HK1170993A1 - Variable-volume bellows bottle - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a variable-volume bottle made from PET and having an elastically deformable and plastic-deformation-resistant bellows structure, which allows the volume of the bottle to be adjusted according to the degree to which the peripheral annular folds are folded. The invention comprises one or more sectors without peripheral annular folds, intended for identification labels.

Description

Variable volume corrugated bottle

Object of the Invention

The idea of the invention is the manufacture of bottles, large bottles or large cans and/or any other corrugated container. By this shape, the loss of pressure of the contained gaseous fluid is compensated for, and the formation of air pockets with the consumption of gaseous fluid is reduced or eliminated.

Another object of the invention is that the corrugated container adjusts to the volume of liquid remaining during consumption of the contents, in order to avoid that a certain volume of air is present in the same container, which affects the organoleptic properties of the contained product.

Background

Within the scope of the practical application of the present invention, for bottle-type containers obtained from recyclable materials, a wide variety of bottles of this type are known, which are constructed according to very different design lines (design lines) and which present the following fundamental problems: once their contents are consumed, they occupy a very large volume, which makes their recycling expensive, since a considerable space is necessary to accommodate the containers.

In an attempt to avoid these problems, it is known to include in this type of bottle a series of irregularly configured peripheral indentations, so that the collapsing of the container is performed once the content of the container has been consumed, an operation which is not easy for the elderly or the less energetic.

The gas contained in the liquid has a constant loss once the current bottle is opened, which loss is determined by the number of openings the bottle has and the gas cavity remaining in the same bottle. The air chamber is the one that allows the air in the liquid to move to the chamber until the pressure is equal. If the air cavity is not present, the air in the liquid cannot move anywhere each time the bottle is closed. PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) performs well for the functions it is intended to create.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention provides a variable volume corrugated bottle container that addresses all and every one of the previously discussed aspects in a highly satisfactory manner, as well as providing other benefits to the environment.

To this end, more specifically, the disclosed bottle will be obtained from the PET (polyethylene terephthalate), PVC and/or plastic industry, petroleum derivatives or from any other product of degradable sugars and/or corrugated deformable metals or possible alloys, as well as compositions in which the metal and the plastic are adhered together or not.

Shape of the container

In the form of a cylinder, a triangular pyramid or any polygon in a cubic system and/or a cylindrical polygon in a cubic system with curved or angled edges.

System of

Symmetrical corrugations, symmetrical or asymmetrical sheets, helical corrugations and/or any other kind of corrugation that meets the determined use specification.

CorrugatedPlanar shape

Circular, elliptical, triangular, rectangular or any regular or irregular polygon with curved or angled edges, as well as shapes resulting from sections of cones or sections of rotated figures and figures formed by Polar functions (Polar functions) or equations, and/or combinations of two or more of the above. In these planes there are meridians (nerve) and ribs (rib) that achieve the tensor (tensor) effect.

Drawings

To supplement the description that is being made and to assist a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, according to a preferred example of a practical embodiment thereof, a series of drawings having illustrative and not limiting characteristics are attached as an integral part of said description, as follows:

fig. 1 shows a side view of a variable volume container made according to the object of the invention, in which the variable volume container appears in the operating state or maximum volume.

Fig. 2 shows a view similar to fig. 1, but in fig. 2 the container is folded in a minimum footprint configuration.

Figure 3 shows a plan (plant) view of the device in the previous figures.

Functional description with figures

Function(s)

From the moment of opening until the product is completely consumed, the product is subjected, over several cycles of opening and closing the container, to a loss of pressure of the gas contained in the liquid, since this attempts to equalize the pressure of the gas chamber formed in said container as the liquid is consumed. The pressure difference, which is 6 atmospheres on average at the time of opening, is reduced to 0.5/1 atmosphere depending on the number of times of opening and closing and the elapsed time or the volume of the air cavity formed at each closing.

The corrugated container enables us to remove the air cavity formed by reducing the total volume of the container when in use. In the absence of the gas chamber, the gas contained in the liquid does not disperse and cannot compensate for the internal tension of the gas. When there is no gas at the opening pressure in the liquid, the pressure will not be as low as required for the product to be processed.

Applications of

Such containers are used for pre-gasified or naturally gasified soft drinks, either alcoholic or non-alcoholic, and for various types of gasified or non-gasified liquids, commonly used in the manufacture of chemicals, agrochemicals or general industry.

Functional utility

A conventional 2000 cc container does not lose its shape and/or its volume after use, with the result that the flow and the costs of waste transport increase in a dry environment. The corrugated container is reduced from 2000 cubic centimeters to 500 cubic centimeters resulting in a 75% savings over the original size.

Fig. 4 identifies a 42.5mm label area that is variable depending on product and/or design variations. The length plane of the label has a 1mm sinusoidal shaped fluctuation to increase stiffness because it will be weaker against gas pressure if the length plane is flat.

FIG. 5

5.1 principal plane A of each corrugation having a diameter of 110mm and having a curved edge B with a radius of 1-4mm (1 mm in the figure).

5.2 minor planes C of the respective corrugations having a diameter of 60mm and having oppositely curved edges D with a radius of 0.5 mm.

5.325mm corrugation E (hypotenuse of a right triangle) with an angle F of inclination of 21 deg. 30' (varying according to the angled edge B of radius 1-4 mm).

5.4 other three parts distinguishable: a top G for the screw cap, a bottom H (both standard), and a labeling area I.

5.5 bottles are freshly opened and have a maximum filling level N₀。

FIG. 6 shows a graph having N₁A bottle with a horizontal part being empty, and a height N₀N₁The structure of the air cavity CA of (a). If we cap the bottle we will be in the standard system and now between 5 and 6 atmospheres of gas dissolved in the liquid will escape from the liquid into the air cavity containing 1 atmosphere and try to equalize the pressure.

Assuming the air cavity is 25% of the volume, the pressure of the gas in the liquid will be reduced to 4 atmospheres.

In the second 25% evacuation, the pressure of the gas in the liquid will be 2.5 atmospheres.

During the third 25% evacuation, the pressure of the gas in the liquid will be 1.2 atmospheres, so we can pour the remainder that is already free of gas.

Figure 7 shows a bottle whose neck cone P is slightly stressed by hand and the corrugations collapse until the air cavity CA is eliminated and returns to the original level N₀。

FIG. 8: the bottle is closed with a standard screw cap T and is thus returned to the initial state of fig. 1.

Detailed Description

From the above figures it can be seen how the container or bottle of the invention is made of a tubular body (fig. 1) having, as any standard bottle, a closed bottom (2 in fig. 1), while the upper end of the tubular body has a neck or pincer (3 in fig. 1) ending in a spout (4 in fig. 1) and is equipped with an external thread (5 in fig. 1) on which a corresponding closure plug (T) shown in fig. 5 and 8 is adapted.

Therefore, as can be seen from this standard architecture, the characteristics of the present invention are mainly focused on the fact that: the tubular body (fig. 5) is mainly affected by a plurality of peripheral annular corrugations (fig. 5 and 6) which make the tubular structure of said tubular body in a bellows-type elastically deformable configuration, which deformation does not cause any kind of plastic deformation, so that the container can be structurally unaffected depending on the volume of liquid contained inside the container, from the position of fig. 1 to the position of fig. 2 and any intermediate position.

Finally, it should be noted that, as can be seen in fig. 1 and 2, the bottle may have one or more portions (7) that are not affected by the annular folds (6), so that they constitute surfaces of suitable shape and dimensions to receive on these surfaces the respective labels of the contained products.

The claims (modification according to treaty clause 19)

1. A variable volume container of the type obtained from materials suitable for food consumption, such as PET or any other material of similar characteristics, constituted by a tubular body (1), the bottom (2) of which is closed, the upper end of which has a neck or pincer (3) ending in a spout (4) on which a corresponding closing plug is adapted, characterized in that the aforesaid tubular body (1) is mainly affected by a plurality of peripheral annular folds (6) which make the surface in a corrugated-type elastically deformable and plastically deformation resistant configuration to allow volume adjustment of the same tubular body on the basis of the degree to which the peripheral annular folds (6) are folded.

2. A variable volume container according to claim 1, wherein said tubular body (1) has one or more portions (7) unaffected by said peripheral annular fold (6), said portions constituting surfaces of suitable shape and dimensions to receive on these surfaces respective identification tags of the contained products.

3. The shape of the container is as follows: cylindrical, triangular pyramidal, or any polygon in the cubic system and/or a cylindrical polygon in the cubic system with curved or angled edges.

4. Corrugated system: symmetrical corrugations, symmetrical or asymmetrical sheets, helical corrugations and/or any other kind of corrugation that meets the determined use specification.

5. Shape of the corrugations: circular, elliptical, triangular, rectangular or any regular or irregular polygon with curved or angled edges, as well as shapes resulting from sections of cones or sections of rotated figures and figures formed by polar functions or equations, and/or combinations of two or more of the above figures; in these planes are the meridians and ribs that perform the tensor function.

6. Length of plane of the corrugation: a range between 0.5 cm and 3.5 cm in number, for example 2.5 cm.

7. The inclination angle of the corrugations is: in fig. 2, from 10 degrees to 45 degrees, for example 21 degrees 30 minutes.

8. An anti-expansion lock: there are three points on the body spaced 120 degrees apart and affixed to the bottom of the bottle, and three pivots for the sealing closure are also introduced into the major planar groove of the bottle spaced 120 degrees apart.

9. Volume of the container: the volume of the container is variable between 100 cubic centimeters and 5000 cubic centimeters.

Claims (2)

1. A variable volume container of the type obtained from materials suitable for food consumption, such as PET or any other material of similar characteristics, constituted by a tubular body (1), the bottom (2) of which is closed, the upper end of which has a neck or pincer (3) ending in a spout (4) on which a corresponding closing plug is adapted, characterized in that the aforesaid tubular body (1) is mainly affected by a plurality of peripheral annular folds (6) which make the surface in a corrugated-type elastically deformable and resistant-to-plastic deformation configuration to allow volume adjustment of the same tubular body on the basis of the degree to which the peripheral annular folds (6) are folded.

2. A variable volume container according to claim 1, wherein the tubular body (1) has one or more portions (7) unaffected by the peripheral annular fold (6), said portions constituting surfaces of suitable shape and dimensions to receive on these surfaces respective identification tags of the contained products.