EP0326846B1 - Method and apparatus for making blister packages receiving packaging goods - Google Patents

Abstract

In the manufacture of blister packs of prescribed form and defined volume in a continuous operation using at least two webs of sheet, which are taken off a roll, of different material such as PVC and aluminium as the deformation and cover sheet, it is possible for a waste product to be produced which is suitable for recycling if the sealing of the cover-sheet web onto the deformation-sheet web carrying the goods to be packaged is limited to the region of the surface of the package to be divided and if, after the packs have been separated, the waste material from the deformation and cover sheet is collected separately for the purpose of recycling. This permits individual disposal and recycling of waste material of different consistency. A tool comprises a pair of tool parts (21, 22) in plate form which carry out the sealing process, of which a lower part (21) has recesses (211) for receiving the blisters (112) of the deformation sheet (11) and an upper, heatable part (22) has a fluted printing surface, the active surface (221) which comes into contact with the cover sheet (12) during sealing being limited to the surface boundaries of the blister package to be divided. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a method for producing blister packs of defined volume with a number of form esters / cavities for receiving packaged goods to be packaged in the blister packs and with a flat surface of a predetermined surface area, comprising the steps a) to g) of claim 1, and further a device for producing blister packs of the type specified above, the device comprising devices according to features a) to g) of the preamble of claim 2.

Such a method and such a device are known from DE.A-3 111 537 with regard to essential steps for the production of individual, sealed portion packs.

The way in which blister packs are produced has found increasing use in practice for pharmaceuticals in tablet or capsule form; you can hardly find tablets packed in tubes today. Blistering is also used for other people's items quite different areas used, for example in the household, food and confectionery, business and office, do-it-yourself area, etc. Today you will find blistered tubes, vials, tools, workpieces such as nails, tacks, staples , Spice jars etc. All of these gifts can be seen purely as examples, since the development suggests an expansion of the areas of application rather than a restriction.

In view of the increasing scarcity of raw materials and energy sources and the efforts to reuse packaging materials in particular, it has become known (DE-OS 31 10 254) that the waste accumulating in large quantities in the manufacture of blister packs, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry Recycle. As a result of the separation problems of the usual aluminum-PVC material combination or in order to avoid these problems, this material combination, i.e. PVC and aluminum together, is fed to a comminution machine and granulated, and the aluminum PVC granulate obtained is mixed with plastic additives, especially plastic raw granules processed new plastic products, especially in pressing, injection molding or extrusion processes. The material obtained in this way, which makes waste disposal superfluous, is to be used in plastic mold construction for PU foam molds, as filler material for adhesives and casting compounds in the construction industry and as an admixture product in the production of chipboard. It is therefore all about the use of a mixed material for mass parts, in which it is not the quality of the starting material that matters, but rather fillers and additives of inferior quality that can be used without detrimental effects on the end product. However, this does not take into account the high quality and the price of the basic materials aluminum and plastic such as PVC. Rather, there are recognizable difficulties by the fact that in the case of film webs made of different materials, which usually have PVC as the material for the deformable film and aluminum as the cover film when blistering drugs - although in many other areas, for example, plastics other than deformed films and paper materials are also used as cover film - and over the entire surface are connected to one another by seals or other adhesive, these materials thus occur together, that is to say in a composite. This has led to the fact that the interconnected waste strips or lead frames, which occur at the end of a manufacturing process of blister packs in quantities of 10 to 20% of the packaging film webs, have not been recycled, but in contrast to the known recycling of waste batches in the pharmaceutical industry are still considered as unusable waste and must therefore be removed.

The invention is therefore based on the object to design the blistering process so that a recycling-appropriate waste product is obtained, which enables the recovery of the expensive raw materials for themselves and thus considerable cost savings in material, and a suitable for this purpose, inexpensive to produce and, if necessary to provide retrofittable equipment in existing systems.

This object is achieved in the method according to the invention set out at the outset by the features of the characterizing part of patent claim 1, the area of the packaging to be divided is limited and the waste material from the deformable and cover film is collected separately after the packaging has been separated for the purpose of recycling, and in which device described at the outset by the features of the characterizing part of patent claim 2.

With the method and the device according to the invention, a solution to the problem is thus created, in the course of blister packaging, to produce a waste product which can only be obtained with little technical effort and which can be directly recycled for each individual product component . This packaging process is therefore much more environmentally friendly and energy-saving, if one considers that the blanks of the film webs in the production of such blister packs are between 10 and 20% and can be recycled without any subsequent separation process. With the increasing tendency towards blister packaging mentioned above, this represents an important step towards saving increasingly scarce raw materials, just as, of course, effective cost savings can also be achieved in view of the subsequent costs for the further processing of waste that must be kept as low as possible. The construction of the device according to the invention makes it possible in a simple manner to connect only the surface of the actual packaging to the deforming film, while all other parts of the running films remain separate from one another. The overall structure of such a device is inexpensive to manufacture and can easily be retrofitted in existing systems, just as existing tools can be reworked, for example by milling or eroding. The punching tool in a separating or punching station of the system is designed in the size of the packaging in order to separate the packaging from the running film strand exactly along the active surfaces, so that the waste that is on the side and between the individual packages is in a continuous waste strand can be dissipated and used for each. The fact that the cover film applies the pressure and heat required for sealing only in contact areas with the deep-drawn deforming film carrying the packaged goods also allows the packaged goods to be handled extremely gently. which is particularly important for heat and / or pressure sensitive materials such as soft gelatin capsules. In this context, the fact that the upper tool part is formed in its active surface with heat-free points corresponding to the recesses in the lower tool part in terms of number, size and placement, makes a significant contribution to avoiding that the heat to be supplied during the sealing process and the pressure cause any negative effects Have an influence on the packaged goods located in the deep-drawn nests of the deforming film, which would be particularly damaging if sensitive pharmaceuticals such as soft gelatin capsules are concerned.

It is known, as stated at the beginning (see DE-A1-3111 637), when sealing portion packs that plastic and metal foil are sealed exclusively in the immediate edge area, in a separate reprocessing of the film remnants to be punched out to economic ones Way to perform. However, since only one ring - i.e. Line sealing is aimed for and takes place, no suggestion can be derived from this how to proceed in the case of sealing the blister packs over the entire surface if one is faced with the object of the invention.

The active surface of the second, upper tool part can preferably be raised in relation to the other surface sections thereof. In the course of retrofitting, this can easily be provided in the case of existing tool parts by milling or eroding the surface corresponding to the width of the film strand essentially known in the case of the sealing plates known hitherto, so that only the surface of the packaging to be produced remains as the active surface.

• Fig. 1 das Prinzip einer Blister-Verpackungsanlage in Seitenansicht,
• Fig. 2 ein Siegelwerkzeug in Seitenansicht in auseinandergefahrenem Zustand und
• Fig. 3 die Unteransicht eines oberen Werkzeugteils entsprechend III III der Fig. 2.

Further advantages and embodiments or possibilities of the invention result from the following description of the exemplary embodiments shown in the schematic drawing forth. It shows

• 1 shows the principle of a blister packaging system in a side view,
• Fig. 2 is a sealing tool in side view in an expanded state and
• 3 shows the bottom view of an upper tool part corresponding to III III of FIG. 2.

A blister packaging system shown in FIG. 1, which is however only shown in principle and shows no details, comprises on a machine bed 10 for the production of blister packs for pharmaceuticals (tablets, capsules or the like) by means of a base film, as a rule designating and used deformation film 11, which runs from a supply roll 111, and a cover film 12, which runs from a supply roll 121, a deformation station 13, in which the deformation film 11 to form nests 112 (FIG. 2) for receiving Tablets 3 is thermoformed, a sealing station 14, in which the deforming film 11 and cover film 12 are connected to one another with the application of heat and pressure, a separating or punching station 15, in which the finished blister packs are punched out of the continuous film strip, and a waste collecting station 16 , in the separate collecting rollers 161 for the waste of the deformation foil 11 and 162 for the waste of the cover foil 12 are provided. In contrast to the prior art, in which the waste can only be collected together, this waste collection station 16 is in its separate design for the two foils due to the special design of the sealing tool according to FIG. 2 and 3 possible. Of course, the waste does not necessarily have to be rolled up, but it can, of course, preferably also be fed separately, in each case to a first further processing operation, for example a chopping and / or granulating process.

A sealing tool 2 forming the essential component of the sealing station 14 comprises, as shown in FIG. 2, a lower tool part 21 in the form of a counter plate and an upper tool part 22 in the form of a sealing stamp. The two tool parts 21, 22 are shown in their rest position, ie at a distance from one another. The double film strip, consisting of deforming film 11 with nests 112 already preformed thereon and packaged goods 3 deposited therein, here in the form of tablets, and of cover film 12 runs through them in cycles. In the position shown, the nests 112 are located above recesses 211 formed in the counter-holding plate 21. In this position, the sealing process can be initiated by moving the counter-holding plate 21 upwards in the direction of arrow A, so that the nests 112 are received by the recesses 211 are and the counter plate 21, which is not heated and, if necessary, cooled in a suitable manner, first comes to rest against the underside of the deforming film 11. The sealing stamp 22, which is heated to the required temperature, is usually fixed, but can also be moved downward in the direction of the arrow B in some devices. As a result of this relative movement, the surface of the deforming film 11 presses against the cover film 12. The underside of the cover film 12 is provided with an adhesive layer required for the connection, the connection being produced by the pressure generated between the holding plate 21 and the sealing stamp 22 and the heat transmitted by the stamp 22 brings about with the surface of the deforming film 11.

From the bottom view of FIG. 3 in connection with the side view of FIG. 2 it can be seen that the sealing stamp 22 comprises a raised active surface 221, the surface of which corresponds exactly to the surface of the packaging to be produced or is smaller than this, so that it is avoided in any case becomes that the punching waste / punching grid as described below have any connection between the materials, but that a simple and quick separate discharge is guaranteed. The packaging comprises, by way of example only, three deep-drawn nests for tablets, as shown. The active surface is produced in relation to the remaining part of the sealing plate by milling the latter, but any other suitable manufacturing method can also be used for the production of this active surface. The punching tool of the punching station 15 will be provided in a corresponding manner, so that packaging is punched out according to the effective area for removal from the system 1, while a waste film strip of the deforming film 11 and the cover film 12 runs according to the ladder-like pattern shown in FIG. 3 . In other words, the total surface of the sealing stamp 22 forms a recess 222 with respect to the active surface 221, which also improves the sealing pressure with a corrugation 223 which is known per se (this is only shown here in the upper left part, but extends over the entire active surface) and is provided with heat-free points 224 corresponding to the recesses 211 of the lower tool part 21. The corrugation forms in the case of a plate-shaped design of the tools, as shown in the example, small, pyramid-shaped or truncated pyramids, so that the sealing pressure is exerted evenly in spite of any unevenness or throwing-up that may exist in the foils, and this results in faultless packaging. - Will on the other hand, if roller or roller tools are used, their surface is usually provided with an arrangement of intersecting, raised lines in order to achieve uniform pressure conditions.

With the plate-shaped sealing tool shown in the figures and correspondingly designed punching tools, a continuously clocked manufacturing process is possible. If you want to achieve an unclocked, continuous workflow, the above-mentioned design of the tools in the form of a roller is suitable for this purpose, and then, just as with clocking, the tools must be controlled precisely with regard to their relative position to one another.

The overall advantages that can be achieved with the invention are that there are separated film wastes of a defined consistency, which can be easily and quickly fed to a recycling process that is solely geared to the individual material component in question, so that a highly pure and thus high-quality recycling product is obtained. At the same time, it is possible to reduce the costs for producing the corrugation, which is to be limited to the dimensions of the respective packaging, at least with regard to the edge regions. The latter, taking into account the large number of different packaging sizes and the associated tool availability, is essential for the production costs of the system with tools. Above all, however, the invention completely eliminates the need to dispose of the considerable waste from the films, which are produced especially in the packaging industry for pharmaceutical products, so that the invention makes a significant contribution to a more environmentally friendly design of the packaging technology.

Claims (3)

1. Method for producing blister packs of defined volume having a number of shaped nests/cavities for receiv ing products to be packed in the blister packs, and having a plane surface of a predetermined surface area, comprising the steps of:

a) supplying at least two film webs of indefinite length which consist of different materials and comprise a shaping film web as the basis of the blister packs and a cover film web;

b) shaping the shaping film web for producing the cavities;

c) filling the cavities with the products;

d) supplying the cover film web while overlying the shaping film web after filling the cavitites;

e) supplying pressure and heat for connecting the webs by sealing them with each other along neigh bouring surfaces being in contact with each other;

f) dividing the blister packs from the webs; and

g) collecting the web portions remaining after the severing of the blister packs from the webs as waste material;
characterized in that

h) the sealing of the webs occurs exclusively with in an area which, relative to the total area of the webs corresponds to the predetermined surface area of the blister packs to be produced;

i) the dividing occurs immediately along the edges formed between the sealed and unsealed sections of the webs such that the plane surface of each of the blister packs has an area equaling the predetermined surface area; and

j) the collecting of all such web portions of the cover and of the shaping film webs occurring outside the predetermined surface area is carried out separately.

2. Apparatus for producing blister packs of defined volume having a number of shaped nests/cavities (112) for receiving products (3) to be packed in the blister packs, and having a plane surface of a pre determined surface area, comprising

a) a device (111, 121) for supplying at least two film webs (11, 12) of indefinite length which consist of different materials and comprise a shaping film web (11) as the basis of the blister packs and a cover film web (12);

b) a device (13) for shaping the shaping film web (11) for producing cavities (112) for receiving the products to be packed;

c) a device for filling the cavities (112) in the shaped film web (11) with the products (3);

d) a device (121) for supplying the cover film web (12) while covering the shaping film web (11) after the filling of the cavities (112);

e) a device (14) for supplying pressure and heat for connecting the webs by sealing them with each other along neighbouring surfaces being in contact with each other, and outside the area of the cavities (112), this device (14) comprising a pair of plate- or roller-like tool parts, which by movement relative to each other receive between them the films forming the pack and carry out the sealing process, of which tool parts

ea) a first, preferably lower tool part (21) has at least recesses for receiving the cavities (112) of the shaping film web carrying the products to be packed, and is cooled, and

eb) a second, preferably upper tool part (22) has a corrugated surface (223) for exerting pressure and is heatable,

ec) the operational face (221) of the second, upper tool part is formed with heating-free locations (224), who, regarding their number, size and arrangement, correspond to the recesses (211) in the lower tool part (21);

f) a device (15) for dividing the blister packs from the webs (11, 12); and

g) a collecting device (16) for the severed web portions, which remain outside the predetermined surface area after the severing of the blister packs from the webs, as waste material;
characterized in that

h) the operational face (221) of the second, upper tool part (22) corresponds to the predetermined surface area of the blister packs to be pro duced;

i) the device (15) for dividing the blister packs from the webs is formed such that it divides the blister packs immediately along the edges formed between the sealed and unsealed sections (221 and 222, respectively) of the webs in such a manner that the plane surface of each blister pack has an area equalling that of the predeter mined surface area; and

j) the collecting device (16) is formed by way of separate collecting devices (161, 162) for sep arately collecting the waste web portions of the shaping film web (11) and of the cover film web (12), respectively.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that the operational face (221) of the second, upper tool part (22) is formed raised compared with the remaining surface portions (222) thereof.

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