Patent ID: 6631605
Filing Date: 2003-10-14
Classification: B29C,B29L,B32B,B65B,Y10T

Abstract:
A method for producing flowable material containing pouches, said method comprising:producing said pouches in a high-speed pouch forming, filling and sealing machine comprising means to draw the multi-layer film from a film roll over a pouch former to form a plastic film tube having an overlapped vertical film edge, a vertical sealer having a sealing head for heat fusing said overlapped vertical film edge to form a vertical seal, a filler tube extending into said plastic film tube for injecting a flowable material product at a filling location of said plastic film tube, a horizontal sealing jaw having an electrical thermal sealing element for effecting a horizontal seal across said plastic film tube and spaced below said filling location and for simultaneously severing said tube to form a top transverse seal for a filled pouch and a bottom transverse seal for a pouch being filled; wherein the multi-layer film comprises an inner sealing layer, an outer layer and a core sandwiched therebetween; said inner sealing layer comprising 40 to 100 weight percent of an ethylene/&agr;-olefin copolymer having a density of between 0.902 and 0.912 g/cm3, and 0 to 60 weight percent of a polyolefin or a mixture of at least 2 polyolefins, said outer layer comprising a polyolefin or a mixture of at least 2 polyolefins, said core comprising a mixture of about 20 to 90 weight percent of a polypropylene, copolymer or terpolymer and about 10 to 80 weight percent of a polyolefin or a mixture of at least 2 polyolefins, said multi-layer film structure having a thickness within a range between 50 and 70 microns (2.0-2.75 mil); wherein the horizontal seal is substantially free of thinning regions.