Patent ID: 7677015

Claim:
A process for forming filled sealed pouches, comprising: a. supplying a thermoformable film to an upper surface of a conveyer which includes a plurality of recessed vacuum moulds in its upper surface and is mounted to slide over an elongated conveyor support through holding, forming, filling and sealing stations; b. holding the film on the conveyer at the holding station; c. forming the film to form pouches at the forming station by supplying a forming under-pressure at the forming station into the vacuum moulds, wherein the forming under-pressure is supplied through vacuum apertures leading from a vacuum supply apparatus and discharging through the conveyer support through vacuum orifices extending through the conveyer into the vacuum moulds, wherein under-pressure is supplied to the vacuum moulds at one or more subsequent processing stations through the vacuum apertures and vacuum orifices, and wherein the under pressure at the forming station is greater than the under-pressure at one or more of the subsequent processing stations; d. filling the pouches at the filling station; and e. sealing the pouches with a sealing film at the sealing station; wherein an under-pressure that is greater than substantially zero is supplied at all of the subsequent processing stations.