PACKAGING MATERIAL WITH FIXED DESICATOR CONTAINER, AND METHOD

Description

State of the art

[0001] Systems for processing or analyzing a chemical or biological sample, such as microfluidic or lab-on-a-chip systems, often include moisture-sensitive devices or components, such as microfluidic cartridges containing lyophilized reagents. For long-term stability, these devices or components are therefore often stored in sealed or welded composite packaging before use.

[0002] US 2013 / 0153445 A1 discloses a sorbent container comprising a plurality of sealed pockets which are connected to one another in strip form.

[0003] DE 20 2011 000 845 U1 shows a gas-tight packaging with a controlled internal atmosphere, wherein at least one functional unit regulating the oxygen content is arranged inside the packaging, secured by at least one sealing seam.

[0004] From DE 197 20 112 A1 a method for fixing a desiccant bag in a tubular plastic packaging bag is known. Disclosure of the invention Advantages of the invention

[0005] Against this background, the invention relates to a packaging material for packaging a device, in particular a microfluidic device.

[0006] The packaging material comprises a desiccant container, in particular a desiccant bag, wherein the desiccant container is fixed by means of a partial melting of the packaging material, in particular of a material of the packaging material.

[0007] A device can be understood in particular as a component, a device or a part of a system for processing or analyzing a chemical or biological sample, for example for biochemical or medical purposes. A packaging material can be understood in particular as a package or a part of a package, in particular a sleeve for partially or completely enclosing the device. Furthermore, a packaging material can be understood in particular as a film with one or more layers, in particular a composite film, which can be designed for example in the form of a bag or a pouch. A desiccant container can be understood in particular as a container for holding a desiccant. The desiccant container can have a rigid or deformable sleeve.The desiccant container is preferably a desiccant bag, i.e. a bag for holding desiccant. The desiccant container preferably already contains the desiccant before it is fixed to the packaging material. A desiccant is understood in particular to be a substance or mixture of substances that can extract water or other liquids, for example solvents, from a nearby object in order to dry it or keep it dry. Typical desiccants are, for example, silica gel, zeolites, sodium sulfate, magnesium sulfate, aluminum oxide, calcium, calcium hydride, calcium oxide, calcium sulfate, potassium carbonate, potassium hydroxide, copper sulfate, lithium aluminum hydride or sodium hydroxide. Melting of the packaging material is understood in particular to mean the softening and / or deformation of the packaging material, in particular under the influence of heat, in particular followed by resolidification by cooling.In this case, a material of the packaging material and / or a material of the desiccant container can be melted in places to fix the desiccant container, in particular a material of a casing of the packaging material or of the desiccant container. Fixing the desiccant container to the material by means of local melting is to be understood in particular as meaning that a firm connection between the material and the desiccant container is caused by a partial softening of the material, in particular caused by heat, followed by contact of the softened material with the desiccant container, followed by renewed hardening of the material, in particular by cooling. In other words, the material is fused to the desiccant container by softening the material.Alternatively or additionally, the material of the desiccant container may be partially softened, particularly by heat, to allow it to fuse with the packaging material.

[0008] The packaging material according to the invention has the advantage that, due to its fusion with the packaging material, the desiccant container is fixedly arranged at a well-defined location relative to the packaging material and relative to the device to be packaged with the packaging material. Thus, the desiccant container can advantageously be positioned immovably and stably close to desired, particularly moisture-sensitive, locations on the device to be packaged. Furthermore, the desiccant container advantageously does not slip when the packaged device is moved, thus reducing the risk of damage to sensitive areas of the device by the desiccant container, for example in the form of scratch marks. Furthermore, it is particularly advantageous that a material of the packaging material acts as a connecting means between the packaging material and the desiccant container.Thus, no additional substance, especially an adhesive, is required for the connection, which eliminates any potential harmful effects of the substance on the device. In particular, outgassing, which is otherwise common with many adhesives, or the unintentional transfer of adhesive residues to the device is avoided. Another advantage is that when the packaging is opened, the desiccant container generally remains fixed and is not accidentally separated from the packaging. This makes the packaging material according to the invention highly user-friendly.

[0009] Preferably, the desiccant container is secured by a material of the packaging material penetrating a portion of the desiccant container into a casing of the desiccant container. This advantageously provides a particularly reliable connection between the desiccant container and the packaging material. The casing of the desiccant container is designed such that the molten material of the packaging material can at least partially penetrate the casing. In particular, the casing can comprise fibers or a fiber material, such that the penetration leads to at least partial enclosing of several fibers by the material, for example paper, cotton, or another fiber material, for example in combination with plastic. The resulting positive connection between the material and the casing of the desiccant container is advantageously particularly stable.

[0010] The invention also relates to a method for connecting the desiccant container to the packaging material, i.e., a manufacturing method according to the invention for the packaging material according to the invention. The desiccant container can thus, as explained above, be in particular a desiccant bag, and the device can in particular be a microfluidic device. In a first step of the method, the packaging material and the desiccant container are positioned relative to one another. In a second step, at least one region of the packaging material is heated so that the packaging material melts in places in the region for connecting the desiccant container to the packaging material. As described above, a portion of the material preferably penetrates into the casing of the desiccant container, preferably to partially enclose fibers of the casing.As the material cools down, the bond between the desiccant container and the packaging material hardens.

[0011] In a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, the packaging material comprises a composite material, in particular an aluminum / polypropylene composite. This has the advantage that composite materials are, based on experience, well-suited packaging materials and, in addition, that they melt easily under the influence of heat. The meltable material preferably comprises plastic.

[0012] In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the area is heated until at least a portion of the desiccant container's casing also softens or melts. This has the advantage that the casing portion and the molten material can mix with each other, creating a particularly strong bond. For this purpose, the desiccant container's casing preferably comprises a meltable material, particularly plastic.

[0013] According to a particularly advantageous development of the invention, the desiccant container is arranged at a predetermined location relative to the device prior to heating. This has the advantage of easily ensuring that, after packaging of the device, the desiccant container is located close to or directly adjacent to a desired, particularly moisture-sensitive, location on the device. Sealing the packaging material to close the device can occur before, during, or after heating.

[0014] In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, a force is exerted on the packaging material in the direction of the desiccant container during or after heating. This advantageously supports a bond between the packaging material and the desiccant container.

[0015] Preferably, the area is heated by contacting it with a heating pad. This has the advantage that the required heat is applied in a well-defined and limited manner, thus easily protecting heat-sensitive parts of the packaging material or device.

[0016] In an advantageous development of the invention, the packaging material has an embossed contour on a side of the melt facing away from the desiccant container. The contour can preferably encode information useful to the user of the device. In a particularly advantageous embodiment of the method according to the invention, the contour is embossed using the heating die. The heating die includes the required embossed structure for this purpose. This has the advantage that both the desiccant container and the contour can be bonded to the packaging material and created in a single step.

[0017] According to a preferred development of the invention, sealing of an opening in the packaging material occurs after the device has been introduced into the packaging material, along with heating the area. Preferably, the packaging material in this development takes the form of a bag for accommodating the device. Particularly if the sealing also occurs via partial melting of the material of the composite bag, this development has the advantage that two process steps can be performed in one. For example, the heating stamp comprises a second area for heat-sealing the opening of the packaging material. Short description of the drawings

[0018] Embodiments of the invention are schematically illustrated in the drawings and explained in more detail in the following description. The same reference numerals are used for the elements shown in the various figures and have a similar effect, and a repeated description of the elements is omitted.

[0019] It shows Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the packaging material according to the invention and Figure 2 shows a flow diagram for an embodiment of the method according to the invention. Embodiments of the invention

[0020] Figure 1schematically shows an embodiment of the packaging material 100 according to the invention for packaging a device 200. In this example, the device 200 is a microfluidic device, namely a cartridge 200 for a lab-on-a-chip system. The packaging material 100 comprises a desiccant container 50, in this example a desiccant bag 50 filled with desiccant 51, for example, silica gel. The desiccant container 50 is firmly connected to the packaging material 100 via a local melt 110 of a material 120 of the packaging material 100.

[0021] In this example, the packaging material 100 is a bag 100 made of a composite material, for example a bag made of a composite film with the layer sequence polyethylene, aluminum, polypropylene. Figure 1It is shown that the cartridge 200 is already located in the composite bag 100 and the opening 101 of the composite bag 100 is already sealed. Furthermore, the desiccant bag 50 is already connected to the bag 100 via the melt 110. In this example, the desiccant bag 50 comprises a fiber material, so that the molten material 120 could partially penetrate the shell 52 of the desiccant bag 50 and enclose fibers of the shell 52 for a positive connection of the desiccant bag 50 to the composite bag 100. For example, the desiccant bag 50 comprises a fiber material, cotton, a nonwoven material, or paper. Alternatively or additionally, the shell 52 can comprise a fusible material 53 for fusing with the material 120 of the composite bag 100. As further shown in Figure 1As shown schematically, the heat required for melting was introduced via a heating stamp 300 with embossed structure 310, and simultaneously a contour 130 was embossed onto the outside of the composite bag 100. The contour 130 can encode useful information about the cartridge 200 for a user of the device 100 in the form of writing or characters, for example, information about the origin, type, and / or usability of the cartridge 200.

[0022] Figure 2 shows schematically a flow diagram of an embodiment of the method 500 according to the invention, with which, for example, the Figure 1The illustrated packaging of the cartridge 200 with the packaging material 100 and the desiccant container 50 connected thereto can be achieved. In a first step 501 of the method 500, the desiccant bag 100 is placed on a predetermined location 210 of the cartridge 200, for example, near the particularly moisture-sensitive front section 210 of the cartridge. In a second step 502, the cartridge 200 and the desiccant bag 100 are placed into the composite bag 100. The first step 501 and the second step 502 can also be carried out in parallel or in reverse order. In a third step 503, the opening 101 of the composite bag 100 is sealed. In a fourth step, the material 110 of the composite bag 100 adjacent to the desiccant bag 50 is heated so that the material 110 melts and partially penetrates into the shell 52 of the desiccant bag 50 for a positive connection with the fibers of the shell 52.Heating occurs by contacting the embossed structure 310 of the heating stamp 300 with the material, so that the contour 130 is also embossed into the composite bag 100 at the same time. If no contour 130 is required, a heating stamp with a flat stamp surface can also be used. For example, the stamp is heated to a temperature between 190 and 250 degrees Celsius and the heat is applied to the material 110 for 1 to 5 seconds. The duration depends on the thickness and material composition of the composite material, so that the material 110 is softened down to the side of the composite bag 100 that contacts the desiccant bag 50. The heating stamp 300 can, for example, exert a contact force between 1 and 15 Newtons.The third step 503 of sealing the composite bag 100 and the fourth step 504 of heating and embossing can preferably also be carried out simultaneously, especially if the sealing also occurs by partially melting the material of the composite bag 100. In a fifth step 505, the composite bag 100 can be conveyed further after cooling.

Claims

1. Packaging material (100) for packaging a device (200), in particular a microfluidic device (200), wherein the packaging material (100) comprises a desiccant container (50), in particular a desiccant pouch (50), wherein the desiccant container (50) is fixed by way of locally melting (110) the packaging material (100), characterized in that a sleeve (52) of the desiccant container (50) comprises fibres or a fibrous material.

2. Packaging material (100) according to Claim 1, wherein the desiccant container (50) is fixed via local penetration of the packaging material (100, 120) into the sleeve (52) of the desiccant container (50).

3. Packaging material (100) according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein the packaging material (100) comprises composite material.

4. Packaging material (100) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the packaging material (100) has an embossed contour (130) on a side of the melting (110) that faces away from the desiccant container (50).

5. Packaging material (100) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the sleeve (52) of the desiccant container (50) comprises a meltable material (53) for fusing to the packaging material (100).

6. Method (500) for connecting a desiccant container (50), in particular a desiccant pouch (50), wherein a sleeve (52) of the desiccant container (50) comprises fibres or a fibrous material, to a packaging material (100) for packaging a device (200), in particular a microfluidic device (200), comprising the steps of: • positioning the packaging material (100) and the desiccant container (50) in relation to one another; • heating at least one region of the packaging material (100), with the result that the packaging material (100) melts locally in the region for the connection of the desiccant container (50) to the packaging material (100).

7. Method (500) according to Claim 6, wherein the desiccant container (50) is arranged at a predefined location (210) with respect to the device (200) prior to the heating.

8. Method (500) according to Claim 7, wherein a force is exerted on the packaging material (100) in the direction towards the desiccant container (50) during or after the heating.

9. Method (500) according to Claim 8, wherein the region is heated by being contacted with a heating die (300).

10. Method (500) according to Claim 9, wherein an opening of the packaging material (100) is sealed, after the device (200) is introduced into the packaging material (100), jointly with the heating of the region.