opposite order from the one described herein. This is also true for the embodiments, which are described in connection with FIGS. 5 and 6.

(27) FIG. 5 shows, in analogy to FIG. 4, possible steps, and optionally all steps, for applying the marking 7 on the film strip 5 as well as for the subsequent welding of the film strip 5 with the film 9 of the bag 1 according to the embodiment of FIG. 2.

(28) In the area of the welding 15 of the film strip 5, the film strip 5 is connected via its section 5a with the internal surfaces 17 (see FIG. 2) of the film 9, which cannot be seen in FIG. 5.

(29) Contrary to FIG. 4, the film strip 5 thus protrudes beyond the right margin of the film 9, at least beyond the margin of one film layer (here, the first film layer 9a).

(30) FIG. 6 shows, in analogy to FIG. 4, possible steps, optionally even all steps, for applying the marking 7 on the film strip 5 as well as for the subsequent connecting of the film strip 5 with the film 9 of the bag 1 according to the embodiment of FIG. 3.

(31) Contrary to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, preferably, the film strip 5 in FIG. 6 is preferably not materially bonded and optionally also not non-positively connected, particularly not welded, to the film 9. Furthermore, one section of the film strip 5 is welded to another section of the film strip 5 and thus to itself.

(32) For bringing together the two sections of the film strip 5 to be welded together, the film 9 possesses, for example, a passage opening, preferably a continuous slot 27, as this is easy to produce.

(33) The passage opening, herein the slot 27, preferably has a length, which is at least as large as the width of the film strip 5. In this way, the film strip 5 can be passed through the passage opening without force and without warping, which could impede its welding.

(34) In the right side drawing of FIG. 6, this continuous slot 27 is covered in the area of the welding by the film strip 5 carrying the marking 7 and is not visible.

(35) The film strip 5 can be integrally formed. It can also be produced in two or several parts. If it is produced in several parts, then a first section thereof is placed on the upper face of the film 9, thus on the first film layer 9a, a second section thereof is placed on the lower face of the film 9, thus on the second film layer 9b. A welding is carried out through the passage opening as presently described. If both sections are large enough, then the film strip 5 as a whole forms a positive connection inside the passage opening or the film 9, respectively.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

(36) 1 bag 3 medical product 5 film strip 5a section of the film strip 7 marking; information for marking 9 film 9a first film layer 9b second film layer 11 outer film 13 outer surface, outer layer of the film 15 welding of the film strip with the film 17a internal face, internal layer of the first film layer 9a 17b internal face, internal layer of the second film layer 9b 19 welding of the film strip with itself 21 welding seam or welding of the films for sealing of the bag 23 step for applying a marking on the film strip 25 step for applying the marked film strip on the film 27 continuous slot