Patent ID: 7735300

Claim:
Process for hot filling a container with a sterilized liquid, generally at a temperature that is between 60 to 95° C, comprising the following stages: a. providing a container that is made of a polymer and following a process that can make it able to withstand the hot filling of said liquid, whereby the container has residual stresses obtained from its manufacture, b. filling the container with said hot liquid, c. closing the filled container immediately after filling, d. allowing the container to cool at least below a transition temperature of the container that is on the order of from 40° C. to 50° C. and forming a depression inside the container, resulting in visible deformation of the container, and e. heating the container to bring about a relief of the residual stresses, whereby this relief leads to a shrinkage and consecutively generates an internal pressurization of the container that compensates for at least the deformation undergone by the effects of the depression of stage d.