WO2020141376A1 - Construction de film à bulles amélioré - Google Patents

Construction de film à bulles amélioré Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2020141376A1
WO2020141376A1 PCT/IB2019/060764 IB2019060764W WO2020141376A1 WO 2020141376 A1 WO2020141376 A1 WO 2020141376A1 IB 2019060764 W IB2019060764 W IB 2019060764W WO 2020141376 A1 WO2020141376 A1 WO 2020141376A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
film
bubble
bubble wrap
bubbles
package
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/IB2019/060764
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Tracie J. Berniard
Dylan T. Cosgrove
David D. Lindeman
Ryan D. LOVIK
Michael J. Wald
Original Assignee
3M Innovative Properties Company
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by 3M Innovative Properties Company filed Critical 3M Innovative Properties Company
Publication of WO2020141376A1 publication Critical patent/WO2020141376A1/fr

Links

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
    • B29C48/00—Extrusion moulding, i.e. expressing the moulding material through a die or nozzle which imparts the desired form; Apparatus therefor
    • B29C48/03—Extrusion moulding, i.e. expressing the moulding material through a die or nozzle which imparts the desired form; Apparatus therefor characterised by the shape of the extruded material at extrusion
    • B29C48/07—Flat, e.g. panels
    • B29C48/08—Flat, e.g. panels flexible, e.g. films
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
    • B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
    • B29C48/00—Extrusion moulding, i.e. expressing the moulding material through a die or nozzle which imparts the desired form; Apparatus therefor
    • B29C48/03—Extrusion moulding, i.e. expressing the moulding material through a die or nozzle which imparts the desired form; Apparatus therefor characterised by the shape of the extruded material at extrusion
    • B29C48/12—Articles with an irregular circumference when viewed in cross-section, e.g. window profiles

Definitions

  • the present disclosure generally relates to an improved bubble wraps or bubble films and to methods of making and using them.
  • Inventors recognized existing bubble wrap or film has some drawbacks or disadvantages.
  • Some exemplary drawbacks include, for example, dead zone lines between adjacent bubbles, varying bubble width, and varying levels of protection.
  • bubble wrap or film has not significantly changed.
  • tremendous attention and focus has been devoted to sustainability.
  • bubble wrap or film having greater air content/larger bubbles provide enhanced protection because there is more air cushioning and protecting the item to be shipped.
  • shipping air leads to a greater environmental impact footprint than is desirable.
  • both businesses and individuals shipping products in boxes need to balance (1) ensuring the item is not broken or injured during transit (which counsels toward using the most protective bubble wrap or film); (2) shipping costs (which are dependent on both weight and box size in the US, which counsels toward using the thinnest bubble wrap or film); and (3) the hassle of storing a multitude of different size bubble wrap or film to ensure that the product is being shipped in the smallest and safest package appropriate for the mass and area properties of the item to be shipped.
  • it is necessary to maintain an inventory of different types of bubble wrap or film typically with varying bubble size or width). Because bubble wrap or film has a bulky form, maintaining a suitably well-stocked inventory of mailing materials presents a storage challenge to both individuals and businesses. More specifically, traditional Bubble WrapTM ships in giant, pre-inflated rolls, taking up precious room in delivery trucks and on customers’ warehouse floors and retailer shelves.
  • the inventors of the present disclosure sought to create a bubble wrap or film that is at least one of easier to use, equally or more protective to the item being shipped, more sustainable, lower cost, lower profile, improved usability, better able to deliver protection to a larger range of items than current bubble wrap or film with the same profile, and/or higher packing density.
  • profile refers to height.
  • the improved bubble wrap or film can still be cut to size without sacrificing protection of the surrounding bubbles, where tubes of air or gas or liquid deflate large regions when cut yielding areas without protection.
  • the inventors of the present disclosure invented various novel bubble wraps or films.
  • the bubble wrap or film includes a plurality of bubbles, each of which has a diameter or less than about 9.0 mm and which are spaced from one another by less than 1.0 mm.
  • the bubble wrap or film includes a first flexible film; a second flexible film; and a plurality of individual cells, posts, or bubbles between the first flexible film and the second flexible film.
  • Each of the individual cells, posts, or bubbles are filled with a gas or liquid, have a diameter of less than about 9.0 mm, and are spaced from one another by less than about 1.0 mm.
  • the bubble wrap or film includes a first flexible film; a second flexible film; and a plurality of individual cells, posts, or bubbles between the first flexible film and the second flexible film.
  • the bubble film has a lower G value over a larger range of static pressures than prior art bubble films.
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of an exemplary bubble wrap or film consistent with the teachings herein.
  • Fig. 2 is a top view schematic of the bubble wrap or film of Fig. 1.
  • Fig. 3 is a side view of the bubble wrap or film of Fig. 1.
  • Fig. 4 is a side perspective view of the bubble wrap or film of Fig. 1.
  • Fig. 5 is a graph showing improved performance of the bubble wrap or film construction of the present disclosure compared to prior art bubble wraps.
  • Fig. 6 is a graph showing improved performance of the bubble wrap or film construction of the present disclosure compared to prior art bubble wraps.
  • Fig. 7 is a side perspective view of a simulation model.
  • the present disclosure relates generally to bubble wrap or film. Many different embodiments of the bubble wrap or film are described herein. The present disclosure also relates generally to method of making and using the bubble wrap or film.
  • the inventors recognized that instead of including spaced hemispherical bubbles, the inclusion of post-like bubbles offers various advantages or benefits.
  • the shape of the posts or bubbles permits the posts to flex up to 360 degrees, providing excellent angular protection to the item being shipped.
  • the posts can be more closely spaced or more densely packed on the film to provide increased protection and fewer or no dead zone lines between adjacent bubbles.
  • the resulting bubble wrap or film can offer excellent protection without increasing the bubble wrap or film profile or with a lower or slimmer bubble wrap or film profile than large bubble.
  • a single bubble wrap or film can be used to provide protection to most materials, reducing the amount of space, storage, or shelf space that a user, manufacturer, or retailer has to devote to multiple versions of the same product in varying sizes and protection levels.
  • the bubble wrap or films provide consistent cushioning, long lasting protection, and/or conformability around almost any item to be shipped.
  • the resulting lightweight and/or versatile bubble wrap or film is ideal for packing, shipping, and moving items, since it offers maximum protection with minimum weight and bulk.
  • the bubble wrap or film is capable of holding the gas or air in the bubbles or posts indefinitely. In some embodiments, this is provided through inclusion of a barrier layer in a multi-layered film.
  • the bubble wrap or film is made of material(s) that keep out the elements (e.g., water, undesirable gases, etc.).
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of a portion of an exemplary bubble wrap of film consistent with the teachings herein.
  • Bubble film 100 includes a plurality of bubbles, posts, or cells 110 spaced apart from one another on a carrier sheet 120.
  • Figs. 2-4 respectively show top, side, and side perspective views of bubble wrap or film 100 of Fig. 1. Note that an additional carrier sheet may be used on top of the bubbles.
  • Fig. 3 shows upper layer 130.
  • the cellular cushioning material is prepared by sealing a gaseous or liquid substance within each individual cells, post, or bubble that is formed between two flexible films.
  • two sheets of material such as plastic film, are joined to form a plurality of closed cells.
  • a common method of doing this is to emboss a first sheet of material with a pattern of depressions, coat a second sheet with adhesive and adhere the two sheets together so that air is trapped in the embossed pattern and individual resilient sealed cells are formed.
  • Coating with adhesive can include, for example use of a hotmelt adhesive, use of a psa, use of a tape, etc.
  • heat sealing packaging or cushioning material so prepared from laminates may be quite useful, but the present means known in the art to form laminates on a continuous basis with individual sealed cells are subject to certain inherent difficulties.
  • a first continuous web of plastic film is passed over a series of heated rolls. After the film has been softened, the film is passed over a heated roll having a pattern of cavities and a series of embossments is formed by vacuum drawing methods.
  • a second unembossed heated web is then run against the first embossed web as the first web is passing over the embossing roll and the two sheets are heated sufficiently close to their melting point to cause fusion of the films at their point of contact, thus forming individual sealed cells.
  • the web of cushioning material will have one embossed side and one flat side.
  • one lamina of the film may be selected for its low melting point and ease of fusing to the mating sheet of film, and the other lamina may be selected for its relatively high melting point, its superior tensile strength, and/or its low gas and vapor transmission rate. It can readily be understood that these combinations of properties are quite beneficial since, using the above-described technique, it is desired to get a strong bond by melting and yet retain sufficient strength of the plastic films so that they can be handled without tearing. It is also apparent that the value of the cushioning materials would be destroyed if the gas transmission rate were sufficiently high to permit the cellular structure to collapse under load.
  • Exemplary methods of making the bubble wraps or films of the present disclosure are described in, for example, any of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,454,642; 5,651,237; 5,755,328; 4,017,351; and 5,824,392 and/or 3,660,189, each of which is incorporated herein in its entirety.
  • the cells are charged or filled at superatmospheric pressure to achieve full inflation of the cells and maximum efficiency of the cushioning material.
  • the bubble wraps and films of the present disclosure offer performance similar to that of commercially available large bubble wraps but lack the bulk of the large bubble wraps.
  • the bubble wraps or films of the present disclosure offer a lower profile than the prior art large bubble wraps with similar protection. This is shown and described in the following examples and results in Figs. 5 and 6.
  • the cushion curves for the various bubble wrap designs were generated by use of software for finite element analysis and computer-aided engineering (AbaqusTM FEA, available from the Dassault Systemes, Velizy-Villacoublay, Cedex, France).
  • An image of a model is shown in Fig. 7.
  • the far outer circle represents a rigid base
  • the outer circle represents a bubble wrap of which various designs were analyzed
  • the“package” is shown by the inner circle.
  • the package was simulated as being of a steel material essentially rigid as compared to the bubble wrap material and its density was varied to simulate packages of varying static pressures. Varying drop heights were able to be considered by varying the package’s velocity at impact.
  • the drop height that was used was 3 ft. (91.44 cm).
  • the bubbles of the bubble wrap were modeled by use of an AbaqusTM element type which tracks changes in the bubble cavity volume and varies the internal pressure accordingly.
  • the result extracted for use in the cushion curves was the greatest package acceleration for the given package static pressure.
  • the simulation was repeated for a range of package static pressures and the associative resulting maximum package acceleration results are displayed in the cushion curves of Figs. 5 and 6.
  • the Y -axis on the graphs of each of Figs. 5 and 6 shows acceleration (which relates to the rate at which the package or item being protected, having fallen from a 3 ft. (91.44 cm) drop height) going from its maximum downward velocity to rest.
  • the goal of the protection is to minimize the acceleration that the package or item experiences. This is of primary importance as at some level of acceleration the structural integrity of the package is compromised or the item is broken.
  • the units of acceleration reported in Figures 5 and 6 are G’s, such that a value of 1 G would represent accelerating at the rate of standard Earth gravity.
  • the acceleration experienced by the package or item can change depending on its own weight or static pressure, its fragility, the amount and type of protection around it, and the height from which it is dropped.
  • the X-axis on the graphs of each of Figs. 5 and 6 shows static pressure or the pressure a package or item exerts as it rests in a given orientation on a surface.
  • the units of static pressure used are psi.
  • a value of static pressure relates to the given package’s weight in pounds per a square inch of area in contact with the surface.
  • the cushion curves in Figs. 5 and 6 demonstrate the protection for small bubble protection films relative each other and to large bubble protection film.
  • Cushion curves characterize a materiaTs ability to protect an item or package from damage or breakage.
  • the knowledge of an item’s fragility, or the G force needed to break it, and its static pressure, can determine whether a given protective material will prevent damage from a specified drop height. This is done by finding the point on the G vs. Static Pressure graph that describes the package or item in question and then determining if it falls above or below the cushion curve for a given protective material. The item or package will only be adequately protected if the cushion curve falls below its point on the graph.
  • Some preferred protective materials have a cushion curve that was the lowest possible G value over the largest range of static pressures.
  • the cushioning layer can also provide one or more of structural integrity, shock absorption capability, flexibility, and/or interfacial function with other components of the shipper, etc.
  • the bubbles, posts, or cells of the bubble wrap or film of the present disclosure have a diameter of approximately 1.125 mm, which is 8 times less than the standard small bubble size. In some embodiments, or less than 9.0 mm, or less than 8.0 mm, or less than 7.0 mm, or less than 6.0 mm, or less than about 5.0 mm, or less than about 4.0 mm, or less than about 3.0 mm, or less than about 2.0 mm. In some embodiments, the bubbles, posts, or cells of the bubble wraps or films of the present disclosure have a diameter of between about 1 mm and about 9 mm.
  • the bubbles, posts, or cells of the bubble wrap of the present disclosure have a height of between about 1 mm and about 10 mm. In some embodiments, the bubbles, posts, or cells of the bubble wrap or fdms of the present disclosure have a height between about 2 mm and about 9 mm.
  • the bubble wrap or fdm of the present disclosure can be made in, for example, a roll or a flat sheet.
  • the bubble wraps or films described herein can be used in packaging materials.
  • One example of such is described in US Patent Application Serial No. 62/620031, assigned to the present assignee and incorporated in its entirety herein.
  • the terms“a” or“an” are used, as is common in patent documents, to include one or more than one, independent of any other instances or usages of“at least one” or“one or more.”
  • the term“or” is used to refer to a nonexclusive or, such that“A or B” includes“A but not B,”“B but not A,” and“A and B,” unless otherwise indicated.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Buffer Packaging (AREA)

Abstract

La présente invention concerne d'une manière générale des enveloppes à bulles ou des films à bulles améliorés et des procédés de fabrication et d'utilisation de ceux-ci.
PCT/IB2019/060764 2018-12-31 2019-12-13 Construction de film à bulles amélioré WO2020141376A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US201862786592P 2018-12-31 2018-12-31
US62/786,592 2018-12-31

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2020141376A1 true WO2020141376A1 (fr) 2020-07-09

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PCT/IB2019/060764 WO2020141376A1 (fr) 2018-12-31 2019-12-13 Construction de film à bulles amélioré

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WO (1) WO2020141376A1 (fr)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US11066224B2 (en) 2018-01-22 2021-07-20 3M Innovative Properties Company Packaging constructions, materials, and methods

Citations (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4017351A (en) 1975-12-24 1977-04-12 Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company System and device for inflating and sealing air inflated cushioning material
US5454642A (en) 1993-07-16 1995-10-03 Novus Packaging Corporation Inflatable flat bag packaging cushion and methods of operating and making the same
US5651237A (en) 1995-06-06 1997-07-29 Novus Packaging Corporation Apparatus and methodology for packaging items incorporating an inflatable packaging system
US5755328A (en) 1994-07-21 1998-05-26 Deluca; Nicholas Paolo Flutter valve assembly for inflatable packaging and the like
US5824392A (en) 1994-03-24 1998-10-20 Idemitsu Petrochemical Co., Ltd. Method of producing an air cushion and an apparatus for the same
EP1338413A1 (fr) * 2002-02-25 2003-08-27 Sealed Air Corporation (US) Produit laminé à cuisson d'air ayant une couche barrière de résine de polyester recyclé
US20110192736A1 (en) * 2010-02-11 2011-08-11 Poppack, Llc Package with Unique Opening Device and Process for Forming Package
WO2016144199A1 (fr) * 2015-03-09 2016-09-15 Allsetpro Spółka Z Ograniczoną Odpowiedzialnością Isolation thermique à structure cellulaire, et ensemble de dispositifs permettant de produire une isolation thermique à structure cellulaire

Patent Citations (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4017351A (en) 1975-12-24 1977-04-12 Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company System and device for inflating and sealing air inflated cushioning material
US5454642A (en) 1993-07-16 1995-10-03 Novus Packaging Corporation Inflatable flat bag packaging cushion and methods of operating and making the same
US5824392A (en) 1994-03-24 1998-10-20 Idemitsu Petrochemical Co., Ltd. Method of producing an air cushion and an apparatus for the same
US5755328A (en) 1994-07-21 1998-05-26 Deluca; Nicholas Paolo Flutter valve assembly for inflatable packaging and the like
US5651237A (en) 1995-06-06 1997-07-29 Novus Packaging Corporation Apparatus and methodology for packaging items incorporating an inflatable packaging system
EP1338413A1 (fr) * 2002-02-25 2003-08-27 Sealed Air Corporation (US) Produit laminé à cuisson d'air ayant une couche barrière de résine de polyester recyclé
US20110192736A1 (en) * 2010-02-11 2011-08-11 Poppack, Llc Package with Unique Opening Device and Process for Forming Package
WO2016144199A1 (fr) * 2015-03-09 2016-09-15 Allsetpro Spółka Z Ograniczoną Odpowiedzialnością Isolation thermique à structure cellulaire, et ensemble de dispositifs permettant de produire une isolation thermique à structure cellulaire

Non-Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
"Consumers Are Now Doing Most of their Shopping Online", FORTUNE MAGAZINE, 8 June 2016 (2016-06-08)
"For every Amazon package it delivers, the Postal Service loses $1.46", WASHINGTON EXAMINER, 1 September 2017 (2017-09-01)
"Revamped Bubble Wrap Loses its Pop", WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1 July 2015 (2015-07-01)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US11066224B2 (en) 2018-01-22 2021-07-20 3M Innovative Properties Company Packaging constructions, materials, and methods

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