Heat Shrink Film Package With Frangible Seal And Tabs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heat shrinkable packages lack a convenient and reliable mechanism for manual opening, as the heat seals are not easily peelable, which complicates access to the contents without tools or causing damage to the package.
Innovation Solution
The use of a first and second flexible heat shrinkable film with a hermetic seal, where only one film is frangible, and heat set tabs that allow manual peeling by concentrating stress on the heat seal, facilitating easy opening by pulling the tabs apart perpendicular to the plane of the seal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a hermetic heat seal is formed to secure the package during shipping and handling, then the seal strength and reliability are improved, but the package becomes difficult to open manually without tools
Solution Approach 1:
The package structure is segmented into two distinct film layers: a frangible film designed to be easily torn and a non-frangible film providing structural integrity. This segmentation allows the heat seal to maintain strong adhesion while creating a predetermined weak point that enables manual opening by tearing along the seal line.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the packaging structure are assigned different mechanical properties. The frangible film has reduced tear strength specifically at the seal interface, while the non-frangible film maintains uniform high strength throughout. This local differentiation allows the seal to be both strong and easily openable.
2Reliability
If the heat seal is made strongly adherent to prevent leakage, then the hermetic seal quality is improved, but the force required to peel the seal manually increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing system is divided into two functional components: the frangible film that provides the peeling interface and the non-frangible film that provides the seal strength. The frangible film is designed with lower tear resistance so that when manual force is applied, it tears away from the non-frangible film rather than breaking the seal integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The frangible film acts as an intermediary layer between the user's manual opening action and the hermetic seal. It absorbs the mechanical stress of peeling through controlled tearing, protecting the main seal structure from damage while enabling easy manual opening.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional heat shrinkable packaging is used without special features, then the manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but the package lacks a reliable manual opening mechanism
Solution Approach 1:
The frangible film is pre-configured during manufacturing with specific material properties and geometric features that predispose it to tear at the seal interface. This preliminary preparation ensures that no additional tools or complex actions are needed by the user - simply pulling the tab initiates the predetermined tearing sequence.
Solution Approach 2:
The package structure is designed to open itself through controlled tearing of the frangible film when manual force is applied to the tab. The frangible film's material properties and geometry enable it to self-initiate and propagate the tear along the seal line without requiring external tools or complex mechanisms.
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 hermetically sealed packages that can be easily opened manually without tools, maintaining stability during shipping and handling, and preventing skinning or webbing upon peeling, while ensuring the package remains secure until opened.
Implementation Method 1
a hermetic seal comprising a heat seal formed by heat sealing a portion of the second flexible heat shrinkable film to a portion of the first flexible heat shrinkable film
Implementation Method 2
heat shrinkable films and having a hermetic seal
Implementation Method 3
a feature which concentrates stress on the heat seal when the tabs are pulled away from each other in a direction generally perpendicular to the plane of the heat seal
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure is concerned with heat shrunk sealed packages of flexible transparent thermoplastic film that easily opened by peeling. It involves lowering the peel strength of the heat seal between the two films used to form the package by providing one of them with a frangible layer by contaminating a layer with an incompatible polymer and providing a set of graspable tabs, one on each of the films, with which to initiate peeling of the heat seal. The tabs are heat set so that they do not shrink with the rest of the package. In a preferred embodiment, the package is provided with a second heat seal just inside the perimeter of the first and a stress concentrator, which may be a chevron, at the juncture of heat set tabs which lie with one atop the other with the first heat seal.