Small carbonated beverage packaging with enhanced shelf life properties

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11077979-B2
Application number	US-201515500250-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 31, 2015
Priority date	Aug 1, 2014
Publication date	Aug 3, 2021
Grant date	Aug 3, 2021

Abstract

This disclosure provides new containers, preforms, methods, and designs for small and light-weight carbonated beverage packaging that provide surprisingly improved carbonation retention and greater shelf life, while still achieving light weight. This disclosure is particularly drawn to small PET containers for carbonated beverages, for example less than or about 400 mL, and methods and designs for their fabrication that attain unexpectedly good carbonation retention and shelf life.

First claim

We claim:

1. A Carbonated Soft Drink (CCD) container, having:
an open top end, a closed bottom end, a vertical axis extending from the center of the top end to the center of the bottom end, and a diameter perpendicular to the axis which varies from the top end to the bottom end; and
a series of horizontally divided sections comprising, from the top end to the bottom end, [i] a neck finish at the top end, [ii] a support ring below the neck finish, [iii] a top section extending from the bottom of the support ring to a first largest diameter, [iv] a panel section extending from the first largest diameter to a second largest diameter, the panel section having a maximum diameter less than either the first largest diameter or the second largest diameter, [v] a grip section extending from the second largest diameter to a third largest diameter, the grip section having a maximum diameter less than either the second largest diameter or the third largest diameter, and [vi] a base section comprising a standing ring at the closed bottom end extending from the third largest diameter to the standing ring and having a maximum diameter less than the third largest diameter,

the container comprising the following properties:
a) a difference between area distribution (%) and weight distribution (%), based upon the total area and total weight, respectively of the top section, the panel section, the grip section, and the base section, in the container base section, the container top section, or both the container base and the container top sections is less than 8%;
b) a shelf life of a CSD contained therein (elapsed time as measured using FT-IR for a reduction in CO 2 volume in the container from 4.2 volumes CO 2 to 3.3 volumes CO 2 at 22° C.) of greater than or about 250 days;
c) a sectional area to weight ratio (A/W, cm 2 /g) for any of the top section, the panel section, the grip section, and the base section is within 25% of the ratio of the combined surface area of the top section, the panel section, the grip section, and the base section to the combined weight of the top section, the panel section, the grip section, and the base section;
d) a weight distribution efficiency (WDE) greater than or about 95%, as measured by Method B; and
e) a local diameter creep (a diameter increase when the CSD container is filled with carbonated water at 4.2 Gas Volumes (GV) and conditioned at 38° C. for 24 hours) measured at any location in the CSD container, of less than or about 4 percent;
wherein the container comprises an internal gas barrier coating, an external gas barrier coating, or both an internal and an external gas barrier coating; and
wherein Method B comprises the steps of [1] horizontally dividing the CSD container to provide the top section, the panel section, the grip section, and the base section; and [2] calculating the weight distribution efficiency (WDE) by Method B according to the formula:

WDE
=

A
W

∑

i
=
1

i
=
4

⁢

a
i

w
t

×
Ai

;
wherein

a i is the area of the i th container section;
w i is the weight of the i th container section;
A is the total area of the container;
A i is the area fraction for section i;
W is the total weight of the container; and
i is one of Sections 1-4 corresponding to the top section, the panel section, the grip section, and the base section, respectively.

2. A Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) container according to claim 1 , wherein the CSD container comprises both an internal barrier coating and an external barrier coating.

3. A Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) container according to claim 1 , wherein the internal barrier coating and the external barrier coating are selected independently from silica (SiOx), amorphous carbon, or a diamond-like carbon (DLC) material.

4. A Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) container according to claim 1 , wherein the total surface area to total weight ratio (sq mm/g) is greater than or about 2800 sq mm/g.

5. A Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) container according to claim 1 , wherein the local diameter creep is less than 3.5%.

6. A Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) container according to claim 1 , further characterized by an overall volume expansion (% volume increase) when maintained at a pressure of 135 psi (at 22° C.) for 13 seconds is less than or about 10%.

7. A Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) container according to claim 1 , further characterized by an overall volume expansion (% volume increase) when maintained at a pressure of 135 psi (at 22° C.) for 13 seconds is less than or about 7%.

8. A Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) container according to claim 1 , further characterized by a Shelf life Improvement factor for the CSD container (the ratio of the shelf life for the CSD container to the shelf life of a corresponding uncoated container as measured by FT-IR at 22° C.) of more than 5.0 at 22° C.

9. A Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) container according to claim 1 , further characterized by a Shelf life Improvement factor for the CSD container (the ratio of the shelf life for the CSD container to the shelf life of a corresponding uncoated container as measured by FT-IR at 22° C.) of more than 4.0 at 38° C.

10. A Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) container according to claim 1 , wherein the shelf life is more than 350 days.

11. A Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) container according to claim 1 , wherein the shelf life is more than 300 days.

12. A Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) container according to claim 1 , wherein the shelf life is more than 271 days.

13. A Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) container according to claim 1 , wherein the CSD container is a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) container, and the CSD container further comprises any one or more of the following properties:
f) a container size less than or about 400 mL;
g) a PET crystallinity in the base section at any point within 5 mm from a gate of about 10%; and/or
h) at least 70% trans content at a distance of 5 mm from the gate.

14. A packaged shelf product comprising a Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) container according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Coca Cola Co

Inventors

• Chiang Casper W
• Govindarajan Venkat
• Rajesh Gopalaswamy
• Mubarak Christopher Russell
• Salles Jose Olavo Martins Ferreira
• Steward Sterling Lane
• Shi Simon

Classifications

• B65D1/0284 Primary

  having a discontinuous contact surface, e.g. discrete feet · CPC title

• B65D1/02

  Bottles or similar containers with necks or like restricted apertures, designed for pouring contents (thermally-insulated containers B65D81/38, A47J41/00; {feeding-bottles A61J9/00}) · CPC title

• B65D1/0223

  characterised by shape · CPC title

• B65D1/0246

  Closure retaining means, e.g. beads, screw-threads · CPC title

• B65D1/0207

  characterised by material, e.g. composition, physical features · CPC title