Heat shrink packaging system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10059477-B2
Application number	US-201113697393-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 12, 2011
Priority date	May 12, 2010
Publication date	Aug 28, 2018
Grant date	Aug 28, 2018

Abstract

A packaging system including a heat shrinkable flexible wall container and a heat shrinkable label is described. The label can be applied to the container prior to heat shrinking. Upon subjecting the labeled container containing the items or goods of interest to a heat shrink operation, the label and flexible wall container both undergo shrinking. The shrinkage characteristics of the flexible wall container and the label are matched to one another. Also described are various methods of packaging using the noted systems.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of labeling and packaging an item, the method comprising:
providing a shrinkable material having at least one layer comprising a heat shrinkable film layer;
providing a shrinkable label;
applying the shrinkable label to the shrinkable material, wherein the shrinkable label does not completely cover the shrinkable material;
enclosing an item to be packaged with the shrinkable material having the shrinkable label applied thereto;
shrinking both the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label about the item, to thereby label and package the item, wherein the shrinking is performed by exposing the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label to temperatures from about 70° to about 99° C. for a time period of from about 0.1 seconds to about 5 seconds, and wherein the shrinkable label exhibits a label shrinkage extent that is less than 110% of a material shrinkable extent of the shrinkable material.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises:
after applying the shrinkable label to the shrinkable material, forming a shrinkable flexible wall container defining an interior region;
wherein enclosing includes placing the item within the interior region defined by the shrinkable flexible wall container.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein applying the shrinkable label to the shrinkable material is performed by adhesively adhering the label to the exterior surface of the material.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the shrink forces associated with the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label are balanced with bonding forces between the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the time period is from 1.5 seconds to 2 seconds.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein shrinking of the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label occur simultaneously.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein both the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label include at least one layer comprising a heat shrinkable film layer.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the heat shrinkable film layer comprises a material selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, polyester, polyolefin, and combinations thereof.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein upon shrinking both the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label, the material and the label undergo equivalent extents of shrinkage.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein upon shrinking both the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label, the material shrinks from about 1% to about 40% in a first direction and shrinks from about 1% to about 50% in a second direction transverse to the first direction.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein upon shrinking both the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label, the material shrinks from about 20% to about 40% in a first direction and shrinks from about 20% to about 50% in a second direction transverse to the first direction.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the shrinkable label shrinks from greater than 90% to less than 110% of the extent of the shrinkable material in a first direction and shrinks from greater than 90% to less than 110% of the extent of the shrinkable material in a second direction transverse to the first direction.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the shrinkable material further includes a barrier layer.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the shrinkable material also includes one or more additional layers.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the shrinkable label includes a layer of biaxially oriented heat shrinkable film material.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the shrinkable label further includes an adhesive layer.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the shrinkable label further includes a release layer contacting the adhesive layer.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the shrinkable label further includes one or more additional layers.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the shrinkable label comprises printed material.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the label shrinkage extent and the material shrinkage extent are within 95% to 105% of one another.

21. A method of labeling and packaging an item, the method comprising:
providing a shrinkable material having at least one layer comprising a heat shrinkable film layer;
providing a shrinkable label;
applying the shrinkable label to the shrinkable material, wherein the shrinkable label does not completely cover the shrinkable material;
forming at least one of the label and the shrinkable material to thereby change its shape;
enclosing an item to be packaged with the shrinkable material having the shrinkable label applied thereto; and
shrinking both the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label about the item, to thereby label and package the item, wherein the shrinking is performed by exposing the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label to temperatures from about 70° to about 99° C. for a time period of from about 0.1 seconds to about 5 seconds, and wherein the shrinkable label exhibits a label shrinkage extent that is less than 110% of a material shrinkage extent of the shrinkable material.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the forming is performed by thermoforming.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein applying the shrinkable label to the shrinkable material is performed by adhesively adhering the label to the exterior surface of the material.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein shrink forces associated with the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label are balanced with bonding forces between the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label.

25. The method of claim 21 wherein the time period is from 1.5 seconds to 2 seconds.

26. The method of claim 21 wherein shrinking of the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label occur simultaneously.

27. The method of claim 21 wherein both the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label include at least one layer comprising a heat shrinkable film layer.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the heat shrinkable film layer comprises a material selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, polyester, polyolefin, and combinations thereof.

29. The method of claim 21 wherein upon shrinking both the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label, the material and the label undergo equivalent extents of shrinkage.

30. The method of claim 21 wherein upon shrinking both the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label, the material shrinks from about 1% to about 40% in a first direction and shrinks from about 1% to about 50% in a second direction transverse to the first direction.

31. The method of claim 21 wherein upon shrinking both the shrinkable material and the shrinkable label, the material shrinks from about 20% to about 40% in a first direction and shrinks from about 20% to about 50% in a second direction transverse to the first direction.

32. The method of claim 21 wherein the shrinkable label shrinks from greater than 90% to less than 110% of the extent of the shrinkable material in a first direction and shrinks from greater than 90% to less than 110% of the extent of the shrinkable material in a second direction transverse to the first direction.

33. The method of claim 21 wherein the shrinkable material further includes a barrier layer

Assignees

• Benedetti Camila
• Hallak Bassam
• Van Driesten Sjoerd J
• Avery Dennison Corp

Inventors

• Benedetti Camila
• Hallak Bassam
• Van Driesten Sjoerd J

Classifications

• B65D75/002

  in shrink films (B65D71/08 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B65C3/26

  Affixing labels to non-rigid containers, e.g. bottles made of polyethylene or boxes to be inflated by internal air pressure prior to labelling · CPC title

• G09F3/0286

  provided with adaptations for labelling machines · CPC title

• B65B53/02 Primary

  by heat · CPC title

• G09F2003/0251

  Sleeve shaped label, i.e. wrapped around a device · CPC title