Flexible Package Edge Sealing for Rigidity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vertical form, fill, and seal (VFFS) packaging machines produce flexible packages that lack rigidity, making them unsuitable for stacking and retaining their shape after product removal.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus with an elongated film folding member and heating/sealing members forms sealed edges on flexible packages, enhancing rigidity by creating sharp edges and imparting shape memory to the material, allowing for improved structural integrity and retention of shape.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional VFFS packaging machines are used to form flexible packages, then the packaging process can be completed, but the resulting packages lack rigidity and cannot retain their shape
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by modifying the physical state of the flexible material through heat application. The heating member raises the temperature of the flexible material to its transition temperature, changing its physical properties to enable shape memory effect and edge sealing, thereby achieving rigidity without complex structural modifications
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical reinforcement structures with a thermal processing approach. Instead of using rigid supports or complex framing mechanisms to provide structural integrity, the invention uses heat-induced shape memory effects and edge sealing to achieve rigidity, substituting a simpler thermal system for a potentially complex mechanical one
2Stability of the object's composition
If conventional VFFS packaging machines produce flexible packages, then high-speed packaging can be achieved, but the packages do not retain their shape after product removal
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by forming sealed edges and imparting shape memory to the flexible material during the packaging process, before the product is removed. This preliminary structural preparation ensures that the package retains its shape after product removal, without requiring additional post-processing steps that would reduce productivity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses parameter changes by controlling the temperature of the flexible material during sealing. By heating the material to its transition temperature during the sealing process, the invention creates permanent shape-retaining seals that maintain package integrity after product removal, while maintaining high-speed operation
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables the production of packages with enhanced rigidity and shape retention, facilitating stacking and maintaining structural integrity even after product removal, while also enabling high-speed packaging.
Implementation Method 1
the at least one heating and/or sealing member is adapted to heat the portion of the sheet of flexible material during the sealing process
Implementation Method 2
the contact between the first engagement end and the portion of the sheet of flexible material creates the seal along the edge portion of the flexible package
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for forming a seal (40-44) along an edge portion of a flexible package (10) that is made from a sheet of flexible material (137) includes an elongated film folding member (102) and at least one heating and/or sealing member (104), the at least one heating and/or sealing member (104) extending along a first heat/seal axis parallel to a lengthwise axis (108) of the film folding member (102). A first engagement end (112) of the film folding member is adapted to contact a portion of the sheet of flexible material (137) during a sealing process and the at least one heating and/or sealing member (104) is adapted to heat the portion of the sheet of flexible material (137) during the sealing process such that the contact between the first engagement end (112) and the portion of the sheet of flexible material creates the seal along the edge portion of the flexible package (10).