Bag, in particular for bag-in-box packaging.

Bag, in particular for bag-in-box packaging

The invention relates to a flexible, liquid tight bag, in particular for a bag-in-box package.

Bag-in-box packaging, and bags therefore are generally known, and are e.g. disclosed in GB 1 092 336. The box of such a package is made of a relatively rigid material, for example corrugated cardboard, and forms a cubeshaped shell for the flexible bag. The bag of such a package is commonly made of flexible sheet material, e.g. plastics, and forms a liquid tight liner for the shell.

Advantages of such bag-in-box packaging are that it is relatively light weight, compact, self supporting and stackable. A disadvantage is, however, is that the wall thickness of the box needs to be relatively large to provide sufficient strength. In particular, the walls often need to be made of 2-ply corrugated material to provide a package that can retain a block shape, which material is relatively expensive. Further, it has proven difficult to provide a leak proof bag that has a block shape. Also, the bag is not sufficiently stable to stand free in a reliable way.

The invention aims to provide a flexible liquid tight bag, in particular for bag-in-box packaging, in which the above problems are alleviated. Thereto, the invention provides for a flexible, liquid tight bag according to claim 1, and a bag-in-box package according to claim 12. The invention is further embodied in a method for manufacturing a bag according to claim 13.

The flexible, liquid tight bag may comprise a flexible, liquid tight, outer sleeve, and a flexible inner sleeve. The inner sleeve may extend longitudinally within the outer sleeve. The inner sleeve may over at least a part of the length of the outer sleeve be connected to the outer sleeve at a number of locations that are spaced apart along the circumference of the inner sleeve so as to form a bracing for the outer sleeve. When the bag is filled with liquid, the inner sleeve forms a tension loaded bracing that prevents the outer sleeve of the bag from bulging out, and that helps to keep the bag from sagging. This allows the bag to be free standing, and allows a bag-in-box package that is provided with such a bag to retain its block shape with a relatively thin wall thickness.

The bracing may lie within a zone extending over a top half of the length of the outer sleeve. This way, a portion of the top half of the length of the outer sleeve may e.g. be provided with a block shape. Portions of the outer sleeve that are longitudinally adjacent to the bracing may be free of a bracing so as to allow formation of a bottom and/or top of the bag. A portion of the outer sleeve that extends longitudinally beyond an upper portion of the inner sleeve may form a top of the bag, and a portion of the outer sleeve that extends longitudinally beyond a lower portion of the inner sleeve may form a bottom of the bag.

A portion of the outer sleeve that extends beyond an upper portion of the bracing may be closed, e.g. by one or more welds, and may also be provided with an outflow opening for the bag, e.g. a neck that surrounds an opening and that is closable with a cap.

A portion of the outer sleeve that extends longitudinally beyond a lower portion of the bracing may further be provided with lines along which the outer sleeve is connected to itself to allow the formation of a substantially flat bottom. These lines may be used as fold lines, and may e.g. be provided as spotted or continuous seams, welds or glued areas. The bottom may be provided with a circumferential shape that corresponds with the shape of a bottom of a box, e.g. a square, rectangular or polygonal cross section.

The portion of the outer sleeve that extends longitudinally beyond a lower portion of the bracing to form the bottom of the bag may be closed, e.g. by a closing clamp, glue or welds. Alternatively or in addition, a further longitudinal portion of the outer sleeve may be doubled back on itself to extend along the bracing. This allows the bag to be provided with a leak free bottom. In such a configuration, the sleeve may be left open at the area that forms the bottom of the bag. The bag may then have a body portion comprising the bracing and a tail portion extending beyond the bottom, which portions extend along each other and are in liquid communication with each other. In such a U-shaped configuration, the bottom of the bag is formed by the bottom of the U.

The bracing may extend along less than half of the length of the length of the outer sleeve, for example less than 45 or 40%, and/or more than 10 or 20% of the length of the outer sleeve. This is convenient to form of a bag with a braced body portion having a top and a bottom portion and a tail portion of which the tail portion can be folded upwards along the body portion.

Further objects, features, effects and details of the invention are defined in the claims and the specification below.

The invention will now be described, by way of a non-limiting example, with reference to the drawings that follow; in which:

Fig. la is a schematic front view of an example of an empty bag according to the invention in planar configuration;

Fig. lb is a schematic back view of the bag of Fig. la;

Fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the bag of Fig.l filled with liquid;

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of a cross-section of the bag of Fig. 1 along the line III-III; and

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of the bag of Fig. 2 in a box.

In the figures, similar or corresponding elements have been provided with the same reference numerals.

Figs, la and lb show a liquid tight, flexible bag 1, in particular for a bag-in-box package. The bag 1 has a flexible, liquid tight outer sleeve 2 and a flexible inner sleeve 3 that extends longitudinally within the outer sleeve 2. In this example, the inner sleeve 3 is spaced apart from top and bottom edges 5a, 5b of the outer sleeve 2, and is provided as one continuous piece. However, the inner sleeve 3 may alternatively e.g. extend along the full length L of the outer sleeve 2. Further, the inner sleeve 3 may comprise of several parts that may or may not be interspaced along the length of the outer sleeve 2. The inner sleeve 3 need not be manufactured from a liquid tight material, and may comprise cut-outs or perforations.

The outer sleeve 2 is liquid tight, and may be thus used to hold liquids. The sleeves 2, 3 may be manufactured from a sheet material, e.g. a plastics material such as PE or a metal foil. The sleeves 2, 3 may comprise several layers of the same or different materials, and/or coatings. The sleeves 2, 3 may be formed as a tube, e.g. by extrusion, but may also be formed into a tube, e.g. by gluing or welding of a planar sheet into a hoop.

The inner sleeve 3 is over at least a part of the length of the outer sleeve 2 connected to the outer sleeve 2 at a number of locations 40 that are spaced apart along the circumference of the inner sleeve 3 so as to form a bracing 41. Such connection is advantageously made by spot or line welding, but may e.g. alternatively be made by gluing. In the embodiment shown, endless substantially rectangular welds 45 are used.

A portion 43 of the outer sleeve that longitudinally extends beyond an upper portion 5a of the bracing 41 for forming a top 6 of the bag 1 is closed off with a transverse weld. In addition, the portion 43 of the outer sleeve 2 extending beyond the upper portion of the bracing 41 for forming a top 6 of the bag 1 is provided in this embodiment with an outflow opening 34. The outflow opening may for example be embodied as a neck that surrounds an opening and that is closable with a cap.

When the bag 1 is filled with liquid, the inner sleeve 3 forms a tension loaded bracing 4 that prevents the outer sleeve 2 of the bag from bulging out, as it is connected to the outer sleeve 2 at locations 40 along the circumference of the inner sleeve 3. Accordingly, the bag 1 allows a box 32 to retain its block shape when it is positioned therein and filled with liquid.

In the embodiment shown, the bracing 41 lies within a zone extending over a top half of the length of the outer sleeve 2, and extends along about 25% of the length L of the outer sleeve 2. The outer sleeve 2 is unbraced along a top portion 43 of about 15% of its length that is longitudinally adjacent to the bracing 41 so as to allow formation of a top 6 of the bag, and along a portion 42 of about 10% that is longitudinally adjacent to the bottom of bracing 41 so as to allow formation of a bottom 7 of the bag 1.

A further portion 44 of the outer sleeve 2 is to be doubled back on itself to extend along the bracing. In particular, in the embodiment shown, a further portion 44 of about 50 % of its length adjacent to the bottom forming portion 42 is intended to be looped back to the top 5A of the outer sleeve 2 to prevent liquid from flowing out at the bottom 7 of the bag 1.

The unbraced portion 42 of the outer sleeve 2 for forming the bottom 7 of the bag 1 comprises lines 9-12 along which the outer sleeve 2 is connected to itself. When the bag 1 is in use and filled with liquid, the bottom 7 is located at a position that divides the outer sleeve 2 longitudinally in a body portion 14 comprising the bracing 3 and a tail portion 15. The body portion 14 and the tail portion 15 may be in liquid communication with each other. In particular, the tail portion 15 is provided with a duct 16 of reduced width that is in liquid communication with the body portion 15.

The bag 1 shown in Figs, la, lb may be manufactured by providing a flexible, liquid tight, outer sleeve 2, substantially square and a flexible inner sleeve 3.

The outer sleeve 2 is formed by taking a sheet of the flexible, liquid tight material, laying two longitudinal opposite edges thereof on top of each other and welding the edges together with a weld 8. A first longitudinal weld 7 is applied for realizing the outer sleeve 2, and further welds 8 are applied for securing the inner sleeve 3. In this embodiment, the inner sleeve 2 has been manufactured as an integral sleeve by extrusion.

Next, the inner sleeve 3 may be positioned extend coaxially within the outer sleeve 2. The inner sleeve 3 is spaced apart from upper and lower edges 5a, 5b of the outer sleeve 2. Over at least a part of the length of the outer sleeve 2 the inner sleeve 3 may be connected to the outer sleeve 2 at a number of locations 40 that are spaced apart along the circumference of the inner sleeve 3. In this embodiment, the inner sleeve 3 is attached in longitudinal direction 4 to the inner wall of the outer sleeve 2 at locations divided equally over its circumference using rectangular endless welds 45.

In a further step, the bag may be flattened by folding two opposite sides inwards between the top and bottom sides so that four flaps 46, 47, 48, 49 are formed. The fold lines 9-12 may then be formed by welding the two plies of each of the top and bottom flaps 4 - 48 at both sides of the folded sleeve together along lines that extend at an angle of 45° with respect to the longitudinal direction of the outer sleeve 2, and that the fold lines 9-12 may be directed to a common point on the axis of the outer sleeve 2, but may stop before intersecting to leave an opening 46.

In a further step, a duct 16 may be provided by welds 26 that extend along the flaps over the tail portion 15 and that connect to the ends of the welds along folding lines 9 - 12. The top 6 of the bag 1 may be sealed by a weld 27 across the top of the outer sleeve 2, and may be provided with a carrying opening 33. Similarly, the end portion of the further portion 44 may be provided with a cross weld 28 and a carrying opening 36.

A bag 1 manufactured by the method according to the steps described above, is suitable for a bag-in-box packaging 18, as exemplarily shown in Fig.

4. Such a packaging 18 is manufactured by providing a bag 1 according to the method described above, providing a rectangular box 19 having a size adapted for accommodating the bag 1, and positioning the bag 1 in the box 19 with the body portion 14 and the tail portion 15 extending parallel to each other. The box 19 may be provided with a flap 37 for closing the bag-in-box packaging. The box 19 may e.g. be made from single ply corrugated cardboard.

As the bag provides a liner that is able to retain a block shape, the box can be made of single ply material without the risk if bulging due to deformation of the bag contained in the box. This allows for reducing the costs of bag-in-box packaging.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawing and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. For example, the inner sleeve may have a circular shape or any other suited shape, that allows it to be connected to sides of an outer sleeve for acting as a tension loaded bracing for the outer sleeve. In addition, the bag may be used as a stand-alone bag, i.e. without a box.

In another embodiment, the duct could be provided with two or more cross seals divided in longitudinal direction along the duct, thereby creating a pocket between two adjacent cross seals, from where a sample can be taken of the liquid contained without opening the bag itself.

Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a 15 study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims.